£Tfie TOH1NJ ATT xr THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES Elll .1 797 APR 2 2 IS UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 10000669572 This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the last date stamped under “Date Due.” If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE RFT DUE RET DATE DUE KLI * - V J L r I 7, ,pp t V--*' ^ ob APR 151989 _ ^ * y^i fl| f.j ^L. i MAR? K 'Qi FF3 0 1 J " IQQ « jw* 1 * r •- - - - - cm AUG 2 0 rnn 77%3 J I 4 / wd Form No. 513 THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF BY WASHINGTON IRVING. “ Yenient annis, Saecula seris, quibus Ocean us Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens Pateat tellus, Tethysque novos Detegat Orbes nec sit terris Ultima Thule.”— Seneca, Medea. MEW YORK LOVELL, CORYELL & COMPANY 3IO-318 SIXTH AVENUE . . w l ' • ■ # \ * > • $ * * - CONTENTS a* PACTS Preface. 9 BOOK I. CHAP. I. Birth, Parentage, and Early Life of Columbus. IT II. Early Voyages of Columbus . 20 III. Progress of Discovery under Prince Henry of Portugal.. 24 IV. Residence of Columbus at Lisbon—Ideas concerning Islands in the Ocean 29 V. Grounds on which Columbus founded his Belief of the existence of Un¬ discovered Lands in the West. 34 VI. Correspondence of Columbus with Paulo Toscanelli—Events in Portugal relative to Discoveries—Proposition of Columbus to the Portuguese Court—Departure from Portugal. 40 BOOK II. I. Proceedings of Columbus after leaving Portugal—His Applications in Spain—Characters of Ferdinand and Isabella. 52 II. Columbus at the Court of Spain . 57 III. Columbus before the Council of Salamanca. 60 IV. Further Applications at the Court of Castile—Columbus follows the Court in its Campaigns . 66 V. Columbus at the Convent of La Rabida.... .. 72 VI. Application to the Court at the time of the Surrender of Granada. 76 VII. Arrangement with the Spanish Sovereigns—Preparations for the Expedi¬ tion at the Port of Palos. 61 VIII. Columbus at the Port of Palos—Preparations for the Voyage of Discovery 84 BOOK III. I. Departure of Columbus on his First Voyage. 89 II. Continuation of the Voyage—First Notice of the Variation of the Needle 93 III. Continuation of the Voyage—Various Terrors of the Seamen... . . 96 IV. Continuation of the Voyage—Discovery of Land... 101 BOOK IV. I. First Landing of Columbus in the New World II. Cruise among the Bahama Islands. III. Discovery and Coasting of Cuba. IV. Further Coasting of Cuba. 594362 109 115 121 JL27 4 CONTENTS. CHAP, PAGE V. Search after the supposed Island of Babeque—Desertion of the Pinta. 132 VI. Discovery of Hispaniola... 135 VII. Coasting of Hispaniola...-. 142 VHI. Shipwreck.X. 146 IX. Transactions with the Natives. 148 X. Building of the Fortress of La Navidad. 153 XI. Regulation of the Fortress of La Navidad—Departure of Columbus for Spain. 156 BOOK V. I. Coasting towards the Eastern End of Hispaniola—Meeting with Pinzon—' Affair with the Natives at the Gulf of Samana. 160 TT. Return Voyage—Violent Storms—Arrival at the Azores.. 166 III. Transactions at the Island of St. Mary’s. 171 IV. Arrival at Portugal—Visit to the Court. 174 V. Reception of Columbus at Palos. 180 VI. Reception of Columbus by the Spanish Court at Barcelona.184 ¥11. Sojourn of Columbus at Barcelona—Attentions paid him by the Sovereigns and Courtiers. 183 Till. Papal Bull of Partition—Preparations for a Second Voyage of Columbus . 192 IX. Diplomatic Negotiations between the Courts of Spain and Portugal with respect to the New Discoveries.. 199 X. Further Preparations for the Second Voyage—Character of Alonzo de Ojeda—Difference of Columbus with Soria and Ponseca. 202 BOOK YI. I. Departure of Columbus on his Second Voyage—Discovery of the Caribbee Islands. 209 II. Transactions at the Island of Guadaloupe. 212 III. Cruise among the Caribbee Islands.217 IV. Arrival at the Harbor of La Navidad—Disaster of the Fortress.222 V. Transactions with the Natives—Suspicious Conduct of Guacanagarl. 229 VI. Founding of the City of Isabella—Maladies of the Spaniards.’.. 231 VII. Expedition of Alonzo de Ojeda to explore the Interior of the Island— Dispatch of the Ships to Spain. 238 VIII. Discontents at Isabella—Mutiny of Bernal Diaz de Pisa. 243 IX. Expedition of Columbus to the Mountains of Cibao. 246 X. Excursion of Juan de Luxan among the Mountains—Customs and Charac¬ teristics of the Natives—Columbus returns to Isabella. 253 XI. Arrival of Columbus at Isabella—Sickness of the Colony. 203 XII. Distribution of the Spanish Forces in the Interior—Preparations for a Voyage to Cuba. 263 BOOK VII. I. Voyage to the East End of Cuba. 271 II. Discovery of Jamaica... 275 III. Return to Cuba—Na vigation among the Islands called the Queen’s Gardens 278 IV. Coasting of the Southern Side of Cuba. 28? V. Return of Columbus along the Southern Coast of Cuba. 29'? VI. Coasting Voyage along the South Ride of Jamaica. 295 VII. Voyage along the South Side of Hispaniola, and Return to Isabella. 299 CONTEXTS. BOOK VIII. CHAP. PAGE I. Arrival of We Admiral at Isabella—Character of Bartholomew Columbus. 302 II. Misconduct of Don Pedro Margarite, and his Departure from the Island.. 306 III. Troubles with the Natives—Alonzo de Ojeda besieged by Caonabo. 310 IV. Measures of Columbus to restore the Quiet of the Island—Expedition of Ojeda to surprise Caonabo. 315 V. Arrival of Antonio de Torres with Four Ships from Spain—His Return with Indian Slaves. 321 VI. Expedition of Columbus against the Indians of the Vega—Battle. 321 VII. Subjugation of the Natives—Imposition of Tribute. 328 VIII. Intrigues against Columbus in the Court of Spain—Aguado sent to investi¬ gate the Affairs of Hispaniola. 334 IX. Arrival of Aguado at Isabella—His Arrogant Conduct—Tempest in the Harbor. 339 X. Discovery of the Mines of Hayna. 343 BOOK IX. I. Return of Columbus to Spain with Aguado. 347 II. Decline of the Popularity of Columbus in Spain—His Reception by the Sovereigns at Burgos—He proposes a Third Voyage. 352 III. Preparations for a Third Voyage—Disappointments and Delaj^s.,.358 BOOK X. I. Departure of Columbus from Spain on his Third Voyage—Discoveiy of Trinidad. 366 II. Voyage through the Gulf of Paria. 371 III. Continuation of the Voyage through the Gulf of Paria—Return to His¬ paniola. 379 IV. Speculations of Columbus concerning the Coast of Paria. 385 BOOK XL I. Administration of the Adelantado—Expedition to the Province of Xaragua 391 II. Establishment of a Chain of Military Posts—Insurrection of Guarionex, the Cacique of the Vega... 397 III. The Adelantado repairs to Xaragua to receive Tribute. 403 IV. Conspiracy of Roldan. 407 V. The Adelantado repairs to the Vega in relief of Fort Conception—His In¬ terview with Roldan. 412 VI. Second Insurrection of Guarionex, and his Flight to the Mountains of Ciguay.;. . 416 VII. Campaign of the Adelantado in the Mountains of Ciguay. 419 BOOK XII. I. Confusion in the Island—Proceedings of the Rebels at Xaragua. 425 II. Negotiation of the Admiral with the Rebels—Departure of Shins for Spain. 429 HI. Negotiations and Arrangements with the Rebels. 434 IV. Grants made to Roldan and his Followers—Departure of several of the Rebels for Spain. 443 V. Arrival of Ojeda with a Squadron at the Western Part of the Island— Roldan sent to meet him.417 VI. Manoeuvres of Roldan and Ojeda. 451 VII. Conspiracy of Guevara and Moxiea. 455 6 CONTENTS ,; BOOK XIII. CHAP. PAGE I. Representations at Court against Columbus—Bobadilla empowered to examine into his Conduct. 461 II. Arrival of Bobadilla at San Domingo—His Violent Assumption of the Command. 467 III. Columbus summoned to appear before Bobadilla . 472 IV. Columbus and his Brothers arrested and sent to Spain in Chains.475 BOOK XIV. I. Sensation in Spain on the Arrival of Columbus in Irons—His Appearance at Court. 482 H. Contemporary Voyages of Discovery.. 486 III. Nicholas de Ovando appointed to supersede Bobadilla. 490 IV. Proposition of Columbus relative to the Recovery of the Holy Sepulchre.. 498 V. Preparations of Columbus for a Fourth Voyage of Discovery. 502 BOOK XV. I. Departure of Columbus on his Fourth Voyage—Refused Admission to the Harbor of San *Domingo—Exposed to a Violent Tempest. 507 II. Voyage along the Coast of Honduras. 513 III. Voyage along the Mosquito Coast, and Transactions at Cariari.518 IV. Voyage along Coast Rica—Speculations concerning the Isthmus at Veragua... .. 523 V. Discovery of Puerto Bello and El Retrete—Columbus abandons the Search after the Strait. 527 1 'VI. Return to Veragua—The Adelantado explores the Country. 530 VH. Commencement of a Settlement on the river Belen—Conspiracy of the Natives—Expedition of the Adelantado to surprise Quibian. 537 VIII. Disasters of the Settlement. 543 IX. Distress of the Admiral on board of his Ship—Ultimate Relief of the Settlement. 547 X. Departure from the Coast of Veragua—Arrival at Jamaica—Stranding of the Ships. 552 BOOK XVI. I. Arrangement of Diego Mendez with the Caciques for Supplies of Pro¬ visions—Sent to San Domingo by Columbus in quest of Relief. 556 II. Mutiny of Porras..-. 562 III. Scarcity of Provisions—Stratagem of Columbus to obtain Supplies from the Natives. 569 IV. Mission of Diego de Escobar to the Admiral. 572 V. Voyage of Diego Mendez and Bartholomew Fiesco in a Canoe to Hispaniola 575 VI. Overtures of Columbus to the Mutineers—Battle of the Adelantado with Porras and his Followers. 580 BOOK XVII. I. Administration of Ovando in Hispaniola—Oppression of the Natives.586 II. Massacre at Xaragua—Fate of Anacaona. 591 III. War with the Natives of Higuey. 597 IV. Close of the War with Higuey—Fate of Cotabanama. 601 CONTENTS. 7 BOOK XVIII. CHAP. PAGE I. Departure of Columbus for San Domingo—His Return to Spain. 607 H. Illness of Columbus at Seville—Application to tbe Crown for a Restitution of his Honors—Death of Isabella. 612 III. Columbus arrives at Court—Fruitless Application to the King for Redress 618 IV. Death of Columbus. 624 V. Observations on the Character of Columbus. 628 APPENDIX. NUMBER I. Transportation of the Remains of Columbus from St. Domingo to the Havana . 637 II. Notice of the Descendants of Columbus. 639 III. Fernando Columbus.648 IV. Age of Columbus . 650 V. Lineage of Columbus. 651 VI. Birthplace of Columbus.,. 652 VII. The Colombos. 657 VIII. Expedition of John of Anjou. 658 IX. Capture of the Venetian Galleys by Colombo the Younger. 659 X. Amerigo Vespucci. 661 XI. Martin Alonzo Pinzon. 670 XII. Rumor of the Pilot said to have died in the House of Columbus. 672 XIII. Martin Behem. 674 XIV. Voyages of the Scandinavians. 676 XV. Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients. 680 XVI. Of the Ships of Columbus. 681 XVII. Routs of Columbus in his First Voyage. 682 XVIII. Principles upon which the Sums mentioned in this Work have been reduced into Modern Currency—. 691 XIX. Prester John. 692 XX. Marco Polo . 693 XXI. The Work of Marco Polo. 698 XXII. Sir John Mandeville. 702 XXIII. The Zones..... 703 XXIV. Of the Atalantis of Plato. 704 XXV. The Imaginary Island of St. Brandan.. 704 XXVI. The Island of the Seven Cities.;. 709 XXVII. Discovery of the Island of Madeira. 710 XXVIII. Las Casas. . 712 XXIX. Peter Martyr. 716 XXX. Oviedo.. 720 XXXI. Cura de Los Palacios. 720 XXXII. “Navigations del Re de Castiglia del Isole e Paese Nuovamente Ritrovate”—“ Navigatio Christophori Colombi”.721 XXXIII. Antonio de Herrera. 722 XXXIV. Bishop Fonseca. 723 XXXV. Of the Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise. 725 XXXVI. Will of Columbus. 728 XXXVH. Signature of Columbus. ..... 730 A PREFACE. Being at Bordeaux in the winter of 1825-6, I received a letter from Mr. Alexander Everett, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid, informing me of a work then in the press, edited by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Secretary of the Royal Academy of History, etc. etc., contain¬ ing a collection of documents relative to the voyages of Colum¬ bus, among which were many of a highly important nature, recently discovered. Mr. Everett, at the same time, expressed an opinion that a version of the work into English, by one of our own country, would be peculiarly desirable. I concurred with him in the opinion; and, having for some time intended a visit to Madrid, I shortly afterward set off for that capital, with an idea of undertaking., while there, the translation of the work. Soon after my arrival, the publication of M. Navarrete made its appearance. I found it to contain many documents, hitherto unknown, which threw additional lights on the dis¬ covery of the New World, and which reflected the greatest credit on the industry and activity of the learned editor. Still the whole presented rather a mass of rich materials for history, than a history itself. And invaluable as such stores may be to the laborious inquirer, the eight of disconnected papers and official documents is apt to be repulsive to the general reader, who seeks for clear and continued narrative. These circum¬ stances made me hesitate in my proposed undertaking; yet the subject was of so interesting and national a kind, that I could not willingly abandon it. On considering the matter more maturely, I perceived that, although there were many books, in various languages, relative to Columbus, they all contained limited and incomplete ac¬ counts of his life and voyages; while numerous valuable tracts on the subject existed only in manuscript or in the form of 10 PREFACE. letters, journals, and public muniments. It appeared to me that a history, faithfully digested from these various mate¬ rials, was a desideratum in literature, and would be a more satisfactory occupation to myself, and a more acceptable work to my country, than the translation I had contemplated. I was encouraged to undertake such a work, by the great facilities which I found within my reach at Madrid. I was resident under the roof of the American Consul, O. Rich, Esq., one of the most indefatigable bibliographers in Europe, who, for several years, had made particular researches after every document relative to the early history of America. In his ex¬ tensive and curious library, I found one of the best collections extant of Spanish colonial history, containing many documents for which I might search elsewhere in vain. This he put at my absolute command, with a frankness and unreserve seldom to be met with among the possessors of such rare and valuable works; and his library has been my main resource throughout the Avhole of my labors. I found also the Royal Library of Madrid, and the library of the Jesuits’ College of San Isidro, two noble and extensive collections, open to access, and conducted with great order and liberality. From Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, who communicated various valuable and curious pieces of informa¬ tion, discovered in the course of his researches, I received the most obliging assistance; nor can I refrain from testifying my admiration of the self-sustained zeal of that estimable man, one of the last veterans of Spanish literature, who is almost alone, yet indefatigable in his labors, in a country where, at present, literary exertion meets with but little excitement or reward. I must acknowledge, also, the liberality of the Duke of Ve- ragua, the descendant and representative of Columbus, who submitted the archives of his family to my inspection, and took a personal interest in exhibiting the treasures they contained. Nor, lastly, must I omit my deep obligations to my excellent friend Don Antonio de Uguina, treasurer of the Prince Fran¬ cisco, a gentleman of talents and erudition, and particularly versed in the history of his country and its dependencies. To his unAvearied investigations, and silent and unavowed con¬ tributions, the Avorld is indebted for much of the accurate information, recently imparted, on points of early colonial his¬ tory. In the possession of this gentleman are most of the papers of his deceased friend, the late historian Mimog, who PREFACE. 11 was cut off in the midst of his valuable labors. Those, and various other documents, have been imparted to me by Don Antonia, with a kindness and urbanity which greatly increased, yet lightened, the obligation. With these, and other aids incidentally afforded me by my local situation, I have endeavored, to the best of my abilities, and making the most of the time which I could allow myself during a sojourn in a foreign country, to construct this history. I have diligently collated all the works that I could find relative to my subject, in print and manuscript; comparing them, as far as in my power, with original documents, those sure lights of historic research; endeavoring to ascertain the truth amid those contradictions which will inevitably occur, where several persons have recorded the same facts, viewing them from different points, and under the influence of different interests and feelings. In the execution of this work I have avoided indulging in mere speculations or general reflections, excepting such as rose naturally out of the subject, preferring to give a minute and circumstantial narrative, omitting no particular that appeared characteristic of the persons, the events, or the times; and en¬ deavoring to place every fact in such a point of view, that the reader might perceive its merits, and draw his own maxims and conclusions. As many points of the history required explanations, drawn from contemporary events and the literature of the times, I have preferred, instead of incumbering the narrative, to give detached illustrations at the end of the work. This also enabled me to indulge in greater latitude of detail, where the subject was of a curious or interesting nature, and the sources of in¬ formation such as not to be within the common course of reading. After all, the work is presented to the public with extreme diffidence. All that I can safely claim is, an earnest desire to state the truth, an absence from prejudices respecting the nations mentioned in my history, a strong interest in my sub¬ ject, and a zeal to make up by assiduity for many deficiencies of which I am conscious, Washington Irving. Madrid , 1827. P. S.—I have been surprised at finding myself accused by some American writer of not giving sufficient credit to Don 12 PREFACE. Martin Fernandez de Navarrete for the aid I had derived from his collection of documents. I had thought I had sufficiently shown, in the preceding preface, which appeared with my first edition, that his collection first prompted my work and subse¬ quently furnished its principal materials; and that I had illus¬ trated this by citations at the foot of almost every page. In preparing this revised edition, I have carefully and conscien¬ tiously examined into the matter, but find nothing to add to the acknowledgments already made. To show the feelings and opinions of M. Navarrete himself with respect to my work and myself, I subjoin an extract from a letter received from that excellent man, and a passage from the introduction to the third volume of his collection. Nothing but the desire to vindicate myself on this head would induce me to publish extracts so laudatory. From a letter dated Madrid , April ls£, 1831. I congratulate myself that the documents and notices which I published in my collection about the first occurrences in the history of America, have fallen into lianas so able to appreciate their authenticity, to examine them critically, and to circulate them in all directions; establishing fundamental truths which hitherto have been adulterated by partial or systematic writers. Yo me complazeo en que los documentos y noticias que publico en mi coleccion sobre los primeros acontecimientos de la historia de America, hayan recaido en manos tan habiles para apreciar su autenticidad, para examinar las con critica y propa- garlas por todos partes echando los fundamentos de la verdad que hasta ahora ha sido tan adulterada par los escri tores par- ciales 6 sistematicos. In the introduction to the third volume of his Collection of Spanish Voyages, Mr. Navarrete cites various testimonials he has received since the publication of his two first volumes of the utility of his work to the republic of letters. “A signal proof of this,” he continues, 44 is just given us by Mr. Washington Irving in the History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which he has published with a suc¬ cess as general as it is well merited. We said in our introduc¬ tion that we did not propose to write the history of the admiral, but to publish notes and materials that it might be written PREFACE. 13 with veracity; and it is fortunate that the first person to profit by them should be a literary man, judicious and erudite, already known in his own country and in Europe by other works of merit. Kesident in Madrid, exempt from the rivalries which have influenced some European natives with respect to Columbus and his discoveries; having an opportunity to exam¬ ine excellent books and precious manuscripts; to converse with persons instructed in these matters, and having always at hand the authentic documents which we had just published, he has been enabled to give to his history that fulness, impartiality, and exactness, which make it much superior to those of the writers who preceded him. To this be adds his regular method, and convenient distribution; his style animated, pure, and elegant; the notice of various personages who mingled in the concerns of Columbus; and the examination of various ques¬ tions, in which always shine sound criticism, erudition, and good taste.” Insigne praeba de esto mismo acaba de darnos el Seiior Wash¬ ington Irving en la Historia de la Vide, y de los Yiages de Cristobal Colon que ha publicado con una aceptacion tan general como bien merecida. Diginos en nuestra introduccion (1 § 56 pag. Ixxxii.) que no nos proponiamos escribir la historia de aqual almirante, sino publicar noticias y materiales para que se escribiesce con veracidad, y es una fortune, que el primero que se hay a aprovecliado de ellas sea un literato juicioso y erudito, conocido ya en su patria y en Europa por otras obras apreciables. Colocado en Madrid, exento de las rivalidades que han dominado entre algunas naciones Europeas sobre Colon y sus descubrimientos; con la proporcion de examinar excelentes libros y preciosos manuscritos, de tratar a persona^ instruidas en estas materias, y teniendo siempre a la mano loS autenticos documentos que acabamos de publicar, ha logrado dar a su his¬ toria aquella extension imparcialidad y exactitud que la hacen muy superior a las de los escritores que la precedieron, Agre- gase a esto su metodico arreglo y conveniente distribucion; su estilo animado, puro y elegante; la noticia de varies personages que intervenieron en los sucesos de Colon, y el examen do varias cuestiones en que luce siempre la mas sana critica. la erudicion y buen gusto ,—Prologo al tomo 3°, THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. BOOK I. Whether in old times, beyond the reach of history or tra¬ dition, and in some remote period of civilization, when, as some imagine, the arts may have flourished to a degree un¬ known to those whom we term the Ancients, there existed an intercourse between the opposite shores of the Atlantic; whether the Egyptian legend, narrated by Plato, respecting the island of Atalantis was indeed no fable, but the obscure tradition of some vast country, engulfed by one of those mighty convulsions of our globe, which have left traces of the ocean on the summits of lofty mountains, must ever remain matters of vague and visionary speculation. As far as authenticated his¬ tory extends, nothing was known of terra firma, and the islands of the western hemisphere, until their discovery toward the close of the fifteenth century. A wandering bark may occa¬ sionally have lost sight of the landmarks of the old conti¬ nents, and been driven by tempests across the wilderness of ’ waters long before the invention of the compass, but never re¬ turned to reveal the secrets of the ocean. And though, from tune to time, some document has* floated to the shores of the old world, giving to its wondering inhabitants evidences of land far beyond their watery horizon; yet no one ventured to spread a sail, and seek that land enveloped in mystery and peril. Or if the legends of the Scandinavian voyagers be correct, and their mysterious Vinland was the coast of Labrador, or the shore of Newfoundland, they had but transient glimpses of the 16 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. new world, leading to no certain or permanent knowledge, and in a little time lost again to mankind.* Certain it is that at tho beginning of the fifteenth century, when the most intelligent minds were seeking in every direction for the scattered lights of geographical knowledge, a profound ignorance prevailed among the learned as to the western regions of the Atlantic; its vast waters were regarded with awe and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a chaos, into which conjecture could i not penetrate, and enterprise feared to adventure. We need no greater proofs of this than the description given of the Atlantic by Xerif al Edrisi, surnamed the Nubian, an eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen were the boldest navigators of the middle ages, and possessed all that was then known of geog¬ raphy. “ The ocean,” he observes, “ encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify anything concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its pro¬ found depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes, and its haughty winds; yet there are many islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, although they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves without breaking; for if they broke, it would be impossible for ship to plough them.” f It is the object of the following work, to relate the deeds and fortunes of the mariner who first had the judgment to divine, and the intrepidity to brave the mysteries of this perilous deep; and who, by his hardy genius, his inflexible constancy, and his heroic courage, brought the ends of the earth into commu- ication with each other. The narrative of his troubled life is the link which connects the history of the old world with that of the new. *See illustrations in Appendix at the end of this work, article “Scandinavian Discoveries.” + Description of Spain, by Xerif al Edrisi; Conde's Spanish translation. Madrid, 1799. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 17 CHAPTER I. BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. Christopher Columbus, or Colombo, as the name is written m Italian,* was born in the city of Genoa, about the year 1435. He was the son of Dominico Colombo, a wool-comber, and Su¬ sannah Fontanarossa, his wife, and it would seem that his an¬ cestors had followed the same handicraft for several genera¬ tions in Genoa. Attempts have been made to prove him of illustrious descent, and several noble houses have laid claim to him since his name has become so renowned as to confer rather than receive distinction. It is possible some of them may be in the right, for the feuds in Italy in those ages had broken down and scattered many of the noblest families, and while some branches remained in the lordly heritage of castles and do¬ mains, others were confounded with the humblest population of the cities. The fact, however, is not material to his fame; and it is a higher proof of merit to be the object of contention among various noble families, than to be able to substantiate the most illustrious lineage. His son Fernando had a true feel¬ ing on the subject. “ I am of opinion,” says he, “that I should derive less dignity from any nobility of ancestry, than from being the son of such a father.” f Columbus was the oldest of four children; having two brothers, Bartholomew and Giacomo, or James (written Diego in Spanish), and one sister, of whom nothing is known but that she was married to a person in obscure life called Giacomo Bavarello. At a very early age Columbus evinced a decided inclination for the sea; his education, therefore, was mainly directed to fit him for maritime life, but was as general as the * Columbus Latinized his name in his letters according to the usage of the time, when Latin was the language of learned correspondence. In subsequent life when in Spain he recurred to what was supposed to be the original Roman name of the family, Colonus, which he abbreviated to Colon, to adapt it to the Castilian tongue. Hence he is known in Spanish history as Christoval Colon. In the present work the name will be written Columbus, being the one by which he is most known throughout the world. t The reader will find the vexed questions about the age, birthplace, and lineage of Columbus severally discussed in the Appendix. 18 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. narrow means of his father would permit. Besides the ordi< nary branches of reading, writing, grammar, and arithmetic, he was instructed in the Latin tongue, and made some proficiency in drawing and design. For a short time, also, he was sent to the university of Pavia, where he studied geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation. He then returned to Genoa, where, according to a contemporary historian, he assisted his father in his trade of wool-combing. * This assertion is indignantly contradicted by his son Fernando, though there is nothing in it improbable, and he gives us no information of his father’s occupation to supply its place. He could not, however, have remained long in this employment, as, according to his own account, he entered upon a nautical life when but fourteen years of age.f In tracing the early history of a man like Columbus, whose actions have had a vast effect on human affairs, it is interest¬ ing to notice how much has been owing to external influences, how much to an inborn propensity of the genius. In the latter part of his life, when, impressed with the sublime events brought about through his agency, Columbus looked back upon his career with a solemn and superstitious feeling, he attribut¬ ed his early and irresistible inclination for the sea, and his passion for geographical studies, to an impulse from the Deity preparing him for the high decrees he was chosen to accom¬ plish. I The nautical propensity, however, evinced by Columbus in early life, is common to boys of enterprising spirit and lively imagination brought up in maritime cities; to whom the sea is the highroad to adventure and the region of romance. Ge¬ noa, too, walled in and straitened on the land side by rugged mountains, yielded but little scope for enterprise on shore, while an opulent and widely extended commerce, visiting every coun¬ try, and a roving marine, battling in every sea, naturally led forth her children upon the waves, as their propitious element. Many, too, were induced to emigrate by the violent factions which raged within the bosom of the city, and often dyed its streets with blood. A historian of Genoa laments this prone¬ ness of its youth to wander. They go, said he, with the intern * Agostino Giustiniani, Ann. de Genova. His assertion has been echoed by othei historians, viz., Anton Gallo de Navigatione Colombi, etc., Muratori, tom. xxiii.; Barta Senaraga, de rebus Genuensibus, Muratori, tom. 24. + Hist, del Almirante, cap. 4. t Letters to the Castilian Sovereigns, 1501. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 19 tion of returning when they shall have acquired the means o£ living comfortably and honorably in their native place; but we know from long experience, that of twenty who thus depart scarce two return: either dying abroad, or taking to themselves foreign wives, or being loath to expose themselves to the tempests of civil discords which distract the republic.* The strong passion for geographical knowledge, also, felt by Columbus in early life, and which inspired his after career, was incident to the age in which he lived. Geographical discovery was the brilliant path of light which was forever to distinguish the fifteenth century. During a long night of monkish bigotry and false learning, geography, with the other sciences, had been lost to the European nations. Fortunately it had not been lost to mankind: it had taken refuge in the bosom of Af¬ rica. While the pedantic schoolmen of the cloisters were wast¬ ing time and talent, and confounding erudition by idle reveries and sophistical dialectics, the Arabian sagos, assembled at Senaar, were taking the measurement of a degree of latitude, and calculating the circumference of the earth, on the vast plains of Mesopotamia. True knowledge, thus happily preserved, was now making its way back to Europe. The revival of science accompanied the revival of letters. Among the various authors which the awakening zeal for ancient literature had once more brought into notice, were Pliny, pomponius Mela, and Strabo. From these was regained a fund of geographical knowledge, which had lohg faded from the public mind. Curiosity was aroused to pursue this forgotten path, thus suddenly .reopened. A translation of the work of Ptolemy had been made into Latin, at the commencement of the century, by Emanuel Chrysoleras, a noble and learned Greek, and had thus been rendered more familiar to the Italian students. Another translation had fob lowed, by James Angel de Scarpiaria, of which fair and beau¬ tiful copies became common in the Italian libraries.! The writings also began to be sought after of Averroes, Alfraga- nus, and other Arabian sages, who had kept the sacred fire of science alive, during the interval of European darkness. T)ie knowledge thus reviving was limited and imperfect; yet, like the return of morning light, if seemed to call a new crea¬ tion into existence, and broke, with all the charm of wonder, *Foglieta, Istoria de Genova, lib. ii. t Andres* Hist. B. Let., lib. iii. cap. & 20 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. upon imaginative minds. They were surprised at their own ignorance of the world around them. Every step was dis¬ covery, for every region beyond their native country was in a manner terra incognita. Such was the state of information and feeling with respect to this interesting science, in the early part of the fifteenth cen¬ tury. An interest still more intense was awakened by the dis¬ coveries which began to be made along the Atlantic coasts of Africa; and must have been particularly felt among a maritime and commercial people like the Genoese. To these circum¬ stances may we ascribe the enthusiastic devotion which Colum¬ bus imbibed in his childhood for cosmographical studies, and which influenced all his after fortunes. Tne short time passed by him at the university of Pavia was barely sufficient to give him the rudiments of the necessary sciences; the familiar acquaintance with them, which he evinced in after life, must have been the result of diligent self-schooling, in casual hours of study amid the cares and vicissitudes of a rugged and wandering life. He was one of those men of strong natural genius, who, from having to contend at their very out¬ set with privations and impediments, acquire an intrepidity in encountering and a facility in vanquishing difficulties, through¬ out their career. Such men learn to effect great purposes with small means, supplying this deficiency by the resources of their own energy and invention. This, from liis earliest commence¬ ment, throughout the whole of his life, was one of the remark¬ able features, in the history of Columbus. In every undertak¬ ing, the scantiness and apparent insufficiency of his means enhance the grandeur or his achievements. CHAPTER II. EARLY VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. Columbus, as has-been observed, commenced his nautical career when about fourteen years of age. His first voyages were made with a distant relative named Colombo, a hardy veteran of the seas, who had risen to some distinction by his bravery, and is occasionally mentioned in old chronicles; some¬ times as commanding a squadron of his own, sometimes as an LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 21 admiral in the Genoese service. He appears to have been bold and adventurous; ready to fight in any cause, and to seek quar¬ rel wherever it might lawfully be found. The seafaring life of the Mediterranean in those days was hazardous and daring. A commercial expedition resembled a warlike cruise, and the maritime merchant had often to fight his way from port to port. Piracy was almost legalized. The fre¬ quent feuds between the Italian states; the cruisings of the Catalonians; the armadas fitted out by private noblemen, who exercised a kind of sovereignty in their own domains, and kept petty armies and navies in their pay; the roving ships and squadrons of private adventurers, a kind of naval Condottieri, sometimes employed by the hostile governments, sometimes scouring the seas m search of lawless booty; these, with the holy wars waged against the Mahometan powers, rendered the nar¬ row seas, to which navigation was principally confined, scenes of hardy encounters and trying reverses. Such was the rugged school in which Columbus was reared, and it> would have been deeply interesting to have marked the early development of his genius amid its stern adversities. All this instructive era of his history, however, is covered with darkness. His son Fernando, who could have best elucidated it, has left it in obscurity, or has now and then perplexed us with cross lights; perhaps unwilling, from a principle of mis¬ taken pride, to reveal the indigence and obscurity from which his father so gloriously emerged. The first voyage in which we have any account of his being engaged was a naval expedition, fitted out in Genoa in 1459 by John of Anjofi, Duke of Calabria, to make a descent upon Naples, in the hope of recovering that kingdom for his father King Reinier, orRenato, otherwise called Rene, Count of Pro¬ vence. The republic of Genoa aided him with ships and mo¬ ney. The brilliant nature of the enterprise attracted the attcn tion of daring and restless spirits. The chivalrous nobleman, the soldier of fortune, the hardy corsair, the desperate adven¬ turer, the mercenary partisan, all hastened to enlist under the banner of Anjou. The veteran Colombo took a part in this ex¬ pedition, either with galleys of his own, or as a commander of the Genoese squadron, and with him embarked his youthful relative, the future discoverer. The struggle of John of Anjou for the crown of Naples lasted about four years, with varied fortune, but was finally unsuc¬ cessful. The naval part of the expedition, in which Columbus 22 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBTJS. was engaged, signalized itself by acts of intrepidity; and at one time, when the duke was reduced to take refuge in the island of Ischia, a handful of galleys scoured and controlled the bay of Naples.* In the course of thi§ gallant but ill-fated enterprise, Columbus was detached on a perilous cruise, to cut out a galley from the harbor of Tunis. This is incidentally mentioned by himself in a letter written many years afterward. It happened to me, he says, that King Reinier (whom God has taken to himself) sent me to Tunis, to capture the galley Fernandina, and when I ar- arrived off the island of St. Pedro, in Sardinia, I was informed that there were two ships and a carrack with the galley; by which intelligence my crew were so troubled that they deter¬ mined to proceed no further, but to return to Marseilles for an¬ other vessel and more people; as I could not by any means com¬ pel them, I assented apparently to their wishes, altering the point of the compass and spreading all sail. It was then even¬ ing, and next morning we were within the Cape of Carthagena, while all were firmly of opinion that they were sailing toward Marseilles.! We have no further record of this bold cruise into the harbor of Tunis; but in the foregoing particulars we behold early indi¬ cations of that resolute and persevering spirit which insured him success in his more important undertakings. His expedient to beguile a discontented crew into a continuation of the enter¬ prise, by deceiving them with respect to the ship’s course, will be found in unison with a stratagem of altering the reckoning, to which he had recourse in his first voyage of discovery. During an interval of many years we have but one or two shadowy traces of Columbus. He is supposed to have been principally engaged on the Mediterranean and up the Levant ; sometimes in commercial voyages; sometimes in the warlike contests between the Italian states; sometimes in pious and pre¬ datory expeditions against the Infidels. Historians have made him in 1474 captain of several Genoese ships, in the service of Louis XI. of France, and endangering the peace between that country and Spain by running down and capturing Spanish vessels at sea, on his own responsibility, as a reprisal for an irruption of the Spaniards into Roussillon.! Again, in 1475, ho is represented as brushing with his Genoese squadron in ruffling * Colenuccio, Istoria de Nap. lib. vii. cap. 17. t Letter of Columbus to the Catholic sovereigns, vide TTist. del Almirante, cap. 4. 7Cbaufepie Suppl. to Bayle, vol. ii.; article “Columbus.” LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 23 bravado by a Venetian fleet stationed off the island of Cyprus, shouting “Viva San Georgio!” the old war-cry of Genoa, thus endeavoring to pique the jealous pride of the Venetians and provoke a combat, though the rival republics were at peace at the time. These transactions, however, have been erroneously attri¬ buted to Columbus. They were the deeds, or misdeeds, either of his relative the old Genoese admiral, or of a nephew of the same, of kindred spirit, called Colombo the Younger, to distin¬ guish him from his uncle. They both appear to have been fond of rough encounters, and not very scrupulous as to the mode of bringing them about. Fernando Columbus describes this Co¬ lombo the Younger as a famous corsair, so terrible for his deeds against the Infidels, that the Moorish mothers used to frighten their unruly children with his name. Columbus sailed with him occasionally, as he had done with h±s uncle, and, according to Fernando’s account, commanded a vessel in his squadron on an eventful occasion. Colombo the Younger, having heard that four Venetian gal¬ leys richly laden were on their return voyage from Flanders, lay in wait for them on the Portuguese coast, between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent. A desperate engagement took place; the vessels grappled each other, and the crews fought hand to hand, and from ship to ship. The battle lasted from morning until evening, with great carnage on both sides. The vessel com¬ manded by Columbus was engaged with a huge Venetian galley. They threw hand-grenades and other fiery missiles, and the galley was wrapped in flames. The vessels were fastened to¬ gether by chains and grappling irons, and could not be sepa¬ rated; both were involved in one conflagration, and soon be¬ came a mere blazing mass. The crews threw themselves into the sea; Columbus seized an oar, which was floating within reach, and being an expert swimmer, attained the shore, though full two leagues distant. It pleased God, says his son Fernando, to give him strength, that he might preserve him for greater things. After recovering from his exhaustion he repaired to Lisbon, where he found many of his Genoese countrymen, and was induced to take up his residence.* Such is the account given by Fernando of his father’s first arrival in Portugal; and it has been currently adopted by ir od- *Hist. del Almirante, cap. 5. See illustrations at the end of this work, article “Capture of the Venetian Galleys.” 24 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ern historians; but on examining various histories of the times, the battle here described appears to have happened several years after the date of the arrival of Columbus in that country. That he was engaged in the contest is not improbable; but he had previously resided for some time in Portugal. In fact, on referring to the history of that kingdom, we shall find, in the great maritime enterprises in which it was at that time engaged, ample attractions for a person of his inclinations and pursuits; and we shall be led to conclude, that his first visit to Lisbon was not the fortuitous result of a desperate adventure, but was undertaken in a spirit of liberal curiosity, and in the pursuit of honorable fortune. CHAPTER III. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY UNDER PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL. The career of modern discovery had commenced shortly be¬ fore the time of Columbus, and at the period of which we are treating was prosecuted with great activity by Portugal. Some have attributed its origin to a romantic incident in the four¬ teenth century. An Englishman of the name of Macham, fly¬ ing to France with a lady of whom he was enamored, was driven far out of sight of land by stress of weather, and after wandering about the high seas, arrived at an unknown and uninhabited island, covered with beautiful forests, which was afterward called Madeira.* Others have treated this account as a fable, and have pronounced the Canaries to be the first fruits of mod¬ ern discovery. This famous group, the Fortunate Islands of the ancients, in which they placed their garden of the Hesperi- des, and whence Ptolemy commenced to count the longitude, had been long lost to the world. There are vague accounts, it is true, of their having received casual visits, at wide intervals, during the obscure ages, from the wandering bark of some Ara¬ bian, Norman, or Genoese adventurer; but all this was involved in uncertainty, and led to no beneficial result. It was not un¬ til the fourteenth century that they were effectually redis¬ covered, and restored to mankind. From that time they wero occasionally visited by the hardy navigators of various coun- * See illustrations, article “ Discovery of Madeira.” LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 25 tries. The greatest benefit produced by their discovery was, that the frequent expeditions made to them emboldened mari¬ ners to venture far upon the Atlantic, and familiarized them, in some degree, to its dangers. The grand impulse to discovery was not given by chance, but was the deeply meditated effort of one master mind. This was Prince Henry of Portugal, son of John the First, surnamed the Avenger, and Philippa, of Lancaster, sister of Henry the Fourth of England. The character of this illustrious man, from whose enterprises the genius of Columbus took excitement, deserves particular mention. Having accompanied his father into Africa, in an expedition against the Moors at Ceuta he received much information con¬ cerning the coast of Guinea, and other regions in the interior, hitherto unknown to Europeans, and conceived an idea that important discoveries were to be made by navigating along the western coast of Africa. On returning to Portugal, this idea became his ruling thought. Withdrawing from the tumult of a court to a country retreat in the Algarves, near Sagres, in the neighborhood of Cape St. Vincent, and in full view of the ocean, he drew around him men eminent in science, and prosecuted the study of those branches of knowledge connected with the maritime arts. He was an able mathematician, and made him¬ self master of all the astronomy known to the Arabians of Spain. On studying the works of the ancients, he found what he con¬ sidered abundant proofs that Africa was circumnavigable. Eu¬ doxus of Cyzicus was said to have sailed from the Red Sea into the ocean, and to have continued on to Gibraltar; and Hanno, the Carthaginian, sailing from Gibraltar with a fleet of sixty ships, and following the African coast, was said to have reached the shores of Arabia.* It is true these voyages had been dis¬ credited by several ancient writers, and the possibility of cir¬ cumnavigating Africa, after being for a long time admitted by geographers, was denied by Hipparchus, who considered each sea shut up and land-bound in its peculiar basin; and that Africa was a continent continuing onward to the south pole, and sur¬ rounding the Indian Sea, so as to join Asia beyond the Ganges. This opinion had been adopted by Ptolemy, whose works, in the time of Prince Henry, were the highest authority in geog¬ raphy. The prince, however, clung to the ancient belief, that * See illustrations, article “ Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients.” 2Q LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Africa was circumnavigable, and found his opinion sanctioned by various learned men of more modern date. To settle this question, and achieve the circumnavigation of Africa, was an object worthy the ambition of a prince, and his mind was fired with the idea of the vast benefits that would arise to his country should it be accomplished by Portuguese enterprise. The Italians, or Lombards as they were called in the north of Europe, had long monopolized the trade of Asia. They had formed commercial establishments at Constantinople and in the Black Sea, where they received the rich produce of the Spice Islands, lying near the equator; and the silks, the gums, the perfumes, the precious stones, and other luxurious commodi¬ ties of Egypt and southern Asia, and distributed them over the whole of Europe. The republics of Venice and Genoa rose to opulence and power in consequence of this trade. They had factories in the most remote parts, even in the frozen regions of Moscovy and Norway. Their merchants emulated the magnifi¬ cence of princes. All Europe was tributary to their commerce. Yet this trade had to pass through various intermediate hands, subject to the delays and charges of internal navigation, and the tedious and uncertain journeys of the caravan. For a long time the merchandise of India was conveyed by the Gulf of Persia, the Euphrates, the Indus, and the Oxus, to the Caspian and the Mediterranean seas; thence to take a new destination for the various marts of Europe. After the Soldan of Egypt had conquered the Arabs, and restored trade to its ancient channel, it was still attended with great cost and delay. Its precious commodities had to be conveyed by the Red Sea; thence on the backs of camels to the banks of the Nile, whence they were transported to Egypt to meet the Italian merchants. Thus, while the opulent traffic of the East was engrossed by these ad¬ venturous monopolists, the price of every article was enhanced by the great expense of transportation. - It was the grand idea of Prince Henry, by circumnavigating Africa to open a direct and easy route to the source of this com¬ merce, to turn it in a golden tide upon his country. He was, however, before the age in thought, and had to counteract ig¬ norance and prejudice, and to endure the delays to which vivid and penetrating minds are subjected, from the tardy co-opera¬ tions of the dull and the doubtful. The navigation of the At¬ lantic was yet in its infancy. Mariners looked with distrust upon a boisterous expanse, which appeared to have no opposite shore, and feared to venture out of sight of the landmarks. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 27 Every bold headland and far-stretching promontory was a wall to bar their progress. They crept timorously along the Barbary shores, and thought they had accomplished a wonderful expe¬ dition when they had ventured a few degrees beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. Cape Non was long the limit of their daring; they hesitated to double its rocky point, beaten by winds and waves, and threatening to thrust them forth upon the raging deep. Independent of these vague fears, they had others, sanctioned by philosophy itself. They still thought that the earth, at the equator, was girdled by a torrid zone, over which the sun held his vertical and fiery course, separating the hemispheres by a region of impassive heat. They fancied Cape Bojador the ut¬ most boundary of secure enterprise, and had a superstitious be¬ lief that whoever doubled it would never return. * They looked with dismay upon the rapid currents of its neighborhood, and the furious surf which beats upon its arid coast. They imagined that beyond it lay the frightful region of the torrid zone, scorched by a blazing sun; a region of fire, where the very waves, which beat upon the shores, boiled under the intolerable fervor of the heavens. To dispel these errors, and to give a scope to navigation equal to the grandeur of his designs, Prince Henry established a naval college, and erected an observatory at Sagres, and he in¬ vited thither the most eminent professors of the nautical facul¬ ties; appointing as president James of Mallorca, a man learned in navigation, and skilful in making charts and instruments. The effects of this establishment were soon apparent. All lhat was known relative to geography and navigation was gathered together and reduced to system. A vast improve¬ ment took place in maps, The compass was also brought into more general use, especially among the Portuguese, rendering the mariner more bold and venturous, by enabling him to navi¬ gate in the most gloomy day and in the darkest night. Em couraged by these advantages, and stimulated by the munifi¬ cence of Prince Henry, the Portuguese marine became sig> nalized for the hardihood of its enterprises and the extent of its discoveries. Cape Bojador was doubled; the region of the tropics penetrated, and divested of its fancied terrors; the greater part of the African coast, from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verde, explored; and the Cape de Verde and Azore islands. * Mariana, Hist. Esp., lib. ii. cap. 22 . 28 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. which lay three hundred leagues distant from the continent, were rescued from the oblivious empire of the ocean. To secure the quiet prosecution and full enjoyment of his dis¬ coveries, Henry obtained the protection of a papal bull, grant¬ ing to the crown of Portugal sovereign authority over all the land's it might discover in the Atlantic, to India inclusive, with plenary indulgence to all who should die in these expeditions; at the same time menacing, with the terrors of the church, all who should interfere in these Christian conquests.* Henry died on the 13th of November, 1473, without accom¬ plishing the great object of his ambition. It was not until many years afterward that Vasco de Gama, pursuing with a Portuguese fleet the track he had pointed out, realized his an¬ ticipations by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, sailing along the southern coast of India, and thus opening a highway for commerce to the opulent regions of the East. Henry, however, lived long enough to reap some of the richest rewards of a great and good mind. He beheld, through his means, his native country in a grand and active career of prosperity. The dis¬ coveries of the Portuguese were the wonder and admiration of the fifteenth century, and Portugal, from being one of the least among nations, suddenly rose to be one of the most important. All this was effected, not by arms, but by arts; not by the stratagems of a cabinet, but by the wisdom of a college. It was the great achievement of a prince, who has well been described “full of thoughts of lofty enterprise, and acts of generous spiritone who bore for his device the magnanimous motto, “The talent to do good,” the only talent worthy the ambition of nrinces.f i 1 Henry, at his death, left it in charge to his country to prose¬ cute the route to India. He had formed companies and associa¬ tions, by which commercial zeal was enlisted in the cause, and it was made a matter of interest and competition to enterpris¬ ing individuals.]: Prom time to time Lisbon was thrown into a tumult of excitement by the launching forth of some new expedition, or the return of a squadron with accounts of new tracts explored and new kingdoms visited. Everything was confident promise and sanguine anticipation. The miserable hordes of the African coast were magnified into powerful na¬ tions, and the voyagers continually heard of opulent countries * Vasconcelos, Hist, de Juan II. t Joara de Barros, Asia, decad. i. % Lafitau, Conquetes des Portu^rais, tom. i. lib. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 29 farther on. It was as yet the twilight of geographic knowl¬ edge ; imagination went hand in hand with discovery, and as the latter groped its slow and cautious way, the former peopled all beyond with wonders. The fame of the Portuguese discov¬ eries, and of the expeditions continually setting out, drew the attention of the world. Strangers from all parts, the learned, the curious, and the adventurous, resorted to Lisbon to inquire into the particulars or to participate in the advantages of these enterprises. Among these was Christopher Columbus, whether thrown there, as has been asserted, by the fortuitous result of a desperate adventure, or drawn thither by liberal curiosity and the pursuit of honorable fortune.* CHAPTER IV. RESIDENCE OF COLUMBUS AT LISBON—IDEAS CONCERNING ISLANDS IN THE OCEAN. Columbus arrived at Lisbon about the year 1470. He was at that time in the full vigor of manhood, and of an engaging presence. Minute descriptions are given of his person by his son Fernando, by Las Casas, and others of his contemporaries, f According to these accounts, he was tallI, well-formed, muscu¬ lar, and of an elevated and dignified demeanor. His visage was tong, and neither full nor meagre; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy; his nose aquiline; his cheek- Dones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkin¬ dle ; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair, tn his youthful days, was of a light color; but care and trouble, according to Las Casas, soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and his amiableness and suavity in domestic life strongly attached his household to his person. His temper was naturally irritable,- \ but he subdued it by the magnanimity of nis spirit, comporting himself with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance of language. * Herrera, deead. i. lib. i. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 3. Las Casas, Hist. Ind. lib. i. cap 2, ms. $ Illescas, Hist. Pontifical, lib. vi. 80 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Throughout his life he was noted for strict attention to the offices of religion, observing rigorously the fasts and ceremo¬ nies of the church; nor did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was strongly tinctured. While at Lisbon, he was accustomed to attend religious ser¬ vice at the chapel of the convent of All Saints. In this convent were certain ladies of rank, either resident as boarders, or in some religious capacity. With one of these Columbus became acquainted. She was Dona Felipa, daughter of Bartolomeo Monis de Perestrello, an Italian cavalier, lately deceased, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators under Prince Henry, and had colonized and governed the island of Porto Santo. The acquaintance soon ripened into attachment, and ended in marriage. It appears to have been a match of mere affection, as the lady was destitute of fortune. The newly married couple resided with the mother of the bride. The latter, perceiving the interest which Columbus took in all matters concerning the sea, related to him all she knew of the voyages and expeditions of her late husband, and brought him all his papers, charts, journals, and memorandums.* In this way he became acquainted with the routes of the Portu¬ guese, their plans and conceptions; and having, by his mar¬ riage and residence, become naturalized in Portugal, he sailed occasionally in the expeditions to the coast of Guinea. When on shore, he supported his family by making maps and charts. His narrow circumstances obliged him to observe a strict econ¬ omy ; yet we are told that he appropriated a part of his scanty means to the succor of his aged father at Genoa, f and to the education of his young.er brothers, f The construction of a correct map or chart, in those days, re¬ quired a degree of knowledge and experience sufficient to enti¬ tle the possessor to distinction. Geography was but just emerg¬ ing from the darkness which had enveloped it for ages. Ptole¬ my was still a standard authority. The maps of the fifteenth century display a mixture of truth and error, in which facts handed down from antiquity, and others revealed by recent discoveries, are confused with popular fables and extravagant conjectures. At such a period, when the passion for maritime discovery was seeking every aid to facilitate its enterprises, the * Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. ii. cap. 2 . + Ibid. i Munoz Hist. Nuevo Mundo, lib. ii. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 31 knowledge and skill of an able cosmographer like Columbus would be properly appreciated, and the superior correctness oi his maps and charts would give him notoriety among men of science.* We accordingly find him, at an early period of his residence in Lisbon, in correspondence with Paulo Toscanelli, of Florence, one of the most scientific men of the day, whose communications had great influence in inspiriting him to his subsequent undertakings. While his geographical labors thus elevated him to a commun¬ ion with the learned, they were peculiarly calculated to foster a train of thoughts favorable to nautical enterprise. From com stantly comparing maps and charts, and noting the progress and direction of discovery, he was led to perceive how much of the world remained unknown, and to meditate on the means of exploring it. His domestic concerns, and the connections he had formed by marriage, were all in unison with this vein of speculation. He resided for some time at the recently dis¬ covered island of Porto Santo, where his wife had inherited some property, and during his residence there she bore him a son, whom he named Diego. This residence brought him, as it were, on the very frontier of discovery. His wife’s sister was married to Pedro Correo, a navigator of note, who had at one time been governor of Porto Santo. Being frequently together in the familiar intercourse of domestic life, their conversation naturally turned upon the discoveries prosecuting in their vicinity along the African coasts; upon the long sought for route to India; and upon the possibility of some unknown lands existing in the west. In their island residence, too, they must have been frequent¬ ly visited by the voyagers going to and from Guinea. Living thus, surrounded by the stir and bustle of discovery, commun¬ ing with persons who had risen by it to fortune and honor, and * The importance which began to be attached to cosmographical knowledge is evident from the distinction which Mauro, an Italian friar, obtained from having projected an universal map, esteemed the most accurate of the time. A fac simile of this map, upon the same scale as the original, is now deposited in the British Museum, and it has been published, with a geographical commentary, by tha learned Zuula. The Venetians struck a medal in honor of him, on which they de¬ nominated him Cosmographus incomparabilis (Colline del Bussol. Naut. p. 2, c. 5). Yet Ramusio, who had seen this map in the monastery of San Michele de Murano, considers it merely an improved copy of a map brought from Cathay by Marco Polo (Ramusio, t. ii. p. 17, Ed. Venet. 1606). We are told that Americus Vespucius paid ono hundred and thirty ducats (equivalent to five hundred and fifty-five dollars in our time) for a map of sea and land, made at Mallorca, in 1439, by Gabriel de Valseca (Barros, D. 1. i. c. 15. Derroto porTofino, Introd. p. 25). LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . voyaging in the very tracks of its recent triumphs, the ardent mind of Columbus kindled up to enthusiasm' in the cause, it was a period of general excitement to all who were connected with maritime life, or who resided in the vicinity of the ocean. The recent discoveries had inflamed their imaginations, and had filled them with visions of other islands, of greater wealth and beauty, yet to be discovered in the boundless wastes of the ■ Atlantic. The opinions and fancies of the ancients on the sub, ject were again put in circulation. The story of Antilla, a great island in the ocean, discovered by the Carthaginians, was frequently cited, and Plato’s imaginary Atalantis once more found firm believers. Many thought that the Canaries and Azores were but wrecks which had survived its submersion, and that other and larger fragments of that drowned land might yet exist, in remoter parts of the Atlantic. One of the strongest symptoms of the excited state of the popular mind at this eventful era, was the prevalence of rumors respecting unknown islands casually seen in the ocean. Many of these were mere fables, fabricated to feed the predominant humor of the public; many had their origin in the heated imaginations of voyagers, beholding islands in those summer clouds which lie along the horizon, and often beguile the sailor with the idea of distant lands. On such airy basis, most probably, was founded the story told to Columbus by one Antonio Leone, an inhabitant of Madeira, who affirmed that sailing thence westward one hundred leagues, he had seen three islands at a distance. But the tales ot the kind most positively advanced and zealously maintained, were those related by the people of the Canaries, who were long under a singular optical delusion. They imag¬ ined that, from time to time, they beheld a vast island to the westward, with lofty mountains and deep valleys. Nor was it seen in cloudy and dubious weather, but in those clear days common to tropical climates, and with all the distinctness with which distant objects may be discerned in their pure, trans¬ parent atmosphere. The island, it is true, was only seen at intervals; while at other times, and in the clearest weather, not a vestige of it was to be descried. When it did appear, however, it was always in the same place, and under the same form. So persuaded were the inhabitants of the Canaries of its reality, that application was made to the King of Portugal for permission to discover and take possession of it; and it actually became the object of several expeditions. The island, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 33 however, was never to be found, though it still continued occasionally to cheat the eye. There were all kinds of wild and fantastic notions concerning this imaginary land. Some supposed it to be the Antilla mentioned by Aristotle; others, the Island of Seven Cities, so called from an ancient legend of seven bishops, who, with a multitude of followers, fled from Spain at the time of its conquest by the Moors, and, guided by Heaven to some unknown island in the ocean, founded on it seven splendid cities. While some considered it another legen¬ dary island, on which, it was said, a Scottish priest of the name of St. Brandan, had landed in the sixth century. This last legend passed into current belief. The fancied island was called by the name of St. Brandan, or St. Borondon, and long continued to be actually laid down in maps far to the west of the Canaries.* The same was done with the fabulous island of Antilla; and these erroneous maps and phantom islands have given rise at various times to assertions that the New World had been known prior to the period of its generally reputed discovery. Columbus, however, considers all those appearances of land as mere illusions. He supposes that they may have been caused by rocks lying in the ocean, which, seen at a distance, under certain atmospherical influences may have assumed the appearance of islands; or that they may have been floating islands, such as are mentioned by Pliny and Seneca and others, formed of twisted roots, or of a light and porous stone, and covered with trees, and which may have been driven about the ocean by the winds. The islands of St. Brandan, of Antilla, and of the Seven Cities, have long since proved to be fabulous tales of atmos¬ pherical delusions. Yet the rumors concerning them derive interest, from showing the state of public thought with respect to the Atlantic, while its western regions were yet unknown. They were all noted down with curious care by Columbus, and may have had some influence over his imagination. Still, though of a visionary spirit, his penetrating genius sought in deeper sources for the aliment of its meditations. Aroused by the impulse of passing events, he turned anew, says his son Fernando, to study the geographical authors which he had read before, and to consider the astronomical reasons which might corroborate the theory gradually forming in his mind. * See illustrations, article “Island of St. Brandan.” 34 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Ho made himself acquainted with all that had been written by the ancients, or discovered by the moderns, relative to geog¬ raphy. His own voyages enabled him to correct many of then* errors, and appreciate many of their theories. His genius having thus taken its decided bent, it is interesting to notice from what a mass of acknowledged facts, rational hypotheses, fanciful narrations, and popular rumors, his grand project of discovery was wrought out by the strong workings of his vig¬ orous mind. CHAPTER Y. GROUNDS ON WHICH COLUMBUS FOUNDED IHS BELIEF OF THE EXISTENCE OF UNDISCOVERED LANDS IN THE WEST. It has been attempted, in the preceding chapters, to show how Columbus was gradually kindled up to his grand design by the spirit and events of the times in which he lived. His son Fernando, however, undertakes to furnish the precise data on which his father’s plan of discovery was founded.* “tie does this,” he observes, “to show from what slender argument so great a scheme was fabricated and brought to light; and for the purpose of satisfying those who may desire to know distinctly the circumstances and motives which led his father to undertake this enterprise. ” As this statement was formed from notes and documents found among his father’s papers, it is too curious and interest¬ ing not to deserve particular mention. In this memorandum he arranged the foundation of his father’s theory under three heads: 1. The nature of things. 2. The authority of learned writers. 3. The reports of navigators. Under the first head he set down as a fundamental principle that the earth was a terraqueous sphere or globe, which might be travelled round from east to west, and that men stood foot to foot when on opposite points. The circumference from cast to west, at the equator, Columbus divided, according to Ptole¬ my, into twenty-four hours of fifteen degrees each, making threo hundred and sixty degrees. Of these he imagined, com¬ paring the globe of Ptolemy with the earlier map of Marinus of * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 6, ?, o. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 35 Tyre, that fifteen hours had been known to the ancients, extending from the Straits of Gibraltar, or rather from the Canary Islands, to the city of Thinse in Asia, a place set down as at the eastern limits of the known world. The Portuguese had advanced the western frontier one hour more by the dis¬ covery of the Azores and Cape de Verde Islands. There remained, then, according to the estimation of Columbus, eight hours, or one third of the circumference of the earth, unknown and unexplored. This space might, in a great measure, be filled up by the eastern regions of Asia, which might extend so far as nearly to surround the globe, and to approach the western shores of Europe and Africa. The tract of ocean inter¬ vening between these countries, he observes, would be less than might at first be supposed, if the opinion of Alfraganus, the Arabian, were admitted, who, by diminishing the size of the degrees, gave to the earth a smaller circumference than did other cosmographers; a theory to which Columbus seems at times to have given faith. Granting these premises, it was manifest that, by pursuing a direct course from east to west, a navigator would arrive at the extremity of Asia, and discover any intervening land. Under the second head are named the authors whose writings had weight in convincing him that the intervening ocean could be but of moderate expanse, and easy to be traversed. Among these, he cites the opinion of Aristotle, Seneca, and Pliny, that one might pass from Cadiz to the Indies in a few days; of Strabo, also, who observes, that the ocean surrounds the earth, bathing on the east the shores of India; on the west, the coasts of Spain and Mauritania; so that it is easy to navigate from one to the other on the same parallel.* In corroboration of the idea that Asia, or, as he always terms it, India, stretched far to the east, so as to occupy the greater part of the unexplored space, the narratives are cited of Marco Polo and John Mandeville. These travellers had visited, in the * thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the remote parts of Asia, far beyond the regions laid down by Ptolemy; and their accounts of the extent of that continent to the eastward had a great effect in convincing Columbus that a voyage to the west, of no long duration, would bring him to its shores, or to the extensive and wealthy islands which lie adjacent. The in¬ formation concerning Marco Polo is probably derived from * Sti'ab. Cos. lib. i. ii. 36 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Paulo Toscanelli, a celebrated doctor of Florence, already men¬ tioned, with whom Columbus corresponded in 1474, and who transmitted to him a copy of a letter which he had previously written to Fernando Martinez, a learned canon of Lisbon. This letter maintains the facility of arriving at India by a western course, asserting the distance to be but four thousand miles, in a direct line from Lisbon to the province of Mangi, near Cathay, since determined to be the northern coast of China. Of this country he gives a magnificent description, drawn from the work of Marco Polo. He adds, that in the route lay the islands of Antilla and Cipango, distant from each other only two hundred and twenty-five leagues, abounding in riches, and offering convenient places for ships to touch at, and obtain supplies on the voyage. Under the third head are enumerated various indications of land in the west, which had floated to the shores of the known world. It is curious to observe, how, when once the mind of Columbus had become heated in the inquiry, it attracted to it every corroborating circumstance, however vague and trivial. He appears to have been particularly attentive to the gleams of information derived from veteran mariners, who had been employed in the recent voyages to the African coasts; and also from the inhabitants of lately discovered islands, placed, in a manner, on the frontier posts of geographical knowledge. All these are carefully noted down among his memorandums, to be collocated with the facts and opinions already stored up in his mind. Such, for instance, is the circumstance related to him by Martin Vicenti, a pilot in the service of the King of Portugal; that, after sailing four hundred and fifty leagues to the west of Cape St. Vincent, he had taken from the water a piece of carved wood, which evidently had not been labored with an iron instrument. As the winds had drifted it from the west, it might have come from some unknown land in that direction. Pedro Correo, brother-in-law of Columbus, is likewise cited, as having seen, on the island of Porto Santo, a similar piece of wood, which had drifted from the same quarter. He had heard also from the King of Portugal, that reeds of an immense size had floated to some of those islands from the west, in the de¬ scription of which, Columbus thought he recognized the im¬ mense reeds said by Ptolemy to grow in India. Information is likewise noted, given him by the inhabitants of the Azores, of trunks of huge pine trees, of a kind that did not LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 37 grow upon any of the islands, wafted to their shores by the westerly winds; but especially of the bodies of two dead men, cast upon the island of Flores, whose features differed from those of any known race of people. To these is added the report of a mariner of the port of St. Mary, who asserted that, in the course of a voyage to Ireland, he had seen land to the west, which the ship’s company took for some extreme part of Tartary. Other stories, of a similar kind, are noted, as well as rumors concerning the fancied islands of St. Brandan, and of the Seven Cities, to which, as has already been observed, Columbus gave but little faith. Such is an abstract of the grounds, on which, according to Fernando, his father proceeded from one position to another until he came to the conclusion that there was undiscovered land in the western part of the ocean; that it was attainable; that it was fertile; and finally, that it was inhabited. It is evident that several of the facts herein enumerated must have become known to Columbus after he had formed his opinion, and merely served to strengthen it; still, everything that throws any light upon the process of thought, which led to so great an event, is of the highest interest; and the chain of deductions here furnished, though not perhaps the most logical in its concatenation, yet, being extracted from the papers of Columbus himself, remains one of the most interesting docu¬ ments in the history of the human mind. On considering the statement attentively, it is apparent that the grand argument which induced Columbus to his enterprise was that placed under the first head, namely, that the most eastern part of Asia known to the ancients could not be sepa¬ rated from the Azores by more than a -third of the circumfer¬ ence of the globe; that the intervening space must, in a great measure, be filled up by thd unknown residue of Asia; and that, if the circumference of the world was, as he believed, less than was generally supposed, the Asiatic shores could easily be at¬ tained by a moderate voyage to the west. It is singular how much the success of this great undertaking* depended upon two happy errors, the imaginary extent of Asia to the east, and the supposed smallness of the earth * both errors of the most learned and profound philosophers, but with¬ out which Columbus would hardly have ventured upon his en¬ terprise. As to the idea of finding land by sailing directly to the west, it is at present so familiar to our minds, as in some measure to diminish the merits of the first conception, and the 38 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. hardihood of the first attempt; but in those days, as has been observed, the circumference of the earth was yet unknown; no one could tell whether the ocean were not of immense extent, impossible to be traversed; nor were the laws of specific grav¬ ity and of central gravitation ascertained, by which, granting the rotundity of the earth, the possibility of making the tour of it would be manifest.* The practicability, therefore, of find¬ ing land by sailing to the west, was one of those mysteries of nature which are considered incredible while matters of mere speculation, but the simplest things imaginable when they have once been ascertained. When Columbus had formed his theory, it became fixed in his mind with singular firmness, and influenced his entire character and conduct. He never spoke in doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty as if his eyes had beheld the prom¬ ised land. No trial nor disappointment could divert him from the steady pursuit of his object. A deep religious sentiment mingled with his meditations, and gave them at times a tinge of superstition, but it was of a sublime and lofty kind; he looked upon himself as standing in the hand of Heaven, chosen from among men for the accomplishment of its high purpose; he read, as he supposed, his contemplated discovery foretold in Holy Writ, and shadowed forth darkly in the mystic revela¬ tions of the prophets. The ends of the earth were to be brought together, and all nations and tongues and languages united under the banners of the Redeemer. This was to be the trium¬ phant consummation of his enterprise, bringing the remote and unknown regions of the earth into communion with Christian Europe; carrying the light of the true faith into benighted and pagan lands, and gathering their countless nations under the holy dominion of the church. The enthusiastic nature of his conceptions gave an elevation to his spirit, and a dignity and loftiness to his whole demeanor. He conferred with sovereigns almost with a feeling of equality. His views were princely and unbounded; his proposed discov- '"*y was of empires; his conditions were proportionally magni¬ ficent; nor would he ever, even after long delays, repeated ' disappointments, and under the pressure of actual penury, abate what appeared to be extravagant demands for a mere possible discovery. * Malte-Brun, Geographie Umverselle, tom. xiv. Note sur le Dueouverte de 1’Amerique. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 39 Those who could not conceive how an ardent and comprehen¬ sive genius could arrive, by presumptive evidence, at so firm a conviction, sought for other modes of accounting for it. When the glorious result had established the correctness of the opinion of Columbus, attempts were made to prove that he had obtained previous information of the lands which he pre¬ tended to discover. Among these was an idle tale of a tempest- tossed pilot, said to have died in his house, bequeathing him written accounts of an unknown land in the west, upon which he had been driven by adverse winds. This story, according to Fernando Columous, nad no other foundation than one of the popular tales about the shadowy island of St. Brandan, which a Portuguese captain, returning from Guinea, fancied he had beheld beyond Madeira. It circulated for a time in idle rumor, altered and shaped to suit their purposes, by such as sought to tarnish the glory of Columbus. At length it found its way into print, and has been echoed by various historians, varying with every narration, and full of contradictions and improbabilities. * An assertion has also been made, that Columbus was pre¬ ceded in his discoveries by Martin Behem, a contemporary cos- mographer, who, it was said, had landed accidentally on the coast of South America, in the course of an African expedition; and that it was with the assistance of a map or globe, projected by Behem, on which was laid down the newly-discovered coun¬ try, that Columbus made his voyage. This rumor originated in an absurd misconstruction of a Latin manuscript, and was unsupported bv any documents; yet it has had its circulation, and has even been revived not many years since, with more zeal than discretion; but is now completely refuted and put to rest. The land visited by Behem was the coast of Africa beyond the equator; the globe he projected was finished in 1492, while Columbus was absent on his first voyage: it contains no trace of the New World, and thus furnishes conclusive proof that its existence was yet unknown to Behem. f There is a certain meddlesome spirit, which, in the garb of learned research, goes prying about the traces of history, cast¬ ing down its monuments, and marring and mutilating its fair¬ est trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition. It defeats one of the most sal- * See illustrations, article “ Rumor concerning the Pilot who died in the House of Columbus.” t See illustrations, article ” Behem.” 40 LIFE OF CURISTOPIIEU COLUMBUS. utary purposes of history, that of furnishing examples of what human genius and laudable enterprise may accomplish. For this purpose some pains have been taken in the preceding chapters to trace the rise and progress of this grand idea in the mind of Columbus; to show that it was the conception of his genius, quickened by the impulse of the age, and aided by those scattered gleams of knowledge which fell ineffectually upon ordinary minds. CHAPTER VI. CORRESPONDENCE OF COLUMBUS WITH PAULO TOSCANELLX — EVENTS IN PORTUGAL RELATIVE TO DISCOVERIES—PROPOSITION OF COLUMBUS TO THE PORTUGUESE COURT—DEPARTURE FROM PORTUGAL. It is impossible to determine the precise time when Colum¬ bus first conceived the design of seeking a western route to India. It is certain, however, that he meditated it as early as the year 1474, though as yet it lay crude and unmatured in his mind. This fact, which is of some importance, is sufficiently established by the correspondence already mentioned with the learned Toscanelli of Florence, which took place in the summer of that year. The letter of Toscanelli is in reply to one from Columbus, and applauds the design which he had expressed of making a voyage to the west. To demonstrate more. clearly the facility of arriving at India in that direction, he sent him a map projected partly according to Ptolemy, and partly ac¬ cording to the descriptions of Marco Polo, the Venetian. The eastern coast of Asia was depicted in front of the western coasts of Africa and Europe, with a moderate space of ocean between them, in which were placed at convenient distances Cipango, Antilla, and the other islands.* Columbus was greatly animated by the letter and chart of Toscanelli, who was considered one of the ablest cosmographers of the day. He appears to have procured the work of Marco Polo, which * This map, by which Columbus sailed on his first voyage of discovery, Las Casas, (lib. i. cap 12) says he had in his possession at the time of writing his history. It ts greatly to be regretted that so interesting a document should be lost. It may fet exist among the chaotic lumber of the Spanish archives. Few documents of mere curiosity would be more precis— LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 43 had been translated into various languages, and existed in man¬ uscript in most libraries. This author gives marvellous ac¬ counts of the riches of the realms of Cathay and Mangi, or Mangu, since ascertained to be Northern and Southern China, on the coast of which, according to the map of Toscanelli, a voy¬ ager sailing directly west would be sure to arrive. He describes in unmeasured terms the power and grandeur of the sove¬ reign of these countries, the Great Khan of Tartary, and the splendor and magnitude of his capitals of Cambalu and Quinsai, and the wonders of the island of Cipango or Zipangi, supposed to be Japan. This island he places opposite Cathay, five hun¬ dred leagues in the ocean. He represents it as abounding in gold, precious stones, and other choice objects of commerce, with a monarch whose palace was roofed with plates of gold in¬ stead of lead. The narrations of this traveller were by some con¬ sidered fabulous; but though full of what appear to be splendid exaggerations, they have since been found substantially cor¬ rect. They are thus particularly noted, from the influence they had over the imagination of Columbus. The work of Marco Polo is a key to many parts of his history. In his applications to the various courts, he represented the countries he expected to discover as those regions of inexhaustible wealth which the Venetian had described. The territories of the Grand Khan were the objects of inquiry in all his voyages; and in his cruis- ings among the Antilles he was continually flattering himself with the hopes of arriving at the opulent island of Cipango, and the coasts of Mangi and Cathay * While the design of attempting the discovery in the west was maturing in the mind of Columbus, he made a voyage to the north of Europe. Of this we have no other memorial than the following passage, extracted by his son from one of his let¬ ters: “In the year 1477, in February, I navigated one hundred leagues beyond Thule, the southern part of which is seventy- three degrees distant from the equator, and not sixty-three, as some pretend; neither is it situated within the line which in¬ cludes the west of Ptolemy, but is much more westerly. The English, principally those of Bristol, go with their merchandise to this island, which is as large as England. When I was there the sea was not frozen, and the tides were so great as to rise and fail twenty-six fathom, ”f * A more particular account of Marco Polo and his writings is given among iha illustrations. + Hist. del Almirante, tap, % 44 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. The island thus mentioned is generally supposed to have been Iceland, which is far to the west of the Ultima Thule of the ancients, as laid down in the map of Ptolemy. Several more years elapsed, without any decided efforts on the part of Columbus to carry his design into execution. He was too poor to fit out the armament necessary for so important an expedition. Indeed it was an enterprise only to be under¬ taken in the employ of some sovereign state, which could assume dominion over the territories he might discover, and reward him with dignities and privileges commensurate to his services. It is asserted that he at one time endeavored to en¬ gage his native country, Genoa, in the undertaking, but with¬ out success. No record remains of such an attempt, though it is generally believed, and has strong probability in its favor. His residence in Portugal placed him at hand to solicit the patronage of that power, but Alphonso, who was then on the throne, was too much engrossed in the latter part of his reign with a war with Spain, for the succession of the Princess Juana to the crown of Castile, to engage in peaceful enterprises of an expensive nature. The public mind, also, was not prepared for so perilous an undertaking. Notwithstanding the many recent voyages to the coast of Africa and the adjacent islands, and the introduction of the compass into more general use, navigation was still shackled with impediments, and the mariner rarely ventured far out of sight of land. Discovery advanced slowly along the coasts of Africa, and the mariners feared to cruise far into the southern hemisphere, with the stars of which they were totally unacquainted. To such men, the project of a voyage directly westward, into the midst of that boundless waste, to seek some visionary land,, ap¬ peared as extravagant as it would be at the present day to . launch forth in a balloon into the regions of space in quest of some distant star. The time, however, was at hand, that was to extend the sphere of navigation. The era was propitious to the quick ad¬ vancement of knowledge. The recent invention of the art of printing enabled men to communicate rapidly and extensively their ideas and discoveries. It drew forth learning from libra¬ ries and convents, and brought it familiarly to the reading-desk of the student. Volumes of information, which before had ex¬ isted only in costly manuscripts, carefully treasured up, and kept out of the reach of the indigent scholar and obscure ar¬ tist, were now in every hand. There was henceforth to be no LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 45 retrogression in knowledge, nor any pause in its career. Every step in advance was immediately, and simultaneously, and widely promulgated, recorded in a thousand forms, and fixed forever. There could never again he a dark age; nations might shut their eyes to the light, and sit in wilful darkness, hut they could not trample it out; it would still shine on, dis¬ pensed to happier parts of the world, by the diffusive powers of the press. At this juncture, in 1481, a monarch ascended the throne of Portugal, of different ambition from Alphonso. John II., then in the twenty-fifth year of his age, had imbibed the passion for discovery from his grand-uncle, Prince Henry, and with his reign all its activity revived. His first care was to build a fort at St. George de la Mina, on the coast of Guinea, to protect the trade carried on in that neighborhood for gold dust, ivory, and slaves. The African discoveries had conferred great glory upon Portugal, but as yet they had been expensive rather than pro¬ fitable. The accomplishment of the route to India, however, it was expected would repay all cost and toil, and open a source of incalculable wealth to the nation. The project of Prince Henry, which had now been tardily prosecuted for half a centu¬ ry, had excited a curiosity about the remote parts of Asia, and revived all the accounts, true and fabulous, of travellers. Besides the work of Marco Polo, already mentioned, there was the narrative of Rabbi Benjamin ben Jonah, of Tudela, a Spanish Jew, who set out from Saragossa in 1173, to visit the scattered remnants of the Hebrew tribes. Wandering with unwearied zeal on this pious errand, over most parts of the known world, he penetrated China, and passed thence to the southern islands of Asia.* There were also the narratives of Carpini and Ascelin, two friars, dispatched, the one in 1216, the other in 1247, by Pope Innocent IV., as apostolic ambassadors, for the purpose of converting the Grand Khan of Tartary; and the journal of William Rubruquis (or Ruysbroek), a celebrated Cordelier, sent on a similar errand in 1253, by Louis IX., of France, then on his unfortunate crusade into Palestine. These pious but chimerical missions had proved abortive; but the narratives of them being revived in the fifteenth century, * Bergeron, Voyages en Asie, tom. i. The work of Benjamin of Tudela, originally written in Hebrew, was so much in repute, that the translation tvent through six leen editions. Andres, Hist. B. Let., ii. cap. G. 46 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. served to inflame the public curiosity respecting the remote parts of Asia. In these narratives we first find mention made of the re- % nowned Prester John, a Christian king, said to hold sway in a remote part of the East, who was long an object of curiosity and research, but whose kingdom seemed to shift its situation in the tale of every traveller, and to vanish from the search as effectually as the unsubstantial island of St. Brandan. All the speculations concerning this potentate and his Oriental realm were again put in circulation. It was fancied that traces of his empire were discovered in the interior of Africa, to the east of Benin, where there was a powerful prince, who used a cross among the insignia of royalty. John II. partoon largely of the popular excitement produced by these narrations. In the early part of his reign he actually sent missions in quest of Prestor John, to visit whose dominions became the romantic desire of many a religious enthusiast.* The magnificent idea lie had formed of the remote parts of the East made him ex- tremely anxious that the splendid project of Prince Henry should be realized, and the Portuguese flag penetrate to the Indian seas. Impatient of the slowness with which his dis¬ coveries advanced along the coast of Africa, and of the impedi¬ ments which every cape and promontory presented to nautical enterprise, he called in the aid of science to devise some means by which greater scope and certainty might be given to navi¬ gation. His two physicians, Eodengo and Joseph, the latter a Jew, the most able astronomers and cosmographers of his king¬ dom, together with the celebrated Martin Behem, entered into a learned consultation on the subject. The result of their conferences and labors was the application of the astrolabe to navigation, enabling the seaman, by the altitude of the sun, to ascertain his distance from the equator, f This instrument has since been improved and modified into the modern quadrant, of which, even at its first introduction, it possessed all the es¬ sential advantages. It is impossible to describe the effect produced upon naviga¬ tion by this invention. It cast it loose at once from its long bondage to the land, and set it free to rove the deep. The mariner now, instead of coasting the shores like the ancient navigators, and, if driven from the land, groping his way back in doubt and apprehension by the uncertain guidance of the * See illustrations, article “Prester John.” t Barros, decad. 1, lib. iv. cap. 2. Maffei, lib. vi. d. 6 and 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 47 stars, might adventure boldly into unknown seas, confident of being able to trace his course by means of the compass and the astrolabe. It was shortly after this event, which had prepared guides for discovery across the trackless ocean, that Columbus made the first attempt, of which we have any clear and indisputable record, to procure royal patronage for his enterprise. The court of Portugal had shown extraordinary liberality in re¬ warding nautical discovery. Most of those who had succeeded in her service had been appointed to the government of the islands and countries they had discovered, although many of them were foreigners by birth. Encouraged by this liberality, and by the anxiety evinced by King John II. to accomplish a passage by sea to India, Columbus obtained an audience of that monarch, and proposed, in case the king would furnish him with ships and men, to undertake a shorter and more direct route than that along the coast of Africa. His plan was to strike directly to the west, across the Atlantic. He then un¬ folded his hypothesis with respect to the extent of Asia, describ- . ing also the immense riches of the island of Cipango, the first land at which he expected to arrive. Of this audience we have two accounts, written in somewhat of an opposite spirit; one by his son Fernando, the other by Joam de Barros, the Portu¬ guese historiographer. It is curious to notice the different views taken of the same transaction by the enthusiastic son, and by the cool, p rhaps prejudiced, historian. The king, according to Fernando, listened to his father with * great attention, but was discouraged from engaging in any new scheme of the kind, by the cost and trouble already sustained in exploring the route by the African coast, which as yet re¬ mained unaccomplished. His father, however, supported his proposition by such excellent reasons, that the king was in¬ duced to give his consent. The only difficulty that remained ■was the terms; for Columbus, being a man of lofty and noble sentiments, demanded high and honorable titles and rewards, to the end, says Fernando, that he might leave behind him a name and family worthy of his deeds and merits.* Barros, on the other hand, attributes the seeming acquiescence of the king, merely to the importunities of Columbus. He con¬ sidered him, says the historian, a vainglorious man, fond of displaying his abilities, and given to fantastic fancies, such as Hist, del Almirrmte, cap. 10, 48 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. that respecting the island of Cipango.* But in fact, this idea of Columbus being vain, was taken up by the Portuguese writers in after years; and as to the island of Cipango, it was far from being considered chimerical by the king, who, as has been shown by his mission in search of Prester John, was a ready believer in these travellers’ tales concerning the East. The reasoning of Columbus must have produced an effect on the mind of the monarch, since it is certain that he referred the proposition to a learned junto, charged with all matters relat¬ ing to maritime discovery. This junto was composed of two able cosmographers, mas¬ ters Poderigo and Joseph, and the king’s confessor, Diego Ortiz de Cazadilla, bishop of Ceuta, a man greatly reputed for his learning, a Castilian by birth, and generally called Cazadilla, from the name of his native place. This scientific body treated the project as extravagant and visionary. Still the king does not appear to have been satisfied. Accord¬ ing to his historian Vasconcelos,f he convoked his council, composed of prelates and persons of the greatest learning in the kingdom, and asked their advice, whether to adopt this new route of discovery, or to pursue that which they had al¬ ready opened. It may not be deemed superfluous to notice briefly the dis¬ cussion of the council on this great question. Vasconcelos reports a speech of the Bishop of Ceuta, in which he not only objected to the proposed enterprise, as destitute of reason, but even discountenanced any further prosecution of the African discoveries. “They tended,” he said, “to distract the atten¬ tion, drain the resources, and divide the power of the nation, already too much weakened by recent war and pestilence. While their forces were thus scattered abroad on remote and unprofitable expeditions, they exposed themselves to attack from their active enemy the King of Castile. The greatness of mon- archs,” he continued, “did not arise so much from the extent of their dominions, as from the wisdom and ability with which they governed. In the Portuguese nation it would be madness to launch into enterprises without first considering them in connection with its means. The king had already sufficient undertakings in hand of certain advantage, without engaging in others of a wild, chimerical nature. If he wished employ- *Barros, Asia, decad. 1, lib. iii. cap. 2. t Vasconcelos, Vida del Rey Don Juan II., lib. iv. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 49 % ment for the active valor of the nation, the war in which he was engaged against the Moors of Barbary was sufficient, wherein his triumphs were of solid advantage, tending to crip¬ ple and enfeeble those neighboring foes, who had proved them¬ selves so dangerous when possessed of power.” This cool and cautious speech of the Bishop of Ceuta, directed against enterprises which were the glory of the Portuguese, touched the national pride of Don Pedro de Meneses, Count of Villa Peal, and drew from him a lofty and patriotic reply. It has been said by an historian that this reply was in support of the proposition of Columbus; but that does not clearly appear. He may have treated the proposal with respect, but his elo¬ quence was employed for those enterprises in which the Portu¬ guese were already engaged. “Portugal,” he observed, “was not in its infancy, nor were its princes so poor as to lack means to engage in discoveries. Even granting that those proposed by Columbus were conjec¬ tural, why should they abandon those commenced by their late Prince Henry, on such solid foundations, and prosecuted with such happy prospects? Crowns,” he observed, ‘‘ enriched them¬ selves by commerce, fortified themselves by alliance, and acquired empires by conquest. The views of a nation could not always be the same; they extended with its opulence and pros¬ perity. Portugal was at peace with all the princes of Europe. It had nothing to fear from engaging in an extensive enterprise. It would be the greatest glory for Portuguese valor to penetrate into the secrets and horrors of the ocean sea, so formidable to the other nations of the world. Thus occupied, it would escape the idleness engendered in a long interval of peace—idleness, that source of vice, that silent file, which, little by little, wore away the strength and valor of a nation. It was an affront,” he added, “ to the Portuguese name to menace it with imagina¬ ry perils, when it had proved itself so intrepid in encountering those which were most certain and tremendous. Great souls were formed for great enterprises. He wondered much that a prelate, so religious as the Bishop of Ceuta, should oppose this undertaking; the ultimate object of which was to augment the Catholic faith, and spread it from pole to pole; reflecting glory on the Portuguese nation, and yielding empire and lasting fame to its princes.” He concluded by declaring that, “although a soldier, he dared to prognosticate, with a voice and spirit as if from heaven, to whatever prince should achieve this enter¬ prise, more happy success and durable renown than had ever 50 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ' been obtained by sovereign the most valorous and fortunate.” * The warm and generous eloquence of the count overpowered the cold-spirited reasonings of the bishop as far as the project of circumnavigating Africa was concerned, which was prose¬ cuted with new ardor and triumphant success: the proposition of Columbus, however, was generally condemned by the council. Seeing that King John still manifested an inclination for the enterprise, it was suggested to him by the Bishop of Ceuta that Columbus might be kept in suspense while a vessel secretly dispatched in the direction he should point out might ascertain whether there were any foundation for his theory. By this means all its advantages might be secured, without committing the dignity of the crown by formal negotiations about what might prove a mere chimera. King John, in an evil hour, had the weakness to permit a stratagem so inconsistent with his usual justice and magnanimity. Columbus was required to furnish for the consideration of the council a detailed plan of his proposed voyage, with tne charts and documents according to which he intended to shape his course. These being pro¬ cured, a caravel was dispatched with the ostensible design of carrying provisions to the Cape de Verde islands, but with pri¬ vate instructions to pursue the designated route. Departing from those islands the caravel stood westward for severed days, until the weather became stormy; when the pilots, seeing nothing but an immeasurable waste of wild, tumbling waves still extending before them, lost all courage and put back, ridi¬ culing the project of Columbus as extravagant and irrational. + This unworthy attempt to defraud him of his enterprise roused the indignation of Columbus, and he declined all offers of King John to renew the negotiation. The death of his wife, which had occurred some time previously, had dissolved the domestic tie which bound him to Portugal; he determined, therefore, to abandon a country where he had been treated with so little faith, and to look elsewhere for patronage. Before Iris departure, he engaged his brother Bartholomew to carry pro¬ posals to the King of England, though he does not appear to have entertained great hope from that quarter; England by no means possessing at the time the spirit of nautical enterprise which has since distinguished her. The great reliance of Co¬ lumbus was on his own personal exertions. * Vasconcelos, lib. iv. La Clede, Hist. Portugal, lib. xiii. torn. i\i. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 8. Herrera, decad. 1. lib. i. cap. 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER C0LU1RUS. 51 It was toward the end of 1484 that he left Lisbon, taking with him his son Diego. His departure had to be conducted with secrecy, lest, as some assert, it should be prevented by King John; but lest, as others surmise, it should be prevented by his creditors.* Like many other great projectors, while engaged upon schemes of vast benefit to mankind, he had suffered his own affairs to go to ruin, and was reduced to struggle hard with poverty; nor is it one of the least interesting circumstances in his eventful life, that he had, in a manner, to beg his way from court to court, to offer to princes the discovery of a world. * This surmise is founded on a letter from King John to Columbus, written some years afterward, inviting him to return to Portugal, and insuring him against, arrest on account of any process, civil or criminal, which might be pending against him. See Kavarrete, Cohen, tom, ii. doc. 3. __ „ - BOOK II. CHAPTER I. PROCEEDINGS OF COLUMBUS AFTER LEAVING PORTUGAL — HIS APPLICATIONS IN SPAIN — CHARACTERS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. [1485.] The immediate movements of Columbus on leaving Portugal are involved in uncertainty. It is said that about this time he made a proposition of his enterprise, in person, as he had formerly done by letter, to the government of Genoa. The republic, however, was in a languishing decline, and embar¬ rassed by a foreign war. Caffa, her great deposit in the Cri¬ mea, had fallen into the hands of the Turks, and her flag was on the point of being driven from the Archipelago. Her spirit was broken with her fortunes; for with nations, as with individ¬ uals, enterprise is the child of prosperity, and is apt to languish in evil days when there is most need of its exertion. Thus Genoa, disheartened by her reverses, shut her ears to the pro¬ position of Columbus, which might have elevated her to ten¬ fold splendor, and perpetuated within her grasp the golden wand of commerce. While at Genoa, Columbus is said to have made arrangements out of his scanty means for the comfort of his aged father. It is also affirmed that about this time he car¬ ried his proposal to Venice, where it was declined on account of the critical state of national affairs. This, however, is merely traditional, and unsupported by documentary evidence. The first firm and indisputable trace we have of Columbus after leav¬ ing Portugal is in the south of Spain, in 1485, where we find him seeking his fortune among the Spanish nobles, several of whom had vast possessions, and exercised almost independent sovereignty in their domains. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 53 Foremost among these were the dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, who had estates like principalities lying along the sea-coast, with ports and shipping and hosts of retainers at their command. They served the crown in its Moorish wars more as allied princes than as vassals, bringing armies into the field led by themselves, or by captains of their own appoint¬ ment. Their domestic establishments were on almost a regal scale; their palaces were filled with persons of merit, and young cavaliers of noble birth, to be reared under their auspices, in the exercise of arts and arms. Columbus had many interviews with the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who was tempted for a time by the slendid prospects held out; but their very splendor threw a coloring of improba¬ bility over the enterprise, and he finally rejected it as the dream of an Italian visionary. The Duke of Medina Celi was likewise favorable at the outset. He entertained Columbus for some time in his house, and was actually on the point of granting him three or four caravels which lay ready for sea in his harbor of Port St. Mary, oppo¬ site Cadiz, when he suddenly changed his mind, deterred by the consideration that the enterprise, if successful, would involve discoveries too important to be grasped by any but a sovereign power, and that the Spanish government might be displeased at his undertaking it on his own account. Finding, however, that Columbus intended to make his next application to the King of France, and loath that an enterprise of such impor¬ tance should be lost to Spain, the duke wrote to Queen Isabella recommending it strongly to her attention. The queen made a favorable reply, and requested that Columbus might be sent to her. He accordingly set out for the Spanish court, then at Cordova, bearing a letter to the queen from the duke, soliciting that, in case the expedition should be carried into effect, he might have a share in it, and the fitting out of the armament from his port of St. Mary, as a recompense for having waived the enterprise in favor of the crown.” * The tune when Columbus thus sought his fortunes at the * Letter of the Duke of Medina Celi to the grand cardinal. Navarrete, Collect, vol. ii. p. 20. N.B.—In the previous editions of this work, the first trace we have of Columbus in Spain is at the gate of the convent of La Rabida, in Andalusia. Subsequent investigations have induced me to conform to the opinion of the indefatigable and accurate Navarrete, given in his third volume of documents, that the first trace of Columbus in Spain was his application to the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, and that his visit to the convent of La Rabida was some few years subsequent, 54 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. court of Spain coincided with one of the most brilliant periods of the Spanish monarchy. The union of the kingdoms of Arra- gon and Castile, by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, had consolidated the Christian power in the Peninsula, and put an end to those internal feuds which had so long distracted the country, and insured the domination of the Moslems. The whole force of united Spain was now exerted in the chivalrous enterprise of the Moorish conquest. The Moors, who had once spread over the whole country like an inundation, were now pent up within the mountain boundaries of the kingdom of Granada. The victorious armies of Ferdinand and Isabella were continual¬ ly advancing, and pressing this fierce people within narrower limits. Under these sovereigns, the various petty kingdoms of Spain began to feel and act as one nation, and to rise to eminence in arts as well as arms. Ferdinand and Isabella, it has been re¬ marked, lived together not like man and wife, whose estates are common, under the orders of the husband, but like two monarchs strictly allied. * They had- separate claims to sovereignty, in vir¬ tue of their respective kingdoms; they had separate councils, and were often distant from each other in different parts of their em¬ pire, each exercising the royal authority. Yet they were so hap¬ pily united by common views, common interests, and a great deference for each other, that this double administration never prevented a unity of purpose and of action. All acts of sover¬ eignty were executed in both their names; all public writings were subscribed with both their signatures; their likenesses were stamped together on the public coin; and the royal seal dis¬ played the united arms of Castile and Arragon. Ferdinand was of the middle stature, well proportioned, and hardy and active from athletic exercise. ITis carriage was free, erect, and majestic. He had a clear, serene forehead, which appeared more lofty from his head being partly bald. His eyebrows were large and parted, and, like his hair, of a bright chestnut; his eyes were clear and animated; his com¬ plexion was somewhat ruddy, and scorched by the toils of Avar; ? his mouth moderate, well formed, and gracious in its expres¬ sion; his teeth white, though small and irregular; his voice sharp; his speech quick and fluent. His genius Avas clear and comprehensive; his judgment grave and certain. He was simple in dress and diet, equable in his temper, devout in his religion, and so indefatigable in business, that it was said he * Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, etc. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 55 seemed to repose himself by working. He was a great obser¬ ver and judge of men, and unparalleled in the science of the cabinet. Such is the picture given of him by the Spanish his¬ torians of his time. It has been added, however, that he had more of bigotry than religion; that his ambition was craving rather than magnanimous; that he made war less like a pala¬ din than a prince, less for glory than mere dominion; and that his policy was cold, selfish, and artful. He was called the wise and prudent in Spain; in Italy, the pious; in France and Eng¬ land, the ambitious and perfidious. * He certainly was one of the most subtle statesmen, but one of the most thorough ego¬ tists that ever sat upon a throne. While giving his picture, it may not be deemed impertinent to sketch the fortunes of a monarch whose policy had such an effect upon the history of Columbus and the destinies of the New World. Success attended all his measures. Though a younger son, he had ascended the throne of Arragon by in¬ heritance; Castile he obtained by marriage; Granada and Naples by conquest; and he seized upon Navarre as appertain¬ ing to any one who could take possession of it, when Pope Ju¬ lius II. excommunicated its sovereigns, Juan and Catalina, and gave their throne to the first occupant, f He sent his forces into Africa, and subjugated or reduced to vassalage Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and most of the Barbary powers. A new world was also given to him, without cost, by the discoveries of Columbus, for the expense of the enterprise was borne exclu¬ sively by his consort Isabella. He had three objects at heart from the commencement of his reign, which he pursued with bigoted and persecuting zeal: the conquest of the Moors, the expulsion of the Jews, and the establishment of the Inquisition in liis dominions. He accomplished them all, and was re¬ warded by Pope Innocent VIII. with the appellation of Most Catholic Majesty—a title which his successors have tenaciously retained. Contemporary writers have been enthusiastic in their descrip¬ tions of Isabella, but time has sanctioned their eulogies. She is one of the purest and most beautiful characters in the pages of history. She was well formed, of the middle size, with great dignity and gracefulness of deportment, and a mingled gravity * Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, etc., t Pedro Salazar di Mendoza, Monarq. de Esp. lib. iii. cap. 5. (Madrid, 1770, tom. i. p. 402.) Gonzalo de Illescas, Hist. Pontif. lib. vi. cap. 23, § 3. 56 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and sweetness of demeanor. Her complexion was fair; her hail auburn, inclining to red; her eyes were of a clear blue, with a benign expression, and there was a singular modesty in her countenance, gracing, as it did, a wonderful firmness of purpose and earnestness of spirit. Though strongly attached to her hus¬ band and studious of his fame, yet she always maintained her distinct rights as an allied prince. She exceeded him in beauty, in personal dignity, in acuteness of genius, and in grandeur of soul.* Combining the active and resolute qualities of man with the softer charities of woman, she mingled in the warlike coun¬ cils of her husband, engaged personally in his enterprises,! and in some instances surpassed him in the firmness and intrepidity of her measures; while, being inspired with a truer idea of glory, she infused a more lofty and generous temper into his subtle and calculating policy. It is in the civil history of their reign, however, that the char¬ acter of Isabella .shines most illustrious. Her fostering and maternal care was continually directed to reform the laws, and heal the ills engendered by a long course of internal wars. She loved her people, and while diligently seeking their good, she mitigated, as much as possible, the harsh measures of her hus¬ band, directed to the same end, but inflamed by a mistaken zeal. Thus, though almost bigoted in her piety, and perhaps too much under the influence of ghostly advisers, still she was hostile to every measure calculated to advance religion at the expense of humanity. She strenuously opposed the expulsion of the Jews and the establishment of the Inquisition, though, unfor¬ tunately for Spain, her repugnance was slowly vanquished by her confessors. She was always an advocate for clemency to the Moors, although she was the soul of the war against Granada. She considered that war essential to protect the Christian faith, and to relieve her subjects from fierce and formidable enemies. While all her public thoughts and acts were princely and august, her private habits were simple, frugal, and unostentatious. In the intervals of state business, she assembled round her the ablest men in literature and science, and directed herself by their counsels, in promoting letters and arts. Through her pa¬ tronage, Salamanca rose to that height which it assumed among the learned institutions of the age. She promoted the distribu- * Garibay, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. lib. xviii. cap. 1. + Several suits of armor cap-a-pie , worn by Isabella, and still preserved in the royal arsenal at Madrid, show that she was exposed to personal danger in her cam¬ paigns. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 57 tion of honors and rewards for the promulgation of knowledge; she fostered the art of printing recently invented, and encour¬ aged the establishment of presses in every part of the kingdom; books were admitted free of all duty, and more, we are told, were printed in Spain, at that early period of the art, than in the present literary age.* It is wonderful how much the destinies of countries depend at times upon the virtues of individuals, and how it is given to great spirits by combining, exciting, and directing the latent powers of a nation, to stamp it, as it were, with their own great¬ ness. Such beings realize the idea of guardian angels, appointed by Heaven to watch over the destinies of empires. Such had been Prince Henry for the kingdom of Portugal; and such was now for Spain the illustrious Isabella. CHAPTER II. COLUMBUS AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. When Columbus arrived at Cordova he was given in charge to Alonzo de Quintanilla, comptroller of the treasury of Cas¬ tile, but was disappointed in his expectation of receiving im¬ mediate audience from the queen. He found the city in all the bustle of military preparation. It was a critical juncture of the war. The rival kings of Granada, Muley, Boabdii the uncle, and Mohammed Boabdii the nephew, had just formed a coalition, and their league called for prompt and vigorous measures. All the chivalry of Spain had been summoned to the field; the streets of Cordova echoed to the tramp of steed and sound of trumpet, as day by day the nobles arrived with their re¬ tainers, vying with each other in the number of their troops and the splendor of their appointments. The court was like a military camp; the king and queen were surrounded by the flower of Spanish chivalry; by those veteran cavaliers who had distinguished themselves in so many hardy conflicts with the Moors, and by the prelates and friars who mingled in martial council, and took deep interest and agency in this war of the Faith. * Elogio de la Reina Gatholica, por Diego Clemeuoiii. Madrid, 1821. 58 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. This was an unpropitious moment to urge a suit like that of Columbus. In fact the sovereigns had not a moment of leisure throughout this eventful year. Early in the spring, the king marched off to lay siege to the Moorish city of Loxa; and though the queen remained at Cordova, she was continually employed in forwarding troops and supplies to the army, and, at the same time, attending to the multiplied exigencies of civil government. On the 12th of June she repaired to the camp, then engaged in the siege of Moclin, and both sovereigns remained for some time in the Vega of Granada, prosecuting the war with unremitting vigor. They had barely returned to Cordova to celebrate their victories by public rejoicings, when they were obliged to set out for Galiicia, to suppress a rebel¬ lion of the Count of Lemos. Thence they repaired to Sala¬ manca for the winter. During the summer and autumn of this year Columbus re¬ mained at Cordova, a guest in the house of Alonzo de Quinta¬ nilla, who proved a warm advocate of his theory. Through his means he became acquainted with Antonio Geraldini, the pope’s nuncio, and his brother Alexander Geraldini, precep¬ tor to the younger children of Ferdinand and Isabella; both valuable friends about court. Wherever he obtained a candid hearing from intelligent auditors, the dignity of his manners, his earnest sincerity, the elevation of his views, and the practi¬ cal shrewdness of his demonstrations, commanded respect even where they failed to produce conviction. While thus lingering in idle suspense in Cordova, he became attached to a lady of the city, Beatrix Euriquez by name, of a noble family, though in reduced circumstances. Their con¬ nection was not sanctioned by marriage; yet he cherished sentiments of respect and tenderness for her to his dying day. She was the mother of his second son, Fernando, born in the following year (1487), whom he always treated on terms of per¬ fect equality with his legitimate son Diego, and who, after his death, became his historian. In the winter Columbus followed the court to Salamanca. Here his zealous friend, Alonzo de Quintanilla, exerted his in¬ fluence to obtain for him the countenance of the celebrated Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo, and Grand Cardinal of Spain. This was the most important personage about the court; and was facetiously called by Peter Martyr, the “third king of Spain.” The king and queen had him al¬ ways by their side in peace and war. He accompanied them LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 59 in their campaigns, and they never took- any measure of con¬ sequence without consulting him. He was a man of sound judgment and quick intellect, eloquent in conversation, and able- in the dispatch of business. His appearance was lofty and venerable; he was simple yet curiously nice in his apparel, and of gracious and gentle deportment. Though an elegant scholar, yet, like many learned men of his day, he was but little skilled in cosmography. When the theory of Columbus was first mentioned to him, it struck him as involving heterodox opin¬ ions, incompatible with the form of the earth as described in the Sacred Scriptures. Further explanations had their force with a man of his quick apprehension and sound sense. He perceived that at any rate there could be nothing irreligious in attempting to extend the bounds of human knowledge, and to ascertain the works of creation: his scruples once removed, he permitted Columbus to be introduced to him, and gave him a courteous reception. The latter knew the importance of his auditor, and that a conference with the grand cardinal was al¬ most equivalent to a communication with the throne; he exerted himself to the utmost, therefore, to explain and demon¬ strate his proposition. The clear-headed cardinal listened with profound attention. He was pleased with the noble and earnest manner of Columbus, which showed him to be no common schemer; he felt the grandeur, and, at the same time, the sim¬ plicity of his theory, and the force of many of the arguments by which it was supported. He determined that it was a mat¬ ter highly worthy of the consideration of the sovereigns, and through his representations Columbus at length obtained ad¬ mission to the royal presence. * We have but scanty particulars of this audience, nor can we ascertain whether Queen Isabella was present on the occasion; the contrary seems to be most probably the case. Columbus appeared in the royal presence with modesty, yet self-posses¬ sion, neither dazzled nor daunted by the splendor of the court or the awful majesty of the throne. He unfolded his plan with eloquence and zeal, for he felt himself, as he afterward declared, kindled as with a fire from on high, and considered himself the agent chosen by Heaven to accomplish its grand designs. + Ferdinand was too keen a judge of men not to appreciate the character of Columbus. He perceived that, however soaring * Oviedo, lib. ii. cap 4. Salazar, Cron. G. Cardinal, lib. i. cap. 62. t Ceiier to the Sovereigns in 1501. 60 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. might be his imagination, and vast and visionary his views, his scheme had scientific and practical foundation. His ambi- tion was excited by the possibility of discoveries far more im¬ portant than those which had shed such glory upon Portugal; and perhaps it was not the least recommendation of the enter¬ prise to this subtle and grasping monarch, that, if successful, it would enable him to forestall that rival nation in the fruits 'of their long and arduous struggle, and by opening a direct course to India across the ocean, to bear off from them the monopoly of oriental commerce. Still as usual, Ferdinand was cool and wary, and would not trust his own judgment in a matter that involved so many principles of science. He determined to take the opinion of the most learned men in the kingdom, and to be guided by their decision. Fernando de Talavera, prior of the monastery of Prado and confessor of the queen, one of the most erudite men of Spain, and high in the royal confidence, was commanded to assemble the most learned astronomers and cosmographers for the purpose of holding a conference with Columbus, and examining him as to the groimds on which he founded his proposition. After they had informed themselves fully on the subject, they were to consult together and make a report to the sovereign of their collective opinion.* CHAPTER III. COLUMBUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL AT SALAMANCA, [1487.] The interesting conference relative to the proposition o i Columbus took place in Salamanca, the great seat of learning in Spain. It was held in the Dominican convent of St. Stephen, in which he was lodged and entertained with great hospitality during the course of the examination, f Religion and science were at that time, and more especially in that country, closely associated. The treasures of learning were immured in monasteries, and the professors’ chairs were * Hist, del Almirante, cap. xi. t Hist, de Chiapa por Remesal, lib. ii. cap. 27. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 61 exclusively filled from the cloister. The domination of the clergy extended over the state as well as the church, and posts of honor and influence at court, with th© exception of hereditary nobles, were almost entirely confined to ecclesiastics. It was even common to find cardinals and bishops in helm and corse¬ let at the head of armies; for the crosier had been occasionally thrown by for the lance, during the holy war against the Moors. The era was distinguished for the revival of learning, but still more for the prevalence of religious zeal, and Spain surpassed all other countries of Christendom in the fervor of her devotion. The Inquisition had just been established in that kingdom, and every opinion that savored of heresy made its owner obnoxious to odium and persecution. Such was the period when a council of clerical sages was con¬ vened in the collegiate convent of St. Stephen, to investigate the new theory of Columbus. It was composed of professors of astronomy, geography, mathematics, and other branches of science, together with various dignitaries of the church, and learned friars. Before this erudite assembly, Columbus pre¬ sented himself to propound and defend his conclusions. Ho had been scoffed at as a visionary by the vulgar and the igno¬ rant ; but he was convinced that he only required a body of enlightened men to listen dispassionately to his reasonings, to insure triumphant conviction. The greater part of this learned junto, it is very probable, came prepossessed against him, as men in place and dignity are apt to be against poor applicants. There is always a proneness to consider a man under examination as a kind of delinquent, or impostor, whose faults and errors are to be detected and exposed. Columbus, too, appeared in a most unfavorable light before a scholastic body: an obscure navigator, a member of no learned institution, destitute of all the trappings and circum¬ stances which sometimes give oracular authority to dulness, and depending upon the mere force of natural genius. Some of the junto entertained the popular notion that he was an adventurer, or at best a visionary; and others had that morbid impatience of any innovation upon established doctrine, which is apt to grow upon dull and pedantic men in cloistered life. What a striking spectacle must the hall of the old convent have presented at this memorable conference! A simple mari¬ ner, standing forth in the midst of an imposing array of pro¬ fessors, friars, and dignitaries of the church; maintaining his theory with natural eloquence, and, as it were, pleading the 62 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. cause of the new world. We are told that when he began to state the grounds of his belief, the friars of St. Stephen alone paid attention to him ;* that convent being more learned in the sciences than the rest of the university. The others appear to have intrenched themselves behind one dogged position that, after so many profound philosophers and cosmographers had been studying the form of the world, and so many able navi¬ gators had been sailing about it for several thousand years, it was great presumption in an ordinary man to suppose that there remained such a vast discovery for him to make. Several of the objections proposed by this learned body have been handed down to us, and have provoked many a sneer at the expense of the university of Salamanca; but they are proofs, not so much of the peculiar deficiency of that institution, as of the imperfect state of science at the time, and the manner in which knowledge, though rapidly extending, was still impeded in its progress by monastic bigotry. All subjects were still contemplated through the obscure medium of those ages when the lights of antiquity were trampled out and faith was left to fill the place of inquiry. Bewildered in a maze of religious con¬ troversy, mankind had retraced their steps, and receded from the boundary line of ancient knowledge. Thus, at the very threshold of the discussion, instead of geographical objections, Columbus w.as assailed with citations from the Bible and the Testament: the book of Genesis, the psalms of David, the prophets, the epistles, and the gospels. To these were added the expositions of various saints and reverend commentators: St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, St. Jerome and St. Gregory, St. Basil and St. Ambrose, and Lactantius Firmianus, a re¬ doubted champion of the faith. Doctrinal points were mixed up with philosophical discussions, and a mathematical demon¬ stration was allowed no weight, if it appeared to clash with a text of Scripture or a commentary of one of the fathers. Thus the possibility of antipodes, in the southern hemisphere, an opinion so generally maintained by the wisest of the ancients as to be pronounced by Pliny the great contest between the learned and the ignorant, became a stumbling-block with some of the sages of Salamanca. Several of them stoutly contradict¬ ed this fundamental position of Columbus, supporting them¬ selves by quotations from Lactantius and St. Augustine, who were considered in those days as almost evangelical authority. * Remesal, Hist, de Chiapa, lib. xi. cap. 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 63 But, though these writers were men of consummate erudition, and two of the greatest luminaries of what has been called the golden age of ecclesiastical learning, yet their writings were calculated to perpetuate darkness in respect to the sciences. The passage cited from Lactantius to confute Columbus is in a strain of gross ridicule, unworthy of so grave a theologian. ‘ ‘ Is there any one so foolish, ” he asks, “ as to believe that there are antipodes with their feet opposite to ours: people who walk with their heels upward, and their heads hanging-down? That there is a part of the world in which all things are topsy-turvy; where the trees grow with their branches downward, and where it rains, hails, and snows upward? The idea of the roundness of the earth,” he adds, “was the cause of inventing this fable of the antipodes, with their heels in the air; for these philosophers, having once erred, go on in their absurdities, defending one with another.” Objections of a graver nature were advanced on the authority of St. Augustine. He pronounces the doctrine of antipodes to be incompatible with the historical foundations of our faith; since, to assert that there were inhabited lands on the opposite side of the globe would be to maintain that there were nations not descended from Adam, it being impossible for them to have passed the ' tervening ocean. This would be, therefore, to discredit the Bible, which expressly declares that all men are descended from one common parent. Such were the unlooked for prejudices which Columbus had to encounter at the very outset of his conference, and which certainly relish more of the convent than the university. To his simplest proposition, the spherical form of the earth, were opposed figurative texts of Scripture. They observed that in the Psalms the heavens are said to be extended like a hide,* that is, according to commentators, the curtain or covering of a tent, which, among the ancient pastoral nations, was formed of the hides of animals; and that St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, compares the heavens to a tabernacle, or tent, ex¬ tended over the earth, which they thence inferred must be flat. Columbus, who was a devoutly religious man, found that he was in danger of being convicted not merely of error, but of heterodoxy. Others more versed in science admitted the glo¬ bular form of the earth, and the possibility of an opposite and * Extendena colum sicui pellem. Psalm 103. In the English translation it is Psalm 104. ver & LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 04 habitable hemisphere; but they brought up the chimera of the ancients, and maintained that it would be impossible to arrive there, in consequence of the insupportable heat of the torrid zone. Even granting this could be passed, they observed that the circumference of the earth must be so great as to require at least three years to the voyage, and those who should under¬ take it must perish of hunger and thirst, from the impossibility of carrying provisions for so long a period. He was told, on the authority of Epicurus, that, admitting the earth to be spherical, it was only inhabitable in the northern hemisphere, and in that section only was canopied by the heavens; that the opposite half was a chaos, a gulf, or a mere waste of water. Not the least absurd objection advanced was, that should a ship even succeed in reaching, in this way, the extremity of India, she could never get back again; for the rotundity of the globe would present a kind of mountain, up which it would be impossible for her to sail with the most favorable wind.* Such are specimens of the errors and prejudices, the mingled ignorance and erudition, and the pedantic bigotry, with which Columbus had to contend throughout the examination of his theory. Can we wonder at the difficulties and delays which he experienced at courts, when such vague and crude notions were entertained by the learned men of a university? We must not suppose, however, because the objections here cited are all which remain on record, that they are all which were advanced; these only have been perpetuated on account of their superior absurdity. They were probably advanced by but few, and those persons immersed in theological studies, in cloistered retirement, where the erroneous opinions derived from books had little opportunity of being corrected by the ex¬ perience of the day. There were no doubt objections advanced more cogent in their nature, and more worthy of that distinguished univer¬ sity. It is but justice to add, also, that the replies of Columbus had great weight with many of his learned examiners. In answer to the scriptural objections, he submitted that the in¬ spired writers were not speaking technically as cosmographers, but figuratively, in language addressed to all comprehensions. The commentaries of the fathers he treated with deference as pious homilies, but not as philosophical propositions which it was necessary either to admit or refute. The objections drawn * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 11. ( LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 65 from ancient philosophers he met baldly and ably upon equal terms; for he was deeply studied on all points of cosmography. He showed that the most illustrious of those sages believed both hemispheres to be inhabitable, though they imagined that the torrid zone precluded communication; and he obviated com clusively that difficulty; for he had voyaged to St. George la Mina in Guinea, almost under the equinoctial line, and had found that region not merely traversable, but abounding in population, in fruits and pasturage. When Columbus took his stand before this learned body, he had appeared the plain and simple navigator; somewhat daunted, perhaps, by the greatness of his task and the august nature of his auditory. But he had a degree of religious feeling which gave him a confidence in the execution of what he conceived his great errand, and he was of an ardent temperament that became heated in action by its own generous fires. Las Casas, and others of his contemporaries, have spoken of his command¬ ing person, his elevated demeanor, his air of authority, his kindling eye, and the persuasive intonations of his voice. How must they have given majesty and force to his words, as, casting aside his maps and charts, and discarding for a time his practical and scientific lore, his visionary spirit took fire at the doctrinal objections of his opponents, and he met them upon their own ground, pouring forth those magnificent texts of Scripture, and those mysterious predictions of the prophets, which, in his enthusiastic moments, he considered as types and annunciations of the sublime discovery which he proposed! Among the number who were convinced by the reasoning, and warmed by the eloquence of Columbus, was Diego de Deza, a worthy and learned friar of the order of St. Dominick, at that time professor of theology in the convent of St. Stephen, but who became afterward Archbishop of Seville, the second ecclesiastical dignitary of Spain. This able and erudite divine was a man whose mind was above the narrow bigotry of book¬ ish lore; one who could appreciate the value of wisdom even when uttered by unlearned lips. He was not a mere passive auditor: he took a generous interest in the cause, and by sec¬ onding Columbus with all his powers, calmed the blind zeal of his more bigoted brethren so as to obtain for him a dispassion¬ ate, if not an unprejudiced, hearing. By their united efforts, it is said, they brought over the most learned men of the schools.* * Remesal, Hist, de Chiapa, lib. xi. cap. 7. 66 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. One great difficulty was to reconcile the plan of Columbus with the cosmography of Ptolemy, to which all scholars yielded im¬ plicit faith. How would the most enlightened of those sages have been astonished, had any one apprised them that the man, Copernicus, was then in existence, whose solar system should reverse the grand theory of Ptolemy, which stationed the earth in the centre of the universe! Notwithstanding every exertion, however, there was a pre- ponderating mass of inert bigotry and learned pride in this erudite body, which refused to yield to the demonstrations of an obscure foreigner, without fortune or connections, or any academic honors. “It was requisite,” says Las Casas, “before Columbus could make his solutions and reasonings understood, that he should remove from his auditors those erroneous prin¬ ciples on which their objections were founded- a task always more difficult than that of teaching the doctrine.’ 5 Occasional conferences took place, but without producing any decision. The ignorant, or what is worse, the prejudiced, remained obsti¬ nate in their opposition, with the dogged perseverance of dull men; the more liberal and intelligent felt little interest in dis¬ cussions wearisome in themselves, and foreign to their ordinary pursuits*; even those who listened with approbation to the plan, regarded it only as a delightful vision, full of probability and promise, but one which never could be realized. Fernando de Talavera, to whom the matter was especially intrusted, had too little esteem for it, and was too much occupied with the stir and bustle of public concerns, to press it to a conclusion; and thus the inquiry experienced continual procrastination and neglect. CHAPTER IV. FURTHER APPLICATIONS AT THE COURT OF CASTILE—COLUMBUS FOLLOWS THE COURT IN ITS CAMPAIGNS. The Castilian court departed from Salamanca early in the spring of 1487 and repaired to Cordova, to prepare for the memorable campaign against Malaga. Fernando de Talavera, now Bishop of Avila, accompanied the queen as her confessor, and as one of her spiritual counsellors in the concerns of the war. The consultations of the board at Salamanca were inter- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 67 rupted by this event, before that learned body could come to a decision, and for a long time Columbus was kept in suspense, vainly awaiting the report that was to decide the fate of his application. It has generally been supposed that the several years which he wasted in irksome solicitation were spent in the drowsy and monotonous attendance of antechambers; but it appears, on the contrary, that they were often passed amid scenes of peril and adventure, and that, in following up his suit, he was led into some of the most striking situations of this wild, rugged, and mountainous war. Several times he was summoned to attend conferences in the vicinity of the sovereigns, when besieging cities in the very heart of the Moorish dominions; but the tem¬ pest of warlike affairs which hurried the court from place to place and gave it all the bustle and confusion of a camp, pre¬ vented those conferences from taking place, and swept away all concerns that were not immediately connected with the war. Whenever the court had an interval of leisure and repose, there would again be manifested a disposition to con¬ sider his proposal, but the hurry and tempest would again return and the question be again swept away. The spring campaign of 1487, which took place shortly after the conference at Salamanca, was full of incident and peril. King Ferdinand had nearly been surprised and cut off by the old Moorish monarch before Yelez Malaga, and the queen and all the court at Cordova were for a time in an agony of terror and suspense until assured of his safety. When the sovereigns were subsequently encamped before the city of Malaga, pressing its memorable siege, Columbus was summoned to the court. He found it drawn up in its silken pavilions on a rising ground, commanding the fertile valley of Malaga; the encampments of the warlike nobility of Spain extended in a semicircle on each side, to the shores of the sea,- strongly fortified, glittering with the martial pomp of that chivalrous age and nation, and closely investing that important city. The siege was protracted for several months, but the vigorous defence of the Moors, their numerous stratagems, and fierce and frequent sallies, allowed but little leisure in the camp. In the course of this siege, the application of Columbus to the sovereigns was nearly brought to a violent close; a fanatic Moor having attempted to assassinate Ferdinand and Isabella. Mistaking one of the gorgeous pavilions of the nobility for the 68 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. royal tent, he attacked Don Alvaro de Portugal, and Doha Beatrix de Bobadilla, Marchioness of Moya, instead of the king and queen. After wounding Don Alvaro dangerously, he was foiled in a blow aimed at the marchioness, and immediately cut to pieces by the attendants.* The lady here mentioned Avas of: extraordinary merit and force of character. She eventually took a great interest in the suit of Columbus, and had much influence in recommending it to the queen, with Avkom she was a particular favorite, f Malaga surrendered on the 18th of August, 1487. There ap¬ pears to have been no time during its stormy siege to attend to the question of Columbus, though Fernando de Talavera, the Bishop of Avila, was present, as appears by his entering the captured city in solemn and religious triumph. The campaign being ended, the court returned to Cordova, but Avas almost immediately driven from that city by the pestilence. For upward of a year the court was in a state of continual migration; part of the time in Saragossa, part of the time in¬ vading the Moorish territories by the way of Murcia, and part of the time in Valladolid and Medina del Campo. Columbus attended it in some of its movements, but it was vain to seek a quiet and attentive hearing from a court surrounded by the din of arms and continually on the march. Wearied and discour¬ aged by these delays, he began to think of applying elsewhere for patronage, and appears to haA^e commenced negotiations with King John II. for a return to Portugal. He wrote to that monarch on the subject, and received a letter in reply dated 20th of March, 1488, inviting him to return to his court, and assuring him of protection from any suits of either a civil or criminal nature, that might be pending against him. He received also a letter from Henry VII. of England, inviting him to that country, and holding out promises of encourage¬ ment. There must haA^e been strong hopes, authorized about this time by the conduct of the Spanish sovereigns, to induce Colum¬ bus to neglect these in Agitations; and we find ground for such a supposition in a memorandum of a sum of money paid to him by the treasurer Gonzalez, to enable him to comply Avith a summons to attend the Castilian court. By the date of this memorandum, the payment must have been made immediately * Pulgar, Cronica, cap. 87. P. Martyr, t Retrato del Buen Vassallo, lib. ii. cap. 16. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 69 after Columbus had received the letter of the King of Portugal. It would seem to have been the aim of King Ferdinand to pre¬ vent his carrying his proposition to another and a rival mon¬ arch, and to keep the matter in suspense, until he should have leisure to examine it, and, if advisable, to carry itin to opera¬ tion. In the spring of 1489 the long-adjourned investigation ap¬ peared to be on the eve of taking place. Columbus was sum¬ moned to attend a conference of learned men, to be held in the city of Seville; a royal order was issued for lodgings to be pro¬ vided for him there; and the magistrates of all cities and towns through which he might pass, on his way, were commanded to furnish accommodations gratis for himself and his attendants. A provision of the kind was necessary in those days, when even the present wretched establishments, called posadas, tor the reception of travellers, were scarcely known. The city of Seville complied with the royal command, but as usual the appointed conference was postponed, being inter¬ rupted by the opening of a campaign, “in which,” says an old chronicler of the place, “the same Columbus was found fighting, giving proofs of the distinguished valor which accom¬ panied his wisdom and his lofty desires.” * The campaign in Which Columbus is here said to have borne so honorable a part was one of the most glorious of the war of Granada. Queen Isabella attended with aM her court, including as usual a stately train of prelates and friars, among whom is particularly mentioned the procrastinating arbiter of the pretensions of Columbus, Fernando de Talavera. Much of the success of the campaign is ascribed to the presence and counsel of Isabella. The city of Baza, which was closely be¬ sieged and had resisted valiantly for upward ol six months, surrendered soon after her arrival; and on the 22d of Decem¬ ber, Columbus beheld Muley Boabdil, the elder of the two rival kings of Granada, surrender in person all his remaining pos¬ sessions, and his right to the crown, to the Spanish sovereigns. During this siege a circumstance took place which appears to have made a deep impression on the devout and enthusiastic spirit of Columbus. Two reverend friars arrived one day at the Spanish camp, and requested admission to the sovereigns on business of great moment. They were two of the brethren of the convent established at the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. * Diego Ortiz de Zufiiga. Ann. de Sevilla, lib. xii., anno 1489, p. 404. 70 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. They brought a message from the Grand Soldan of Egypt, threatening to put to death all the Christians in his dominions, to lay waste their convents and churches, and to destroy the sepulchre, if the sovereigns did not desist from the war against Granada. The menace had no effect in altering the purpose of the sovereigns, but Isabella granted a yearly and perpetual sum of one thousand ducats in gold,* for the support of the monks who had charge of the sepulchre; and sent a veil em¬ broidered with her own hands to be hung up at its shrine, f The representations of these friars of the sufferings and in¬ dignities to which Christians were subjected in the Holy Land, together with the arrogant threat of the Soldan, roused the pious indignation of the Spanish cavaliers, and many burned with ardent zeal once more to revive the contests of tiie faith on the sacred plains of Palestine. It was probably from con¬ versation with these friars, and from the pious and chivalrous zeal thus awakened in the warrior throng arolind him, that Columbus first conceived an enthusiastic idea, or rather made a kind of mental vow, whiefi remained more or less present to his mind until the very day of his death. He determined that, should his projected enterprise be successful, he would devote the profits arising from his anticipated discoveries to a crusade for the rescue of the holy sepulchre from the power ot the infidels. If the bustle and turmoil of this- campaign prevented the intended conference, the concerns of Columbus fared no better during the subsequent rejoicings. Ferdinand and Isabella entered Seville in February, 1490, with great pomp and tri¬ umph. There were then preparations made lor the marriage of their eldest daughter, the Princess Isabella, with the Prince Don Alonzo, heir apparent of Portugal. The nuptials were celebrated in the month of April, with extraordinary splendor. Throughout the whole winter and spring the court was in a continual tumult of parade and pleasure, and nothing was to be seen at Seville but feasts, tournaments, and torchlight pro¬ cessions. What chance had Columbus of being heard amid these alternate uproars of war and festivity? During this long course of solicitation he supported himself, in part, by making maps and charts, and was occasionally assisted by the purse of the worthy friar Diego de Deza. It is * Or 1423 dollars, equivalent to 4269 dollars in our timo. t Garabay, Compend. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 36. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 71 due to the sovereigns to say, also, that whenever he was sum¬ moned to follow the movements of the court, or to attend any appointed consultation, he was attached to the royal suite, and lodgings were provided for him and sums issued to defray his expenses. Memorandums of several of these sums still exist in the book of accounts of the royal treasurer, Francisco Gon¬ zalez, of Seville, which has lately been found in the archives of Simancas; and it is from these minutes that we have been enabled, in some degree, to follow the movements of Columbus during his attendance upon this rambling and warlike court. During all this time he was exposed to continual scoffs and indignities, being ridiculed by the light and ignorant as a mere dreamer, and stigmatized by the illiberal as an adventurer. The very children, it is said, pointed to their foreheads as he passed, being taught to regard him as a kind of madman. The summer of 1490 passed away, but still Columbus was kept in tantalizing and tormenting suspense. The subsequent winter was not more propitious. He was lingering at Cordova in a state of irritating anxiety, when he learnt that the sove¬ reigns were preparing to depart on a campaign in the Vega of Granada, with a determination never to raise their camp from before that city until their victorious banners should float upon its towers. Columbus was aware that when once the campaign was opened and the sovereigns were in the field, it would be in vain to expect any attention to his suit. He was wearied, if not incensed, at the repeated postponements he had experienced, by which several years had been consumed. He now pressed for a decisive reply with an earnestness that would not admit of evasion. Fernando de Talavera, therefore, was called upon by the sovereigns to hold a definitive conference with the scientific men to whom the project had been referred, and to make a report of their decision. The bishop tardily complied, and at length reported to their majesties, as the general opinion of the Junto, that the proposed scheme was vain and im¬ possible, and that it did not become such great princes to engage in an enterprise of the kind on such weak grounds as had been advanced.* Notwithstanding this unfavorable report, the sovereigns were unwilling to close the door upon a project which might be pro¬ ductive of such important advantages. Many of the learned * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 2. 72 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. members of the Junto also were in its favor, particularly Fray Diego de Deza, tutor to Prince Juan, who from his situation and clerical character had access to the royal ear, and exerted himself strenuously in counteracting the decision of the board. A degree of consideration, also, had gradually grown up at court for the enterprise, and many men, distinguished for rank and merit, had become its advocates. Fernando de Talavera, therefore, was commanded to inform Columbus, who was still at Cordova, that the great cares and expenses of the wars rendered it impossible for the sovereigns to engage in any new enterprise; but that when the war was concluded they would have both time and inclination to treat with him about what he proposed.* This was but a starved reply to receive after so many days of weary attendance, anxious expectation, and deferred hope; Co¬ lumbus was unwilling to receive it at second hand, and repaired to the court at Seville to learn his fate from the lips of the sovereigns. Their reply was virtually the same, declining to engage in the enterprise for the present, but holding out hopes of patronage when relieved from the cares and expenses of the war. Columbus looked upon this indefinite postponement as a mere courtly mode of evading his importunity, and supposed that the favorable dispositions of the sovereigns had been counteracted by the objections of the ignorant and bigoted. Renouncing all further confidence, therefore, in vague promises, which had so often led to disappointment, and giving up all hopes of coun¬ tenance from the throne, he turned his back upon Seville, in¬ dignant at the thoughts of having been beguiled out of so many precious years of waning existence. CHAPTER V. COLUMBUS AT THE CONVENT OF LA RABID A. About half a league from the little seaport of Palos de Moguer in Andalusia there stood, and continues to stand at the present day, an ancient convent of Franciscan friars, dedicated to Santa Maria de Rabida. One day a stranger on foot, in humble guise * Hist, del Almminte, cap. 2. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS , 73 but of a distinguished air, accompanied by a small boy, stopped at the gate of the convent, and asked of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While receiving this humble refresh¬ ment, the prior of the convent, Juan Perez de Marchena, hap¬ pening to pass by, was struck with the appearance of the stranger, and observing from his air and accent that he was a foreigner, entered into conversation with him, and soon learned the particulars of his story. That stranger was Columbus.* He was on his way to the neighboring town of Huelva, to seek his brother-in-law, who had married a sister of his deceased wife.f The prior was a man of extensive information. His attention had been turned in some measure to geographical and nautical science, probably from his vicinity to Palos, the inhabitants of which were among the most enterprising navigators of Spain, and made frequent voyages to the recently discovered islands and countries on the African coast. He was greatly interested by the conversation of Columbus, and struck with the gran¬ deur of his views. It was a remarkable occurrence in the mo¬ notonous life of the cloister, to have a man of such singular character, intent on so extraordinary an enterprise, applying for bread and water at the gate of his convent. When he found, however, that the voyager was on the point of abandoning Spain to seek patronage in the court of France, and that so important an enterprise was about to be lost for¬ ever to the country, the patriotism of the good friar took the alarm. He detained Columbus as his guest, and, diffident of his own judgment, sent for a scientific friend to converse with him. That friend was Garcia Fernandez, a physician resident in Palos, the same who furnishes this interesting testimony. Fernandez was equally struck with the appearance and con¬ versation of the stranger; several conferences took place at the convent, at which several of the veteran mariners of Palos were present. Among these was Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the head of a family of wealthy and experienced navigators of the place, celebrated for their adventurous expeditions. Facts were re¬ lated by some of these navigators in support of the theory of * “ Lo dicho Almirante Colon veniendo & laRabida, que es un monasterio de frailes en esta villa, el qual demand6 & la porteria qne le diesen para aque! ninico. que are nino, pan i agua que bebiese.” The testimony of Garcia Fernandez exists in manuscript among the multifarious writings of the Pleito or lawsuit, which are preserved at Seville. I have made use of an authenticated extract, copied for the late historian, Juan Baut. Munoz. t Probably Pedro Correo, already mentioned, from whom he had received infor¬ mation of signs of land in the west, observed near Puerto Santo. 74 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Columbus. In a word, his project was treated with a deference in the quiet cloisters of La Rabida, and among the seafaring men of Palos, which had been sought in vain among the sages and philosophers of the court. Martin Alonzo Pinzon espe¬ cially was so convinced of its feasibility that he offered to engage in it with purse and person, and to bear the expenses of Columbus in a renewed application to the court. Friar Juan Perez was confirmed in his faith by the concur¬ rence of those learned and practical councillors. He had once been confessor to the queen, and knew that she was always ac¬ cessible to persons of his sacred calling. He proposed to write to her immediately on the subject, and entreated Columbus to delay his journey until an answer could be received. The latter was easily persuaded, for he felt as if, in leaving Spain, he was again abandoning his home. He was also reluctant to renew, in another court, the vexations and disappointments experi¬ enced in Spain and Portugal. The little council at the convent of La Rabida now cast round their eyes for an ambassador to depart upon this momentous mission. They chose one Sebastian Rodriguez, a pilot of Lepe, one of the most shrewd and important personages in this mari¬ time neighborhood. The queen was at this time at Santa Fe, the military city which had been built in the Vega before Granada, after the conflagration of the royal camp. The honest pilot acquitted himself faithfully, expeditiously, and success¬ fully, in his embassy. He found ‘access to the benignant prin¬ cess, and delivered the epistle of the friar. Isabella had always been favorably disposed to the proposition of Columbus. She wrote in reply to Juan Perez, thanking him for his timely services, and requesting that he would repair immediately to the court, leaving Christopher Columbus in confident hope until he should hear further from her. This royal letter was brought back by the pilot at the end of fourteen days, and spread great joy in the little junto at the convent. No sooner did the warm-hearted friar receive it, than he saddled his mule, and de¬ parted privately, before midnight, for the court. He journeyed through the conquered countries of the Moors, and rode into the newly-erected city of Santa Fe, where the sovereigns were superintending the close investment of the capital of Granada. The sacred office of Juan Perez gained him a ready entrance in a court distinguished for religious zeal; and, once admitted to the presence of the queen, his former relation, as father con¬ fessor, gave hun great freedom of counsel. He pleaded the cause LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 75 of Columbus with characteristic enthusiasm, speaking from actual knowledge of his honorable motives, his professional knowledge and experience, and his perfect capacity to fulfil the undertaking; he represented the solid principles upon which the enterprise was founded, the advantage that must attend its suc¬ cess, and the glory it must shed upon the Spanish crown. It is probable that Isabella had never heard the proposition urged with such honest zeal and impressive eloquence. Being natu¬ rally more sanguine and susceptible than the king, and more open to warm and generous impulses, she was moved by the representations of Juan Perez, which were warmly seconded by her favorite, the Marchioness of Moya, who entered into the affair with a woman’s disinterested enthusiasm. * The queen re¬ quested that Columbus might be again sent to her, and, with the kind considerateness which characterized her, bethinking her¬ self of his poverty, and his humble plight, ordered that twenty thousand maravedies f in florins should be forwarded to him, to bear his travelling expenses, to provide him with a mule for his journey, and to furnish him with decent raiment, that he might make a respectable appearance at the court. The worthy friar lost no time in communicating the result of his mission; he transmitted the money, and n letter, by the hands of an inhabitant of Palos, to the physician Garcia Fer¬ nandez, who delivered them to Columbus. The latter complied with the instructions conveyed in the epistle. He exchanged his threadbare garb for one more suited to the sphere of a court, and, purchasing a mule, set out once more, reanimated by nopes, for the camp before Granada.]: * Retrato del Buen Vassallo, lib. ii. cap. 16. t Or 72 dollars, and equivalent to 216 dollars of the present day. X Most of the particulars of this visit, of Columbus to the convent of La Rabida ai-e from the testimony rendered by Garcia Fernandez in the lawsuit between Diego, the son of Columbus, and the crown. 76 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. c CHAPTER VI. APPLICATION TO THE COURT AT THE TIME OF THE SURRENDER OF GRANADA. [ 1492 .] When Columbus arrived at tbe court, be experienced a favorable reception, and was given in hospitable charge to his steady friend Alonzo de Quintanilla, the accountant-general. The moment, however, was too eventful for his business to re¬ ceive immediate attention. He arrived in time to witness the memorable surrender of Granada to the Spanish arms. He beheld Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings, sally forth from the Alhambra, and yield up the keys of that favorite seat of Moorish power ; while the king and queen, with all the chivalry and rank and magnificence of Spain, moved forw r ard in proud and solemn procession, to receive this token of submission. It was one of the most brilliant triumphs in Spanish history. After near eight hundred years of painful struggle, the crescent was completely cast down, the cross exalted in its place, and the standard of Spain w r as seen floating on the highest tow T er of the Alhambra. The whole court and army were abandoned to jubilee. The air resounded with shouts of joy, with songs of triumph, and hymns of thanksgiving. On every side were be¬ held military rejoicings and religions oblations ; for it w T as considered a triumph, not merely of arms, but of Christianity. , The king and queen moved in the midst, in more than common magnificence, wdiile every eye regarded them as more than mortal ; as if sent by Heaven for the salvation and building up of Sjiain.* The court was thronged by the most illustrious of that warlike country, and stirring era ; by the flower of its no¬ bility, by the most dignified of its prelacy, by bards and min¬ strels, and all the retinue of a romantic and picturesque age. There was nothing but the glittering of arms, the rustling of robes, the sound of music and festivity. Do we want a picture of our navigator during this brilliant and triumphant scene ? It is furnished by a Spanish writer. * Mariana, Hist, de Espana, lib. xxv. cap. 18. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 77 “ A man obscure and but little known followed at this time the court. Confounded in the crowd of importunate applicants, feeding his imagination in the corners of antechambers with the pompous project of discovering a world, melancholy and dejected in the midst of the general rejoicing, he beheld with indifference, and almost with contempt, the conclusion of a con¬ quest which swelled all bosoms with jubilee, and seemed to have reached the utmost bounds of desire. That man was Chris¬ topher Columbus.” * The moment had now arrived, however, when the monarchs stood pledged to attend to his proposals. The w r ar with the Moors was at an end, Spain was delivered from its intruders, and its sovereigns might securely turn their views to foreign enterprise. They kept their word with Columbus. Persons of confidence were appointed to negotiate with him, among wiiom was Fernando de Talavera, who, by the recent conquest, had risen to be Archbishop of Granada. At the very outset of their negotiation, however, unexpected difficulties arose. So fully imbued was Columbus with the grandeur of his enter¬ prise, that he would listen to none but princely conditions. His principal stipulation was, that he should be invested with the titles and privileges of admiral and viceroy over the coun¬ tries he should discover, with one-tenth of all gains, either by trade or conquest. The courtiers who treated with him were indignant at such a demand. Their pride was shocked to see one, whom they had considered as a needy adventurer, aspir¬ ing to the rank and dignities superior to their own. One ob¬ served with a sneer that it was a shrewd arrangement which he proposed, whereby he was secure, at all events, of the honor of a command, and had nothing to lose in case of failure. To this Columbus promptly replied, by offering to furnish one- eighth of the cost, on condition of enjoying an eighth of the profits. To do this he no doubt calculated on the proffered assistance of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the wealthy navigator of 3?alos. His terms, however, were pronounced inadmissible. Fer¬ nando de Talavera had always considered Columbus a dream¬ ing speculator, or a needy applicant for bread ; but to see this man, who had for years been an indigent and threadbare solici¬ tor in his antechamber, assuming so lofty a tone, and claiming an office that approached to the awful dignity of the throne, * Clemencin, Elogio de la Reina Catolica, p. 20. 78 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . excited the astonishment as well as the indignation of the pre* late. He represented to Isabella that it would be degrading to the dignity of so illustrious a crown to lavish such distinguished honors upon a nameless stranger. Such terms, he observed, even in case of success, would be exorbitant; but in case of failure, would be cited with ridicule, as evidence of the gross credulity of the Spanish monarchs. Isabella was always attentive to the opinions of her ghostly advisers, and the archbishop being her confessor, had peculiar influence. His suggestions checked her dawning favor. She thought the proposed advantages might be purchased at too great a price. More moderate conditions were offered to Columbus, and such as appeared highly honorable and advan¬ tageous. It was all in vain: he would not cede one point of his demands, and the negotiation was broken off. It is impossible not to admire the great constancy of purpose and loftiness of spirit displayed by Columbus, ever since he had conceived the sublime idea of his discovery. More than eighteen years had elapsed since his correspondence with Paulo Toscanelli of Florence, wherein he had announced his design. The greatest part of that time had been consumed in applica¬ tions at various courts. During that period, what poverty, neglect, ridicule, contumely, and disappointment had he not suffered! Nothing, however, could shake his perseverance, nor make him descend to terms which he considered beneath the dignity of his enterprise. In all his negotiations he forgot his present obscurity; he forgot his present indigence; his ardent imagination realized the magnitude of his contemplated discoveries, and he felt himself negotiating about empire. Though so large a portion of his life had worn away in fruit¬ less solicitings; though there was no certainty that the same weary career was not to be entered upon at any other court; yet so indignant was he at the repeated disappointments he had experienced in Spain, that he determined to abandon it forever, rather than compromise his demands. Taking leave of his friends, therefore, he mounted his mide, and sallied forth from Santa Fe in the beginning of February, 1492, on his way to Cordova, whence he intended to depart immediately for France. When the few friends who were zealous believers in the theory of Columbus saw him really on the point of abandoning the country, they were filled with distress, considering his departure an irreparable loss to the nation. Among the nuni- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 79 ber was Luis de St. Angel, receiver of the ecclesiastical reve-. nues in Arragon. Determined if possible to avert the evil, he obtained an immediate audience of the queen, accompanied by Alonzo de Quintanilla. The exigency of the moment gave him courage and eloquence. He did not confine himself to entrea¬ ties, but almost mingled reproaches, expressing astonishment that a queen who had evinced the spirit to undertake so many great and perilous enterprises, should hesitate at one where the loss could be so trifling, while the gain might be incalculable. He reminded her how much might be done for the glory of God, the exaltation of the church, and the extension of her own power and dominion. What cause of regret to herself, of triumph to her enemies, of sorrow to her friends, should this enterprise, thus rejected by her, be accomplished by some other power! He reminded her what fame and dominion other princes had acquired by their discoveries; here was an opportunity to surpass them all. He entreated her majesty not to be misled by the assertions of learned men, that the project was the dream of a visionary. He yindicated the judgment of Columbus, and the soundness and practicability of his plans. Neither would even his failure reflect disgrace upon the crown. It was worth the trouble and expense to clear up even a doubt upon a matter of such im¬ portance, for it belonged to enlightened and magnanimous princes to investigate questions of the kind, and to explore the wonders and secrets of the universe. He stated the liberal offer of Columbus to bear an eighth of the expense, and in¬ formed her that all the requisites for this great enterprise con¬ sisted but of two vessels and about three thousand crowns. These and many more arguments were urged with that per¬ suasive power which honest zeal imparts, and it is said the Marchioness of Moya, who was present, exerted her eloquence to persuade the queen. The generous spirit of Xsallella was enkindled. It seemed as if, for the first time, the subject brokQ upon her mind in its real grandeur, and she declared her reso¬ lution to undertake the enterprise. There was still a moment’s hesitation. The king looked coldly on the affair, and the royal finances were absolutely drained by the war. Some time must be given to replenish them. How could she draw on an exhausted treasury for a measure to which the king was adverse! St. Angel watched this suspense with trembling anxiety. The next moment reassured him. With an enthusiasm worthy of herself and of 80 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the cause, Isabella exclaimed, “I undertake the enterprise for my own crown of Castile, and will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary funds.” This was the proudest moment in the life of Isabella; it stamped her renown forever as the patroness of the discovery of the New World. St. Angel, eager to secure this noble impulse, assured her majesty that there would be no need of pledging her jewels, as he was ready to advance the necessary funds. His offer was gladly accepted; the funds really came from the coffers of Arragon; seventeen thousand florins were advanced by the accountant of St. Angel out of the treasury of King Ferdinand. That prudent monarch, however, took care to have his king¬ dom indemnified some few years afterward; for in remunera¬ tion of this loan, a part of the first gold brought by Columbus from the New World, was employed in gilding the vaults and ceilings of the royal saloon in the grand palace of Saragoza, in Arragon, anciently the Aljaferia, or abode of the Moorish kings.* Columbus had pursued his lonely journey across the Vega and reached the bridge of Finos, about two leagues from Gra¬ nada, at the foot of the mountain of Elvira, a . pass famous in the Moorish wars for many a desperate encounter between the Christians and infidels. Here he was overtaken by a courier from the queen, spurring in all speed, who summoned him to return to Santa Fe. He hesitated for a moment, being loath to subject himself again to the delays and equivocations of the court; when informed, however, of the sudden zeal for the enterprise excited in the mind of the queen, and the positive promise she had given to undertake it, he no longer felt a doubt, but, turning the reins of his mule, hastened back with joyful alacrity to Santa Fe, confiding in the noble probity of that princess. * Argensola Anales de Arragon, lib. i. cap. 10. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 81 CHAPTER VII. < ARRANGEMENT WITH THE SPANISH SOVEREIGNS—PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION AT THE PORT OF PALOS. [1492.] On arriving at Santa Fe, Columbus had an immediate audb ence of the queen, and the benignity with which she received him atoned for all past neglect. Through deference to the zeal she thus suddenly displayed, the king yielded his tardy con¬ currence, but Isabella was the soul of this grand enterprise. She was prompted by lofty and generous enthusiasm, while the king proved cold and calculating in this as in all his other undertakings. A perfect understanding being thus effected with the sover- eigns, articles of agreement were ordered to be drawn out by Juan de Coloma, the royal secretary. They were to the follow¬ ing effect: 1. That Columbus should have, for himself during his life, and his heirs and successors forever, the office of admiral in all the lands and continents which he might discover or acquire in the ocean, with similar honors and prerogatives to those enjoyed by the high admiral of Castile in his district. 2. That he should be viceroy and governor-general over all the said lands and continents, with the privilege of nominating three candidates for the government of each island or province, one of whom should be selected by the sovereigns. ' 3. That he should be entitled to reserve for himself one tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and all other articles and merchandises, in whatever manner found, bought, bartered, or gained within his admiralty, the costs being first deducted. 4. That he, or his lieutenant, should be the sole judge in all causes and disputes arising out of traffic between those coun¬ tries and Spain, provided the high admiral of Castile had simi¬ lar jurisdiction in his district. 5. That he might then, and at all after times, contribute an 82 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. eighth part of the expense in fitting out vessels to sail on this enterprise, and receive an eighth part of the profits. The last stipulation, which admits Columbus to hear an eighth of the enterprise, was made in consequence of his indig¬ nant proffer, on being reproached with demanding ample emoluments while incurring no portion of the charge. He fulfilled this engagement, through the assistance of the Pinzons of Palos, and added a third vessel to the armament. Thus one eighth of the expense attendant on this grand expedition, undertaken by a powerful nation, was actually borne by the individual who conceived it, and who likewise risked his own life on its success. The capitulations were signed by Ferdinand and Isabella, at the city of Santa Fe, in the Vega or plain of Granada, on the 17th of April, 1492. A letter of privilege, or commission to Columbus, of similar purport, was drawn out in form, and issued by the sovereigns in the city of Granada, on the thirtieth of the same month. In this, the dignities and prerogatives of viceroy and governor were made hereditary in his family; and ’ he and his heirs were authorized to prefix the title of Don to their names; a distinction accorded in those days only to persons of rank and estate, though it has since lost all value, from being universally used in Spain. All the royal documents issued on this occasion bore equally the signatures of Ferdinand and Isabella, but her separate crown of Castile defrayed all the expense; and, during her life, few persons, except Castilians, were permitted to establish themselves in the new territories.* The port of Palos de Moguer was fixed upon as the place where the armament was to be fitted out, Columbus calculating, no doubt, on the co-operation of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, resident there, and on the assistance of his zealous friend the prior ol the convent of La Rabida. Before going into the business details of this great enterprise, it is due to the character of the illustrious man who conceived and conducted it, most especially to notice the elevated, even though visionary, spirit by which he was actuated. One of his principal objects was undoubtedly the propagation of the Christian faith. He expected to arrive at the extremity of Asia, and to open a direct and easy com¬ munication with the vast and magnificent empire of the Grand * Charlevoix, Hist. S. Domingo, lib. i. p. 79. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. S3 Khan. The conversion of that heathen potentate had, in former times, been a favorite aim of various pontiffs and pious sovereigns, and various missions had been sent to the remote regions of the East for that purpose. Columbus now consid¬ ered himself about to effect this great work: to spread the light of revelation to the very ends of the earth, and thus to be the instrument of accomplishing one of the sublime predictions of Holy Writ. Ferdinand listened with complacency to these enthusiastic anticipations. With him, however, religion was subservient to interest; and he had found, in the recent con¬ quest of Granada, that extending the sway of the church might be made a laudable means of extending his own dominions. According to the doctrines of the day, every nation that refused to acknowledge the truths of Christianity, was fair spoil for a Christian invader; and it is probable that Ferdinand was more stimulated by the accounts given of the wealth of Mangi, Cathay, and other provinces belonging to the Grand Khan, than by any anxiety for the conversion of him and his semi- barbarous subjects. Isabella had nobler inducements: she was filled with a pious zeal at the idea of effecting such a great work of salvation. From different motives, therefore, both of the sovereigns accorded with the views of Columbus in this particular, and when he afterward departed on his voyage, letters were actually given him for the Grand Khan of Tartary. The ardent enthusiasm of Columbus did not stop here. An¬ ticipating boundless wealth from his discoveries, he suggested that the treasures thus acquired should be consecrated to the pious purpose of rescuing the holy sepulchre of Jerusalem from the power of the infidels. The sovereigns smiled at this sally of the imagination, but expressed themselves well pleased with it, and assured him that even without the funds he anticipated, they should be well disposed to that holy undertaking.* What the king and queen, however, may have considered a mere sally of momentary excitement, was a deep and cherished design of Columbus. It is a curious and characteristic fact, "which has never been particularly noticed, that the recovery of the holy sepulchre was one of the great objects of his am¬ bition, meditated throughout the remainder of his life, and * Protest^ a vuestras Altezas que toda la ganancia desta mi empresa se gastase en la conquista de Jerusalem, y vuestras Altezas se rieron, y dijeron que les placia, y que sin este tenian aquella gana. Primer Viage de Colon, Navarrete, tom. i. p. 117. 84 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. solemnly provided for in his will. In fact, he subsequently considered it the main work for which he was chosen by heaven as an agent, and that his great discovery was but a preparatory dispensation of Providence to furnish means for its accomplishment. A home-felt mark of favor, characteristic of the kind and con¬ siderate heart of Isabella, was accorded to Columbus before his departure from the court. An albala, or letter-patent, was is¬ sued by the queen on the 8th of May, appointing his son Diego page to Prince Juan, the heir apparent, with an allowance for his support; an honor granted only to the sons .of persons of distinguished rank.* Thus gratified in his dearest wishes, after a course of delays and disappointments sufficient to have reduced any ordinary man to despair, Columbus took leave of the court on the 12th of May, and set out joyfully for Palos. Let those who are disposed to faint under difficulties, in the prosecution of any great and worthy undertaking, remember that eighteen years elapsed af¬ ter the time that Columbus conceived his enterprise, before he was enabled to carry it into effect; that the greater part of that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation, amid poverty, neglect, and taunting ridicule; that the prime of his life had wasted away in the struggle, and that when his perseverance was finally crowned with success, he was about his fifty-sixth year. His example should encourage the enterprising never to despair. CHAPTER VIII. COLUMBUS AT THE PORT OF PALOS—PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. On arriving at Palos, Columbus repaired immediately to the neighboring convent of La Rabida, where he was received with open arms by the worthy prior, Fray Juan Perez, and again be¬ came his guest, f The port of Palos, for some misdemeanor, had been condemned by the royal council to serve the crown for one year with two armed caravels; and these were destined to form part of the armament of Columbus, who was furnished with the ♦Navarrete, Coloc. de Viages, tom. ii. doc. 11. t Oviedo, Cronica de laa Indias, lib. ii. cap. 5. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 85 necessary papers and vouchers to enforce obedience in all mat’ ters necessary for his expedition. On the following morning, the 23d of May, Columbus, accom¬ panied by Fray Juan Perez, whose character and station gave him great importance in the neighborhood, proceeded to the church of St. George in Palos, where the alcalde, the regidors, and many of the inhabitants of the place had been notified to attend. Here, in presence of them all, in the porch of the church, a royal order was read by a notary public, commanding the au¬ thorities of Palos to have two caravels ready for sea within ten days after this notice, and to place them and their crews at the disposal of Columbus. The latter was likewise empowered to procure and fit out a third vessel. The crews of all three were to receive the ordinary wages of seamen employed in armed ves¬ sels, and to be paid four months in advance. They were to sail in such direction as Columbus, under the royal authority, should command, and were to obey him in all things, with merely one stipulation, that neither he nor they were to go to St. George la Mina, on the coast of Guinea, nor any other of the lately discov¬ ered possessions of Portugal. A certificate of their good con¬ duct, signed by Columbus, was to be the discharge of their ob¬ ligation to the crown.* Orders were likewise read, addressed to the public authorities, and the people of all ranks and conditions, in the maritime bor¬ ders of Andalusia, commanding them to furnish supplies and as¬ sistance of all kinds, at reasonable prices, for the fitting out of the vessels; and penalties were denounced on such as should cause any impediment. No duties were to be exacted for any articles furnished to the vessels; and all criminal processes against the person or property of any individual engaged in the ' expedition was to be suspended during his absence, and for two months after his return, f With these orders the authorities promised implicit compli ance; but when the nature of the intended expedition came to be known, astonishment and dismay fell upon the little com¬ munity. The ships and crews demanded for such a desperate service were regarded in the light of sacrifices. The owners of vessels refused to furnish them; the boldest seamen shrank from such a wild and chimerical cruise into the wilderness of the ocean. All kinds of frightful tales and fables were conjured up concerning the unknown regions of the deep; and nothing cam * Navarrete, Colec. de Viages, tom. ii. doc. 6. t Ibid., doc. 8, 9. 86 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS be a stronger evidence of the boldness of this undertaking than the extreme dread of it in a community composed of some of the most adventurous navigators of the age. Weeks elapsed without a vessel being procured, or anything else being done in fulfilment of the royal orders. Further man¬ dates were therefore issued by the sovereigns, ordering the ma¬ gistrates of the coast of Andalusia to press into the service any vessels they might think proper, belonging to Spanish subjects, and to oblige the masters and crews to sail with Columbus in whatever direction he should he sent by royal command. Juan de Penalosa, an officer of the royal household, was sent to see that this order was properly complied with, receiving two hun¬ dred maravedis a day as long as he was occupied in the business, which sum, together with other penalties expressed in the man¬ date, was to be exacted from such as should be disobedient and delinquent. This letter was acted upon by Columbus in Palos and the neighboring town of Moguer, but apparently with as little success as the preceding. The communities of those places were thrown into complete confusion; tumults took place; but nothing of consequence was effected. At length Martin Alonzo Pinzon stepped forward, with his brother Vicente Yanez Pinzon, both navigators of great courage and ability, owners of vessels, and having seamen in their employ. They were related, also, to many of the seafaring inhabitants of Palos and Moguer, and had great influence throughout the neighborhood. They engaged to sail on the expedition, and furnished one of the vessels required. Others, with their owners and crews, were pressed into the service by the magistrates under the arbitrary mandate of the sovereigns; and it is a striking instance of the despotic author¬ ity exercised over commerce in those times, that respectable in¬ dividuals should thus be compelled to engage, with persons and ships, in what appeared to them a mad and desperate enterprise. During the equipment of the vessels, troubles and difficulties arose among the seamen who had been compelled to embark. These were fomented and kept up by Gomez Rascon and Chris- toval Quintero, owners of the Pinta, one of the ships pressed into the service. All kinds of obstacles were thrown in the way, by these people and their friends, to retard or defeat the voyage. The calkers employed upon the vessels did their work in a care¬ less and imperfect manner, and on being commanded to do it over again absconded.* Some of the seamen who had enlisted * Las Casas, Hist. Ind. lib. i. cap. 77, ms. LIFE OF CHRIS TO PEER COLUMBUS m \ willingly repented of their hardihood, or were dissuaded by their relatives, and sought to retract; others deserted and concealed themselves. Everything had to be effected by the most harsh and arbitrary measures, and in defiance of popular prejudice and opposition. The influence and example of the Pinzons had a great effect in allaying this opposition, and inducing many of their friends and relatives to embark. It is supposed that they had furnished Columbus with funds to pay the eighth part of the expense which he was bound to advance. It is also said that Martin Alonzo Pinzon was to divide with him his share of the profits. As no immediate profit, however, resulted from this expedition, no claim of the kind was ever brought forward. It is certain, however, that the assistance of the Pinzons was all-important, if not indispensable, in fitting out and launching the expedi¬ tion.* After the great difficulties made by various courts in patro¬ nizing this enterprise, it is surprising how inconsiderable an ar¬ mament was required. It is evident that Columbus had reduced his requisitions to the narrowest limits, lest any great expense should cause impediment. Three small vessels were apparently all that he had requested. Two of them were light barks, called caravels, not superior to river and coasting craft of more mod¬ ern days. Kepresentations of this class of vessels exist in old prints and paintings.! They are delineated as open, and with¬ out deck in the centre, but built up high at the prow and stern, with forecastles and cabins for the accommodation of the crew. Peter Martyr, the learned contemporary of Columbus, says that only one of the three vessels was decked. The smallness of the vessels was considered an advantage by Columbus, in a voyage of discovery, enabling him to run close to the shores, and to en¬ ter shallow rivers and harbors. In his third voyage, when coasting the Gulf of Paria, he complained of the size of liis ship, being nearly a hundred tons burden. But that such long and perilous expeditions, into unknown seas, should be undertaken in vessels without decks, and that they should live through the violent tempests, by which they were frequently assailed, re¬ main among the singular circumstances of these daring voyages. At length, by the beginning of August, every difficulty was * These facts concerning the Pinzons are mostly taken from the testimony given, many years afterward, in a suit between Don Diego, the son of Columbus, and the crown. See illustrations, article “ Ships of Columbus.” 88 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS vanquished, and the vessels were ready for sea. The largest, which had been prepared expressly for the voyage, and was decked, was called the Santa Maria; on board of this ship Co¬ lumbus hoisted his flag. The second, called the Pinta, was com¬ manded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, accompanied by his brother Francisco Martin, as pilot. The third, called the Nina, had latine sails, and was commanded by the third of the brothers, Vicente Yanez Pinzon. There were three other pilots, Sancho Euiz, Pedro Alonzo Nino, and Bartolomeo Eoldan. Eoderigo Sanchez of Segovia was inspector-general of the armament, and Diego de Arana, a native of Cordova, chief alguazil. Eoderigo de Escobar went as a royal notary, an officer always sent in the armaments of the crown, to take official notes of all transac¬ tions. There were also a physician and a surgeon, together with various private adventurers, several servants, and ninety mari¬ ners; making in all one hundred and twenty persons.* The squadron being ready to put to sea, Columbus, impressed with the solemnity of his undertaking, confessed himself to the Friar Juan Perez, and partook of the sacrament of the com¬ munion. His example was followed by his officers and crew, and they entered upon their enterprise full of awe, and with the most devout and affecting ceremonials, committing themselves to the especial guidance and protection of Heaven. A deep gloom was spread over the whole community of Palos at their departure, for almost every one had some relative or friend on board of the squadron. The spirits of the seamen, already de¬ pressed by their own fears, were still more cast down at the affliction of those they left behind, who took leave of them with tears and lamentations and dismal forebodings, as of men they were never to behold again. * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. Munoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, lib. iv BOOK III. CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS ON HIS FIRST VOYAGE. [1492.] When Columbus set sail on this memorable voyage, he com¬ menced a regular journal, intended for the inspection of the Spanish sovereigns. Like all his other transactions, it evinces how deeply he was impressed with the grandeur and solemnity of his enterprise. He proposed to keep it, as he afterward ob¬ served, in the manner of the Commentaries of Caesar. It is opened with a stately prologue, wherein, in the following words, were set forth the motives and views which led to his expedition. “In nomine D. N. Jesu Christi. Whereas most Christian, most high, most excellent and most powerful princes, king and queen of the Spains, and of the islands of the sea, our sover¬ eigns, in the present year of 1492, after your highnesses had put an end to the war with the Moors who ruled in Europe, and had concluded that warfare in the great city of Granada, where, on the second of January, of this present year, I saw the royal banners of your highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of that city, and beheld the moorish king sally forth from the gates of tho city, and kiss the royal hand of your highnesses and of my lord the prince; and immediately in that same month, in conse¬ quence of the information which I had given to your high¬ nesses of the lands of India, and of a prince who is called tho Grand Khan, which is to say in our language, king of kings; how that many times he and his predecessors had sent to Rome to entreat for doctors of our holy faith, to instruct him 90 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. in the same; and that the holy father had never provided him with them, and thus so many people were lost, believing in idolatries, and imbibing doctrines of perdition; therefore your highnesses, as Catholic Christians and princes, lovers and pro¬ moters of the holy Christian faith, and enemies of the sect of Mahomet, and of all idolatries and heresies, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said parts of India, to see the said princes, and the people and lands, and discover the nature and disposition of them all, and the means to be taken for the conversion of them to our holy faith; and ordered that I should not go by land to the east, by which it is the custom to go, but by a voyage to the west, by which course, unto the present time, we do not know for certain that any one hath passed. Your hignesses, therefore, after having expelled all the Jews from your kingdoms and territories, commanded me, in the same month of January, to proceed with a sufficient armamen tto the said parts of India; and or this purpose be¬ stowed great favors upon me, ennobling me, that thenceforward I might style mj self Don, appointing me high admiral of the Ocean sea, and perpetual viceroy and governor of all the islands and continents I should discover and gain, and which hence¬ forward may be discovered and gained in the Ocean sea; and that my eldest son should succeed me, and so on from genera¬ tion to generation forever. I departed, therefore, from the city of Granada, on Saturday, the 12th of May, of the same year 1492, to Palos, a seaport, where I armed three ships, well calculated for such service, and sailed from that port well fur¬ nished with provisions and with many seamen, on Friday, the third of August, of the same year, half an hour before sunrise, and took the route for the Canary Islands of your highnesses, to steer my course thence, and navigate until I should arrive at the Indies, and deliver the embassy of your highnesses to those princes, and accomplish that which you had commanded. For this purpose I intend to write during this voyage, very punc¬ tually from day to day, all that I may do, and see, and expe¬ rience, as will hereafter be seen. Also, my sovereign princes, besides describing each night all that has occurred in the day, and in the day the navigation of the night, I propose to make a chart in which I will set down the waters and lands of the Ocean sea in their proper situations under their bearings; and further, to compose a book, and illustrate the whole in picture by latitude from the equinoctial, and longitude from the west; and upon the whole it will be essential that I should forget LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 91 % sleep and attend closely to the navigation to accomplish these things, which will he a great labor.” * Thus are formally and expressly stated by Columbus the ob¬ jects of this extraordinary voyage. The material facts still ex¬ tant of his journal will be found incorporated in the present work.f It was on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, early in the morn¬ ing, that Columbus set sail from the bar of Saltes, a small island formed by the arms of the Odiel, in front of the town of Huelva, steering in a south-westerly direction for the Canary Islands, whence it was his intention to strike due west. As a guide by which to sail, he had prepared a map or chart, improved upon that sent him by Paulo Toscanelli. Neither of these now exists, but the globe or planisphere finished by Martin Behen in this year of the admiral’s first voyage is still extant, and furnishes an idea of what the chart of Columbus must have been. It ex¬ hibits the coasts of Europe and Africa from the south of Ireland to the end of Guinea, and opposite to them, on the other side of the Atlantic, the extremity of Asia, or, as it was termed, India. Between them is placed the island of Cipango, or Japan, which, according to Marco Polo, lay fifteen hundred miles dis¬ tant from the Asiatic coast. In his computations Columbus advanced this island about a thousand leagues too much to the east, supposing it to be about the situation of Florida;]; and at this island he hoped first to arrive. The exultation of Columbus at finding himself, after so many years of baffled hope, fairly launched on his grand enterprise, was checked by his want of confidence in the resolution and perseverance of his crews. As long as he remained within reach of Europe, there was no security that, in a moment of repentance and alarm, they might not renounce the prosecution * Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. i. p. 1. t An abstract of this journal, made by Las Casas, has recently been discovered, and is published in the first volume of the collection of Senor Navarrete. Many passages of this abstract had been previously inserted by Las Casas in his History of the Indies, and the same journal had been copiously used by Fernando Colum¬ bus in the history of his father. In the present account of this voyage, the author has made use of the journal contained in the work of Senor Navarrete, the manu¬ script history of Las Casas, the History of the Indies by Herrera, the Life of the Admiral by his son, the Chronicle of the Indies by Oviedo, the manuscript history of Ferdinand and Isabella by Andres Bernaldes, curate of Los Palacios, and the Letters and Decades of the Ocean Sea, by Peter Martyr; all of whom, with the ex¬ ception of Herrera, were contemporaries and acquaintances of Columbus. These are the principal authorities which have been consulted, though scattered lights have occasionally been obtained from other sources. % Malte-Brun, Giograph. Universelle, tom. ii. p. 283. 92 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. of the voyage, and insist on a return. Symptoms soon appeared to warrant his apprehensions. On the third day the Pinta made signal of distress ; her rudder was discovered to be bro¬ ken and unhung. This Columbus surmised to be done through the contrivance of the owners of the caravel, Gomez Rascon and Christoval Quintero, to disable their vessel, and cause her to be left behind. As has already been observed, they had been pressed into the service greatly against their will, and their caravel seized upon for the expedition, in conformity to the royal orders. Columbus was much disturbed at this occurrence. It gave him a foretaste of further difficulties to be apprehended from crews partly enlisted on compulsion, and all full of doubt and foreboding. Trivial obstacles might, in the present critical state of his voyage, spread panic and mutiny through his ships, and entirely defeat the expedition. The wind was blowing strongly at the time, so that he could not render assistance without endangering his own vessel. Fortunately, Martin Alonzo Pinzon commanded the Pinta, and being an adroit and able seaman, succeeded in securing the rudder with cords, so as to bring the vessel into management. This, however, was but a temporary and inadequate expedient, the fastenings gave way again on the following day, and the other ships were obliged to shorten sail until the rudder could be secured. This damaged state of the Pinta, as well as her being in a leaky condition, determined the admiral to touch at the Canary Islands, and seek a vessel to replace her. He considered him¬ self not far from those islands, though a different opinion was entertained by the pilots of the squadron. The event proved his superiority in taking observations and keeping reckonings, for they came in sight of the Canaries on the morning of the 9th. They w r ere detained upward of three weeks among these * islands, seeking in vain another vessel. They were obliged, therefore, to make a new rudder for the Pinta, and repair her for the voyage. The latine sails of the Nina were also al¬ tered into square sails, that she might work more stead¬ ily and securely, and be able to keep company with the other vessels. While sailing among these islands, the crew were terrified at beholding the lofty peak of Teneriffe sending forth volumes of flame and smoke, being ready to take alarm at any extra¬ ordinary phenomenon, and to construe it into a disastrous LIFE OF CIIRIST0PJ7ER COLUMBUS. 93 portent. Columbus took great pains to dispel their apprehen¬ sions, explaining the natural causes of those volcanic fires, and verifying his explanations by citing Mount Etna and other well- known volcanoes. While taking in wood and water and provisions in the island of Gomera, a vessel arrived from Ferro, which reported that three Portuguese caravels had been seen hovering off that island, with the intention, it was said, of capturing Columbus. The admiral suspected some hostile stratagem on the part of the King of Portugal, in revenge for his having embarked in the service of Spain; he therefore lost no time in putting to sea, anxious to get far from those islands, and out of the track of navigation, trembling lest something might occur to defeat his expedition, commenced under such inauspicious circumstances. CHAPTER II. CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGE—FIRST NOTICE OF THE VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE. [1492.] Early in the morning of the 6th of September Columbus set sail from the island of Gomera, and now might be said first to strike into the region of discovery; taking leave of these fron¬ tier islands of the Old World, and steering westward for the unknown parts of the Atlantic. For three days, however, a profound calm kept the vessels loitering with flagging sails, within a short distance of the land. This was a tantalizing de¬ lay to Columbus, who was impatient to find himself far out of sight of either land or sail; which, in the pure atmospheres of these latitudes, may be descried at an immense distance. On the following Sunday, the 9th of September, at daybreak, he beheld Ferro, the last of the Canary Islands, about nine leagues distant. This was the island whence the Portuguese caravels had been seen; he was therefore in the very neighborhood of danger. Fortunately, a breeze sprang up with the sun, their sails were once more filled, and in the course of the day the heights of Ferro gradually faded from the horizon. On losing sight of this last trace of land, the hearts of the 94 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. crews failed them. They seemed literally to have taken leave of the world. Behind them was everything dear to the heart of man; country, family, friends, life itself; before the mevery- thing was chaos, mystery, and peril. In the perturbation of the moment, they despaired of ever more seeing their homes. Many of the rugged seamen shed tears, and some broke into loud lamentations. The admiral tried in every way to soothe their distress, and to inspire them with his own glorious antici¬ pations. He described to them the magnificent countries to which he was about to conduct them: the islands of the Indian seas teeming with gold and precious stones; the regions of Mangi and Cathay, with their cities of unrivalled wealth and splendor. He promised them land and riches, and everything that could arouse their cupidity or inflame their imaginations, nor were these promises made for purposes of mere deception; he certainly believed that he should realize them all. He now issued orders to the commanders of the other ves¬ sels, that, in the event of separation by any accident, they should continue directly westward; but that after sailing seven hundred leagues, they should lay by from midnight until day¬ light, as at about that distance he confidently expected to find land. In the mean time, as he thought it possible he might not discover land within the distance thus assigned, and as he fore¬ saw that the vague terrors already awakened among the seamen would increase with the space which intervened between them and their homes, he commenced a stratagem which he con¬ tinued throughout the voyage. He kept two reckonings; one correct, in which the true way of the ship was noted, and which was retained in secret for his own government; in the other, which was open to general inspection, a number of leagues was daily subtracted from the sailing of the ship, so that the crews were kept in ignorance of the real distance they had advanced.* On the 11th of September, when about one hundred and fifty leagues west of Ferro, they fell in with part of a mast, which from its size appeared to have belonged to a vessel of about a hundred and twenty tons burden, and which had evidently * It lias been erroneously stated that Columbus kept two journals. It was merely In the reckoning, or log-book, that he deceived the crew. His journal was entirely private, and intended for his own use and the perusal of the sovereigns. In a letter written from Granada, in 1503, to Pope Alexander VII., he says that he had kept an account of his voyages, in the style of the Commentaries of Coesar, which he intended to submit to his holiness. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 95 been a long time in the water. The crews, tremblingly alive to everything that could excite their hopes or fears, looked with rueful eye upon this wreck of some unfortunate voyager, drift¬ ing ominously at the entrance of those unknown seas. On the 13th of September, in the evening, being about two hundred leagues from the island of Ferro, Columbus for the ' first time noticed the variation of the needle, a phenomenon which had never before been remarked. He perceived about nightfall that the needle, instead of pointing to the north star, varied about half a point, or between five and six degrees, to the north-west, and still more on the following morning. Struck with this circumstance, he observed it attentively for three days, and found that the variation increased as he advanced. He at first made no mention of this phenomenon, knowing how ready his people were to take alarm, but it soon attracted the attention of the pilots, and filled them with consternation. It seemed as if the very laws of nature were changing, as they advanced, and that they were entering another world, subject to unknown influences.* They apprehended that the compass was about to lose its mysterious virtues, and, without this guide, what was to become of them in a vast and trackless ocean? Columbus tasked his science and ingenuity for reasons with which to allay their terror. He observed that the direction of the needle was not to the polar star, but to some fixed and invisible point. The variation, therefore, was not caused by any fallacy in the compass, but by the movement of the north star itself, which, like the other heavenly bodies, had its changes and revolutions, and every day described a circle round the pole. The high opinion which the pilots entertained of Columbus as a profound astronomer, gave weight to this theory, and their alarm subsided. As yet the solar system of Copernicus was unknown; the explanation of Columbus, therefore, was highly plausible and ingenious, and it shows the vivacity of his mind, ever ready to meet the emergency of the moment. The theory may at first have been advanced merely to satisfy the minds of others, but Columbus appears subse¬ quently to have remained satisfied with it himself. The phe¬ nomenon has now become familiar to us, but we still continue ignorant of its cause. It is one of those mysteries of nature, open to daily observation and experiment, and apparently sim- * Las Oasas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 6. 96 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. pie from their familiarity, hut which on investigation make the human mind conscious of its limits; baffling the experience of the practical, and humbling the pride of science. CHAPTER III. CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGE—VARIOUS TERRORS OF THE SEAMEN. [1492.] On the 14th of September the voyagers were rejoiced by the sight of what they considered harbingers of land. A heron, and a tropical bird called the Rabo de Junco,* neither of which is supposed to venture far to sea, hovered about the ships. On the following night they were struck with awe at beholding a meteor, or, as Columbus calls it in his journal, a great flame of fire, which seemed to fall from the sky into the sea, about four or five leagues distant. These meteors, common in warm cli¬ mates, and especially under the tropics, are always seen In the serene azure sky of those latitudes, falling as it were from the heavens, but never beneath a cloud. In the transparent atmos¬ phere of one of those beautiful nights, where every star shines with the purest lustre, they often leave a luminous train be¬ hind them which lasts for twelve or fifteen seconds, and may well be compared to a flame. The wind had hitherto been favorable, with occasional though transient clouds and showers. They had made great progress each day, though Columbus, according to his secret plan, con¬ trived to suppress several leagues in the daily reckoning left open to the crew. They had now arrived within the influence of the trade wind, which, following the sun, blows steadily from east to west be- * tween the tropics, and sweeps over a few adjoining degrees of ocean. With this propitious breeze directly aft, they were wafted gently but speedily over a tranquil sea, so that for many days they did not shift a sail. Columbus perpetually recurs to the bland and temperate serenity of the weather, which in this tract of the ocean is soft and refreshing without being cool. In * The water-wagtail. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 97 his artless and expressive language he compares the pure and balmy mornings to those of April in Andalusia, and observes that they wanted but the song of the nightingale to complete the illusion. “ He had reason to say so,” observes the venera¬ ble Las Casas; ‘ ‘ for it is marvellous the suavity which we ex¬ perience when half way toward these Indies; and the more the ships approach the lands so much more do they perceive the temperance and softness of the air, the clearness of the sky, and the amenity and fragrance sent forth from the groves and forests; much more certainly than in April in Andalusia.”* They now began to see large patches of herbs and weeds drifting from the west, and increasing in quantity as they ad¬ vanced. Some of these weeds were such as grow about rocks, others such as are produced in rivers; some were yellow and withered, others so green as to have apparently been recently washed from land. On one of these patches was a live crab, which Columbus carefully preserved. They saw also a white tropical bird, of a kind which never sleeps upon the sea. Tunny fish also played about the ships, one of which was killed by the crew of the Nina. Columbus now called to mind the account given by Aristotle of certain ships of Cadiz, which, coasting the shores outside of the Straits of Gibraltar, were driven westward by an impetuous east wind, until they reached a part of the ocean covered with vast fields of weeds, resembling sunken islands, among which they beheld many tunny fish. He sup¬ posed himself arrived in this weedy sea, as it had been called, from which the ancient mariners had turned back in dismay, but which he regarded with animated hope, as indicating the vicinity of land. Not that he had yet any idea of reaching the object of his search, the eastern end of Asia; for, according to his computation, he had come but three hundred and sixty leagues t since leaving the Canary Islands, and he placed the main land of India much farther on. On the 18th of September the same weather continued; a soft steady breeze from the east filled every sail, while, to use the words of Columbus, the sea was as calm as the Guadalquiver at Seville. He fancied that the water of the sea grew fresher as he advanced, and noticed this as a proof of the superior sweet¬ ness and purity of the air. \ * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 36, ms. t Of twenty to the degree of latitude, the unity of distance used throughout this work. X Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 36. 98 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. The crews were all in high spirits; each ship strove to get in the advance, and every seaman was eagerly on the look-out; for the sovereigns had promised a pension of ten thousand ma- ravedis to him who should first discover land. Martin Alonzo Pinzon crowded all canvas, and, as the Pinta was a fast sailer, he generally kept the lead. In the afternoon he hailed the ad¬ miral and informed him that, from the flight of a great number of birds and from the appearance of the northern horizon, he thought there was land in that direction. There was in fact a cloudiness in the north, such as often hangs over land; and at sunset it assumed such shapes and masses that many fancied they beheld islands. There was a universal wish, therefore, to steer for that quarter. Columbus, however, was persuaded that they were mere illusions. Every one who has made a sea voyage must have witnessed the de¬ ceptions caused by clouds resting upon the horizon, especially about sunset and sunrise; which the eye, assisted by the imagi¬ nation and desire, easily converts into the wislied-for land. This is particularly the case within the tropics, where the clouds at sunset assume the most singular appearances. On the following day there were drizzling showers, unaccom¬ panied by wind, which Columbus considered favorable signs: two boobies also flew on board the ships, birds which, he ob¬ served, seldom fly twenty leagues from land. He sounded, therefore, with a line of two hundred fathoms, but found no bottom. He supposed he might be passing between islands, lying to the north and south, but was unwilling to waste the present favoring breeze by going in seach of them; besides, he had confidently affirmed that land was to be found by keeping steadfastly to the west; his whole expedition had been founded on such a presumption; he should, therefore, risk all credit and authority with his people were he to appear to doubt and waver, and to go groping blindly from point to point of the compass. He resolved, therefore, to keep one bold course always west' ward, until he should reach the coast of India; and afterward, if advisable, to seek these islands on his return.* Notwithstanding his precaution to keep the people ignorant of the distance they had sailed, they were now growing ex¬ tremely uneasy at the length of the voyage. They had advanced much farther west than ever man had sailed before, and though * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 20. Extracts from Journal of C'oliunb. Navarrete, t i. p. 16. LIFE OF CURTSTOPUER COLUMBUS. 99 already beyond the reach of succor, still they continued daily leaving vast tracts of ocean behind them, and pressing onward and onward into that apparently boundless abyss. It is true they had been flattered by various indications of land, and still others were occurring; but all mocked them with vain hopes : after being hailed with a transient joy, they passed away, one after another, and the same interminable expanse of sea and sky continued to extend before them. Even the bland and gen¬ tle breeze, uniformly aft, was now conjured by their ingenious fears into a cause of alarm; for they began to imagine that the wind, in these seas, might always prevail from the east, and if so, would never permit their return to Spain. Columbus endeavored to dispel these gloomy presages, some¬ times by argument and expostulation, sometimes by awakening fresh hopes, and pointing out new signs of land. On the 20th of September the wind veered, with light breezes from the south-west. These, though adverse to their progress, had a cheering effect upon the people, as they proved that the wind did not always prevail from the east. * Several birds also visited the ships; three, of a small kind which keep about groves and orchards, came singing in the morning, and flew away again in the evening. Their song cheered the hearts of the dismayed mariners, who hailed it as the voice of land. The larger fowl, they observed, were strong of wing, and might venture far to sea; but such small birds were too feeble to fly far, and their singing showed that they were not exhausted by their flight. On the following day there was either a profound calm or light winds from the south-west. The sea, as far as the eye could reach, was covered with weeds; a phenomenon, often ob¬ served in this part of the ocean, which has sometimes the ap¬ pearance of a vast inundated meadow. This has been attributed to immense quantities of submarine plants, which grow at the bottom of the sea until ripe, when they are detached by the motion of the waves and currents, and rise to the surface.! These fields of weeds were at first regarded with great satis¬ faction, but at length they became, in many places, so dense and matted as in some degree to impede the sanuig of the ships, which must have been under very little headway. The crews now called to mind some tale about the frozen ocean, where * Mucho me fue necesario este viento contrario, porque mi gente andaban muy estimulados, que pensaban que no ventaban estos mares vientos para volver & Es- pafia. Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 12. t Humboldt, Personal Narrative, book i. cap. 1. 100 LIFE OF CHRIST0 FILER COLUMBUS. ships were said to be sometimes fixed immovable. They en¬ deavored, therefore, to avoid as much as possible these floating masses, lest some disaster of the kind might happen to them¬ selves.* Others considered these weeds as proof that the sea was growing shallower, and began to talk of lurking rocks, and shoals, and treacherous quicksands; and of the danger of run¬ ning aground, as it were, in the midst of the ocean, where their vessels might rot and fall to pieces, far out of the track of hu man aid, and without any shore where the crews might take refuge. They had evidently some confused notion of the ancient story of the sunken island of Atalantis, and feared that they were arriving at that part of the ocean where navigation was said to be obstructed by drowned lands, and the ruins of an engulfed country. To dispel these fears, the admiral had frequent recourse to the lead; but though he sounded with a deep-sea line, he still found no bottom. The minds of the crews, however, had grad¬ ually become diseased. They were full of vague terrors and superstitious fancies: they construed everything into a cause of alarm, and harassed their commander by incessant murmurs. For three days there was a continuance of light summer airs from the southward and westward, and the sea was as smooth as a mirror. A whale was seen heaving up its huge form at a distance, which Columbus immediately pointed out as a favorable indication, affirming that these fish were gene¬ rally in the neighborhood of land. The crews, however, be¬ came uneasy at the calmness of the weather. They observed that the contrary winds which they experienced were transient and unsteady, and so light as not to ruffle the surface of the sea, which maintained a sluggish calm like a lake of dead water. Everything differed, they £aid, in these strange re¬ gions from the world to which they had been accustomed. The only winds which prevailed with any constancy and force, were from the east, and they had not power to disturb the tor¬ pid stillness of the ocean; there was a risk, therefore, either of perishing amid stagnant and shoreless waters, or of being pre¬ vented, by contrary winds, from ever returning to their native country. Columbus continued with admirable patience to reason with these fancies; observing that the calmness of the sea must un¬ doubtedly be caused by the vicinity of land in the quarter whence * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 18. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 101 the wind blew, which, therefore, had not space sufficient to act upon the surface and heave up large waves. Terror, how¬ ever, multiplies and varies the forms of ideal danger a thou¬ sand times faster than the most active wisdom can dispel them. The more Columbus argued, the more boisterous became the murmurs of his crew, until, on Sunday, the 25th of Septem¬ ber, there came on a heavy swell of the sea, unaccompanied by wind. This phenomenon often occurs on the broad ocean; being either the expiring undulations of some past gale, or the movement given to the sea by some distant current of wind; it was, nevertheless, regarded with astonishment by the mariners, and dispelled the imaginary terrors occasioned by the calm. Columbus, who as usual considered himself under the imme¬ diate eye and guardianship of Heaven in this solemn enterprise, intimates in his journal that this swelling of the sea seemed providentially ordered to allay the rising clamors of his crew; comparing it to that which so miraculously aided Moses when conducting the children of Israel out of the captivity of Egypt.* CHAPTER IY. CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGE-DISCOVERY OF LAND. [1492.] The situation of Columbus was daily becoming more and more critical. In proportion as he approached the regions where he expected to find land, the impatience of his crews aug¬ mented. The favorable signs which increased his confidence, were derided by them as delusive; and there was danger of their rebelling, and obliging him to turn back, when on the point of realizing the object of all his labors. They beheld themselves with dismay still wafted onward, over the bound¬ less wastes of what appeared to them a mere watery desert, surrounding the habitable world. What was to become of * “ Como la mar estuviese mansa y liana murmuraba la gente diciendo que, pues por alii no habia mar grande que nunca ventaria para volver k Espana; pero des¬ pues alzose inucho la mar y sin viento, que los asombraba; por lo cual dice aqui el Almirante; asi que muy necesario mefue la mar alta, que no parecio, salvo el t tem¬ po de los Judios cuando salieron de Kqipto contra, Moyses que los sacaba de cap • tiverio."— Journal of Colomb. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 12. 102 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. them should their provisions fail? Their ships were too weak and defective even for the great voyage they had already made, but if they were still to press forward, adding at every moment to the immense expanse behind them; how should they ever be able to return, having no intervening port where they might victual and refit? In this way they fed each other’s discontents, gathering to- gether in little knots, and fomenting a spirit of mutinous oppo¬ sition ; and when we consider the natural fire of the Spanish temperament and its impatience of control; and that a great part of these men were sailing on compulsion, we cannot won¬ der that there was imminent danger of their breaking forth into open rebellion and compelling Columbus to turn back. In their secret conferences they exclaimed against him as a des¬ perado, bent, in a mad phantasy, upon doing something ex¬ travagant to render himself notorious. What were their sufferings and dangers to one evidently content to sacrifice his own life for the chance of distinction? What obligations bound them to continue on with him; or when were the terms of their agreement to be considered as fulfilled? They had already penetrated unknown seas, untraversed by a sail, far beyond where man had ever before ventured. They had done enough to gain themselves a character for courage and hardihood in undertaking such an enterprise and persisting in it so far. How much farther were they to go in quest of a merely conjec¬ tured land? Were they to sail on until they perished, or until all return became impossible? In such case they would be the authors of them own destruction. On the other hand, should they consult their safety, and turn back before too late, who would blame them? Any com¬ plaints made by Columbus would be of no weight; he was a foreigner, without friends or influence; his schemes had been condemned by the learned, and discountenanced by people of all ranks. He had no party to uphold him, and a host of op¬ ponents whose pride of opinion would be gratified by his fail¬ ure. Or, as an effectual means of preventing his complaints, they might throw him into the sea, and give out that he had fallen overboard while busy with his instruments contemplat¬ ing the stars; a report which no one would have either the in¬ clination or the means to controvert.* Columbus was not ignorant of the mutinous disposition of * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 19. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. i. cap. 10. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 103 his crew, blit he still maintained a serene and steady counte¬ nance ; soothing some with gentle words; endeavoring to stim¬ ulate the pride or avarice of others, and openly menacing the refractory with signal punishment, should they do anything to impede the voyage. On the 25th of September the wind again became favor¬ able, and they were able to resume their course directly to the west. The airs being light and the sea calm, the vessels sailed near to each other, and Columbus had much conversation with Martin Alonzo Pinzon on the subject of a chart which the for¬ mer had sent three days before on board of the Pinta. Pinzon thought that, according to the indications of the map, they ought to be in the neighborhood of Cipango, and the other islands which the admiral had therein delineated. Columbus partly entertained the same idea, but thought it possible that the ships might have been borne out of their track by the prevalent currents, or that they had not come so far as the pilots had reckoned. He desired that the chart might be re¬ turned, and Pinzon, tying it to the end of a cord, flung it on board to him. While Columbus, his pilot, and several of his experienced mariners were studying the map, and endeavoring to make out from it their actual position, they heard a shout from the Pinta, and looking up, beheld Martin Alonzo Pinzon mounted on the stern of his vessel crying 14 Land! land! Sehor, I claim my reward!” He pointed at the same time to the south-west, where there was indeed an appearance of land at about twenty-five leagues’ distance. Upon this Columbus threw himself on his knees- and returned thanks to God; and Martin Alonzo repeated the Gloria in excelsis, in which he was joined by his own crew and that of the admiral.* The seamen now mounted to the masthead or climbed about the rigging; straining their eyes in the direction pointed out. The conviction became so general of land in that quarter, and the joy of the people so ungovernable, that Columbus found it necessary to vary from his usual course, and stand all night to the south-west. The morning light, however, put an end to all their hopes, as- to a dream. The fancied land proved to be nothing but an evening cloud, and had vanished in the night. With dejected hearts they once more resumed their western course, from which Columbus would never have varied, but in compliance with their clamorous wishes. ♦Journal of Columb., PrimerViage, Navarrete, tom. i. 104 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. For several days they continued on with the same propitious breeze, tranquil sea, and mild, delightful weather. The water was so calm that the sailors amused themselves with swimming about the vessel. Dolphins began to abound, and flying fish, darting into the air, fell upon the decks. The continued signs of land diverted the attention of the crews, and insensibly be¬ guiled them onward. On the 1st of October, according to the reckoning of the pilot of the admiral’s ship, they had come five hundred and eighty leagues west since leaving the Canary Islands. The reckoning which Columbus showed the crew was five hundred and eighty-four, but the reckoning which he kept privately was seven hundred and seven.* On the following day the w r eeds floated from east to west; and on the third day no birds were to be seen. The crews now began to fear that they had passed between islands, from one to the other of which the birds had been fly¬ ing. Columbus had also some doubts of the kind, but refused to alter his westward course. The people again uttered mur¬ murs and menaces; but on the following day they were visited by such flights of birds, and the various indications of land be¬ came so numerous, that from a state of despondency they passed to one of confident expectation. Eager to obtain the promised pension, the seamen were com tinually giving the cry of land, on the least appearance of the kind. To put a stop to these false alarms, which produced con¬ tinual disappointments, Columbus declared that should any one give such notice, and land not be discovered within three days afterward, he should thenceforth forfeit all claim to the reward. On the evening of the 6th of October, Martin Alonzo Pinzon began to lose confidence in their present course, and proposed that they should stand more to the southward. Columbus, however, still persisted in steering directly west.f Observing this difference of opinion in a person so important in his squadron as Pinzon, and fearing that chance or de¬ sign might scatter the ships, he ordered that, should either of the caravels be separated from him, it should stand to the west, and endeavor as soon as possible to join company again; he directed, also, that the vessels should keep near to him at sun- * Navarrete. tom. i. p. 16. t Joum. of Columbus, Navarrete, tom. i. p. 17. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 105 rise and sunset, as at these times the state of the atmosphere is most favorable to the discovery of distant land. On the morning of the 7th of October, at sunrise, several of the admiral’s crew thought they beheld land in the west, but so indistinctly that no one ventured to proclaim it, lest he should be mistaken, and forfeit all chance of the reward; the Nina, however, being a good sailor, pressed forward to ascer¬ tain the fact. In a little while a flag was hoisted at her mast¬ head, and a gun discharged, being the preconcerted signals for land. New joy was awakened throughout the little squadron, and every eye was turned to the west. As they advanced, however, their cloud-built hopes faded away, and before even¬ ing the fancied land had again melted into air.* The crews now sank into a degree of dejection proportioned to their recent excitement; but new circumstances occurred to arouse them. Columbus, having observed great flights of small field-birds going toward the south-west, concluded they must be secure of some neighboring land, where they would find food and a resting-place. He knew the importance which the Portuguese voyagers attached to the flight of birds, by following which they had discovered most of their islands. He had now come seven hundred and fifty leagues, the distance at which he had computed to find the island of Cipango; as there was no appearance of it, he might have missed it through some mis¬ take in the latitude. He determined, therefore, on the evening of the 7th of October, to alter his course to the west-south-west, the direction in which the birds generally flew, and continue that direction for at least two days. After all, it was no great deviation from his main course, and would meet the wishes of the Pinzons, as well as be inspiriting to his followers gener¬ ally. For three days they stood in this direction, and the further they went the more frequent and encouraging were the signs of land. Flights of small birds of various colors, some of them such as sing in the fields, came flying about the ships, and then continued toward the south-west, and others were heard also flying by in the night. Tunny fish played about the smooth sea, and a heron, a pelican, and a duck were seen, all bound in the same direction. The herbage which floated by was fresh and green, as if recently from land, and the air, Columbus observes, was sweet and fragrant as April breezes in Seville. *Hist del Almirante, cap. 20. Journ. of Columbus, Navarrete, tom. i. 106 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. All these, however, were regarded by the crews as so many delusions beguiling them on to destruction; and when on the evening of the third day they beheld the sun go down upon a shoreless horizon, they broke forth into turbulent clamor. They declaimed against this obstinacy in tempting fate by con¬ tinuing on into a boundless sea. They insisted upon turning homeward, and abandoning the voyage as hopeless. Columbus endeavored to pacify them by gentle words and promises of large rewards; but finding that they only increased in clamor, he assumed a decided tone. He told them it was. useless to murmur, the expedition had been sent by the sovereigns to seek the Indies, and, happen what might, he was determined to persevere, until, by the blessing of God, he should accom¬ plish the enterprise.* Columbus was now at open defiance with his crew, and his * Hist. del. Almirante, cap. 20. Las. Casas, lib. i. Journal of Columb., Navarrete, Colec. tom. i. p. 19. it has been asserted by various historians, that Columbus, a day or two previous to coming in sight of the New World, capitulated with his mutinuous crew, promis¬ ing, if he did not discover land within three days, to abandon the voyage. There is no authority for such an assertion, either in the history of his son Fernando or that of the Bishop Las Casas, each of whom had the admiral’s papers before him. There is no mention of such a circumstance in the extracts made from the journal by Las Casas, which have recently been brought to light; nor is it asserted by either Peter Martyr or the Curate of Los Palacios, both contemporaries and acquaintances of Columbus, and who could scarcely have failed to mention so striking a fact, if true. It rests merely upon the authority of Oviedo, who is of inferior credit to either of the authors above cited, and was grossly misled as to many of the particulars of this voyage by a pilot of the name of Hernan Perez Matheo, who was hostile to Columbus. In the manuscript process of the memorable lawsuit between Don Diego, son of the admiral, and the fiscal of the crown, is the evidence of one Pedro de Bilboa, who testifies that he heard many times that some of the pilots and mari¬ ners wished to turn back, bnt that the admiral promised them presents, and en¬ treated them to wait two or three days, before which time he should discover land. ('‘Pedro de Bilbao, oyo muchas veces que algunos pilotos y marineros querian volverse sino fuera por el Almirante que les prometio donos, les rogd esperasen dos o t es dias i que antes, del termino descubrieratierra.”) This, if true, implies no capitulation to. relinquish the enterprise. On the other hand, it was asserted by some of the witnesses in the above-men¬ tioned suit, that Columbus, after having proceeded some few hundred leagues with¬ out finding land, lost confidence and wished to turn back; but was persuaded and even piqued to continue by the Pinzons. This assertion carries falsehood on its very face. It is in total contradiction to that persevering constancy and undaunted resolution displayed by Columbus, not merely in the present voyage, but from first to last of his difficult and dangerous career. This testimony was given by some of the mutinuous men, anxious to exaggerate the merits of the Pinzons, and to depre¬ ciate that of Columbus. Fortunately, the extracts from the journal of the latter, written from day to day, with guileless simplicity, and all the air of truth, disprove these fables, and show that on the very day previous to his discovery, he expressed a peremptory determination to persevere, in defiance of all dangers and difficulties. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 107 % situation became desperate. Fortunately the manifestations of the vicinity of land were such on the following day as no longer to admit a doubt. Besides a quantity of fresh weeds, such as grow in rivers, they saw a green fish of a kind which keeps about rocks; then a branch of thorn with berries on it, and re¬ cently separated from the tree, floated by them; then they picked up a reed, a small board, and, above all, a staff arti¬ ficially carved. All gloom and mutiny now gave way to san¬ guine expectation; and throughout the day each one was ea¬ gerly on the watch, in hopes of being the first to discover the long-sought-for land. In the evening, when, according to invariable custom on board of the admiral’s ship, the mariners had sung the ‘ ‘ Salve Begina,” or vesper hymn to the Virgin, he made an impressive address to his crew. He pointed out the goodness of God in thus conducting them by soft and favoring breezes across a tranquil ocean, cheering their hopes continually with fresh signs, increasing as their fears augmented, and thus leading and guiding them to a promised land. He now reminded them of the orders he had given on leaving the Canaries, that, after sailing westward seven hundred leagues, they should not make sail after midnight. Present appearances authorized such a precaution. He thought it probable they would make land that very night; he ordered, therefore, a vigilant look-out to be kept from the forecastle, promising to whomsoever should make the discovery, a doublet of velvet, in addition to the pension to be given by the sovereigns.* The breeze had been fresh all day, with more sea than usual, and they had made great progress. At simset they had stood again to the west, and were ploughing the waves at a rapid rate, the Pinta keeping the lead, from her superior sailing. The greatest animation prevailed throughout the ships; not an eye was closed that night. As the evening darkened, Colum¬ bus took his station on the top of the castle or cabin on the high poop of his vessel, ranging his eye along the dusky horizon, and maintaining an intense and unremitting watch. About ten o’clock he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a great distance. Fearing his eager hopes might deceive him, he called to Pedro Gutierrez, gentleman of the king’s bedchamber, and inquired whether he saw such a light; the latter replied in the affirmative. Doubtful whether it might not yet be some * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 21. 108 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. delusion of the fancy, Columbus called Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, and made the same inquiry. By the time the latter had ascended the round-house the light had disappeared. They saw it once or tAvice afterward in sudden and passing gleams; as if it were a torch in the bark of a fisherman, rising and sink¬ ing with the waves; or in the hand of some person on shore, borne up and down as he walked from house to house. So transient and uncertain were these gleams that few attached any importance to them; Columbus, however, considered them as certain signs of land, and, moreover, that the land was inhabited. They continued their course until t\vo in the morning, when a gun from the Pinta gave the joyful signal of land. It was first descried by a mariner named Rodrigo de Triana; but the reAvard Avas after Avar d adjudged to the admiral, for having pre¬ viously perceived the light. The land Avas now clearly seen about two leagues distant, whereupon they took in sail and lay to, waiting impatiently for the dawn. The thoughts and feelings of Columbus in this little space of time must have been tumultuous and intense. At length, in spite of every difficulty and danger, lie had accomplished his object. The great mystery of the ocean aatis revealed; his theory, which had been the scoff: of sages, was triumphantly established; he had secured to himself a glory durable as the world itself. It is difficult to conceive the feelings of such a man, at such a moment; or the conjectures which must have thronged upon his mind, as to the land before him, covered with darkness. That it was fruitful, was evident from the vegetables which floated from its shores. He thought, too, that he perceived the fragrance of aromatic groves. The moving light he had beheld proved it the residence of man. But what Avere its inhabitants? Were they like those of the other parts of the globe; or were they some strange and monstrous race, such as the imagination was prone in those times to give to all remote and unknoAvn regions? Had he come upon some Avild island far in the Indian sea; or was this the famed Cipango itself, the object of his golden fancies? A thousand speculations of the kind must have swarmed upon him, as, with his anxious crews, he waited for the night to pass aivay, wondering whether the morning light would reveal a savage wilderness, or dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering fanes, and gilded cities, and all the splendor of oriental civilization. BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS IN THE NEW WORLD. It was on Friday morning, the 12th of October, that Colum¬ bus first beheld the New World. As the day dawned he saw before him a level island, several leagues in extent, and covered with trees like a continual orchard. Though apparently un¬ cultivated, it was populous, for the inhabitants were seen issuing from all parts of the woods and running to the shore. They were perfectly naked, and, as they stood gazing at the ships, appeared by their attitudes and gestures to be lost in astonishment. Columbus made signal for the ships to cast anchor, and the boats to be manned and armed. He entered his own boat, richly attired in scarlet, and holding the royal standard; while Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Yineent Janez his brother, put off in company in their boats, each with a banner of the enterprise emblazoned with a green cross, having on either side the letters F. and Y., the initials of the Castilian monarchs Fernando and Ysabel, surmounted by crowns. As he approached the shore, Columbus, who was disposed for all kinds of agreeable impressions, was delighted with the purity and suavity of the atmosphere, the crystal transparency of the sea, and the extraordinary beauty of the vegetation. He beheld, also, fruits of an unknown kind upon the trees which overhung the shores. # On landing he threw himself on Ills knees, kissed the earth, and returned thanks to God with tears of joy. His example was followed by the rest, whose hearts indeed overflowed with the same feelings of gratitude. Columbus then rising drew his sword, displayed the royal standard, and assembling round him the two captains, with Rodrigo de Escobedo, notary of the armament, Rodrigo San¬ chez, and the rest who had landed, he took solemn possession 110 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. in the name of the Castilian sovereigns, giving the island the name of San Salvador. Having complied with the requisite forms and ceremonies, he called upon all present to take the oath of obedience to him, as admiral and viceroy, representing the persons of the sovereigns.* The feelings of the crew now burst forth in the most extrava¬ gant transports. They had recently considered themselves devoted men, hurrying forward to destruction; they now looked upon themselves as favorites of fortune, and gave themselves up to the most unbounded joy. They thronged around the admiral with overflowing zeal, some embracing him, others kissing his hands. Those who had been most mutinous and turbulent during the voyage, were now most devoted and en¬ thusiastic. Some begged favors of him, as if he had already wealth and honors in his gift. Many abject spirits, who had outraged him by their insolence, now crouched at his feet, beg¬ ging pardon for all the trouble they had caused him, and promising the blindest obedience for the future, f The natives of the island, when, at the dawn of day, they had beheld the ships hovering on their coast, had supposed them monsters which had issued from the deep during the night. They had crowded to the beach and watched their movements with awful anxiety. Their veering about, apparently without effort, and the shifting and furling of their sails, resembling huge wings, filled them with astonishment. When they beheld their boats approach the shore, and a number of strange beings clad in glittering steel, or raiment of various colors, landing upon the beach, they fled in affright to the woods. Finding, however, that there was no attempt to pursue nor molest them, they gradually recovered from their terror, and approached the Spaniards with great awe; frequently prostrating themselves on the earth, and making signs of adoration. During the cere¬ monies of taking possession, they remained gazing in timid admiration at the complexion, the beards, the shining armor, and splendid dress of the Spaniards. The admiral particularly * In the Tablas Chronologicas of Padre Claudio Clemente, is conserved a form of prayer, said to have been used by Columbus on this occasion, and which, by order of the Castilian sovereigns, was afterward used by Balboa, Cortez, and Pizarro in their discoveries. “Doinine Deus seterne et omnipotens, sacro tuo verbo coelum, et terram, et mare creasti; benedicatur el glorificetur nomen tuum. laudetur tua majestas, quse dignita est per humilem servum tuum, ut ejus sacrum nomen agnos- catur, et praediceturm hac alteramundi parte.” Tab. Chron. de los Descub., deead. i. Valencia, 1689 t Oviedo, lib. i. cap. 6. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 40. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Ill attracted their attention, from his commanding height, his air of authority, his dress of scarlet, and the deference which was paid him by his companions; all which pointed him out to be the commander.* When they had still further recovered from their fears, they approached the Spaniards, touched their beards, and examined their hands and faces, admiring their whiteness. Columbus was pleased with their gentleness and confiding simplicity, and suffered their scrutiny with perfect acquiescence, winning them by his benignity. They now sup¬ posed that the ships had sailed out of the crystal firmament which bounded their horizon, or had descended from above on their ample wings, and that these marvellous beings were in¬ habitants of the skies, f The natives of the island were no less objects of curiosity to the Spaniards, differing, as they did, from any race of men they had ever seen. Their appearance gave no promise of either wealth or civilization, for they were entirely naked, and painted with a variety of colors. With some it was confined merely to a part of the face, the nose, or around the eyes; with others it extended to the whole body, and gave them a wild and fantastic appearance. Their complexion was of a tawny or copper hue, and they were entirely destitute of beards. Their hair was not crisped, like the recently-discovered tribes of the African coast, under the same latitude, but straight and coarse, partly cut short above the ears, but some locks were left long behind and falling upon their shoulders. Their fea¬ tures, though obscured and disfigured by paint, were agree¬ able; they had lofty foreheads and remarkably fine eyes. They were of moderate stature and well-shaped; most of them appeared to be under thirty years of age; there was but one female with them, quite young, naked like her companions, and beautifully formed. As Columbus supposed himself to have landed on an island at the extremity of India, he called the natives by the general appellation of Indians, which was universally adopted before the true nature of his discovery was known, and has since been extended to all the aboriginals of the New World. * Las Casas, ubi sup. t The idea that the white men came from heaven was universally entertained by the inhabitants of the New World. When in the course of subsequent voyages the Spaniards conversed with the cacique Nicaragua, he inquired how they came down from the skies, whether flying or whether they descended on clouds. Herrera, decad. lii. lib. iv. cap. 17. 112 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. The islanders were friendly and gentle. Their only arms were lances, hardened at the end by fire, or pointed with a flint, or the teeth or bone of a fish. There was no iron to be seen, nor did they appear acquainted with its properties; for, when a drawn sword was presented to them, they unguardedly took it by the edge. Columbus distributed among them colored caps, glass beads, hawks’ bells, and other trifles, such as the Portuguese were accustomed to trade with among the nations of the gold coast of Africa. They received them eagerly, hung the beads round their necks, and were wonderfully pleased with their finery, and with the sound of the bells. The Spaniards remained all day on shore refreshing themselves after their anxious voyage amid the beautiful groves of the island, and returned on board late in the evening, delighted with all they had seen. On the following morning at break of day, the shore was thronged with the natives; some swam off to the ships, others came in light barks which they called canoes, formed of a single tree, hollowed, and capable of holding from one man to the number of forty or fifty. These they managed dexterously with paddles, and, if overturned, swam about in the water with perfect unconcern, as if in their natural element, righting their canoes with great facility, and baling them with calabashes.* They were eager to procure more toys and trinkets, not, apparently, from any idea of their intrinsic value, but because everything from the hands of the strangers possessed a super¬ natural virtue in their eyes, as having been brought from heaven; they even picked up fragments of glass and earthen¬ ware as valuable prizes. They had but few objects to offer in return, except parrots, of which great numbers were domesti¬ cated among them, and cotton yarn, of which they had abun¬ dance, and would exchange large balls of five and twenty pounds’ weight for the merest trifle. They brought also cakes of a kind of bread called cassava, which constituted a principal part of their food, and was afterward an important article of provisions with the Spaniards. It was formed from a great root called yuca, which they cultivated in fields. This they cut into small morsels, which they grated or scraped, and strained in a press, making a broad thin cake, which was afterward dried hard, and would keep for a long time, being steeped in * The calabashes of the Indians, which served the purposes of glass and earthen¬ ware, supplying them with all sorts of domestic utensils, were produced on stately trees of the size of elms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 113 water when eaten. It was insipid, but nourishing, though the water strained from it in the preparation was a deadly poison. There was another kind of yuca destitute of this poisonous quality which was eaten in the root, either boiled or roasted.* The avarice of the discoverers was quickly excited by the sight of small ornaments of gold, worn by some of the natives in their noses. These the latter gladly exchanged for glass beads and hawks’ bells; and both parties exulted in the bar¬ gain, no doubt admiring each other’s simplicity. As gold, however, was an object of royal monopoly in all enterprises of discovery, Columbus forbade any traffic in it without his ex¬ press sanction; and he put the same prohibition on the traffic for cotton, reserving to the crown all trade for it, wherever it should be found in any quantity. He inquired of the natives where this gold was procured. They answered him by signs, pointing to the south, where, he understood them, dwelt a king of such wealth that he was served in vessels of wrought gold. He understood, also, that there was land to the south, the south-west, and the north¬ west, and that the people from the last mentioned quarter frequently proceeded to the south-west in quest of gold and precious stones, making in their way descents upon the islands, and carrying off the inhabitants. Several of the natives showed him scars of wounds received in battles with these invaders. It is evident that a great part of this fancied intelligence was self-delusion on the part of Columbus; for he was under a spell of the imagination, which gave its own shapes and colors to every object. He was persuaded that he had arrived among the islands described by Marco Polo as lying opposite Cathay, in the Chinese sea, and he construed everything to accord with the account given of those opulent regions. Thus the enemies which the natives spoke of as coming from the north-west, he concluded to be the people of the main-land of Asia, the sub¬ jects of the great Khan of Tartary, who were represented by the Venetian traveller as accustomed to make war upon the islands, and to enslave their inhabitants. The country to the south, abounding in gold, could be no other than the famous island of Cipango; and the king who was served out of vessels of gold must be the monarch whose magnificent city and gorgeous palace, covered with plates of gold, had been extolled in such splendid terms by Marco Polo. * Acosta, Hist. Ind., Jib. iv. cap. 17. 114 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. The island where Columbus had thus, for the first time, set his foot upon the New World, was called by the natives Guanahane. It still retains the name of San Salvador, which he gave to it, though called by the English Cat Island.* The light which he had seen the evening previous to his making land, may have been on Watling’s Island, which lies a few leagues to the east. San Salvador is one of the great cluster of the Lucayos, or Bahama Islands, which stretch south-east and north-west, from the coast of Florida to Hispaniola, covering the northern coast of Cuba. On the morning of the 14th of October the admiral set off at daybreak with the boats of the ships to reconnoitre the island, directing his course to the north-east. The coast was sur¬ rounded by a reef of rocks, within-which there was depth of water and sufficient harbor to receive all the ships in Christen¬ dom. The entrance was very narrow; within there were several sand-banks, but the water was as still as in a pool.f The island appeared throughout to be well wooded, with streams of water, and a large lake in the centre. As the boats proceeded, they passed two or three villages, the inhabitants of which, men as well as women, ran to the shores, throwing themselves on the ground, lifting up their hands and eyes, either giving thanks to heaven, or worshipping the Spaniards as supernatural beings. They ran along parallel to the boats, calling after the Spaniards, and inviting them by signs to land, offering them various fruits and vessels of water. Finding, however, that the boats continued on their course, many throw themselves into the sea and swam after them, and others fol¬ lowed in canoes. The admiral received them all with kind¬ ness, giving them glass beads and other trifles, which were received with transport as celestial presents, for the invariable idea of the savages was, that the white men had come from the skies. In this way they pursued their course, until they came to a small peninsula, which with two or three days’ labor might be separated from the main-land and surrounded with water, and was therefore specified by Columbus as an excellent situation for a fortress. On this were six Indian cabins, surrounded by groves and gardens as beautiful as those of Castile. The sailors * Some dispute having recently arisen as to the island on which Columbus first landed, the reader is referred for a discussion of this question to the illustrations of the work, article “ First Landing of Columbus.” + Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBVS. 115 being wearied with rowing, and the island not appearing to the admiral of sufficient importance to induce colonization, ho returned to the ships, taking seven of the natives with him, that they might acquire the Spanish language and serve as interpreters. Having taken in a supply of wood and water, they left the island of San Salvador the same evening, the admiral being impatient to arrive at the wealthy country to the south, which he battered himself would prove the famous island of Cipango. CHAPTER II. CRUISE AMONG THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. [1492.] On leaving San Salvador Columbus was at a loss which way to direct his course. A great number of islands, green and level and fertile, invited him in different directions. The Indians on board of his vessel intimated by signs that they were innumerable, well peopled, and at war with one another. They mentioned the names of above a hundred. Columbus now had no longer a doubt that he was among the islands described by Marco Polo as studding the vast sea of Chin, or China, and lying at a great distance from the main-land. These, according to the Venetian, amounted to between seven and eight thousand, and abounded with drugs and spices and odoriferous trees, together with gold and silver and many other precious objects of commerce.* Animated by the idea of exploring this opulent archipelago, he selected the largest island in sight for his next visit; it appeared to be about five leagues’ distance, and he understood from his Indians that the natives were richer than those of San Salvador, wearing bracelets and anklets and other ornaments of massive gold. The night coming on, Columbus ordered that the ships should lie to, as the navigation was difficult and dangerous among these unknown islands, and he feared to venture upon a strange * Marco Polo, book ill. chap. 4; Eng. translation by W. Marsden. 116 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. coast in the-dark. In the morning they again made sail, but- meeting with counter-currents it was not until sunset that they anchored at the island. The next morning (16th) they went on shore, and Columbus took solemn possession, giving the island the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion. The same scene occurred with the inhabitants as with those of*San Salvador. They manifested the same astonishment and awe, the same gentleness and simplicity, and the same nakedness and absence of all wealth. Columbus looked in vain for bracelets and anklets of gold, or for any other precious articles: they had been either fictions of his Indian guides, or his own misinter¬ pretations. Keturning on board, he prepared to make sail, when one of the Indians of San Salvador, who was on board of the Nina, plunged into the sea, and swam to a large canoe filled with natives. The boat of the caravel put off in pursuit, but the Indians managed their light bark with too much velocity to be overtaken, and, reaching the land, fled to the woods. The sailors took the canoe as a prize, and returned on board the caravel. Shortly afterward a small canoe approached one of the ships from a different part of the island, with a single Indian on board, who came to offer a ball of cotton in exchange for hawks’ bells. As he paused when close to the vessel, and feared to enter, several sailors threw themselves into the sea and took him prisoner. Columbus having seen all that passed from his station on the high poop of the vessel, ordered the captive to be brought to him; he came trembling with fear, and humbly offered his ball of cotton as a gift. The admiral received him with the utmost benignity, and declining his offering, put a colored cap upon his head, strings of green beads around his arms, and hawks’ bells in his ears, then ordering him and his ball of cotton to be replaced in the canoe, dismissed him, astonished and overjoyed. He ordered that the canoe, also, which had been seized and was fastened to the Nina, should be cast loose, to be regained by its proprietors. When the Indian reached the shore, his country¬ men thronged round him, examining and admiring his finery, and listening to his account of the kind treatment he experi¬ enced. Such were the gentle and sage precautions continually taken by Columbus to impress the natives favorably. Another in¬ stance of the kind occurred after leaving the island of Concept cion, when the caravels stood for the larger island, several LIFE'OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 117 leagues to the west. Midway between the two islands they overtook a single Indian in a canoe. He had a mere morsel of cassava bread and a calabash of water for sea-stores, and a little red paint, like dragons’ blood, for personal decoration when he should land. A string of glass beads, such as had been given to the natives of San Salvador, showed that he had come thence, and was probably passing from island to island, to give notice of the ships. Columbus admired the hardihood of this simple navigator, making such an extensive voyage in so frail a bark. As the island was still distant, he ordered that both the Indian and his canoe should be taken on board, where he treated him with the greatest kindness, giving him bread and honey to eat, and wine to drink. The weather being very calm, they did not reach the island until too dark to anchor, through fear of cutting their cables with rocks. The sea about these islands was so transparent that in the daytime they could see the bottom and choose their ground; and so deep, that at two gun-shot distance there was no anchorage. Hoisting out the canoe of their Indian voyager, therefore, and restoring to him all his effects, they sent him joyfully ashore, to prepare the natives for their arrival, while the ships lay to until morning. This kindness had the desired effect. The natives surrounded the ships in their canoes during the night, bringing fruits and roots, and the pure water of their springs. Columbus dis¬ tributed trifling presents among them, and to those who came on board he gave sugar and honey. Landing the next morning, lie gave to this island the name of Fernandina, in honor of the king; it is the same at present called Exuma. The inhabitants were similar in every respect to those of the preceding islands, excepting that they appeared more ingenious and intelligent. Some of the women wore mantels and aprons of cotton, but for the most part they were entirely naked. Their habitations were constructed in the form of a pavilion or high circular tent, of branches of trees, of reeds, and palm leaves. They were kept very clean and neat, and sheltered under spreading trees. For beds they had nets of cotton extended from two posts, which they called hamacs , a name since in universal use among seamen. In endeavoring to circumnavigate the island, Columbus found, within two leagues of the northwest cape, a noble harbor, suf¬ ficient to hold a hundred ships, with two entrances formed by an island which lay in the mouth of it. Here, while the men landed with the casks in search of water, he reposed under the 118 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . shade of the groves, which he says were more beautiful than any he had ever beheld; “the country was as fresh and green as in the month of May in Andalusia; the trees, the fruits, the herbs, the flowers, the very stones for the most part, as differ¬ ent from those of Spain as night from day.” * The inhabitants gave the same proofs as the other islanders, of being totally un¬ accustomed to the sight of civilized man. They regarded the Spaniards with awe and admiration, approached them with propitiatory offerings of whatever their poverty, or rather their simple and natural mode of life, afforded; the fruits ot their fields and groves, the cotton, which was their article of greatest value, and their domesticated parrots. They took those who were in search of water to the coolest springs, the sweetest and freshest runs, filling their casks, and rolling them to the boats; thus seeking in every way to gratify their celestial visitors. However pleasing this state of primeval poverty might* be to the imagination of a poet, it was a source of continual disap¬ pointment to the Spaniards, whose avarice had been whetted to the quick by scanty specimens of gold, and by the information of golden islands continually given by the Indians, Leaving Fernandina, on the 19th of October, they steered to the south-east in quest of an island called Saometo, where Columbus understood, from the signs of the guides, there was a mine of gold, and a king, the sovereign of all the surrounding islands, who dwelt in a large city and possessed great treasures, wearing rich clothing and jewels of gold. They found the island, but neither the monarch nor the mine; either Columbus had misunderstood the natives, or they, measuring things by their own poverty, had exaggerated the paltry state and trivia? ornaments of some savage chieftain. Delightful as the other islands had appeared, Columbus declared that this surpassed them all. Like those it was covered with trees and shrubs and herbs of unknown kind. The climate had the same soft tem¬ perature ; the air was delicate and balmy; the land was higher, with a fine verdant hill; the coast of a fine sand, gently laved by transparent billows. At the south-west end of the island he found fine lakes of fresh water, overhung with groves, and surrounded by banks covered with herbage. Here he ordered all the casks of the ships to be filled. “Here are large lakes,” says he, in his jour- * Primer Via^e de Colon. Navarretc, lib. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 119 _ \ nal, “and the groves about them are marvellous, and here and in all the island everything is green, as in April in Andalusia. The singing of the birds is such, that it seems as if one would never desire to depart hence. There are flocks of parrots which obscure the sun, and other birds, large and small, of so many kinds all different from ours, that it is wonderful; and besides there are trees of a thousand species, each having its particular fruit and all of marvellous flavor, so that I am in the greatest trouble in the world not to know them, for I am very certain that they are each of great value. I shall bring home some of them as specimens, and also some of the herbs.” To this beauti¬ ful island he gave the name of his royal patroness, Isabella; it is the same at present called Isla Larga and Exiuneta. Colum¬ bus was intent on discovering the drugs and spices of the East, and on approaching this island, had fancied he perceived in the air the spicy odors said to be wafted from the islands of the In¬ dian, seas. “As I arrived at this cape,” says he, “there came thence a fragrance so good and soft of the flowers or trees of the land, that it was the sweetest thing in the world. I believe there are here many herbs and trees which would be of great price in Spain for tinctures, medicines, and spices, but I know nothing of them, which gives me great concern. ” * The fish, which abounded in these seas, partook of the novel¬ ty which characterized most of the objects in this new world. They rivalled the birds in tropical brilliancy of color, the scales of some of them glancing back the rays of light like precious stones; as they sported about the ships, they flashed gleams of gold and silver through the clear waves; and the dolphins, taken out of their element, delighted the eye with the changes of colors ascribed in fable to the chameleon. No animals were seen in these islands, excepting a species of dog which never barked, a kind of coney or rabbit called “ utia” by the natives, together with numerous lizards and guanas. The last were regarded with disgust and horror by the Span¬ iards, supposing them to be fierce and noxious serpents; but they were found afterward to be perfectly harmless, and their flesh to be esteemed a great delicacy by the Indians. For several days Columbus hovered about this island, seek¬ ing in vain to find its imaginary monarch, or to establish a communication with him, until, at length, he reluctantly be¬ came convinced of his error. No sooner, however, did one * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, cap. 1, 120 - LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. delusion fade away, than another succeeded. In reply to the continual inquiries made by the Spaniards, after the source whence they procured their gold, the natives uniformly pointed to the south. Columbus now began to hear of an island in that direction, called Cuba, but all that he could collect concerning it from the signs of the natives was colored by his imagination. He understood it to be of great extent, abounding in gold, and pearls, and spices, and carrying on an extensive commerce in those precious articles; and that large merchant ships came to trade with its inhabitants. Comparing these misinterpreted accounts with the coast of Asia, as laid down on his map, after the descriptions of Marco Polo, he concluded that this island must be Cipango, and the merchant ships mentioned must be those of the Grand Khan, who maintained an extensive commerce in these seas. He formed his plan accordingly, determining to sail immediately for this island, and make himself acquainted with its ports, cities, and productions, for the purpose of establishing rela¬ tions of traffic. He would then seek another great island called Bohio, of which the natives gave likewise marvellous accounts, His sojourn in those islands would depend upon the quantities of gold, spices, precious stones, and other objects of Oriental trade which he should find there. After this he would proceed to the main-land of India, which must be within ten days’ sail, seek the city Quinsai, which, according to Marco Polo, was one of the most magnificent capitals in the world; he would there deliver in person the letters of the Castilian sover¬ eigns to the Grand Khan, and, when he received his reply, return triumphantly to Spain with this document, to prove that he had accomplished the great object of his voyage.* Such was the splendid scheme with which Columbus fed his imagina¬ tion, when about to leave the Bahamas in quest of the island of Cuba. * Journal of Columbus. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CURISTOPEEli COLUMBUS. 121 CHAPTER III. DISCOVERY AND COASTING OF CUBA. [1492.] For several days the departure of Columbus was delayed by contrary winds and calms, attended by heavy showers, which last had prevailed, more or less, since his arrival among the islands. It was the season of the autumnal rains, which in those torrid climates succeed the parching heats of summer, commencing about the decrease of the August moon, and last¬ ing until the month of November. At length, at midnight, October 24th, he set sail from the island of Isabella, but was nearly becalmed until midday; a gentle wind then sprang up, and, as he observes, began to blow most amorously. Every sail was spread, and he stood toward the west-south-west, the direction in which he was told the land of Cuba lay from Isabella. After three days’ navigation, in the course of which he touched at a group of seven or eight small islands, which he called Islas de Arena, supposed to be the present Mucaras islands, and having crossed the Bahama bank and channel, he arrived, on the morning of the 28th of October, in sight of Cuba. The part which he first discovered is supposed to be the coast to the west of Neuvitas del Principe. As he approached this noble island, he was struck with its magnitude, and the grandeur of its features; its high and airy mountains, which reminded him of those of Sicily; its fertile valleys, and long sweeping plains watered by noble rivers; its stately forests; its bold promontories and stretching headlands, which melted away into the remotest distance. He anchored in a beautiful river, of transparent clearness, free from rocks and shoals, its banks overhung with trees. Here, landing, and taking possession of the island, he gave it the name of Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, and to the river the name of San Sal¬ vador. On the arrival of the ships, two canoes put off from the shore, but fled on seeing the boat approach to sound the river for an¬ chorage. The admiral visited two cabins abandoned by their inhabitants. They contained but a few nets made of the fibres of the palm-tree, hooks and harpoons of bone, and some other 122 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. fishing implements, and one of the kind of dogs he had met with on the smaller islands, which never bark. He ordered that nothing should be taken away or deranged. Returning to his boat, he proceeded for some distance up the river, more and more enchanted with the beauty of the coun¬ try. The banks were covered with high and wide-spreading trees; some bearing fruits, others flowers, while in some both fruit and flower were mingled, bespeaking a perpetual round of fertility; among them were many palms, but different from those of Spain and Africa; with the great leaves of these the natives thatched their cabins. The continual eulogies made by Columbus on the beauty of the country were warranted by the kind of scenery he was be¬ holding. There is a wonderful splendor, variety, and luxuri¬ ance in the vegetation of those quick and ardent climates. The verdure of the groves and the colors of the flowers and blos¬ soms derive a vividness from the transparent purity of the air and the deep serenity of the azure heavens. The forests, too, are full of life, swarming with birds of brilliant plumage. Painted varieties of parrots and woodpeckers create a glitter amid the verdure of the grove, and humming-birds rove from flower to flower, resembling, as has well been said, animated particles of a rainbow. The scarlet flamingoes, too, seen some¬ times through an opening of a forest in a distant savanna, have the appearance of soldiers drawn up in battalion, with an ad¬ vanced scout on the alert, to give notice of approaching danger. Nor is the least beautiful part of animated nature the various tribes of insects peopling every plant, and displaying brilliant coats of mail, which sparkle like precious gems.* Such is the splendor of animal and vegetable creation in these tropical climates, where an ardent sun imparts its own lustre to every object, and quickens nature into exuberant fecundity. The birds, in general, are not remarkable for their notes, for it has been observed that in the feathered race sweetness of song rarely accompanies brilliancy of plumage. Columbus remarks, however, that there were various kinds which sang sweetly among the trees, and he frequently de¬ ceived himself in fancying that he heard the voice of the nightingale, a bird unknown in these countries. He was, in fact, in a mood to see everything through a favoring medium. * The ladies of Havana, on gala occasions, wear in their hair numbers of those in¬ sects, which have a brilliancy equal to rubies, sapphires, or diamonds. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 123 His heart was full to overflowing, for he was enjoying the ful¬ filment of his hopes, and the hard-earned but glorious reward of his toils and perils. Everything round him was beheld with the enamored and exulting eye of a discoverer, where triumph mingles with admiration; and it is difficult to conceive the rapturous state of his feelings, while thus exploring the charms of a virgin world, won by his enterprise and valor. From his continual remarks on the beauty of scenery, and from his evident delight in rural sounds and objects, he ap* pears to have been extremely open to those happy influences, exercised over some spirits, by the graces and wonders of nature. He gives utterance to these feelings with charac¬ teristic enthusiasm, and at the same time with the artlessness and simplicity of diction of a child. When speaking of some lovely scene among the groves, or along the flowery shores of these favored islands, he says, “ one could live there for ever.” Cuba broke upon him like an elysium. “It is the most beau¬ tiful island,” he says, “ that eyes ever beheld, full of excellent ports and profound rivers.” The climate was more temperate here than in the other islands, the nights being neither hot nor cold, while the birds and crickets sang all night long. Indeed there is a beauty in a tropical night, in the depth of the dark blue sky, the lambent purity of the stars, and the resplendent clearness of the moon, that spreads over the rich landscape and the balmy groves a charm more captivating than the splendor of the day. In the sweet smell of the woods and the odor of the flowers Columbus fancied he perceived the fragrance of oriental spices; and along the shores he found shells of the kind of oyster which produces pearls. From the grass growing to the very edge of the water, he inferred the peacefulness of the ocean which bathes these islands, never lashing the shores with angry surges. Ever since his arrival among these Antil¬ les he had experienced nothing but soft arid gentle weather, and he concluded that a perpetual serenity reigned over these happy seas. He was little suspicious of the occasional bursts of fury to which they are liable. Charlevoix, speaking from actual observation, remarks, “ The sea of those islands is com¬ monly more tranquil than ours; but, like certain people who are excited with difficulty, and whose transports of passion are as violent as they are lare, sc when the sea becomes irritated, it is terrible. It breaxs all bounds, overflow the country, sweeps away all things that oppose it, and leaves frightful 124 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ravages behind, to mark the extent of its inundations. It is after these tempests, known by the name of hurricanes, that the shores are covered with marine shells, which greatly sur¬ pass in lustre and beauty those of the European seas.” * It is a singular fact, however, that the hurricanes, which almost an¬ nually devastate the Bahamas, and other islands in the immedi¬ ate vicinity of Cuba, have been seldom known to extend their influence to this favored land. It would seem as if the very elements were charmed into gentleness as they approached it. In a kind of riot of the imagination, Columbus finds at every step something to corroborate the information he had received, or fancied he had received, from the natives. He had conclu¬ sive proofs, as he thought, that Cuba possessed mines of gold, and groves of spices, and that its shores abounded with pearls. He no longer doubted that it was the island of Cipango, and weighing anchor, coasted along westward, in which direction, according to the signs of his interpreters, the magnificent city of its king was situated. In the course of his voyage he landed occasionally, and visited several villages; particularly one on the banks of a large river, to which he gave the name of Rio de los Mares, t The houses were neatly built of branches of palm- trees in the shape of pavilions; not laid out in regular streets, but scattered here and there, among the groves, and under the shade of broad spreading trees, like tents in a camp; as is still the case in many of the Spanish settlements, and in the vil¬ lages in the interior of Cuba. The inhabitants fled to the mountains, or hid themselves in the woods. Columbus care' fully notea the architecture and furniture of their dwellings. The houses were better built than those he had hitherto seen, and were kept extremely clean. He found in them rude statues, and wooden masks, carved with considerable inge¬ nuity. All these were indications of more art and civilization than he had observed in the smaller islands, and he supposed they would go on increasing as he approached terra firma. Finding in all the cabins implements for fishing, he concluded that these coasts were inhabited merely by fishermen, who car¬ ried their fish to the cities in the interior. He thought also he had found the skulls of cows, which proved that there were cattle in the island; though these are supposed to have been skulls of the manati or sea-calf found on this coast. * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. p. 20 . Paris, 1730. + Now called Savannah la Mer. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 125 After standing ,to the north-west for some distance, Colum¬ bus came in sight of a great headland, to which, from the groves with which it was covered, he gave the name of the Cape of Palms, and which form the eastern entrance to what is now known as Laguna de Moron. Here three Indians, na¬ tives of the Island of Guanahani, who were on board of the Pinta, informed the commander, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, that behind the cape there was a river, whence it was but four days’ journey to Cubanacan, a place abounding in gold. By this they designated a province situated in the centre of Cuba; nacan , in their language, signifying the midst. Pinzon, how¬ ever, had studied intently the map of Toscanelli, and had im¬ bibed from Columbus all his ideas respecting the coast of Asia. He concluded, therefore, that the Indians were talking of Cublai Khan, the Tartar sovereign, and of certain parts of his dominions described by Marco Polo.* He understood from them that Cuba was not an island, but terra firma, extending a vast distance to the north, and that the king who reigned in this vicinity was at war with the Great Khan. This tissue of errors and misconceptions he immediately communicated to Columbus. It put an end to the delusion in which the admiral had hitherto indulged, that this was the island of Cipango; but it substituted another no less agreeable. He concluded that he must have reached the main-land of Asia, or as he termed it, India, and if so, he could not be any great distance from Man gi and Cathay, the ultimate destina¬ tion of his voyage. The prince in question, who reigned over this neighboring country, must be some oriental potentate of consequence; he resolved, therefore, to seek the river beyond the Cape of Palms, and dispatch a present to the monarch, with one of the letters of recommendation from the Castilian sov¬ ereigns ; and after visiting his dominions he would proceed to the capital of Cathay, the residence of the Grand Khan. Every attempt to reach the river in question, however, proved ineffectual. Cape stretched beyond cape; there was no good anchorage; the wind became contrary, and the appear¬ ance of the heavens threatening rough weather, he put back to the Pio de los Mares. On the 1st of November, at sunrise, he sent the boats on shore to visit several houses, but the inhabitants fled to the woods. He supposed that they must mistake his armament »■ -— —■-— -• * Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 44, M3. 126 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. for one of the scouring expeditions sent by the Grand Khan to make prisoners and slaves. He sent the boat on shore again in the afternoon, with an Indian interpreter, who was instructed to assure the people of the peaceable and beneficent intentions of the Spaniards, and that they had no connection with the Grand Khan. After the Indian had proclaimed this from the boat to the savages upon the beach, part of it, no doubt, to their great perplexity, he threw himself into the water and swam to shore. He was well received by the natives, and suc¬ ceeded so effectually in calming their fears, that before evening there were more than sixteen canoes about the ships, bringing cotton yarn and other simple articles of traffic. Columbus for¬ bade all trading for anything but gold, that the natives might be tempted to produce the real riches of their country. They had none to offer; all were destitute of ornaments of the pre¬ cious metals, excepting one, who wore in his nose a piece of wrought silver. Columbus understood this man to say that the king lived about the distance of four days’ journey in the interior; that many messengers had been dispatched to give him tidings of the arrival of the strangers upon the coast; and that in less than three days’ time messengers might be expected from him in return, and many merchants from the interior, to trade with the ships. It is curious to observe how ingeniously the imagination of Columbus deceived him at every step, and how he wove everything into a uniform web of false conclu¬ sions. Poring over the map of Toscanelli, referring to the reckonings of his voyage, and musing on the misinterpreted words of the Indians, he imagined that he must be on the bor¬ ders of Cathay, and about one hundred leagues from the capi¬ tal of the Grand Khan. Anxious to arrive there, and to delay as little as possible in the territories of an inferior prince, he determined not to await the arrival of the messengers and merchants, but to dispatch two envoys to seek the neighboring monarch at his residence. For this mission he chose two Spaniards, Eodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres; the latter a converted Jew, who knew Hebrew and Chaldaic, and even something of Arabic, one or other of which Columbus supposed might be known to this oriental prince. Two Indians were sent with them as guides, one a native of Guanahani, and the other an inhabitant of the hamlet on the bank of the river. The ambassadors were fur¬ nished with strings of beads and other trinkets for travelling expenses. Inst motions were given them to inform the king LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 127 that Columbus had been sent by the Castilian sovereigns, a bearer of letters and a present, which he was to deliver per¬ sonally, for the purpose of establishing an amicable intercourse between the powers. They were likewise to inform themselves accurately about the situation and distances of certain pro¬ vinces, ports, and rivers, which the admiral specified by name from the descriptions which he had of the coast of Asia. They were moreover provided with specimens of spices and drugs, for the purpose of ascertaining whether any articles of the kind abounded in the country. With these provisions and in¬ structions the ambassadors departed, six days being allowed them to go and return. Many, at the present day, will smile at this embassy to a naked savage chieftain in the interior of Cuba, in mistake for an Asiatic monarch; but such was the singular nature of this voyage, a continual series of golden dreams, and all interpreted by the deluding volume of Marco Polo. CHAPTER TV. FURTHER COASTING OF CUBA. While awaiting the return of his ambassadors, the admiral ordered the ships to be careened and repaired, and employed himself in collecting information concerning the country. On the day after their departure, he ascended the river in boats for the distance of two leagues, until he came to fresh water. Here landing, he climbed a hill to obtain a view of the interior. His view, however,'was shut in by thick and lofty forests, of wild but beautiful luxuriance. Among the trees were some which he considered linaloes; many were odoriferous, and he doubted not possessed valuable aromatic qualities. There was a general eagerness among the voyagers to find the precious articles of commerce which grow in the favored climes of the East, and their imaginations were continually deceived by their hopes. For#two or three days the admiral was excited by reports of cinnamon-trees, and nutmegs, and rhubarb; but on examina¬ tion they all proved fallacious. He showed the natives speci¬ mens of those and various other spices and drugs, and under¬ stood from them that those articles abounded to the south-east. 128 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. He showed them gold and pearls also, and several old Indians spoke of a country where the natives wore ornaments of them round their necks, arms, and ankles. They repeatedly men¬ tioned the word Bohio, which Columbus supposed to be the name of the place in question, and that it was some rich dis¬ trict or island. They mingled, however, great extravagances with their imperfect accounts, describing nations at a distance who had but one eye; others who had the heads of dogs, and who were cannibals—cutting the throats of their prisoners and sucking their blood.* All these reports of gold, and pearls, and spices, many of which were probably fabrications to please the admiral, tended to keep up the persuasion that he was among the valuable coasts and islands of the East. On making a fire to heat the tar for ca¬ reening the ships, the seamen found that the wood they burnt sent forth a powerful odor, and, on examining it, declared that it was mastic. The wood abounded in the neighboring forests, insomuch that Columbus flattered himself a thousand quintals of this precious gum might be collected every year, and a more abundant supply procured than that furnished by Scios and other islands of the Archipelago. In the course of their re¬ searches in the vegetable kingdom, in quest of the luxuries of commerce, they met with the potato, a humble root, little valued at the time, but a more precious acquisition to man than all the spices of the East. On the Cth of November, the two ambassadors returned, and every one crowded to hear tidings of the interior of the country, and of the prince to whose capital they had been sent. After penetrating twelve leagues, they had come to a village of fifty houses, built similarly to those of the coast, but larger; the whole village containing at least a thousand inhabitants. The natives received them with great solemnity, conducted them to the best house, and placed them in what appeared to be intend¬ ed foy chairs of state, being wrought out of single pieces of wood, into the forms of quadrupeds. They then offered them fruits and vegetables. Having complied with the laws of sa vage cour¬ tesy and hospitality, they seated themselves on the ground around their visitors, and waited to hear what they had to com¬ municate. * The Israelite, Luis de Torres, found his Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic of no avail, and the Lucayen interpreter had to be the * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. clxxi. p. 48. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 129 j orator. He made a regular speech, after the Indian manner, in I which he extolled the power, the wealth, the munificence of the white men. When he had finished the Indians crowded round these wonderful beings, whom, as usual, they considered more than human. Some touched them, examining their skin and raiment, others kissed their hands and feet, in token of submis¬ sion or adoration. In a little while the men withdrew, and were succeeded by the women, and the same ceremonies were re¬ peated. Some of the women had a slight covering of netted cot¬ ton round the middle, but in general both sexes were entirely naked. There seemed to be ranks and orders of society among them, and a chieftain of some authority; whereas among all the natives they had previously met with a complete equality seemed to prevail. There was no appearance of gold or other precious articles, and when they showed specimens of cinnamon, pepper, and other spices, the inhabitants told them they were not to be found in that neighborhood, but far off to the south-west. The envoys determined, therefore, to return to the ships. The natives would fain have induced them to remain for several days; but seeing them bent on departing, a great number were anxious to accompany them, imagining they were about to return to the skies. They took with them, however, only one of the principal men, with his son, who were attended by a domestic. On their way back, they for the first time witnessed the use of a weed, which the ingenious caprice of man has since con¬ verted into an universal luxury, in defiance of the opposition of the senses. They beheld several of the natives going about with firebrands in their hands, and certain dried herbs which they rolled up in a leaf, and lighting one end, put the other in their mouths, and continued exhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll of this kind they called a tobacco, a name since trans¬ ferred to the plant of which the rolls were made. The Span¬ iards, although prepared to meet with wonders, were struck with astonishment at this singular and apparently nauseous indulgence.* * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 51. “ Hallaron por el camino mucha gente que atrave-saban a sus pueblos mugeres y hombres: siempre los hombres con un tison en las manos y ciertos yerbas para tomar sus sahumerios, que son unas yerbas secas metidas en una cierta hoja seca tambien it manera de mosquete hecho de papel de los que hacon los muchachos la Pascua del Espiritu Santo, y encondido por una parte de el, por la otra chupan o 180 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. On their return to the ships they gave favorable accounts of the beauty and fertility of the country. They had met with many hamlets of four or five houses, well peopled, embowered among trees, laden with unknown fruits of tempting hue and delightful flavor. Around them were fields, cultivated with the agi or sweet pepper, potatoes, maize or Indian corn, a species of lupin or pulse, and yuca, whereof they made their cassava bread. These, with the fruits of the groves, formed their principal food. There were vast quantities of cotton, some just sown, some in full growth. There was great store of it also in their houses, some wrought into yarn, or into nets, of which they made their hammocks. They had seen many birds of rare plumage, but unknown species; many ducks; several small partridges; and they heard the song of a bird which they had mistaken for the nightingale. All that they had seen, however, betokened a primitive and simple state of society. The wonder with which they had been regarded showed clearly that the people were strangers to civilized man, nor could they hear of any inland city superior to the one they had visited. The report of the envoys put an end to many splendid fancies of Columbus, about the barbaric prince and his capital. He was cruising, however, in a region of enchantment, in which pleas¬ ing chimeras started up at every step, exercising by turns a power over his imagination. During the absence of the emis¬ saries, the Indians had informed him, by signs, of a place to the eastward, where the people collected gold along the river banks by torchlight, and afterward wrought it into bars with ham¬ mers. In speaking of this place they again used the words Ba- beque and Bohio, which he, as usual, supposed to be the proper names of islands or countries. The true meaning of these words has been variously explained. It is said that they were applied by the Indians to the coast of terra firma, called also by them Caritaba.* * It is also said that Bohio means a house, and was often used by the Indians to signify the populousness of an island. Hence it was frequently applied .to Hispaniola, as well as the more general name of Hayti, which means high land, and occasionally Quisqueya (i.e. the whole), on accoun t of its exten t. sorbant 6 reciben con el resuello por adentro aquel humo; con el qual se adormecen las carnes y cuasi emborracho, y asi diz que no sientenel caasancio. Estos mosque- tos, 6 como los llam&remas, llamen ellos tabacos.”—Las Casas, Hist. Gen. Ind. lib, i. cap. 46. * Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, cap. 3. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 131 The misapprehension of these, and other Y/ords, was a source of perpetual error to Columbus. Sometimes he supposed Babeque and Bohio to signify the same islands; sometimes to be different places or islands; and Quisqueya he supposed to mean Quisai or Quinsai (i.e. the celestial city) mentioned by Marco Polo. His great object was to arrive at some opulent and civilized country of the East, with which he might establish commercial relations, and whence he might carry home a quantity of orien¬ tal merchandise as a rich trophy of his discovery. The season was advancing; the cool nights gave hints of approaching win¬ ter; he resolved, therefore, not to proceed farther to the north, nor to linger about uncivilized places, which, at present, he had not the means of colonizing, but to return to the east-south-east, in quest of Babeque, which he trusted might prove some rich and civilized island on the coast of Asia. Before leaving the river, to which he had given the name of Bio de Mares, he took several of the natives to carry with him to Spain, for the purpose of teaching them the language, that, in future voyages, they might serve as interpreters. He took them of both sexes, having learned from the Portuguese discoverers that the men were always more contented on the voyage, and serviceable on their return, when accompanied by females. With the religious feeling of the day, he anticipated great tri¬ umphs to the faith and glory to the crown, from the conversion of these savage nations, through the means of the natives thus instructed. He imagined that the Indians had no system of religion, but a disposition to receive its impressions; as they regarded with great reverence and attention the religious cere¬ monies of the Spaniards, soon repeating by rote any prayer taught them, and making the sign of the cross with the most edifying devotion. They had an idea of a future state, but lim¬ ited and confused. “ They confess the soul to be immortal,” says Peter Martyr, “and having put off the bodily clothing, they imagine it goes forth to the woods and the mountains, and that it liveth there perpetually in caves; nor do they exempt it from eating and drinking, but that it should .be fed there. The answering voices heard from caves and hollows, which the Latines call echoes, they suppose to be the souls of the departed, wandering through those places.* From the natural tendency to devotion which Columbus * P. Martyr, decad. viii, oap. 9; M. Lock’s translation, 1612. 132 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. thought he discovered among them, from their gentle natures, and their ignorance of all warlike arts, he pronounces it an easy matter to make them devout members of the church and loyal subjects of the crown. He concludes his speculations upon the advantages to be derived from the colonization of these parte by anticipating a great trade for gold, which must abound in the interior; for pearls and precious stones, of which, though he had seen none, he had received frequent accounts; for gums and spices, of which he thought he had found indubitable traces; and for the cotton, which grew wild in vast quantities. Many of these articles, he observes, would probably find a nearer market than Spain, in the ports and cities of the Great Khan, at which he had no doubt of soon arriving.* CHAPTER V. SEARCH AFTER THE SUPPOSED ISLAND OF BABEQUE—DESERTION OF THE PINTA. [1492.] On the 12th of November, Columbus turned his course to the east-south-east, to follow back the direction of the coast. This may be considered another critical change in his voyage, which had a great effect upon his subsequent discoveries. He had pro¬ ceeded far within what is called the old channel, between Cuba and the Bahamas. In two or three days more he would have discovered his mistake in supposing Cuba a part of terra firma; an error in which he continued to the day of his death. He might have had intimation also of the vicinity of the continent, and have stood for the coast of Florida, or have been carried thither by the gulf stream, or, continuing along Cuba where it bends to the south-west, might have struck over to the opposite coast of Yucatan, and have realized his most sanguine anticipa¬ tions in becoming the discoverer of Mexico. It was sufficient glory for Columbus, however, to have discovered a new world. Its more golden regions were reserved to give splendor to suc¬ ceeding enterprises. He now ran along the coast for two or three days without # Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRIS TO EE Eli COLUMBUS. 133 stopping to explore it, as no populous towns or cities were to be seen. Passing by a great cape, to which he gave the name o£ Cape Cuba, he struck eastward in search of Babeque, but on the 14th a head wind and boisterous sea obliged him to put back and anchor in a deep and secure harbor, to which he gave the name of Puerto del Principe. Here he erected a cross on a neighbor* ing height, in token of possession. A few days were passed in exploring with his boats an archipelago of small but beautiful islands in the vicinity, since known as El javelin del Hey, or the king’s garden. The gulf, studded with these islands, he named the sea of Nuestra Sehora; in modern days it has been a lurking-place for pirates, who have found secure shel¬ ter and concealment among the channels and solitary har¬ bors of this archipelago. These islands were covered with noble trees, among which the Spaniards thought they discov¬ ered mastic and aloes. On the 19th Columbus again put to sea, and for two days made ineffectual attempts, against head winds, to reach an island di¬ rectly east, about sixty miles distant, which he supposed to be Babeque. The wind continuing obstinately adverse and the sea rough, he put his ship about toward evening of the 20th, mak¬ ing signals for the other vessels to follow him. His signals were unattended to by the Pinta, which was considerably to the east* ward. Columbus repeated the signals, but they were still un¬ attended to. Night coming on, he shortened sail and hoisted signal lights to the masthead, thinking Pinzon would yet join him, which he could easily do, having the wand astern; but when the morning dawned the Pinta was no longer to be seen.* Columbus was disquieted by this circumstance. Pinzon was a veteran navigator, accustomed to hold a high rank among his nautical associates. The squadron had in a great measure been manned and fitted out through his influence and exertions; he could ill brook subordination therefore to Columbus, whom he pcuhaps did not consider his superior in skill and knowledge, and who had been benefited by his purse. Several misunder¬ standings and disputes had accordingly occurred between them in the course of the voyage, and when Columbus saw Pinzon thus parting company, without any appointed rendezvous, he suspected either that he intended to take upon himself a sepa¬ rate command and prosecute the enterprise in his own name, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind.,tom. i. cap. 27. Hist, del Aimirante, cap. 29. Journal of Columbus. Navarrete, tom. i. 134 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. or hasten back to Spain and bear off the glory of the discovery. To attempt to seek him, however, was fruitless: he was far out of sight; his vessel was a superior sailer, and it was impossible to say what course he had steered. Columbus stood back, therefore, for Cuba, to finish the exploring of its coast; but he no longer possessed his usual serenity of mind and unity of purpose, and was embarrassed in the prosecution of his dis¬ coveries by doubts of the designs of Pinzon. On the 24tli of November he regained Point Cuba, and anchored in a fine harbor formed by the mouth of a river, to which he gave the name of St. Catherine. It was bordered by rich meadows; the neighboring mountains were well wooded, having pines tall enough to make masts for the finest ships, and noble oaks. In the bed of the river were found stones veined with gold. Columbus continued for several days coasting the residue of Cuba, extolling the magnificence, freshness, and verdure of the scenery, the purity of the rivers, and the number and comnio- diousuess of the harbors. Speaking in his letters to the sover¬ eigns of one place, to which he gave the name of Puerto Santo, he says, in his artless but enthusiastic language, ‘ ‘ The amenity of this river, and the clearness of the water, through which the sand an the bottom may be seen; the multitude of palm-trees of various lorms, the highest and most beautiful that I have met with, and an infinity of other great and green trees; the birds in rich plumage and the verdure of the fields, render this country, most serene princes, of such marvellous beauty, that it sur¬ passes all others in charms and graces, as the day doth the night in lustre. For which reason I often say to my people, that, much as I endeavor to give a complete account of it to your majesties, my tongue cannot express the whole truth, nor my pen describe it; and I have been so overwhelmed at the sight of so much beauty, that I have not known how to relate it.” * The transparency of the water, which Columbus attributed to the purity of the rivers, is the property of the ocean in these latitudes. So clear is the sea in the neighborhood of some of these islands, that in still weather the bottom may be seen, as in a crystal fountain; and the inhabitants dive down four or five fathoms in search of conclis, and other shell-fish, which are visible from the surface. The delicate air and pure waters of these islands are among their greatest charms. * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 29. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 135 As a proof of the gigantic vegetation, Columbus mentions the enormous size of the canoes formed from single trunks of trees. One that he saw was capable of containing one hundred and fifty persons. Among other articles found in the Indian dwell¬ ings was a cake of wax, which he took to present to the Castil¬ ian sovereigns, “for where there is wax,” said he, “theremust be a thousand other good things.”* It is since supposed to have been brought from Yucatan, as the inhabitants of Cuba were not accustomed to gather wax.f On the 5th of December he reached the eastern end of Cuba, which he supposed to be the eastern extremity of Asia; he gave it, therefore, the name of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He was now greatly perplexed what course to take. If he kept along the coast as it bent to the south-west, it might bring him to the more civilized and opulent parts of India; but if he took this course, he must abandon all hope of finding the island of Babeque, which the Indians now said lay to the north¬ east, and of which they still continued to give the most marvel¬ lous accounts. It was a state of embarrassment characteristic « of this extraordinary voyage, to have a new and unknown world thus spread out to the choice of the explorer, where won¬ ders and beauties invited him on every side; but where, which¬ ever way he turned, he might leave the true region of profit and delight behind. CHAPTER VI. DISCOVERY OF HISPANIOLA. [1492.] While Columbus was steering at large beyond the eastern ex¬ tremity of Cuba, undetermined what course to take, he descried land to the south-east, gradually increasing upon the view; its high mountains towering above the clear horizon, and giving evidence of an island of great extent. The Indians, on behold¬ ing it, exclaimed Bohio , the name by which Columbus under¬ stood them to designate some country which abounded in gold. * Journal of Columbus. Narvarrete, tom. 1. t Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. 136 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. When they saw him standing in that direction, they showed great signs of terror, imploring him not to visit it, assuring him, by signs, that the inhabitants were fierce and cruel, that they had but one eye, and were cannibals. The wind being unfavor¬ able, and the nights long, during which they did not dare to make sail in these unknown seas, they were a great part of two days working up to the island. In the transparent atmosphere of the tropics, objects are de¬ scried at a great distance, and the purity of the air and seren¬ ity of the deep blue sky give a magical effect to the scenery. Under these advantages, the beautiful island of Hayti revealed itself to the eye as they approached. Its mountains were higher and more rocky than those of the other islands; but the rocks rose from among rich forests. The mountains swept down ifito luxuriant plains and green savannas; while the appearance of cultivated fields, of numerous fires at night, and columns of smoke by day, showed it to be populous. It rose before them in all the splendor of tropical vegetation, one of the most beautiful islands in the world, and doomed to be one of the most unfortunate. In the evening of the 6th of December, Columbus entered a harbor at the western end of the island, to which he gave the name of St. Nicholas, by which it is called at the present day. The harbor was spacious and deep, surrounded with large trees, many of them loaded with fruit; while a beautiful plain ex¬ tended in front of the port, traversed by a fine stream of water. From the number of canoes seen in various parts, there were evidently large villages in the neighborhood, but the natives had fled with terror at sight of the ships. Leaving the harbor of St. Nicholas on the 7th, they coasted along the northern side of the island. It was lofty and moun¬ tainous, but with green savannas and long sweeping plains. At one place they caught a view up a rich and smiling valley that ran far into the interior, between two mountains, and ap¬ peared to be in a high state of cultivation. For several days they were detained in a harbor which they called Port Conception;* a small river emptied into it, after * Now known by the name of the Bay of Moustique. Note.— The author has received very obliging and interesting letters, dated in 1847, from T. S. Heneken, Esq., many years a resident of St. Domingo, giving names, localities, and other particulars connected with the transactions of Columbus in that island. These will be thankfully made use of and duly cited in the course of the work. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 137 winding through a delightful country. The coast abounded with fish, some of which even leaped into their boats. They cast their nets, therefore, and caught great quantities, and among them several kinds similar to those of Spain—the first fish they had met with resembling those of their own country. The notes of the bird which they mistook for the nightingale, and of several others to which they were accustomed, reminded them strongly of the groves of their distant Andalusia. They fancied the features of the surrounding country resembled those of the more beautiful provinces of Spain, and, in consequence, the admiral named the island Hispaniola. Desirous of establishing some intercourse with the natives, who had abandoned the coast on his arrival, he dispatched six men, well armed, into the interior. They found several culti¬ vated fields, and traces of roads, and places where fires had been made, but the inhabitants had fled with terror to the mountains. Though the whole country was solitary and deserted, Colum¬ bus consoled himself with the idea that there must be populous towns in the interior, where the people had taken refuge, and that the fires he had beheld had been signal fires, like those lighted up on the mountains of Spain, in the times of Moorish war, to give the alarm when there was any invasion of the sea¬ board. On the 12th of December Columbus with great solemnity erected a cross on a commanding eminence, at the entrance of the harbor, in sign of having taken possession. As three sailors were rambling about the vicinity they beheld a large number of the natives, who immediately took flight; but the sailors pursued them, and captured a young female, whom they brought to the ships. She was perfectly naked, a bad omen as to the civilization of the island, but an ornament of gold in the nose gave hope of the precious metal. The admiral soon soothed her terror by his kindness, and by presents of beads, brass rings, hawks’ bells, and other trinkets, and, having had her clothed, sent her on shore accompanied by several of the crew and three of the Indian interpreters. So well pleased was she with her finery, and with the kind treatment she had experi¬ enced, that she would gladly have remained with the Indian women whom she found on board. The party sent with her returned on board late in the night, without venturing to her village, which was far inland. Confident of the favorable inn pression which the report given by the woman must produce, 138 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the admiral on the following day dispatched nine stout-hearted, well-armed men, to seek the village, accompanied by a native of Cuba as an interpreter. They found it about four and a half leagues to the south-east, in a fine valley, on the banks of a beautiful river.* It contained one thousand houses, but the in¬ habitants fled as they approached. The interpreter overtook them, and assured them of the goodness of these strangers, who had descended from the skies, and went about the world mak¬ ing precious and beautiful presents. Thus assured, the natives ventured back to the number of two thousand. They ap¬ proached the Spaniards with slow and trembling steps, often pausing and putting their hands upon their heads, in token of profound reverence and submission. They were a well-formed race, fairer and handsomer than the natives of the other islands, f While the Spaniards were conversing with them by means of their interpreter, another multitude approached, headed by the husband of the female captive. They brought her in triumph on their shoulders, and the husband was profuse in his gratitude for the kindness with which she had been treated, and the magnificent presents which had been bestowed upon her. The Indians now conducted the Spaniards to their houses, and set before them cassava bread, fish, roots, and fruits of various kinds. They brought also great numbers of domesti¬ cated parrots, and indeed offered freely whatever they pos¬ sessed. The great river flowing through tins valley was bor¬ dered with noble forests, among which were palms, bananas, and many trees covered with fruit and flowers. The air was mild as in April; the birds sang all day long, and some were even heard in the night. The Spaniards had not learned as yet to account for the difference of seasons in this opposite part of the globe; they were astonished to hear the voice of this supposed nightingale singing in the midst of December, and considered it a proof that there was no winter in this happy climate. They returned to the ships enraptured with the beauty of the country, surpassing, as they said, even the luxuriant plains of Cordova. All that they complained of was that they saw no signs of riches among the natives. And hero it is impos* * This village formerly known by the name of Gros Morne, situated on the banks of the river of “ Trois Rivieres,” which empties itself half'a mile west o£ Port de Paix. Navarrete, tom. 1. t Las Casas, lib. i. oar>. 53, ms PART OF A TERRESTRIAL GLOBE MADE AT NUREMBERG IN THE YEAR 1492 BY MARTIN BEHEM. The terrestrial globe, of which a segment is given above, was marie at Nnrem. berg in the year 1492, the very year on which Columbus departed on his first voyage of discovery. Martin Behem, the inventor, was one of the most learned cosmogrfiphers of the time, and, having resided at Lisbon in the employ of the king of Portugal, he had probably seen the map of Toscanelli, and the document* submitted by Columbus to the consideration of the Portuguese Government. His globe may, therefore, be presumed illustrative of the idea entertained by Colum¬ bus of the islands in the ocean near the extremity of Asia, at the time he under¬ took his discovery. I LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 141 sible to refrain from dwelling on the picture given by the first discoverers, of the state of manners in this eventful island before the arrival of the white men. According to their accounts, the people of Hayti existed in that state of primitive and savage simplicity which some philosophers have fondly pictured as the most enviable on earth; surrounded by natural blessings, with¬ out even a knowledge of artificial wants. The fertile earth pro¬ duced the chief part of their food almost without culture; their rivers and sea-coast abounded with fish, and they caught the utia, the guana, and a variety of birds., This, to beings of their frugal and temperate habits, was great abundance, and what nature furnished thus spontaneously they willingly shared with all the world. Hospitality, we are told, was with them a law of nature universally observed; there was no need of being known to receive its succors; every house was as open to the stranger as his own.* Columbus, too, in a letter to Luis de St. Angel, observes, “ True it is that after they felt confidence, and lost their fear of us, they were so liberal with what they pos¬ sessed, that it would not be believed by those who had not seen it. If anything was asked of them, they never said no, but rather gave it cheerfully, and showed as much amity as if they gave their very hearts; and whether the thing were of value, or of little price, they were content with whatever was given in return. ... In all these islands it appears to me that the men are all content with one wife, but they give twenty to their chieftain or king. The women seem to work more than the men; and I have not been able to understand whether they pos¬ sess individual property; but rather think that whatever one has all the rest share, especially in all articles of provisions.”! One of the most pleasing descriptions of the inhabitants of this island is given by old Peter Martyr, who gathered it, as he says, from the conversations of the admiral himself. “It is certain,” says he, “that the land among these people is as com¬ mon as the sun and water; and that ‘ mine and thine,’ the seeds of all mischief, have no place with them. They are content with so little, that in so large a country they have rather super¬ fluity than scarceness ; so that they seem to live in the golden world, without toil, living in open gardens; not intrenched with dykes, divided with hedges, or defended with walls. They deal truly one with another, without laws, without books, and * Charlevoix. Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. t Letter of Columbus to Luis de St. Angel. Navarrete. tom. i. p. 167. 142 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, without judges. They take him for an evil and mischievous man, who taketh pleasure in doing hurt to another; and albeit they delight not in superfluities, yet they make provision for the increase of such roots whereof they make their bread, con¬ tented with such simple diet, whereby health is preserved and disease avoided.” * Much of this picture may be overcolored by the imagination, but it is generally confirmed by contemporary historians. They all concur in representing the life of these islanders as approach¬ ing to the golden state of poetical felicity; living under the ab¬ solute but patriarchal and easy rule of their caciques, free from pride, with few. wants, an abundant country, a happily-tem¬ pered climate, and a natural disposition to careless and indolent enjoyment. CHAPTER VII. COASTING OF HISPANIOLA. [1492.] When the weather became favorable, Columbus made another attempt, on the 14th of December, to find the island of Babeque, but was again baffled by adverse winds. In the course of this attempt ho visited an island lying opposite to the harbor of Conception, to which, from its abounding in turtle, he gave the name of Tortugas.f The natives had fled to the rocks and for¬ ests, and alarm fires blazed along the heights. The country was so beautiful that he gave to one of the valleys the name of Valle de Paraiso, or the Vale of Paradise, and called a fine stream the Guadalquiver, after that renowned river which flows through some of the fairest provinces of Spain. | Setting sail on the 16th of December at midnight, Columbus steered again for Hispaniola. When half way across the gulf which separates the islands, he perceived a canoe navigated by a single Indian, and, as on a former occasion, was astonished at his hardihood in venturing so far from land in so frail a bark, * P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. iii. Transl. of Richard Eden, 1555. t This island in after times became the headquarters of the famous Buccaneers. t Journal of Columbus. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. p. 91. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 143 and at his adroitness in keeping it above water, as the wind was fresh, and there was some sea ruiming. He ordered both him and his canoe to be taken on board; and having anchored near a village on the coast of Hispaniola, at present known as Puerto de Paz, he sent him on shore well regaled and enriched with various presents. In the early intercourse with these people, kindness never seems to have failed in its effect. The favorable accounts given by this Indian, and by those with whom the Spaniards had communicated in their previous landings, dispelled the fears of the islanders. A friendly intercourse soon took place, and the ships were visited by a cacique of the neighborhood. From this chieftain and his counsellors, Columbus had further infor¬ mation of the island of Babeque, which was described as lying at no great distance. No mention is afterward made of this island, nor does it appear that he made any further attempt to seek it. No such island exists in the ancient charts, and it is probable that this was one of the numerous misinterpretations of Indian words, which led the first discoverers into so many fruit¬ less researches. The people of Hispaniola appeared handsomer to Columbus than any he had yet met with, and of a gentle and peaceable disposition. Some of them had ornaments of gold, which they readily gave away or exchanged for any trifle. The country was finely diversified with lofty mountains and green valleys, which stretched away inland as far as the eye could reach. The mountains were of such easy ascent that the highest of them might be ploughed with oxen, and the luxuriant growth of the forests manifested the fertility of the soil. The valleys were watered by numerous clear and beautiful streams; they appeared to be cultivated in many places, and to be fitted for grain, for orchards, and pasturage. While detained at this harbor by contrary winds, Columbus was visited by a young cacique, who came borne by four men on a sort of fitter, and attended by two hundred of his subjects. The admiral being at dinner when he arrived, the young chiefs tain ordered his followers to remain without, and entering the cabin, took his seat beside Columbus, not permitting him to rise or use any ceremony. Only two old men entered with him, who appeared to be his counsellors, and who seated them* selves at his feet. If anything were given him to eat or drink, he merely tasted it, and sent it to his followers, maintaining an air of great gravity and dignity. He spoke but little, his two counsellors watching his lips, and catching and communicating 144 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. his ideas. After dinner he presented the admiral with a belt curiously wrought, and two pieces of gold. Columbus gave him a piece of cloth, several amber beads, colored shoes, and a flask of orange-flower water; he showed him a Spanish coin, on which were the likenesses of the king and queen, and endeav¬ ored to explain to him the power and grandeur of those sov¬ ereigns ; he displayed also the royal banners and the standard of the cross; but it was all in vain to attempt to convey any clear idea by these symbols; the cacique could not be made to believe that there was a region on the earth which produced these wonderful people and wonderful things; he joined in the common idea that the Spaniards were more than mortal, and that the country and sovereigns they talked of must exist some¬ where in the skies. In the evening the cacique was sent on shore in the boat with great ceremony, and a salute fired in honor of him. He de¬ parted in the state in which he had come, carried on a litter, accompanied by a great concourse of his subjects; not far be¬ hind him was liis son, borne and escorted in like manner, and his brother on foot, supported by two attendants. The presents which he had received from the admiral were carried trium¬ phantly before him. They procured but little gold in this place, though whatever ornaments the natives possessed they readily gave away. The region of promise lay still further on, and one of the old coun¬ sellors of the cacique told Columbus that he would soon arrive at islands rich in the precious ore. Before leaving this place, the admiral caused a large cross to be erected in the centre of the village, and from the readiness with which the Indians as¬ sisted, and their implicit imitation of the Spaniards in their acts of devotion, he inferred that it would be an easy matter to convert them all to Christianity. On the 19th of December they made sail before daylight, but with an unfavorable wind, and on the evening of the 20th they anchored in a fine harbor, to which Columbus gave the name of St. Thomas, supposed to be what at present is called the Bay of Acul. It was surrounded by a beautiful and well-peopled country. The inhabitants came off, some in canoes, some swim¬ ming, bringing fruits of various unknown kinds, of great fra¬ grance and flavor. These they gave freely with whatever else they possessed, especially their golden ornaments, which they saw were particularly coveted by the strangers. There was a remarkable frankness and generosity about these people • they LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 145 had no idea of traffic, but gave away everything with sponta¬ neous liberality. Columbus would not permit his people, how¬ ever, to take advantage of this free disposition, hut ordered that something should always be given in exchange. Several of the neighboring caciques visited the ships, bringing presents, and inviting the Spaniards to their villages, where, on going to land, they were most hospitably entertained. On the 22d of December a large canoe tilled with natives cam j on a mission from a grand cacique named Guacanagari, who commanded all that part of the island. A principal servant of the chieftain came in the canoe, bringing the admiral a present of a broad belt, wrought ingeniously with colored beads and bones, and a wooden mask, the eyes, nose, and tongue of which were of gold. He delivered also a message from the cacique, begging that the ships might come opposite to his residence, which was on a part of the coast a little farther to the eastward. The wind preventing an immediate compliance with this invi¬ tation, the admiral sent the notary of the squadron, with sev¬ eral of the crew, to visit the cacique. He resided in a town sit¬ uated on a river, at what they called Punta Santa, at present Grande Eiviere. It was the largest and best built town they had yet seen. The cacique received them in a kind of public square, which had been swept and prepared for the occasion, and treated them with great honor, giving to each a dress of cotton. The inhabitants crowded round them, bringing provi¬ sions and refreshments of various kinds. The seamen were re¬ ceived into their houses as distinguished guests; they gave them garments of cotton, and whatever else appeared to have value in their eyes, asking nothing in return, but if any tiling were given appearing to treasure it up as a sacred relic. The cacique would have detained them all night, but their orders obliged them to return. On parting with them he gave them presents of parrots and pieces of gold for the admiral, and they were attended to their boats by a crowd of the natives, carrying the presentsjfor them, and vying with each other in rendering them service. During their absence the admiral had been visited by a great number of canoes and several inferior caciques: all assured him that the island abounded with wealth; they talked, especially, of Cibao, a region in the interior, farther to the east, the cacique of which, as far as the;y could be understood, had banners of wrought gold. Columbus, deceiving himself as usual, fancied that this name Cibao must be a corruption of Cipango, and that 146 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. this chieftain with golden banners must be identical with the magnificent prince of that island, mentioned by Marco Polo.* CHAPTER VHL' SHIPWRECK. * [1492.] On the morning of the 24th of December Columbus set sail from Port St. Thomas before sunrise, and steered to the east¬ ward, with an intention of anchoring at the harbor of the cacique Guacanagari. The wind was from the land, but so light as scarcely to fill the sails, and the ships made but little progress. At eleven o’clock at night, being Christmas eve, they were within a league or a league and a half of the residence of the cacique; and Columbus, who had hitherto kept watch, finding the sea calm and smooth, and the ship almost motionless, re¬ tired to rest, not having slept the preceding night. He was, in general, extremely wakeful on his coasting voyages, passing whole nights upon deck in all weathers; never trusting to the watchfulness of others, where there was any difficulty or danger to be provided against. In the present instance he felt per¬ fectly secure; not merely on account of the profound calm, but because the boats on the preceding day, in their visit to the cacique, had reconnoitred the coast, and had reported that there were neither rocks nor shoals in their course. No sooner had he retired than the steersman gave the helm in charge to one of the ship-boys, and went to sleep. This was in direct violation of an invariable order of the admiral, that the helm should never be intrusted to the boys. The rest of the mariners who had the watch took like advantage of the absence of Columbus, and in a little while the whole crew was buried in sleep. In the mean time the treacherous currents which run swiftly along this coast carried the vessel quietly, but with force, upon a sand-bank. The heedless boy had not noticed the breakers, although they made a roaring that might have been heard a league. No sooner, however, did he feel the *Joui’nal of Columb. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 32. Herrera, decad. i. lib. i. cap. 15, 16. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 147 rudder strike, and hear the tumult of the rushing sea, than he began to cry for aid. Columbus, whose careful thoughts never permitted him to sleep profoundly, was the first on deck. The master of the ship, whose duty it was to have been on watch, next made his appearance, followed by others of the crew, half awake. The admiral ordered them to take the boat and carry out an anchor astern, to warp the vessel off. The master and the sailors sprang into the boat; but, confused, as men are apt to be when suddenly awakened by an alarm, instead of obey¬ ing the commands of Columbus, they rowed off to the other caravel, about half a league to windward. In the mean time the master had reached the caravel, and made known the perilous state in which he had left the vessel. He was reproached with his pusillanimous desertion; the com¬ mander of the caravel manned his boat and hastened to the relief of the admiral, followed by the recreant master, covered with shame and confusion. It was too late to save the ship, the current having set her more upon the bank. The admiral, seeing that his boat had deserted him, that the ship had swung across the stream, and that the water was continually gaining upon her, ordered the mast to be cut away, in the hope of lightening her sufficiently to float her off. Every effort was in vain. The keel was firm¬ ly bedded in the sand; the shock had opened several seams; while the swell of the breakers, striking her broadside, left her each moment more and more aground, until she fell over on one side. Fortunately the weather continued calm, otherwise the ship must have gone to pieces, and the whole crew might have perished amid the currents and breakers. The admiral and her men took refuge on board the caravel. Diego de Arana, chief judge of the armament, and Pedro Gu¬ tierrez, the king’s butler, were immediately sent on shore as envoys to the cacique Guacanagari, to inform him of the in¬ tended visit of the admiral, and of his disastrous shipwreck. In the mean time, as a light wind had sprung up from shore, and the admiral was ignorant of his situation, and of the rocks and banks that might be lurking around him, he lay to until daylight. The nabitation of the cacique was about a league and a half from the wreck. When he heard of the misfortune of his guest, he manifested the utmost affliction, and even shed tears. He immediately sent all his people, with all the canoes, large and small, that could be mustered; and so active were they in 148 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. their assistance, that in a little while the vessel was nnloadecL The cacique himself, and his brothers and relatives, rendered all the aid in their power, both on sea and land, keeping vigi¬ lant guard that everything should be conducted with order, and the property secured from injury or theft. From time to time he sent some one of his family, or some principal person of his attendants, to console and cheer the admiral, assuring him that everything he possessed should be at his disposal. Never, in a civilized country, were the vaunted rights of hospitality more scrupulously observed than by this unculti¬ vated savage. All the effects landed from the ships were de¬ posited near his dwelling, and an armed guard surrounded them all night, until houses could be prepared in which to store them. There seemed, however, even among the common peo¬ ple, no disposition to take advantage of the misfortune of the stranger. Although they beheld what must in their eyes have been inestimable treasures, cast, as it were, upon their shores, and open to depredation, yet there was not the least attempt to pilfer, nor, in transporting the effects from the ships, had they appropriated the most trifling article. On the contrary, a gene¬ ral sympathy was visible in their countenances and actions; and to have witnessed their concern, one would have supposed the misfortune to have happened to themselves.* “ So loving, so tractable, so peaceable are these people,” says Columbus in his journal, “that I swear to your majesties, there is not in the world a better nation, nor a better land. They love their neighbors as themselves; and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy.” CHAPTER IX. TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES. [1492.] On the 26th of December Guacanagari came on board of the caravel Nina to visit the admiral, and observing him to be very much dejected was moved to tears. He repeated the message * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 32. Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 9. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLVMBUS. 149 which he had sent, entreating Columbus not to be cast down by his misfortune, and offering everything that he possessed, that might render him aid or consolation. He had already given three houses to shelter the Spaniards, and to receive the effects landed from the wreck, and he offered to furnish more if necessary. While they were conversing, a canoe arrived from another part of the island, bringing pieces of gold to be exchanged for hawks’ bells. There was nothing ^pon which the natives set so much value as upon these toys. The Indians were extrava¬ gantly fond of the dance, which they performed to the cadence of certain songs, accompanied by the sound of a kind of drum, made from the trunk of a tree, and the rattling of hollow bits of wood; but when they hung the hawks’ bells about their per¬ sons, and heard the clear musical sound responding to the movements of the dance, nothing could exceed their wild de¬ light. The sailors who came from the shore informed the admiral that considerable quantities of gold had been brought to barter, and large pieces were eagerly given for the merest trifle. This information had a cheering effect upon Columbus. The attentive cacique, perceiving the lighting up of his countenance, asked what the sailors had communicated. When he learned its purport, and found that the admiral was extremely desirous of procuring gold, he assured him by signs, that there was a place not far off, among the mountains, where it abounded to such a degree as to be held in little value, and promised to pro¬ cure him thence as much as he desired. The place to which he alluded, and which he called Cibao, was in fact a mountainous region afterward found to contain valuable mines; but Colum¬ bus still confounded the name with that of Cipango.* Guacanagari dined on board of the caravel with the admiral, after which he invited him to visit his residence. Here he had prepared a collation, as choice and abundant as his simple means afforded, consisting of utias, or coneys, fish, roots, and various fruits. He did everything in his power to honor his guest, and cheer him under his misfortune, showing a warmth of sympathy yet delicacy of attention, which could not have been expected from his savage state. Indeed there was a de¬ gree of innate dignity and refinement displayed in his manners, that often surprised the Spaniards. He was remarkably nice * Primer Viage de Colon, Navarrete, tom. i. p. 114. 150 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and decorous in his mode of eating, which was slow and with moderation, washing his hands when he had finished, and rub¬ bing them with sweet and odoriferous herbs, which Columbus supposed was done to preserve their delicacy and softness. He was served with great deference by his subjects, and con* ducted himself toward them with a gracious and prince-like majesty. His whole deportment, in the enthusiastic eyes of Columbus, betokened the inborn grace and dignity of lofty lineage.* In fact, the sovereignty among the people of this island was hereditary, and they had a simple but sagacious mode of main¬ taining, in some degree, the verity of descent. On the death of a cacique without children, his authority passed to those of his sisters, in preference to those of his brothers, being considered most likely to be of his blood; for they observed, that a brother’s reputed children may by accident have no consanguin¬ ity with their uncle; but those of his sister must certainly be the children of their mother. The form of government was com¬ pletely despotic; the caciques had entire control over the lives, the property , and even the religion of their subjects. They had few laws, and ruled according to their judgment and their will; but they ruled mildly, and were implicitly and cheerfully obeyed. Throughout the courso of the disastrous history of these islanders, after their discovery by the Europeans, there are continual proofs of their affectionate and devoted fidelity to their caciques. After the collation, Guacanagari conducted Columbus to the beautiful groves which surrounded his residence. They were attended by upward of a thousand of the natives, all perfectly naked, who performed several national games and dances, which Guacanagari had ordered, to amuse the melancholy of his guest. When the Indians had finished their games, Columbus gave them an entertainment in return, calculated at the same time to impress them with a formidable idea of the military power of the Spaniards. He sent on board the caravel for a Moorish bow and a quiver of arrows, and a Castilian who had served in the wars of Granada, and was skilful in the use of them. When the cacique beheld the accuracy with which this man used his weapons, he was greatly surprised, being himself of * Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 70, ms. Primer Viage de Colon, Navarret, tom. i. p. 114. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 151 I an unwarlike character, and little accustomed to the use of I arms. He told the admiral that the Caribs, who often made descents upon his territory, and carried off his subjects, were likewise armed with bows and arrows. Columbus assured him of the protection of the Castilian monarchs, who would destroy the Caribs, for he let him know that he had weapons far more tremendous, against which there was no defence. In proof of this, he ordered a Lombard or heavy cannon, and an arquebus, to be discharged. On hearing the report the Indians fell to the ground, as though they had been struck by a thunderbolt; and when they saw the effect of the ball, rending and shivering the trees like a stroke of lightning, they were filled with dismay. Being told, however, that the Spaniards would defend them with these arms against their dreaded enemies the Caribs, their alarm was changed into exultation, considering themselves under the protection of the sons of heaven, who had come from the skies armed with thunder and lightning. The cacique now presented Columbus with a mask carved of wood, with the eyes, ears, and various other parts of gold; he hung plates of the same metal round his neck, and placed a kind of golden coronet upon his head. He dispensed presents also among the followers of the admiral; acquitting himself in all things with a munificence that would have done honor to an accomplished prince in civilized life. Whatever trifles Columbus gave in return were regarded with reverence as celestial gifts. The Indians, in admiring the articles of European manufacture, continually repeated the word turey, which in their language signifies heaven. They pre¬ tended to distinguish the different qualities of gold by the smell; in the same way, when any article of tin, of silver, or other white metal was given them, to which they were unaccustomed, they smelt it and declared it “turey,” of excellent quality; . giving in exchange pieces of the finest gold. Everything, in fact, from the hands of the Spaniards, even* a rusty piece of iron, an end of a strap, or a head of a nail, had an occult and supernatural value, and smelt of turey. Hawks’ bells, how¬ ever, were sought by them with a mania only equalled by that of the Spaniards for gold. They could not contain their ecsta¬ sies at the sound, dancing and playing a thousand antics. On one occasion an Indian gave half a handful of gold dust in ex¬ change for one of these toys, and no sooner was he in posses¬ sion of it than he bounded away to the woods, looking often 152 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. behind him, fearing the Spaniards might repent of having parted so cheaply with such an inestimable jewel.* The extreme kindness of the cacique, the gentleness of his people, the quantities of gold which were daily brought to be ex¬ changed for the veriest trifles, and the information continually received of sources of wealth in the interior of this island, all contributed to console the admiral for his misfortune. The shipwrecked crew, also, became fascinated with their easy and idle mode of life. Exempted by their simplicity from the cares and toils which civilized man inflicts upon himself by his many artificial wants, the existence of these islanders seemed to the Spaniards like a pleasant dream. They dis¬ quieted themselves about nothing. A few fields, cultivated al¬ most without labor, tarnished the roots and vegetables which formed a great part of their diet. Their rivers and coasts* abounded with fish; their trees were laden with fruits of golden or blushing hue, and heightened by a tropical sun to delicious flavor and fragrance. Softened by the indulgence of nature, and by a voluptuous climate, a great part of their day was passed in indolent repose, and in the evenings they danced in their fragrant groves, to their national songs, or the sound of their sylvan drums. Such was the indolent and holiday life of these simple people; which, if it had not the great scope of enjoyment, nor the high- seasoned poignancy of pleasure which attend civilization, was certainly destitute of most of its artificial miseries. The ven¬ erable Las Casas, speaking of their perfect nakedness, observes, it seemed almost as if they were existing in the state of prime¬ val innocence of our first parents, before their fall brought sin into the world. He might have added, that they seemed ex¬ empt likewise from the penalty inflicted on the children of Adam, that they should cam their bread by the sweat of their brow. When the Spanish mariners looked back upon their own toilsome and painful life, and reflected on the cares and hard¬ ships that must still be their lot if they returned to Europe, it is no wonder that they regarded with a wistful eye the easy and idle existence of these Indians. Wherever they went they met with caressing hospitality. The men were simple, frank, and cordial; the women loving and compliant, and prompt to form those connections which anchor the most wandering * Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 70, ns. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 153 heart. They saw gold glittering around them, to be had with¬ out labor, and every enjoyment to be procured without cost. Captivated by these advantages, many of the seamen repre¬ sented to the admiral the difficulties and sufferings they must encounter on a return voyage, where so many would be crowded in a small caravel, and entreated permission to re main in the island.* CHAPTER X. BUILDING OF THE FORTRESS OF LA NAVIDAD. [1492.] The solicitude expressed by many of his people to be left be¬ hind, added to the friendly and pacific character of the natives, now suggested to Columbus the idea of forming the germ of a future colony. The wreck of the caravel would afford mate¬ rials to construct a fortress, which might be defended by her guns and supplied with her ammunition; and he could spare provisions enough to maintain a small garrison for a year. The people who thus remained on the island could explore it, and make themselves acquainted with its mines, and other sources of wealth; they might, at the same time, procure by traffic a large quantity of gold from the natives; they could learn their language, and accustom themselves to their habits and manners, so as to be of great use in future intercourse. In the mean time the admiral could return to Spain, report the success of his enterprise, and bring out reinforcements. No sooner did this idea break upon the mind of Columbus than he set about accomplishing it with his accustomed prompt¬ ness and celerity. The wreck was broken up and brought piecemeal to shore; and a site chosen, and preparations made for the erection of a tower. When Guacanagari was informed of the intention of the admiral to leave a part of his men for the defence of the island from the Caribs, while he returned to his country for more, he was greatly overjoyed. His subjects manifested equal delight at the idea of retaining these wonder- * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 116. 154 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ful people among them, and at the prospect of the future arri¬ val of the admiral, with ships freighted with hawks’ bells and other precious articles. They eagerly lent their assistance in building the fortress, little dreaming that they were assisting to place on their necks the galling yoke of perpetual and toil¬ some slavery. The preparations for the fortress were scarcely commenced when certain Indians, arriving at the harbor, brought a report that a great vessel, like those of the admiral, had anchored in a river at the eastern end of the island. These tidings, for a time, dispelled a thousand uneasy conjectures which had har¬ assed the mind of Columbus, for of course this vessel could be no other than the Pinta. He immediately procured a canoe from Guacanagari, with several Indians to navigate it, and dis¬ patched a Spaniard with a letter to Pinzon, couched in ami¬ cable terms, making no complaints of his desertion, but urging him to join company immediately. After three days’ absence the canoe returned. The Spaniard reported that he had pursued the coast for twenty leagues, but had neither seen nor heard anything of the Pinta; he consid¬ ered the report, therefore, as incorrect. Other rumors, how¬ ever, were immediately afterward circulated at the harbor of this large vessel to the eastward; but, on investigation, they appeared to Columbus to be equally undeserving of credit. He relapsed, therefore, into his doubts and anxieties in respect to Pinzon. Since the shipwreck of his vessel, the desertion of that commander had become a matter of still more serious mo¬ ment, and had obliged him to alter all his plans. Should the Pinta be lost, as was very possible in a voyage of such extent and exposed to so many uncommon perils, there would then be but one ship surviving of the three which had set sail from Palos, and that one an indifferent sailer. On the precarious return of that crazy bark, across an immense expanse of ocean, would depend the ultimate success of the expedition. Should that one likewise perish, every record of this great discovery would be swallowed up with it; the name of Columbus would only be remembered as that of a mad adventurer, who, despis¬ ing the opinions of the learned and the counsels of the wise, had departed into the wilds of the ocean never to return; the obscurity of his fate, and its imagined horrors, might deter all future enterprise, and thus the new world might remain, as heretofore, unknown to civilized man. These considerations determined Columbus to abandon all further prosecution of LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 155 his voyage; to leave unexplored the magnificent regions which were inviting him on every hand; to give up all hope for the present of finding his way to the dominions of the Grand Khan, and to lose no time in returning to Spain and reporting his discovery. While the fortress was building, he continued to receive every day new proofs of the amity and kindness of Guacana- gari. Whenever he went on shore to superintend the works, he was entertained in the most hospitable manner by that chieftain. He had the largest house in the place prepared for his reception, strewed or carpeted with palm-leaves, and fur¬ nished with low stools of a black and shining wood that looked like jet. When he received the admiral, it was always in a style of princely generosity, hanging around his neck some jewel of gold, or making him some present of similar value. On one occasion, he came to meet him on his landing, attend¬ ed by five tributary caciques, each carrying a coronet of gold; they conducted him with great deference to the house already mentioned, where, seating him in one of the chairs, Guacana- gari took off his own coronet of gold and placed it upon his head: Columbus in return took from his neck a collar of fine- colored beads, which he put round that of the cacique; he in¬ vested him with his own mantle of fine cloth, gave him a pair of colored boots, and put on his finger a large silver ring, upon which metal the Indians set a great value, it not being found in their island. The cacique exerted himself to the utmost to procure a great quantity of gold for the admiral before his departure for Spain. The supplies thus furnished, and the vague accounts collected through the medium of signs and imperfect interpretations, interpretations, gave Columbus magnificent ideas of the wealth in the interior of this island. The names of caciques, moun¬ tains, and provinces, were confused together in his imagina¬ tion, and supposed to mean various places where great treas¬ ure was to be found; above all, the name of Cibao continually occurred, the golden region among the mountains, whence the natives procured most of the ore for their ornaments. In the pimento or red pepper which abounded in the island, he fan¬ cied he found a trace of oriental spices, and he thought he had met with specimens of rhubarb. Passing, with his usual excitability, from a state of doubt and anxiety to one of sanguine anticipation, he now considered his shipwreck as a providential event mysteriously ordained by 156 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Heaven to work out the success of his enterprise. Without this seeming disaster, he should never have remained to find out the secret wealth of the island, but should merely have touched at various parts of the coast, and passed on. As a proof that the particular hand of Providence was exerted in it, he cites the circumstance of his having been wrecked in a perfect calm, without wind or wave, and the desertion of the pilot and mariners, when sent to carry out an anchor astern, for, had they performed his orders, the vessel would have been hauled off, they would have pursued their voyage, and the treasures of the island would have remained a secret. But now he looked forward to glorious fruits to be reaped from this seeming evil; “ for he hoped,"” he said, “ that when he re¬ turned from Spain, he should find a ton of gold collected in traffic by those whom he had left behind, and mines and spices discovered in such quantities that the sovereigns, before three years, would be able to undertake a crusade for the deliver¬ ance of the holy sepulchre;” the grand object to which he had proposed that they should dedicate the fruits of this enterprise. Such was the visionary, yet generous, enthusiasm of Colum¬ bus, the moment that prospects of vast wealth broke upon his mind. What in some spirits would have awakened a grasp¬ ing and sordid avidity to accumulate, immediately filled his imagination with plans of magnificent expenditure. But how vain are our attempts to interpret the inscrutable decrees of Providence! The shipwreck, which Columbus considered an act of divine favor, to reveal to him the secrets of the land, shackled and limited all his after discoveries. It linked his for¬ tunes, for the remainder of his life, to this island, which was doomed to be to him a source of cares and troubles, to involve him in a thousand perplexities, and to becloud his declining years with humiliation and disappointment. CHAPTER XI. REGULATION OF THE FORTRESS OF LA NAVIDAD—DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS FOR SPAIN. So great was the activity of the Spaniards in the construction of their fortress, and so ample the assistance rendered by the natives, that in ten days it was sufficiently complete for ser- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 15 7 vice. A large vault had been made, over which was erected a strong wooden tower, and the whole was surrounded by a wide ditch. It was stored with all the ammunition saved from the wreck, or that could be spared from the caravel? and the guns being mounted, the whole had a formidable aspect, sufficient to overawe and repulse this naked and un- warlike people. Indeed Columbus was of opinion that but little force was necessary to subjugate the whole island. He considered a fortress, and the restrictions of a garrison, more requisite to keep the Spaniards themselves in order, and pre¬ vent their wandering about, and committing acts of licentious¬ ness among the natives. The fortress being finished, he gave it, as well as the adjacent village and the harbor, the name of La Navidad, or the Nativ¬ ity, in memorial of their having escaped from the shipwreck on Christmas day. Many volunteered to remain on the island, from whom he selected thirty-nine of the most able and exem¬ plary, and among them a physician, ship-carpenter, calker, cooper, tailor, and gunner, all expert at their several callings. The command was given to Diego de Arana, a native of Cor¬ dova, and notary and alguazii to the armament, who was to re¬ tain all the powers vested in him by the Catholic sovereigns. In case of his death, Pedro Gutierrez was to command, and, he dying, Rodrigo de Escobedo. The boat of the wreck was left with them, to be used in fishing; a variety of seeds to sow, and a large quantity of articles for traffic, that they might procure as much gold as possible against the admiral’s return.* As the time drew nigh for his departure, Columbus assem¬ bled those who were to remain in the island, and made them an earnest address, charging them, in the name of the sove¬ reigns, to be obedient to the officer left in command; to main¬ tain the utmost respect and reverence for the cacique Guaca- nagari and his chieftains, recollecting how deeply they were indebted to his goodness, and how important a continuance of it was to their welfare. To be circumspect in their intercourse with the natives, avoiding disputes, and treating them always with gentleness and justice; and, above all, being discreet in their conduct toward the Indian women, misconduct in this respect being the frequent source of troubles and disasters in the intercourse with savage nations. He warned them, more¬ over, not to scatter themselves asunder, but to keep together, * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 33. 158 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. for mutual safety; and not to stray beyond the friendly terri¬ tory of Guacanagari. He enjoined it upon Arana, and the others in command, to acquire a knowlege of the productions and mines of the island, to procure gold and spices, and to seek along the coast a better situation for a settlement, the present harbor being inconvenient and dangerous, from the rocks and shoals which beset its entrance. On the 2d of January, 1493, Columbus landed to take a fare¬ well of the generous cacique and his chieftains, intending the next day to set sail. He gave them a parting feast at the house devoted to his use, and commended to their kindness the men who were to remain, especially Diego de Arana, Pedro Gutier¬ rez, and Rodrigo de Escobedo, his lieutenants, assuring the cacique that when he returned from Castile he would bring abundance of jewels more precious than any he or his people had yet seen. The worthy Guacanagari showed great concern at the idea of his departure, and assured him that, as to those who remained, he should furnish them with provisions, and render them every service in his power. Once more to impress the Indians with an idea of the warlike prowess of the white men, Columbus caused the crews to per¬ form skirmishes and mock-fights, with swords, bucklers, lances, cross-bows, arquebuses, and cannon. The Indians were aston¬ ished at the keenness of the swords, and at the deadly power of the cross-bows and arquebuses; but they were struck with awe when the heavy Lombards were discharged from the fortress, wrapping it in wreaths of smoke, shaking the forests with their report, and shivering the trees with the balls of stone used in artillery in those times. As these tremendous powers, how¬ ever, were all to be employed for their protection, they rejoiced while they trembled, since no Carib would now dare to invade their island.* The festivities of the day being over, Columbus embraced the cacique and his principal chieftains, and took a final leave of them. Guacanagari shed tears; for while he had been awed by the dignified demeanor of the admiral, and the idea of his super¬ human nature, he had been completely won by the benignity of his manners. Indeed, the parting scene was sorrowful on all sides. The arrival of the ships had been an event of wonder and excitement to the islanders, who had as yet known nothing but the good qualities of their guests, and had been enriched by their ♦ Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 121. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 159 celestial gifts; while the rude seamen had been flattered by the blind deference paid them, and captivated by the kindness and unlimited indulgence with which they had been treated. The sorest parting was between the Spaniards who embarked and those who remained behind, from the strong sympathy caused by companionship in perils and adventures. The little garrison, however, evinced a stout heart, looking forward to the return of the admiral from Spain with large reinforcements, when they promised to give him a good account of all things in the island. The caravel was detained a day longer by the ab¬ sence of some of the Indians whom they were to take to Spain. At length the signal-gun was fired; the crew gave a parting cheer to the handful of comrades thus left in the wilderness of an unknown world, who echoed their cheering as they gazed wistfully after them from the beach, but who were destined never to welcome their return. Note about the localities in the preceding chapter , extracted from the letter of T. S. Heneken , Esq. Guacanagari’s capital town was called Guarico. From the best information I can gather, it was situated a short distance from the beach, where the village of Petit Anse now stands; which is about two miles south-east of Cape Haytien. Oviedo says that Columbus took in water for his homeward voyage from a small stream to the north-west of the anchorage; and presuming him to have been at anchor off Petit Anse, this stream presents itself falling from the Picolet mountain, crossing the present town of Cape Haytien, and emptying into the bay near the- Arsenal. The stream which supplied Columbus with water was dammed up at the foot of the mountain by the French when in possession of the country, and its water now feeds a number of public fountains. Punta Santa could be no other than the present Point Picolet. Beating up from St. Nicholas Mole along an almost precipitous and iron-bound coast, a prospect of unrivalled splendor breaks upon the view on turning this point; the spacious bay, the extensive plains, and the distant cordilleras of the Cibao moun¬ tains, impose upon the mind an impression of vastness, fertility, and beauty. The fort of La Navidad must have been erected near Haut du Cap, as it could be approached in boats by rowing up the river, and there is no other river in the vicin¬ ity that admits a passage for boats. The locality of the town of Guacanagari has always been known by the name of Guarico. The French first settled at Petit Anse; subsequently they removed to the opposite side of the bay and founded the town of Cape Frangais, now Cape Haytien; but the old Indian name Guarico continues in use among all the Spanish inhabitants of the vicinity. BOOK V. CHAPTER I. COASTING TOWARD THE EASTERN END OF HISPANIOLA—MEETING WITH PINZON — AFFAIR WITH THE NATIVES AT THE GULF OF SAMANA. [1493.] It was on the 4th of January that Columbus set sail from La Navidad on his return to Spain. The wind being light, it was necessary to tow the caravel out of the harbor, and clear of the reefs. They then stood eastward, toward a lofty promontory destitute of trees, but covered with grass, and shaped like a tent, having at a distance the appearance of a towering island, being connected with Hispaniola by a low neck of land. To this pro¬ montory Columbus gave the name of Monte Christi, by which it is still known. The country in the immediate neighborhood was level, but farther inland rose a high range of mountains, well wooded, with broad, fruitful valleys between them, watered by abundant streams. The wind being contrary, they were de¬ tained for two days in a large bay to the west of the promontory. On the 6th they again made sail with a land breeze, and weath¬ ering the cape, advanced ten leagues, when the wind again turned to blow freshly from the east. At this time a sailor, sta¬ tioned at the masthead to look out for rocks, cried out that he beheld the Pinta at a distance. The certainty of the fact glad¬ dened the heart of the admiral, and had an animating effect throughout the ship; for it was a joyful event to the mariners once more to meet with their comrades, and to have a compan¬ ion bark in their voyage through these lonely seas. The Pinta came sweeping toward them, directly before the wind. The admiral was desirous of having a conversation with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and seeing that all attempt was fruitless from the obstinacy of the adverse wind, and that there was no safe anchorage in the neighborhood, he put back to the bay a little west of Monte Christi, whither he was followed by the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 161 Pinta. On their first interview, Pinzon endeavored to excuse his desertion, alleging that he had been compelled to part com¬ pany by stress of weather, and had ever since been seeking to rejoin the admiral. Columbus listened passively but dubiously to his apologies; and the suspicions he had conceived appeared to be warranted by subsequent information. He was told that Pinzon had been excited by accounts given him by one of the Indians on board of his vessel of a region to the eastward, abounding in gold. Taking advantage, therefore, of the supe¬ rior sailing of his vessel, he had worked to windward, when the other ships had been obliged to put back, and had sought to be the first to discover and enjoy this golden region. After sepa¬ rating from his companions he had been entangled for several days among a cluster of small islands, supposed to have been the Caicos, but had at length been guided by the Indians to His¬ paniola. Here he remained three weeks, trading with the na¬ tives in the river already mentioned, and collected a considera¬ ble quantity of gold, one half of which he retained as captain, the rest he divided among his men to secure their fidelity and secrecy. Such were the particulars privately related to Columbus; who, however, repressed his indignation at this flagrant breach of duty, being unwilling to disturb the remainder of his voyage with any altercations with Pinzon, who had a powerful party of relatives and townsmen in the armament. To such a degree, however, was his confidence in his confederates impaired, that he determined to return forthwith to Spain, though, under other circumstances, he would have been tempted to explore the coast in hopes of freighting his ships with treasure.* The boats were accordingly dispatched to a large river in the neighborhood, to procure a supply of wood and water for the voyage. This river, called by the natives the Yaqui, flows from the mountains of the interior and throws itself into the bay, re¬ ceiving in its course the contributions of various minor streams. Many particles of gold were perceived among the sands at its mouth, and others were found adhering to the hoops of the wa¬ ter-casks. f Columbus gave it, therefore, the name of Rio del Oro, or the Golden River; it is at present called the Santiago. In this neighborhood were turtles of great size. Columbus * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 34. t Las Casas suggests that these may have been particles of marcasite, which abounds in this river, and in the other streams which fall from the mountains of Cibao. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 76. 162 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. also mentions in his journal that he saw three mermaids, which elevated themselves above the surface of the sea, and he ob¬ serves that he had before seen such on the coast of Africa. He adds that they were by no means the beautiful beings they had been represented, although they possessed some traces of the human countenance. It is supposed that these must have been manati or sea-calves, seen indistinctly and at a distance; and that the imagination of Columbus, disposed to give a wonderful character to everything in this new world, h ad identified these misshapen animals with the sirens of ancient story. On the evening of the 9th of January they again made sail, and on the following day arrived at the river where Pinzon had been trading, to which Columbus gave the name of Rio de Gracia; but it took the appellation of its original discoverer, and long continued to be known as the river of Martin Alonzo.* The natives of this place complained that Pinzon, on his pre¬ vious visit, had violently carried off four men and two girls. The admiral, finding they were retained on board of the Pinta to be carried to Spain and sold as slaves, ordered them to be im¬ mediately restored to their homes, with many presents, and well clothed, to atone for the wrong they had experienced. This restitution was made with great unwillingness and many high words on the part of Pinzon. The wind being favorable, for in these regions the trade wind is often alternated during autumn and winter by north-westerly breezes, they continued coasting the island until they came to a high and beautiful headland, to which they gave the name of Capo del Enamorado, or the Lovers’ Cape, but which at present is known as Cape Cabron. A little beyond this they anchored in a bay, or rather gulf, three leagues in breadth, and extending so far inland that Columbus at first supposed it an arm of the sea, separating Hispaniola from some other land. On landing they found the natives quite different from the gentle and pa¬ cific people hitherto met with on this island. They were of a ferocious aspect, and hideously painted. Their hair was long, tied behind, and decorated with the feathers of parrots and othei birds *of gaudy plumage. Some were armed with war-clubs > others had bows of the length of those used by the English arch- ers, with arrows of slender reeds, pointed with hard wood, oi« tipped with bone or the tooth of a fish. Their swords were of * It is now called Porto Caballo, but the surrounding plaiu is called the Savanna of Martin Alonzo. — T. S. Heneken. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 163 palm-wood, as hard and heavy as iron; not sharp, but broad, nearly of the thickness of two fingers, and capable, with one blow, of cleaving through a hehnet to the very brains. * Though thus prepared for combat, they made no attempt to molest the Spaniards; on the contrary, they sold them two of their bows and several of their arrows, and one of them was prevailed upon to go on board of the admiral’s ship. Columbus was persuaded, from the ferocious looks and hardy, undaunted manner of this wild warrior, that he and his companions were of the nation of Caribs, so much dreaded throughout these seas, and that the gulf in which he was anchored must be a strait separating their island from Hispa¬ niola. On inquiring of the Indian, however, he still pointed to the east as the quarter where lay the Caribbean Islands. He spoke also of an island, called Mantinino, which Columbus fan¬ cied him to say was peopled merely by women, who received the Caribs among them once a year, for the sake of continuing the population of their island. All the male progeny result¬ ing from such visits were delivered to the fathers; the female remained with the mothers. This Amazonian island is repeatedly mentioned in the course of the voyages of Columbus, and is another of his self-delusions, to be explained by the work of Marco Polo. That traveller de¬ scribed two islands near the coast of Asia, one inhabited solely by women, the other by men, between which a similar inter¬ course subsisted;! and Columbus, supposing himself in that vicinity, easily interpreted the signs of the Indians to coincide with the descriptions of the Venetian. Having regaled the warrior, and made him various presents, the admiral sent him on shore, in hopes, through his media¬ tion, of opening a trade for gold with his companions. As the boat approached the land, upward of fifty savages, armed with bows and arrows, war-clubs, and javelins, were seen lurking among the trees. On a word from the Indian who was in the boat, they laid by their arms and came forth to meet the Span¬ iards. The latter, according to directions from the admiral, endeavored to purchase several of their weapons, to take as curiosities to Spain. They parted with two of their bows; but, suddenly conceiving some distrust, or thinking to overpower this handful of strangers, they rushed to the place where they * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 77, ms. t Marco Polo, book iii. chap. 34; Eng. edit, of Marsden. 164 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. had left their weapons, snatched them up, and returned with cords, as if to bind the Spaniards. The latter immediately at¬ tacked them, wounded two, put the rest to flight, and would have pursued them, but were restrained by the pilot who com¬ manded the boat. This was the first contest with the Indians, and the first time that native blood was shed by the white men in the new world. Columbus was grieved to see all his exer¬ tions to maintain an amicable intercourse vain; he consoled himself with the idea, however, that if these were Caribs, or frontier Indians of warlike character, they would be inspired with a dread of the force and weapons of the white men, and be deterred from molesting the little garrison of Fort Nativity. The fact was, that these were of a bold and hardy race, in¬ habiting a mountainous district called Ciguay, extending five and twenty leagues along the coast, and several leagues into the interior. They differed in language, look, and manners from the other natives of the island, and had the rude but in¬ dependent and vigorous character of mountaineers. Their frank and bold spirit was evinced on the day after the skirmish, when a multitude appearing on the beach, the admi¬ ral sent a large party, well armed, on shore in the boat. The natives approached as freely and confidently as if nothing had happened; neither did they betray, throughout their subse¬ quent intercourse, any signs of lurking fear or enmity. The cacique who ruled over the neighboring country was on the shore. He sent to the boat a string of beads formed of small stones, or rather of the hard part of shells, which the Spaniards understood to be a token and assurance of amity; but they were not yet aware of the full meaning of this symbol, the wampum belt, the pledge of peace, held sacred among the In¬ dians. The chieftain followed shortly after, and entering the boat with only three attendants, was conveyed on board of the caravel. This frank and confiding conduct, so indicative of a brave and generous nature, was properly appreciated by Columbus; he received the cacique cordially, set before him a collation such as the caravel afforded, particularly biscuits and honey, which were great dainties with the Indians, and after showing him the wonders of the vessel, and making him and his atten¬ dants many presents, sent them to land highly gratified. The residence of the cacique was at such a distance that he could not repeat his visit; but, as a token of high regard, he sent to the admiral his coronet of gold. In speaking of these inci- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 105 dents, the historians of Columbus have made no mention of the name of this mountain chief; he was doubtless the same who, a few years afterward, appears in the history of the island under the name of Mayonabex, cacique of the Ciguayans, and will be found acquitting himself with valor, frankness, and magnanimity, under the most trying circumstances. Columbus remained a day or two longer in the bay, during which time the most friendly intercourse prevailed with the natives, who brought cotton, and various fruits and vegetables, but still maintained their warrior character, being always armed -with bows and arrows. Four young Indians gave such interesting accounts of the islands situated to the east that Columbus determined to touch there on his way to Spain, and prevailed on them to accompany him as guides. Taking ad¬ vantage of a favorable wind, therefore, he sailed before day¬ light on the 16th of January from this bay, to which, in conse¬ quence of the skirmish with the natives, he gave the name of Golfo de las Flechas, or the Gulf of Arrows, but which is now known by the name of the Gulf of Samana. On leaving the bay, Columbus at first steered to the north¬ east, in which direction the young Indians assured him he would find the island of the Caribs, and that of Mantinino, the abode of the Amazons; it being bis desire to take several of the natives of each, to present to the Spanish sovereigns. After sailing about sixteen leagues, however, his Indian guides changed their opinion, and pointed to the south-east. This would have brought him to Porto Pico, which, in fact, was known among the Indians as the island of Carib. The admiral immediately shifted sail, and stood in this direction. He had not proceeded two leagues, however, when a most favorable breeze sprang up for the voyage to Spain. He observed a gloom gathering on the countenances of the sailors, as they diverged from the homeward route. Reflecting upon the little 1 hold he had upon the feelings and affections of these men, the insubordinate spirit they had repeatedly evinced, the uncer¬ tainty of the good faith of Pinzon, and the leaky condition of his ships, he was suddenly brought to a pause. As long as he protracted his return, the whole fate of his discovery was at the mercy of a thousand contingencies, and an adverse acci¬ dent might bury himself, his crazy barks, and all the records of his voyage forever in the ocean. Repressing, therefore, the strong inclination to seek further discoveries, and determined to place what he had already made beyond the reach of acci- I 166 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. dent, he once more shifted sail, to the great joy of his crev/s, and resumed his course for Spain.* CHAPTER II. RETURN VOYAGE-—VIOLENT STORMS—ARRIVAL AT THE AZORES. [1493.] The trade-winds which had been so propitious to Columbus on his outward voyage, were equally adverse to him on his re¬ turn. The favorable breeze soon died avvay, and throughout the remainder of January there was a prevalence of light winds from the eastward, which prevented any great progress. He was frequently detained also by the bad sailing of the Pinta, the foremast of which was so defective that it could carry but little sail. The weather continued mild and pleasant, and the sea so calm, that the Indians whom they were taking to Spain would frequently plunge into the water and SAvim about the ships. They saw many tunny fish, one of which they killed, as likewise a large shark; these gave them a temporary supply of provisions, of which they soon began to stand in need, their sea stock being reduced to bread and Avine and Agi peppers, which last they had learnt from the Indians to use as an impor¬ tant article of food. In the early part of February, having run to about the thirty- eighth degree of north latitude, and got out of the track swept by the tradewinds, they had more favorable breezes, and Avere enabled to steer direct for Spain. From the frequent changes of their course, the pilots became perplexed in their reckon¬ ings, differing Avidely among themselves, and still more widely from the truth. Columbus, besides keeping a careful reckon¬ ing, Avas a vigilant observer of those indications furnished by the sea, the air, and the sky; the fate of himself and his ships in the unknoAvn regions which he traversed often depended upon these observations; and the sagacity at which he arrived, in deciphering the signs of the elements, was looked upon by the common seamen as something almost supernatural. In the * Journal of Columb. Navarrete, tom. i. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 77. Hist. del. Almirante, cat). 34. 35. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 167 \ N present instance, he noticed where the great hands of floating weeds commenced, and where they finished; and in emerging from among them, concluded himself to be in the same degree of longitude as when he encountered them on his outward voy¬ age ; that is to say, about 260 leagues west of Ferro. On the 10th of February, Vicente Yailes Pinzon, and the pilots Ruiz and Bartolomeo Roldan, who were on board of the admiral’s ship, examined the charts and compared their reckonings to determine their situation, but could not come to any agree¬ ment. They all supposed themselves at least one hundred and fifty leagues nearer Spain than what Columbus believed to be the true reckoning, and in the latitude of Madeira, whereas he knew them to be nearly in a direction for the Azores. He suf¬ fered them, however, to remain in their error, and even added to their perplexity, that they might retain but a confused idea of the voyage, and he alone possess a clear knowledge of the route to the newly-discovered countries * On the 12th of February, as they were flattering themselves with soon coming in sight of land, the wind came on to blow violently, with a heavy sea; they still kept their course to the east, but with great labor and peril. On the following day, after sunset, the wind and swell increased; there were three flashes of lightning in the north-north-east, considered by Columbus as signals of an approaching tempest. It soon burst upon them with frightful violence; their small and crazy vessels, open and without decks, were little fitted for the wild storms of the Atlantic; all night they were obliged to scud under bare poles. As the morning dawned of the 14th, there was a transient pause, and they made a little sail; but the wind rose again from the south with redoubled vehemence, raging throughout the day, and increasing in fury in the night; while the vessels labored terribly in a cross sea, the broken waves of which threatened at each moment to overwhelm them or dash them to pieces. For three hours they lay to, with just sail enough to keep them above the waves; but the tempest still augment¬ ing, they were obliged again to scud before the wind. The Pinta was soon lost sight of in the darkness of the night. The admiral kept as much as possible to the north-east, to approach the coast of Spain, and made signal lights at the masthead for the Pinta to do the same, and to keep in company. The latter, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 70. 168 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. however, from the weakness of her foremast, could not hold the wind, and was obliged to scud before it directly north. For some time she replied to the signals of the admiral, but her lights gleamed more and more distant, until they ceased entirely, and nothing more was seen of her. Columbus continued to scud all night, full of forebodings of the fate of his own vessel, and of fears for the safety of that of Pinzon. As the day dawned, the sea presented a frightful waste of wild broken waves, lashed into fury by the gale; he looked round anxiously for the Pinta, but she was nowhere to be seen. He now made a little sail, to keep his vessel ahead of the sea, lest its huge waves should break over her. As the sun rose, the wind and the waves rose yvith it, and throughout a dreary day the helpless bark was driven along by the fury of the tempest. Seeing all human skill baffled and confounded, Columbus endeavored to propitiate heaven by solemn vows and acts of penance. By his orders, a number of beans, equal to the num¬ ber of persons on board, were put into a cap, on one of which was cut the sign of the cross. Each of the crew made a vow that should he draw forth the marked bean he would make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, bearing a wax taper of five pounds’ weight. The admiral was the first to put in his hand, and the lot fell upon him. From that mo¬ ment lie considered himself a pilgrim, bound to perform the vow. Another lot was cast in the same way, for a prilgrimage to the chapel of our Lady of Loretto, which fell upon a, seaman named Pedro de Villa, and the admiral engaged to bear the expenses of his journey. A third lot was also cast for a pil¬ grimage to Santa Clara de Moguer, to perform a solemn mass, and to watch all night in the chapel, and this likewise fell upon Columbus. The tempest still raging with unabated violence, the admiral and all the mariners made a vow, that, if spared, wherever they first landed, they would go in procession barefooted and in their shirts, to offer up prayers and thanksgivings in some church dedicated to the Holy Virgin. Besides these general acts of propitiation, each one made his private vow, binding him¬ self to some pilgrimage, or vigil, or other rite of penitence and thanksgiving at his favorite shrine. The heavens, however, seemed deaf to their vows; the storm grew still more wild and frightful, and each man gave himself up for lost. The danger of the ship was augmented by the want of ballast, the consump- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 169 tion of the water and provisions having lightened her so much that she rolled and tossed about at the mercy of the waves. To remedy this, and to render her more steady, the admiral ordered that all the empty casks should be filled with sea-water, which in some measure gave relief. During this long and awful conflict of the elements, the mind of Columbus was a prey to the most distressing anxiety. He feared that the Pinta had foundered in the storm. In such case the whole history of his discovery, the secret of the New World, depended upon his own feeble bark, and one surge of the ocean might bury it forever in oblivion. The tumult of his thoughts may be judged from his own letter to the sovereigns. ‘ * I could have supported this evil fortune with less grief,” said he, “had my person alone been in jeopardy, since I am a debtor for my life to the supreme Creator, and have at other times been within a step of death. But it was a cause of infinite sorrow and trouble to think that, after having been illuminated from on high with faith and certainty to undertake this enterprise, after having victoriously achieved it, and when on the point of con¬ vincing my opponents, and securing to your highnesses great glory and vast increase of dominions, it should please the divine Majesty to defeat all by my death. It would have been more supportable also, had I not been accompanied by others who had been drawn on by my persuasions, and who, in their dis¬ tress, cursed not only the hour of their coming, but the fear inspired by my words which prevented their turning back, as they had at various times determined. Above all, my grief was doubled when I thought of my two sons, whom I had left at school in Cordova, destitute, in a strange land, without any testimony of the services rendered by their father, which, if known, might have inclined your highnesses to befriend them. And although, on the one hand, I was comforted by faith that the Deity would not permit a work of such great exaltation to his church, wrought through so many troubles and contradic¬ tions, to remain imperfect; yet, on the other hand, I reflected on my sins, as a punishment for which he might intend that I should be deprived of the glory which would redound to me in this world. ” * In the midst of these gloomy apprehensions, an expedient suggested itself, by which, though he and his ship should perish,' the glory of his achievement might survive to his name, and its * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 36. 170 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. advantages be secured to his sovereigns. He wrote on parch¬ ment a brief account of his voyage and discovery, and of his having taken possession of the newly-found lands in the name of their Catholic majesties. This he sealed and directed to the king and queen; superscribing a promise of a thousand ducats to whomsoever should deliver the packet unopened. He then wrapped it in a waxed cloth, which he placed in the centre of a cake of wax, and inclosing the whole in a large barrel, threw it into the sea, giving his men to suppose he was performing some religious vow. Lest this memorial should never reach the land, he inclosed a copy in a similar manner, and placed it upon the poop, so that, should the caravel be swallowed up by the waves, the barrel might float off and survive. These precautions in some measure mitigated his anxiety, and he was still more relieved when, after heavy showers, there ap¬ peared at sunset a streak of clear sky in the west, giving hopes that the wind was about to shift to that quarter. These hopes were confirmed; a favorable breeze succeeded, but the sea still ran so high and tumultuously that little sail could be carried during the night. On the morning of the 15th, at daybreak, the cry of land was given by Rui G-arcia, a mariner in the maintop. The trans¬ ports of the crew, at once more gaining sight of the Old World, were almost equal to those experienced on first beholding the New. The land bore east-north-east, directly over the prow of the caravel; and the usual diversity of opinion concerning it arose among the pilots. One thought it the island of Madeira; another the rock of Cintra near Lisbon; the most part, deceived by their ardent wishes, placed it near Spain. Columbus, how¬ ever, from his private reckonings and observations, concluded it to be one of the Azores. A nearer approach proved it to be an island; it was but five leagues distant, and the voyagers were congratulating themselves upon the assurance of speedily being in port, when the wind veered again to the east-north¬ east, blowing directly from the land, while a heavy sea kept rolling from the west. For two days they hovered in sight of the island, vainly striv¬ ing to reach it, or to arrive at another island of which they caught glimpses occasionally through the mist and rack of the tempest. On the evening of the 17th they approached so near the first island as to cast anchor, but parting their cable, had to put to sea again, where they remained beating about until the following morning, when they anchored under shelter of its LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 17 L northern side. For several days Columbus had been in such a state of agitation and anxiety as scarcely to take food or repose. Although suffering greatly from a gouty affection to which he was subject, yet he had maintained his watchful post on deck, exposed to wintry cold, to the pelting of the storm, and the drenching surges of the sea. It was not until the night of the 17tli that he got a little sleep, more from the exhaustion of na¬ ture than from any tranquillity of mind. Such were the diffi¬ culties and perils which attended his return to Europe; had one tenth part of them beset his outward voyage, his timid and factious crew would have risen in arms against the enterprise, and he never would have discovered the New World. CHAPTER III. TRANSACTIONS AT THE ISLAND OF ST. MARY’S. [1493.] On sending the boat to land, Columbus ascertained the island to be St. Mary’s, the most southern of the Azores, and a pos¬ session of the crown of Portugal. The inhabitants, when they beheld the light caravel riding at anchor, were astonished that it had been able to live through the gale, which had raged for fifteen days with unexampled fury; but when they heard from the boat’s crew that this tempest-tossed vessel brought tidings of a strange country beyond the ocean, they were filled with wonder and curiosity. To the inquiries about a place where the caravel might anchor securely, they replied by pointing out a harbor in the vicinity, but prevailed on three of the mariners to remain on shore, and gratify them with further particulars of this unparalleled voyage. \ In the evening three men of the island hailed the caravel, and a boat being sent for them, they brought on board fowls, bread, and various refreshments, from J uan de Castaneda, governor of the island, who claimed an acquaintance with Columbus, and sent him many compliments and congratulations. He apolo¬ gized for not coming in person, owing to the lateness of the hour and the distance of his residence, but promised to visit the car¬ avel the next morning, bringing further refreshments, and the 172 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. three men, whom he still kept with him to satisfy his extreme curiosity respecting the voyage. As there were no houses on the neighboring shore, the messengers remained on board all night. On the following morning Columbus reminded his people of their vow to perform a pious procession at the first place where they should land. On the neighboring shore, at no great dis¬ tance from the sea, was a small hermitage or chapel dedicated to the Virgin, and he made immediate arrangements for the 1 performance of the rite. The three messengers, on returning to the village, sent a priest to perform mass, and one half of the crew landing, walked in procession, barefooted, and in their shirts, to the chapel; while the admiral awaited their return, to perform the same ceremony with the remainder. An ungenerous reception, however, awaited the poor tempest- tossed mariners on their first return to the abode of civilized men, far different from the sympathy and hospitality they had experienced among the savages of the New World. Scarcely had they begun their prayers and thanksgivings, when the rabble of the village, horse and foot, headed by the governor, surrounded the hermitage and took them all prisoners. As an intervening point of land hid the hermitage from the view of the caravel, the admiral remained in ignorance of this transaction. When eleven o’clock arrived without the return of the pilgrims, he began to fear that they were detained by the Portuguese, or that the boat had been shattered upon the surf- beaten rocks which bordered the island. Weighing anchor, therefore, he stood in a direction to command a view of the chapel and the adjacent store; whence he beheld a number of armed horsemen, who, dismounting, entered the boat and made for the caravel. The admiral’s ancient suspicions of Portuguese hostility toward himself and his enterprises were immediately revived, and he ordered his men to arm themselves, but to keep out of sight, ready either to defend the vessel or surprise the boat. The latter, however, approached in a pacific manner; the governor of the island was on board, and, coming within hail, demanded assurance of personal safety in case he should enter the caravel. This the admiral readily gave, but the Por¬ tuguese still continued at a wary distance. The indignation of Columbus now broke forth; he reproached the governor with his perfidy, and with the wrong he did, not merely to the Spanish monarchs, but to his own sovereign, by such a dishon¬ orable outrage. He informed him of his own rank and dignity; LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 173 displayed his letters patent, sealed with the royal seal of Castile, and threatened him with the vengeance of his - government. Castaneda replied in a vein of contempt and defiance, declar¬ ing that all he had done was in conformity to the commands of the king his sovereign. After an unprofitable altercation, the boat returned to shore, leaving Columbus much perplexed by this unexpected hostility, and fearful that a war might have broken out between Spain and Portugal during his absence. The next day the weather became so tempestuous that they were driven from their an¬ chorage, and obliged to stand to sea toward the island of St. Michael. For two days the ship continued beating about in great peril, half of her crew being detained on shore, and the greater part of those on board being landsmen and Indians, almost equally useless in difficult navigation. Fortunately, although the waves ran high, there were none of those cross seas which had recently prevailed, otherwise, being so feebly manned, the caravel could scarcely have lived through the storm. On the evening of the 22d, the weather having moderated, Columbus returned to his anchorage at St. Mary’s. Shortly after his arrival, a boat came off, bringing two priests and a notary. After a cautious parley and an assurance of safety, they came on board, and requested a sight of the papers of Co¬ lumbus, on the part of Castaneda, assuring him that it was the disposition of the governor to render him every service in his power, provided he really sailed in service of the Spanish sover- • eigns. Columbus supposed it a manoeuvre of Castaneda to cover a retreat from the hostile position he had assumed; re¬ straining his indignation, however, and expressing his thanks for the friendly disposition oF the governor, he showed his let¬ ters of commission, which satisfied the priests and the notary. On the following morning the boat and mariners were liberated. The latter, during their detention, had collected information from the inhabitants which elucidated the conduct of Cas¬ taneda, The King of Portugal, jealous lest the expedition of Colum¬ bus might interfere with his own discoveries, had sent orders to his commanders of islands and distant ports to seize and de¬ tain him wherever he should be met with.* In compliance with these orders, Castaneda had, in the first instance, hoped * Hist, del Almiranti, cap. 39. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 72. 174 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . to surprise Columbus in the chapel, and, failing in that attempt, had intended to get him in his power by stratagem, but was deterred by finding him on his guard. Such was the first re- ception of the admiral on his return to the Old World, an earn¬ est of the crosses and troubles with which he was to be requited throughout life, for one of the greatest benefits that ever man conferred upon his fellow-beings. CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL AT PORTUGAL—VISIT TO THE COURT. [1493.] Columbus remained two days longer at the island of St. Mary’s, endeavoring to take in wood and ballast, but was pre¬ vented by the heavy surf which broke upon the shore. The wind veering to the south, and being dangerous for vessels at anchor off the island, but favorable for the voyage to Spain, he set sail on the 24th of February, and had pleasant weather until the 27th, when, being within one hundred and twenty-five leagues of Cape St. Vincent, he again encountered contrary gales and a boisterous sea. His fortitude was scarcely proof against these perils and delays, which appeared to increase, the nearer he approached his home; and he could not help uttering a complaint at thus being repulsed, as it were, “from the very door of the house. ” He contrasted the rude storms which raged about the coasts of the old world, with the genial airs, the tran¬ quil seas, and balmy weather which he supposed perpetually to prevail about the countries he had discovered. “Well,” says he, “may the sacred theologians and sage philosophers declare that the terrestrial paradise is in the uttermost extremity of the East, for it is the most temperate of regions.” After experiencing several days of stormy and adverse weather, about midnight on Saturday, the 2d of March, the caravel was struck by a squall of wind which rent all her sails, and. continuing to blow with resistless violence, obliged her to scud under bare poles, threatening her each moment with destruction. In this hour of darkness and peril, the crew again called upon the aid of Heaven. A lot was cast for the perform- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUHBUE 175 ance of a barefooted pilgrimage to the shrino of Santa Maria de la Cueva in Huelva, and, as usual, the lot fell upon Columbus. There was something singular in the recurrence of this circum¬ stance. Las Casas devoutly considers it as an intimation from the Deitv to the admiral that these storms were all on his ac- V count, to humble his pride, and prevent his arrogating to him¬ self the glory of a discovery which was the work of Clod, and for which he had merely been chosen as an instrument.* Various signs appeared of the vicinity of land, which they supposed must be the coast of Portugal; the tempest, however, increased to such a degree that they doubted whether any of them would survive to reach a port. The whole crew made a vow, in case their lives were spared, to fast upon bread and water the following Saturday. The turbulence of the elements was still greater in the course of the following night. The sea was broken, wild, and mountainous; at one moment the light caravel was tossed high in the air, and the next mo¬ ment seemed sinking in a yawning abyss. The rain at times fell in torrents, and the lightning flashed and thunder pealed from various parts of the heavens. In the first watch of this fearful night the seamen gave the usually welcome cry of land, but it now only increased the gen¬ eral alarm. They knew not where they were, nor where to look for a harbor; they dreaded being driven on shore, or dashed upon rocks; and thus the very land they had so ear¬ nestly desired was a terror to them. Taking in sail, therefore, they kept to sea as much as possible, and waited anxiously for the morning light. At daybreak on the 4th of March they found themselves off the rock of Cintra, at the mouth of the Tagus. Though enter¬ taining a strong distrust of the good-will of Portugal, the still prevailing tempest left Columbus no alternative but to run in for shelter; he accordingly anchored, about three o’clock, oppo site to Rastello, to the great joy of the crew, who returned thanks to God for their escape from so many perils. The inhabitants came olf from various parts of the shore, congratulating them upon what they considered a miraculous preservation. They had been watching the vessel the whole morning with great anxiety, and putting up prayers for her safety. The oldest mariners of the place assured Columbus they had never known so tempestuous a winter; many vessels * Las Casas, Hist. lad., lib. i. cap. 78. 176 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. had remained for months in port, weather-hound, and there had been numerous shipwrecks. Immediately on his arrival Columbus dispatched a courier to the King and Queen of Spain, with tidings of his discovery. He wrote also to the King of Portugal, then at Valparaiso, re¬ questing permission to go with his vessel to Lisbon; for a report had gone abroad that his caravel was laden with gold, and he felt insecure in the mouth of the Tagus, in the neighborhood of a place hke Rastello, scantily peopled by needy and adven¬ turous inhabitants. To prevent any misunderstanding as to the nature of his voyage, he assured the king that he had not been on the coast of Guinea, nor to any other of the Portuguese colonies, but had come from Cipango, and the extremity of India, which he had discovered by sailing to the west. On the following day, Don Alonzo de Acuna, the captain of a large Portuguese man-of-war stationed at Itastello, summoned Columbus on board his ship, to give an account of himself and his vessel. The latter asserted his rights and dignities as admiral of the Castilian sovereigns, and refused to leave his vessel, or to send any one in his place. No sooner, however, did the commander learn his rank, and the extraordinary nature of his voyage, than he came to the caravel with great sound of drums, fifes, and trumpets, manifesting the courtesy of a brave and generous spirit, and making the fullest offer of his services. When the tidings reached Lisbon of this wonderful bark, anchored in the Tagus, freighted with the people and produce tions of a newly-discovered world, the effect may be moro easily conceived than described. Lisbon, for nearly a century, had derived its chief glory from its maritime discoveries, but here was an achievement that eclipsed them all. Curiosity could scarcely have been more excited had the vessel come freighted with the wonders of another planet. For several days the Tagus presented a gay and moving picture, covered with barges and boats of every kind, swarming round the caravel. Prom morning till night the vessel was thronged with visitors, among whom were cavaliers of high distinction, and various officers of the crown. All hung with rapt attention upon the accounts given by Columbus and his crew, of the events of their voyage, and of the New World they had discovered; and gazed with insatiable curiosity upon the specimens of unknown plants and animals, but above all upon the Indians, so different from any race of men hitherto known. Some were filled with LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP US. 177 generous enthusiasm at the idea of a discovery, so sublime and so beneficial to mankind; the avarice of others was inflamed by the description of wild, unappropriated regions teeming with gold, with pearls and spices; while others repined at the incredulity of the king and his councillors, by which so im¬ mense an acquisition had been forever lost to Portugal. On the 8th of March a cavalier, called Don Martin de Noro- na, came with a letter from King John, congratulating Colum¬ bus on his arrival, and inviting him to the court, which was then at Valparaiso, about nine leagues from Lisbon. The king, with his usual magnificence, issued orders at the same time that everything which the admiral required for himself, his crew, or his vessel, should be furnished promptly and abun¬ dantly, without cost. Columbus would gladly have declined the royal invitation, feeling distrust of the good faith of the king; but tempestuous weather had placed him in his power, and he thought it pru¬ dent to avoid all appearance of suspicion. He set forth, there- fore, that very evening for Valparaiso accompanied by his pilot. The first night he slept at Sacamben, where preparations had been made for his honorable entertainment. The weather being rainy, he did not reach Valparaiso until the following night. On approaching the royal residence, the principal cavaliers of the king’s household came forth to meet him, and attended him with great ceremony to the palace. His reception by the mon¬ arch was worthy of an enlightened prince. He ordered him to seat himself in his presence, an honor only granted to persons of royal dignity; and after many congratulations on the result of his enterprise, assured him that everything in his kingdom that could be of service to his sovereigns or himself was at his command. A long conversation ensued, in which Columbus gave an account of his voyage, and of the countries he had discovered. The king listened with much seeming pleasure, but with secret grief and mortification; reflecting that this splendid enterprise had once been offered to himself, and had been rejected. A casual observation showed what was passing in his thoughts. He expressed a doubt whether the discovery did not really appertain to the crown of Portugal, according to the capitula¬ tions of the treaty of 1479 with the Castilian sovereigns. Colum¬ bus replied that he had never seen those capitulations, nor knew anything of their nature; his orders had been not to go to La Mina, nor the coast of Guinea, which orders he had 178 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. carefully observed. The king made a gracious reply, express¬ ing himself satisfied that he had acted correctly, and persuaded that these matters would be readily adjusted between the two powers, without the need of umpires. On dismissing Columbus for the night, he gave him in charge as guest to the prior of Crato, the principal personage present, by whom he was hon¬ orably and hospitably entertained. On the following day the king made many minute inquiries as to the soil, productions, and people of the newly-discovered countries, and the route taken in the voyage; to all which Columbus gave the fullest replies, endeavoring to show in the clearest manner that these were regions heretofore undiscov¬ ered and unappropriated by any Christian power. Still the king was uneasy lest this vast and undefined discovery should in some way interfere with his own newly-acquired territories. He doubted whether Columbus had not found a short way to those very countries which were the object of his own expedi¬ tions, and which were comprehended in the papal bull, grant¬ ing to the crown of Portugal all the lands which it should discover from Cape Non to the Indies. On suggesting these doubts to his councillors, they eagerly confirmed them. Some of these were the very persons who had once derided this enterprise, and scoffed at Columbus as a dreamer. To them its success was a source of confusion; and the return of Columbus, covered with glory, a deep humiliation. Incapable of conceiving the high and generous thoughts which elevated him at that moment above all mean considerations, they attributed to all his actions the most petty and ignoble motives. His rational exultation was construed into an insult¬ ing triumph, and they accused him of assuming a boastful and vainglorious tone, when talking with the king of his discovery; as if he would revenge himself upon the monarch for having rejected his propositions.* With the greatest eagerness, there¬ fore, they sought to foster the doubts which had sprung up in the royal mind. Some who had seen the na ves brought in the caravel, declared that their color, hair, and manners agreed » * Vasconcelos, Vida de D. Juan II., lib. vi. The Portuguese historians in general charge Columbus with having conducted himself loftily, and talked in vaunting terms of his discoveries, in his conversations with the king. It is evident their infor¬ mation must have been derived from prejudiced courtiers. Faria y Souza, in his “Europa Portuguesa” (Parte iii. cap. 4), goes so far as to say that Columbus en¬ tered into the port of Rastello merely to make Portugal sensible, by the sight of the trophies of his discovery, how much she had lost by not accepting his propositions. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 179 with the descriptions of the people of that part of India which lay within the route of the Portuguese discoveries, and which had been included in the papal bull. Others observed that there was but little distance between the Tercera Islands and those which Columbus had discovered, and that the latter, therefore, clearly appertained to Portugal. Seeing the king much per¬ turbed in spirit, some even went so far as to propose, as a means of impeding the prosecution of these enterprises, | that Columbus should be assassinated; declaring that he de¬ served death for attempting to deceive and embroil the two nations by his pretended discoveries. It was suggested that his assassination might easily be accomplished without incurring any odium; advantage might be taken of his lofty deportment to pique his pride, provoke him into an altercation, and then dispatch him as if in casual and honorable encounter. It is difficult to believe that such wicked and dastardly counsel could have been proposed to a monarch so upright as John II., but the fact is asserted by various historians, Portu¬ guese as well as Spanish,* and it accords with the perfidious advice formerly given to the monarch in respect to Columbus. There is a spurious loyalty about courts, which is often prone to prove its zeal by its baseness; and it is the weakness of kings to tolerate the grossest faults when they appear to arise from personal devotion. Happily, the king had too much magnanimity to adopt the ini¬ quitous measure proposed. He did justice to the great merit of Columbus, and honored him as a distinguished benefactor of mankind; and he felt it his duty, as a generous prince, to pro¬ tect all strangers driven by adverse fortune to his ports. Others of his council suggested a more bold and martial hue of policy. They advised that Columbus should be permitted to re¬ turn to Spain; but that, before he could fit out a second expe¬ dition, a powerful armament should be dispatched, under the guidance of two Portuguese mariners who had sailed with the admiral, to take possession of the newly-discovered country; possession being after all the best title, and an appeal to arms the clearest mode of settling so doubtful a question. This counsel, in which there was a mixture of courage and craft, was more relished by the king, and he resolved privately, but promptly, to put it in execution^ fixing upon Don Francisco * Vasconcelos, Vida del Rei, Don Juan II., lib vi. Garcia de Resende, vida do Dom Joam II. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 74, ms. 180 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. de Almeida, one of the most distinguished captains of the age, to command the expedition.* In the mean time Columbus, after being treated with distin¬ guished attention, was escorted back to his ship by Don Martin de Norona, and a numerous train of cavaliers of the court, a mule being provided for himself, and another fo^ his pilot, to whom the king made a present of twenty espadinas, or ducats of gold.f On his way Columbus stopped at the monastery of San Antonio, at Villa Franca, to visit the queen, who had ex¬ pressed an earnest wish to see this extraordinary and enter¬ prising man, whose achievement was the theme of every tongue. He found her attended by a few of her favorite ladies, and experienced the most flattering reception. Her ma¬ jesty made him relate the principal events of his voyage, and describe the countries he had found; and she and her ladies hung with eager curiosity upon his narra-tion. That night he slept at Llandra, and being on the point of departing in the morning a servant of the king arrived, to attend him to the frontier, if he preferred to return to Spain by land, and to provide horses, lodgings, and everything he might stand in need of, at the royal expense. The weather, however, hav¬ ing moderated, he preferred returning.in his caravel. Putting to sea, therefore, on the 13th of March, he arrived safely at the bar of Saltes on sunrise of the fifteenth, and at mid-day entered the harbor of Palos; whence he had sailed on the 3d of August in the preceding year, having taken not quite seven months and a half to accomplish this most momentous of all maritime en¬ terprises.! CHAPTER V. RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT PALOS. [1493.] The triumphant return of Columbus was a prodigious event in the history of the little port of Palos, where everybody was more or less interested in the fate of his expedition. The most * Vasconcelos. lib. vi. t Twenfy-eight dollars in gold of the present day, and equivalent to seventy-four dollars, considering the depreciation of the precious metals. X Works generally consulted in this chapter: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 17; Hist, del Almirante, cap. 39, 40, 41; Journal of Columb. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 181 n important and wealthy sea-captains of the place had engaged in it, and scarcely a family but had some relative or friend among the navigators. The departure of the ships upon what | appeared a chimerical and desperate cruise, had spread gloom and dismay over the place; and the storms which had raged ! throughout the winter had heightened the public despondency. I Many lamented their friends as lost, while imagination lent 1 mysterious horrors to their fate, picturing them as driven about over wild and desert wastes of water without a shore, or as perishing amid rocks and quicksands and whirlpools; or a prey to those monsters of the deep, with which credulity peo¬ pled every distant and unfrequented sea. There was something more awful in such a mysterious fale than in death itself, under any defined and ordinary form. * Great was the agitation of the inhabitants, therefore, when they beheld one of the ships standing up the river; but when they learned that she returned in triumph from the discovery of a world, the whole community broke forth into transports of joy. The bells were rung, the shops shut, all business was suspended: for a time there was nothing but hurry and tumult. Some weae anxious to know the fate of a relative, others of a friend, and all to learn the particulars of so wonderful a voy¬ age. When Columbus landed, the multitude thronged to see and welcome him, and a grand procession was formed to the principal church, to return thanks to God for so signal a dis¬ covery made by the people of that place -forgetting, in their ex¬ ultation, the thousand difficulties they had thrown in the way of the enterprise. Wherever Columbus passed, he was hailed with shouts and acclamations. WLat a contrast to his depar¬ ture a few months before, followed by murmurs and execra¬ tions ; or, rather, what a contrast to his first arrival at Palos, a poor pedestrian, craving bread and water for his child at the gate of a convent! Understanding that the court was at Barcelona, he felt dis¬ posed to proceed thither immediately in his caravel; reflecting, however, on the dangers and disasters he had already experi¬ enced on the seas, he resolved to proceed by land. He dis- * In the maps and charts of those times, and even in those of a much later date, the variety 01 formidable and hideous monsters depicted in all remote parts of the ocean evince the terrors and dangers with which the imagination clothed it. The same may also be said of distant and unknown lands; the remote parts of Asia and Africa have monsters depicted in them which it would be difficult to trace to any originals in natural history. 182 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. patched a letter to the king and queen, informing them of his arrival, and soon afterward departed for Seville to await their orders, taking with him six of the natives whom he had brought from the New World. One had died at sea, and three were left ill at Palos. It is a singular coincidence, which appears to be well authen¬ ticated, that on the very evening of the arrival of Columbus at Palos, and while the peals of triumph were still ringing from its towers, the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, likewise entered the river. After her separation from the ad¬ miral in the storm, she had been driven before the gale into the Bay of Biscay, and had made the port of Bayonne. Doubting whether Columbus had survived the tempest, Pinzon had im¬ mediately written to the sovereigns giving information of the discovery he had made, and had requested permission to come to court and communicate the particulars in person. As soon as the weather permitted, he had again set sail, anticipating a trium¬ phant reception in his native pore of Palos. When, on enter¬ ing the harbor, he beheld the vessel of the admiral riding at an¬ chor, and learnt the enthusiasm with which he had been re¬ ceived, the heart of Pinzon died within him. It is said that he feared to meet Columbus in this hour of his triumph, lest he should put him under' arrest for his desertion on the coast of Cuba; but he was a man of too much resolution to indulge in such a fear. It is more probable that a consciousness of his misconduct made him unwilling to appear before the public in dhe midst of their enthusiasm for Columbus, and perhaps he sickened at the honors heaped upon a man whose superiority ue had been so unwilling to acknowledge. Getting into his boat, therefore, he landed privately and kept out of sight until he heard of the admiral’s departure. He then returned to his home, broken in health and deeply dejected, considering all the honors and eulogiums heaped upon Columbus as so many re¬ proaches on himself. The reply of the sovereigns to his letter at length arrived. It was of a reproachful tenor, and forbade his appearance at court. This letter completed his humiliation; the anguish of his feelings gave virulence to his bodily malady, and in a few days he died, a victim to deep chagrin.* Let no one, however, indulge in harsh censures over the grave of Pinzon! His merits and services are entitled to the highest praise; his errors should be regarded with indulgence. * Mufioz, Hist. N. Murulo, lib. iv. § 14. Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domin. lib. ii LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 183 He was one of the foremost in Spain to appreciate the project of Columbus, animating him by his concurrence and aiding him with his purse, when poor and unknown at Palos. He afterward enabled him to procure and fit out ships, when even the mandates of the sovereigns were ineffectual; and finally embarked in the expedition with his brothers and his friends, staking life, property, everything upon the event. He thus en¬ titled himself to participate largely in the glory of this immor¬ tal enterprise; but unfortunately, forgetting for a moment the grandeur of the cause, and the implicit obedience due to his commander, he yielded to the incitements of self-interest, and committed that act of insubordination which has cast a shade upon his name. In extenuation of his fault, however, may be alleged his habits of command, which rendered him impatient of control; his consciousness of having rendered great services to the expedition, and of possessing property in the ships. That he was a man of great professional merit is admitted by all his contemporaries; that he naturally possessed generous sentiments and an honorable ambition, is evident from the poignancy with which he felt the disgrace drawn on him by his misconduct. A.lnean man would not have fallen a victim to self-upbraiding for having been convicted of a mean action. His story shows how one lapse from duty may counterbalance the merits of a thousand services; how one moment of weak¬ ness may mar the beauty of a whole life of virtue; and how important it is for a man, under all circumstances, to be true not merely to others, but to himself. * * After a lapse of years, the descendants of the Pinzons made strenuous represen¬ tations to the crown of the merits and services of their family, endeavoring to prove, among other things, that but for the aid and encouragement of Martin Alonzo and his brothers, Columbus would never have made his discovery. Some of the testi¬ mony rendered on this and another occasion w r as rather extravagant and absurd, as will be shown in another part of this work.t The Emperor Charles V., however, taking into consideration the real services of the brothers in the first voyage, and the subsequent expeditions and discoveries of that able and intrepid navigator, Vincente Yanez Pinzon, granted to the family the well-merited rank and privileges of Hidalguia , a degree of nobility which constituted them noble hidalgos, with the right of prefixing the title of Don to their names. A coat of arms was also given ‘them, emblematical of their services as discoverers. These privileges and arms are carefully preserved by the family at the present day. The Pinzons at present reside principally in the little city of Moguer, about a league from Palos, and possess vineyards and estates about the neighborhood. They are in easy, if not affluent circumstances, and inhabit the best houses in Mo¬ guer. Here they have continued, from generation to generation, since the time of t Vide illustrations, article “ Martin Alonzo Pinzon.” 1S4 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER VI. RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY THE SPANISH COURT AT BARCELONA. The letter of Columbus to the Spanish monarchs had pro¬ duced the greatest sensation at court. The event he an¬ nounced was considered the most extraordinary of their pros¬ perous reign, and following so close upon the conquest of Gra¬ nada, was pronounced a signal mark of divine favor for that triumph achieved in the cause of the true faith. The sovereigns themselves were for a time dazzled by this sudden and easy ac¬ quisition of a new empire, of indefinite extent, and apparently boundless wealth; and their first idea was to secure it beyond the reach of dispute. Shortly after his arrival in Seville, Colum¬ bus received a letter from them expressing their great delight, and requesting him to repair immediately to court, to concert plans for a second and more extensive expedition. As the summer, the time favorable for a voyage, was approaching, they desired him to make any arrangements at Seville or elsewhere that might hasten the expedition, and to inform them, by the return of the courier, what was to be done on their part. This letter was addressed to him by the title of ‘ ‘ Don Christopher Columbus, our admiral of the ocean sea, and viceroy and governor of the islands discovered in the Indies at the same time he was promised still further rewards. Co¬ lumbus lost no time in complying with the commands of the sovereigns. He sent a memorandum of the ships., men, and munitions requisite, and having made such dispositions at Se¬ ville as circumstances permitted, set out for Barcelona, taking with him the six Indians, and the various curiosities and pro¬ ductions brought from the New World. »-— the discovery, filling places of, public trust and dignity, enjoying the good opinion and good will of their fellow-citizens, and flourishing in nearly the same state in which they were found by Columbus, on his first visit to Palos. It is rare indeed to find a family, in this fluctuating world, so little changed by the revolutions of nearly three centuries and a half. Whatever Palos may have been in the time of Columbus, it is now a paltry village of about four hundred inhabitants, who subsist chiefly by laboring in the fields and vineyards. The convent of La Rabid a still exists, but is inhabited merely by two friars, with a novitiate and a lay brother. It is situated on a hill, surrounded by a scattered forest of pine trees, and overlooks the low sandy country of the sea-coast, and the windings of the river by which Columbus sallied forth upon the ocean. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 185 The fame of his discovery had resounded throughout the na¬ tion, and as his route lay through several of the finest and most populous provinces of Spain, his journey appeared like the pro¬ gress of a sovereign. Wherever he passed the country poured forth its inhabitants, who lined the road and thronged the vil¬ lages. The streets, windows, and balconies of the towns wore filled with eager spectators, who rent the air with acclamations. His journey was continually impeded by the multitude pressing to gain a sight of him and of the Indians, who were regarded with as much astonishment as if they had been natives of another planet. It was impossible to satisfy the craving curiosity which assailed him and his attendants at every stage with innumer¬ able questions; popular rumor, as usual, had exaggerated the truth, and had filled the newly-found country with all kinds of wonders. About the middle of April Columbus arrived at Barcelona, where every preparation had been made to give him a solemn and magnificent reception. The beauty and serenity of the weather in that genial season and favored climate contributed to give splendor to this memorable ceremony. As he drew near the place, many of the youthful courtiers and hidalgos, together with a vast concourse of the populace, came forth to meet and welcome him. His entrance into this noble city has been com¬ pared to one of those triumphs which the Homans were accus¬ tomed to decree to conquerors. First were paraded the Indians, painted according to their savage fashion, and decorated with their national ornaments of gold. After these were borne various kinds of live parrots, together with stuffed birds and animals of unknown species, and rare plants supposed to be of precious qualities; while great care was taken to make a con¬ spicuous display of Indian coronets, bracelets, and other decora¬ tions of gold, which might give an idea of the wealth of the newly-discovered regions. After this, followed Columbus on horseback, surrounded by a brilliant cavalcade of Spanish chi¬ valry. The streets were almost impassable from the countless multitude; the windows and balconies were crowded with the fair; the very roofs were covered with spectators. It seemed as if the public eye could not be sated with gazing on these tro¬ phies of an unknown world; or on the remarkable man by whom it had been discovered. There was a sublimity in this event that mingled a solemn feeling with the public joy. It was looked upon as a vast and signal dispensation of Providence, in reward for the piety of the monarchs; and the majestic and 186 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. venerable appearance of the discoveror, so different from the youth and buoyancy generally expected from roving enterprise, seemed in harmony with the grandeur and dignity of his achievement. To receive him with suitable pomp and distinction, the sov¬ ereigns had ordered their throne to be placed in public under a rich canopy of brocade of gold, in a vast and splendid saloon. Here the king and queen awaited his arrival, seated in state, with the prince Juan beside them, and attended by the digni¬ taries of their court, and the principal nobility of Castile, Va- lentia, Catalonia, and Arragon, all impatient to behold the man who had conferred so incalculable a benefit upon the nation. At length Columbus entered the hall, surrounded by a brilliant crowd of cavaliers, among whom, says Las Casas, he was con¬ spicuous for his stately and commanding person, which with his countenance, rendered venerable by his gray hairs, gave him the august appearance of a senator of Rome; a modest smile lighted up his features, showing that he enjoyed the state and glory in which he came ;* and certainly nothing could be more deeply moving to a mind inflamed by noble ambition, and conscious of having greatly deserved, than these testimonials of the ad miration and gratitude of a nation, or rather of a world. As Columbus approached the sovereigns rose, as if receiving a person of the highest rank. Bending his knees, he offered to kiss their hands; but there was some hesitation on their part to permit this act of homage. Raising him in the most gracious manner, they ordered him to seat himself in their presence; a rare honor in this proud and punctilious court, f At their request, he now gave an account of the most striking events of his voyage, and a description of the islands discovered. He displayed specimens of unknown birds and other animals; of rare plants of medicinal and aromatic virtues; of native gold in dust, in cuude masses, or labored into barbaric ornaments; and, above all, the natives of these countries, who were objects of intense and inexhaustible interest. All these he pronounced mere harbingers of greater discoveries yet to be made, which would add realms of incalculable wealth to the dominions of their majesties, and whole nations of proselytes to the true faith. When he had finished, the sovereigns sank on their knees, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 78. ms. t Las Casas, Hist. Iud., lib. i. cap. 78. Hist, del Almirantc, cap. Cl. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 187 % and raising their clasped hands to heaven, their eyes filled with tears of joy and gratitude, poured forth thanks and praises to God for so great a providence; all present followed their exam¬ ple ; a deep and solemn enthusiasm pervaded that splendid as¬ sembly, and prevented all common acclamations of triumph. The anthem Te Deum laudamus , chanted by the choir of the royal chapel, with the accompaniment of instrum ents, rose in a full body of sacred harmony; bearing up, as it were, the feel¬ ings and thoughts of the auditors to heaven, “ so that,” says the venerable Las Casas, “it seemed as it in that hour they communicated with celestial delights.” Such was the solemn and pious manner in which the brilliant court of Spain cele¬ brated this sublime event; offering up a grateful tribute of melody and praise, and giving glory to God for the discovery of another world. When Columbus retired from the royal presence, he was at¬ tended to his residence by all the court, and followed by the shouting populace. For many days he was the object of uni¬ versal curiosity, and wherever he appeared was surrounded by an admiring multitude. While his mind was teeming with glorious anticipations, his pious scheme for the deliverance of the holy sepulchre was not forgotten. It has been shown that he suggested it to the Span¬ ish sovereigns at the time of first making his propositions, hold¬ ing it forth as the great object to be effected by the profits of his discoveries. Flushed with the idea of the vast wealth now to accrue to himself, he rnadq a vow to furnish within seven years an army, consisting of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for the rescue of the holy sepulchre, and a simi¬ lar force within the five- following years. This vow was re¬ corded in one of his letters to the sovereigns, to which he re¬ fers, but which is no longer extant; nor is it certain whether it was made at the end of his first voyage or at a subsequent date, when the magnitude and wealthy result of his discoveries became more fully manifest. He often alludes to it vaguely in his -writings, and he refers to it expressly in a letter to Pope Alexander VI., written in 1502, in which he accounts also for its non-fulfilment. It is essential to a full comprehension of the character and motives of Columbus, that this visionary project should be borne in recollection. It will be found to have entwined itself in his mind with his enterprise of discov¬ ery, and that a holy crusade was to be the consummation of those divine purposes, for which he considered himself selected 188 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. by Heaven as an agent. It shows how much his mind was ele¬ vated above selfish and mercenary views—how it was filled with those devout and heroic schemes, which in the time of the Crusades had inflamed the thoughts and directed the enterprises of the bravest warriors and most illustrious princes. CHAPTER VII. SOJOURN OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA—ATTENTIONS PAID HIM BY THE SOVEREIGNS AND COURTIERS. The joy occasioned by the great discovery of Columbus was not confined to Spain; the tidings were spread far and wide by the communications of ambassadors, the correspondence of the learned, the negotiations of merchants, and the reports of trav¬ ellers, and the whole civilized world was filled with wonder and delight. IIow gratifying would it have been, had the press at that time, as at present, poured forth its daily tide of specula¬ tion on every passing occurrence! With what eagerness should we seek to know the first ideas and emotions of the public, on an event so unlooked for and sublime! Even the first an¬ nouncements of it by contemporary writers, though brief and incidental, derive interest from being written at the time; and Horn showing the casual way in which such great tidings were conveyed about the world. Allegretto Allegretti, in his annals for Sienna for 1403, mentions it as just made known there by the letters of their merchants who were in Spain, and by the mouths of various travellers.* The news was brought to Genoa by the return of her ambassadors Francisco Marchesi and Gio¬ vanni Antonio Grimaldi, and was recorded among the trium¬ phant events of the year; f for the republic, though she may have slighted the opportunity of making herself mistress of the discovery, has ever since been tenacious of the glory of having given birth to the discoverer. The tidings were soon carried to England, which as yet was but a maritime power of inferior importance. They caused, however, much wonder in London, and great talk and admiration in the court of Henry VII., where the discovery was pronounced ‘ ‘ a thing more divine than hu- * Diarj Senesi de Alleg. Allegretti. Muratori, Ital. Script., tom. cxiii. t Foglieta, Istoria de Genova, lib. ii. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 189 man.” We have this on the authority of Sebastian Cabot him¬ self, the future discoverer of the northern continent of America, who was in London at the time, and was inspired by the event with a generous spirit of emulation.* Every member of civilized society, in fact, rejoiced in the oc- , currence, as one in which he was more or less interested. To some it opened a new and unbounded field of inquiry; to others, of enterprise; and every one awaited with intense eagerness the further development of this unknown world, still covered with mystery, the partial glimpses of which were so full of wonder. We have a brief testimony of the emotions of the learned in a letter, written at the time by Peter Martyr to his friend Pomponiug Laetus. “You tell me, my amiable Pom- ponius,” he writes, “ that you leaped for joy, and that your de¬ light was mingled with tears, when you read my epistle, certi¬ fying to you the hitherto hidden world of the antipodes. You have felt and acted as became a man eminent for learning, for I can conceive no aliment more delicious than such tidings to a cultivated and ingenuous mind. I feel a wonderful exultation of spirits when I converse with intelligent men who have re¬ turned from these regions. It is like an accession of wealth to a miser. Our minds, soiled and debased by the common con¬ cerns of life and the vices of society, become elevated and ameliorated by contemplating such glorious events. ”f Notwithstanding this universal enthusiasm, however, no one was aware of the real importance of the discovery. No one had an idea that this was a totally distinct portion of the globe, separated by oceans from the ancient world. The opinion of Columbus was universally adopted, that Cuba was the end of the Asiatic continent, and that the adjacent islands were in the Indian seas. This agreed with the opinions of the ancients, heretofore cited, about the moderate distance from Spain to the extremity of India, sailing westwardly. The parrots were also thought to resemble those described by Pliny, as abounding in * the remote parts of Asia. The lands, therefore, which Colum¬ bus had visited were called the West Indies; and as he seemed to have entered upon a vast region of unexplored countries, existing in a state of nature, 'the whole received the compre¬ hensive appellation of “ The New World.” During the whole of his sojourn at Barcelona, the sovereigns * Hackluyt, Collect. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 7. t Letters of P. Martyr, let. 153. 190 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. took every occasion to bestow on Columbus personal marks of their high consideration. He was admitted at all times to the royal presence, and the queen delighted to converse with him on the subject of his enterprises. The king, too, appeared oc¬ casionally on horseback, with Prince Juan on one side, and Columbus on the other. To perpetuate in his family the glory of his achievement, a coat of arms was assigned him, in which the royal arms, the castle and lion, were quartered with his proper bearings, which were a group of islands surrounded by waves. To these arms was afterward annexed the motto: A Castilla y d Leon, Nuevo rnundo dio Colon. (To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new world.) The pension which had been decreed by the sovereigns to him who in the first voyage should discover land, was adjudged to Columbus, for having first seen the light on the shore. It is said that the seaman who first descried the land was so incensed at being disappointed at what he conceived his merited reward, that he renounced his < untry and his faith, and going into Africa turned Mussulman; an anecdote which rests merely on the authority of Oviedo,* who is extremely incorrect in his narration of this voyage, and inserts many falsehoods told him by the enemies of the admiral. It may at first sight appear but little accordant with the acknowledged magnanimity of Columbus, to have borne away the prize from this poor sailor, but this was a subject in which his whole ambition was involved, and he was doubtless proud of the honor of being personally the discoverer of the land as well as projector of the enterprise. Next to the countenance shown him by the king and queen may be mentioned that of Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, the Grand Cardinal of Spain, and first subject of the realm; a man whose elevated character for piety, learning, and high prince¬ like qualities, gave signal value to his favors. He invited Columbus to a banquet, where he assigned him the most hon¬ orable place at table, and had him served with the ceremonials which in those punctilious times were observed toward sover¬ eigns. At this repast is said to have occurred the well-known anecdote of the egg. A shallow courtier present, impatient of * Oviedo, Cronico de las Indias, lib. ii. cap. 2. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 191 . the honors paid to Columbus, and meanly jealous of him as a foreigner, abruptly asked him whether lie thought that, in case he had not discovered the Indies, there were not other men in Spain who would have been capable of the enterprise? To this Columbus made no immediate reply, but, taking an egg, invited the company to make it stand on one end. Every one at¬ tempted it, but in vain; whereupon he struck it upon the table so as to break the end, and left it standing on the broken part; illustrating in this simple manner that when he had once shown the way to the New World nothing was easier than to follow it.* The favor shown Columbus by the sovereigns insured him for a time the caresses of the nobility; for in a court every one vies with his neighbor in lavishing attentions upon the man “whom the king delighteth to honor.” Columbus bore all these caresses and distinctions with becoming modesty, though he must have felt a proud satisfaction in the idea that they had been wrested, as it were, from the nation by his courage and perseverance. One can hardly recognize in the individual thus made the companion of princes, and the theme of general won¬ der and admiration, the same obscure stranger who but a short time before had been a common scolf and jest in this very court, derided by some as an adventurer, and pointed at by others as a madman. Those who had treated him with con¬ tumely during his long course of solicitation, now sought to efface the remembrance of it by adulations. Every one who had given him a little cold countenance, or a few courtly smiles, now arrogated to himself the credit of having been a patron and of having promoted the discovery of the New World. Scarce a great man about the court but has been enrolled by his historian or biographer among the benefactors of Columbus; though, had one tenth part of this boasted patronage been really exerted, he would never have had to linger seven years solicit¬ ing for an armament of three caravels. Columbus knew well the weakness of the patronage that had been given him. The only friends mentioned by him with gratitude, in his after let¬ ters, as having been really zealous and effective, were those two worthy friars, Diego de Deza, afterward Bishop of Palencia and Seville, and Juan Perez, the prior of the convent of La Rabida. * This anecdote rests on the authority of the Italian historian Benzoni (lib. i. p. 12, ed. Venetia, 1572). It has been condemned as trivial, but the simplicity of the reproof constitutes its severity, and was characteristic of the practical sagacity of Columbus. The universal popularity of the anecdote is a proof of its merit. 192 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Thus honored by the sovereigns, courted by the great, idol¬ ized by the people, Columbus, for a time, drank the honeyed draught of popularity, before enmity and detraction had time to drug it with bitterness. His discovery burst with such sud¬ den splendor upon the world as to dazzle envy itself, and to call forth the general acclamations of mankind. Well would it be for the honor of human nature, could history, like romance, close with the consummation of the hero’s wishes; we should then leave Columbus in the full fruition of great and well- merited prosperity. But his history is destined to furnish another proof, if proof be wanting, of the inconstancy of public favor, even when won by distinguished services. No greatness was ever acquired by more incontestable, unalloyed, and ex¬ alted benefits rendered to mankind, yet none ever drew on its possessor more unremitting jealousy and defamation; or in¬ volved him in more unmerited distress and difficulty. Thus it is with illustrious merit: its very effulgence draws forth the rancorous passions of low and grovelling minds, which too often have a temporary influence in obscuring it to the world; as the sun emerging with full splendor into the heavens, calls up, by the very fervor of its rays, the rank and noxious vapors, which, for a time, becloud its glory. CHAPTER VIII PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION—PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS, [1493.] In the midst of their rejoicings the Spanish sovereigns lost no time in taking every measure necessary to secure their new ac¬ quisitions. Although it was supposed that the countries just discovered were part of the territories of the Grand Khan, and of other Oriental princes considerably advanced in civilization, yet there does not appear to have been the least doubt of the right of their Catholic majesties to take possession of them. During the Crusades a doctrine had been established among Christian princes extremely favorable to their ambitious de¬ signs. According to this, they had the right to invade, ravage, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 193 and seize upon the territories of all infidel nations, under the plea of defeating the enemies of Christ, and extending the sway of his church on earth. In conformity to the same doctrine, the pope, from his supreme authority over all temporal things, was considered as empowered to dispose of all heathen lands to such potentates as would engage to reduce them to the domin¬ ion of the church, and to propagate the true faith among their benighted inhabitants. It was in virtue of this power that Pope Martin V. and his successors had conceded to the crown of Portugal all the lands it might discover from Cape Bojador to the Indies; and the Catholic sovereigns, in a treaty con¬ cluded in 1479 with the Portuguese monarch, had engaged themselves to respect the territorial rights thus acquired. It was to this treaty that John II. alluded, in his conversation with Columbus, wherein he suggested his title to the newly- discovered countries. On the first intelligence received from the admiral of his suc¬ cess, therefore, the Spanish sovereigns took the immediate pre¬ caution to secure the sanction of the pope. Alexander VI. had recently been elevated to the holy chair; a pontiff whom some historians have stigmatized with every vice and crime that could disgrace humanity, but whom all have represented as eminently able and politic. He was a native of Valencia, and being born a subject of the crown of Arragon, it might be in¬ ferred, was favorably disposed to Ferdinand; but in certain questions which had come before him, he had already shown a disposition not the most cordial toward the Catholic monarch. At all events, Ferdinand was well aware of his worldly and perfidious character, and endeavored to manage him accord¬ ingly. He dispatched ambassadors, therefore, to the court of Rome, announcing the new discovery as an extraordinary tri¬ umph of the faith; and setting forth the great glory and gain which must redound to the church from the dissemination of Christianity throughout these vast and heathen lands. Care was also taken to state that the present discovery did not in the least interfere with the possessions ceded by the holy (?hair to Portugal, all which had been sedulously avoided. Ferdi¬ nand, who was at least as politic as he was pious, insinuated a hint at the same time by which the pope might perceive that he was determined, at all events, to maintain his important ac¬ quisitions. His ambassadors were instructed to state that, in the opinion of many learned men, these newly-discovered lands having been taken possession of by the Catholic sovereigns, 194 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . their title to the same did not require the papal sanction; still, as pious princes, obedient to the holy chair, they supplicated his holiness to issue a bull, making a concession of them, and of such others as might be discovered, to the crown of Castile. The tidings of the discovery were received, in fact, with great astonishment and no less exultation by the court of Rome. The Spanish sovereigns had already elevated themselves to high consequence in the eyes of the church, by their war against the Moors of Spain, which had been considered in the light of a pious crusade; and though richly repaid by the acqui¬ sition of the kingdom of Granada, it was thought to entitle them to the gratitude of all Christendom. The present discov¬ ery was a still greater achievement; it was the fulfilment of one of the sublime promises to the church; it was giving to it “ the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.” No difficulty, therefore, was made in granting what was considered but a modest request for so im¬ portant a service; though it is probable that the acquiescence of the worldly-minded pontiff was quickened by the insinua¬ tions of the politic monarch. A bull was accordingly issued, dated May 2d, 1493, ceding to the Spanish sovereigns the same rights, privileges, and indul¬ gences, in respect to the newly-discovered regions, as had been accorded to the Portuguese with regard to their African discov¬ eries, under the same condition of planting and propagating the Catholic faith. To prevent any conflicting claims, however, between the two powers in the wide range of their discoveries, another bull was issued on the following day, containing the famous line of demarcation, by which their territories were thought to be clearly and permanently defined. This was an ideal line drawn from the north to the south pole, a hundred leagues to the west of the Azores, and the Cape de Verde Islands. All land discovered by the Spanish navigators to the west of this line, and which had not been taken possession of by any Christian power before the preceding Christmas, was to belbng to the Spanish crown; all land discovered in the con¬ trary direction was to belong to Portugal. It seems never to have occurred to the pontiff, that, by pushing their opposite careers of discovery, they might some day or other come again in collision, and renew the question of territorial right at the antipodes. In the mean time, without waiting for the sanction of the court of Rome, the utmost exertions were made by the sover* LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 195 eigns to fit out a second expedition. To insure regularity and dispatch in the affairs relative to the New World, they were placed under the superintendence of Juan Rodriguez de Fon¬ seca, archdeacon of Seville, who was successively promoted to the sees of Bajadoz, Palencia, and Burgos, and finally appointed patriarch of the Indies. He was a man of family and influence; his brothers Alonzo and Antonio were seniors, or lords, of Coca and Alaejos, and the latter was comptroller-general of Castile. Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca is represented by Las Casas as a worldly man, more calculated for temporal than spiritual concerns, and well adapted to the bustling occupation of fitting out and manning armadas. Notwithstanding the high ecclesi¬ astical dignities to which he rose, his worldly employments seem never to have been considered incompatible with his sacred functions. Enjoying the perpetual, though unmerited, favor of the sovereigns, he maintained the control of Indian affairs for about thirty years. He must undoubtedly have possessed talents for business, to insure him such a perpetuity of office; but he was malignant and vindictive; and in the gratification of his private resentments not only heaped wrongs and sorrows upon the most illustrious of the early discoverers, but frequently impeded the progress of their enterprises, to the great detriment of the crown. This he was enabled to do privately and securely by bis official situation. His perfidious conduct is repeatedly alluded to, but in guarded terms, by con¬ temporary writers of weight and credit, such as the curate of Los Palacios, and the bishop Las Casas; but they evidently were fearful of expressing the fulness of their feelings. Sub¬ sequent Spanish historians, always more or less controlled by ecclesiastical supervision, have likewise dealt too favorably with this base-minded man. He deserves to be held up as a warning example of those perfidious beings in office, who too often he like worms at the root of honorable enterprise, blight¬ ing, by their unseen influence, the fruits of glorious action, and disappointing the hopes of nations. To assist Fonseca hi his duties, Francisco Pinelo was associa¬ ted with him as treasurer, and Juan de Soria as contador, or comptroller. Their office, for the transaction of Indian affairs, was fixed at Seville; extending its vigilance at the same time to the port of Cadiz, where a custom-house was established for this new branch of navigation. Such was the germ of the Royal India House, which afterward rose to such great power and importance. A correspondent office was ordered to be insti- 196 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLCTMBUS. tuted in Hispaniola, under the direction of the admiral. These officers were to interchange registers of the cargoes, crews, and munition of each ship, by accountants who sailed with it. All persons thus employed were dependants upon the two comp- trollers-general, superior ministers of the royal revenue; since the crown was to be at all the expenses of the colony, and to receive all the emoluments. The most minute and rigorous account was to be exacted of all expenses and proceeds, and the most vigilant caution oh served as to the persons employed in the concerns of the newly- discovered lands. No one was permitted to go there, either to trade or to form an establishment, without express license from the sovereigns, from Columbus, or from Fonseca, under the heaviest penalties. The ignorance of the age as to enlarged principles of commerce, and the example of the Portuguese in respect to their African possessions, have been cited in excuse of the narrow and jealous spirit here manifested; but it always more or less influenced the policy of Spain in her colonial regu¬ lations. Another instance of the despotic sway maintained by the crown over commerce, is manifested in a royal order, that all ships in the ports of Andalusia, with their captains, pilots, and crews, should be held in readiness to serve in this expedition. Columbus and Fonseca were authorized to freight or purchase any of those vessels they might think proper, and to take them by force, if refused, even though they had been freighted by other persons, paying what they should conceive a reasonable price. They were furthermore authorized to take the requisite provisions, arms, and ammunition, from any place or vessel in which they might be found, paying a fair price to the owners; and they might compel, not merely mariners, but any officer holding any rank or station whatever, whom they should deem necessary to the service, to embark in the fleet on a reasonable pay and salary. The civil authorities, and all persons of rank and standing, were called upon to render all requisite aid in expediting the armament, and warned against creating any impediment, under penalty of privation of office and confisca¬ tion of estate. To provide for the expenses of the expedition the royal revenue arising from two thirds of the church-tithes was placed at the disposition of Pinelo; and other funds were drawn from a disgraceful source—from the jewels and other valuables, the sequestrated property of the unfortunate Jews, banished LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 197 from the kingdom, according to a bigoted edict of the preced¬ ing year. As these resources were still inadequate, Pinelo was authorized to supply the deficiency by a loan. Requisitions were likewise made for provisions of all kinds, as well as for artillery, powder, muskets, lances, corselets, and cross-bows. This latter weapon, notwithstanding the introduction of fire¬ arms, was still preferred by many to the arquebus, and con¬ sidered more formidable and destructive, the other having to be used with a match-lock, and being so heavy as to require an iron rest. The military stores which had accumulated during the war with the Moors of Granada furnished a great part of these supplies. Almost all the preceding orders were issued by the 23 d of May, while Columbus was yet at Barcelona. Barely has there been witnessed such a scene of activity in the dilatory offices of Spain. As the conversion of the heathens was professed to be tho grand object of these discoveries, twelve zealous and able ecclesiastics were chosen for the purpose, to accompany the expedition. Among these was Bernardo Buyl or Boyle, a Bene¬ dictine monk, of talent and reputed sanctity, but one of those subtle politicians of the cloister, who in those days glided into all temporal concerns. He had acquitted himself with success in recent negotiations with France, relative to the restitution of Rousillon. Before the sailing of the fleet, he was appointed by the pope his apostolical vicar for the New World, and placed as superior over his ecclesiastical brethren. This pious mission was provided with all things necessary for the dignified per¬ formance of its functions; the queen supplying from her own chapel the ornaments and vestments to be used in all solemn ceremonies. Isabella, from the first, took the most warm and compassionate interest in the welfare of the Indians. Won by the accounts given by Columbus of their gentleness and sim- I plicity, and looking upon them as committed by Heaven to her especial care, her heart was filled with concern at their desti¬ tute and ignorant condition. She ordered that great care should be taken of their religious instruction; that they should be treated with the utmost kk 'ness; and enjoimed Columbus to inflict signal punishment on all ki nniards who should be guilty of outrage or injustice toward them. By way, it was said, of offering to Heaven the first-fruits of these pagan nations, the six Indians whom Columbus had brought to Barcelona were baptized with great state and cere¬ mony; the king, the queen, and Prince Juan officiating as 198 LIFE OF CURISTOPIIER COLUMBUS. sponsors. Great hopes were entertained that, on their return to their native country, they would facilitate the introduction of Christianity among their countrymen. One of them, at the request of Prince Juan, remained in his household, but died not long afterward; a Spanish historian remarked that, according to what ought to be our pious belief, he was the first of his na¬ tion that entered heaven.* Before the departure of Columbus from Barcelona, the pro¬ visional agreement made at Santa Fe was confirmed, granting him the titles, emoluments, and prerogatives of admiral, viceroy, and governor of all the countries he had discovered, or might discover. He was intrusted also with the royal seal, with au¬ thority to use the name of their majesties in granting letters patent and commissions within the bounds of his jurisdiction; with the right also, in case of absence, to appoint a person in his place, and to invest him, for the time, with the same powers. It had been premised in the agreement that for all vacant of¬ fices in the government of the islands and main-land, he should nominate three candidates, out of which number the sovereign should make a choice; but now, to save time, and to show their confidence in Columbus, they empowered him to appoint at once such persons as he thought proper, who were to hold their offices during the royal pleasure. He had likewise the title and command of captain-general of the armament about to sail, with unqualified powers as to the government of the crews, the establishments to he formed in the New World, and the ulterior discoveries to be undertaken. This was the honeymoon of royal faVor, during which Colum¬ bus enjoyed the unbounded and well-merited confidence of his sovereigns, before envious minds had dared to insinuate a doubt of his integrity. After receiving every mark of public honor and private regard, he took leave of the sovereigns on the 28 th of May. The whole court accompanied him from the palace to his dwelling, and attended, also, to pay him farewell honors on his departure from Barcelona for Seville. * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 5. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 199 CHAPTER IX. DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE COURTS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL WITH RESPECT TO THE NEW DISCOVERIES. [ 1493 .] The anxiety of the Spanish monarchy for the speedy depart¬ ure of the expedition was heightened by the proceedings of the court of Portugal. John II. had unfortunately among his coun¬ cillors certain politicians of that short-sighted class, who mis¬ take craft for wisdom. By adopting their perfidious policy he had lost the New World when it was an object of honorable enterprise; in compliance with their advice, he now sought to retrieve it by stratagem. He had accordingly prepared a large armament, the avowed object of which was an expedition to Africa, but its real destination to seize upon the newly-dis¬ covered countries. To lull suspicion, Don Ruy de Sande was sent ambassador to the Spanish court, requesting permission to procure certain prohibited articles from Spain for this African voyage. He required also that the Spanish sovereigns should forbid their subjects to fish beyond Cape Bojador, until the possessions of the two nations should be properly defined. The discovery of Columbus, the real object of solicitude, was treated as an incidental affair. The manner of his arrival and recep¬ tion in Portugal was mentioned; the congratulations of King John on the happy result of his voyage; his satisfaction at find¬ ing that the admiral had been instructed to steer westward from the Canary Islands, and his hope that the Castilian sover¬ eigns would continue to enjoin a similar track on their naviga¬ tors—all to the south of those islands being granted by papal bull to the crown of Portugal. He concluded by intimating the entire confidence of King John, that should any of the newly-discovered islands appertain by right to Portugal, the matter would be adjusted in that spirit of amity which existed between the two crowns. Ferdinand was too wary a politician to be easily deceived. He had received early intelligence of the real designs of King John, and before the arrival of his ambassador had himself dis¬ patched Don Lope de Herrera to the Portuguese court, furnished with double instructions, and with two letters of widelv opposite LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS,. 200 tenor. The first was couched in affectionate terms, acknowl¬ edging the hospitality and kindness shown to Columbus, and communicating the nature of his discoveries; requesting at the same time that the Portuguese navigators might be prohibited from visiting those newly-discovered lands, in the same man¬ ner that the Spanish sovereigns had prohibited their subjects from interfering with the African possessions of Portugal. In case, however, the ambassador should find that King John had either sent, or was about to send, vessels to the New World, he was to withhold the amicable letter, and present the other, couched in stern and peremptory terms, and forbidding any enterprise of the kind.* A keen diplomatic game ensued be¬ tween the two sovereigns, perplexing to any spectator not ac¬ quainted with the secret of their play. Resende, in his history of King John II., informs us that the Portuguese monarch, by large presents, or rather bribes, held certain of the confidential members of the Castilian cabinet in his interest, who informed him of the most secret councils of their court. The roads were thronged with couriers; scarce was an intention expressed by Ferdinand to his ministers, but it was conveyed to his rival monarch. The result was that the Spanish sovereigns seemed as if under the influence of some enchantment. King John an¬ ticipated all their movements, and appeared to dive into their very thoughts. Their ambassadors were crossed on the road by Portuguese ambassadors, empowered to settle the very points about which they were going to make remonstrances. Frequently, when Ferdinand proposed a sudden and perplexing question to the envoys at his court, which apparently would require fresh instructions from the sovereigns, he would be as¬ tonished by a prompt and positive reply; most of the questions w^ich were likely to occur having, through secret information, been foreseen and provided for. As a surmise of treachery in the cabinet might naturally arise, King John, while he reward¬ ed his agents in secret, endeavored to divert suspicions from them upon others, making rich presents of jewels to the Duke de Infantado and other Spanish grandees of incorruptible in¬ tegrity.! Such is the intriguing diplomatic craft which too often passes for refined policy, and is extolled as the wisdom of the cabinet; * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. Zurita, Anales de Aragon, lib. i. cap. 25. t Resende, Vida del Rey Dom Joam II., cap. 157. Faria y Souza, Europa Portu- guesa, tom. ii. cap. 4, y■ 3. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 201 but all corrupt and disingenuous measures are unworthy of an enlightened politician and a magnanimous prince. The grand principles of right and wrong operate in the same way between nations as between individuals; fair and open conduct, and in¬ violable faith, however they may appear adverse to present purposes, are the only kind of policy that will insure ultimate and honorable success. King John, having received intelligence in the furtive manner that has been mentioned, of the double instructions furnished to Don Lope de Herrera, received him in such a manner as to prevent any resort to his peremptory letter. He had already dispatched an extra envoy to the Spanish court to keep it in good humor, and he now appointed Doctor Pero Diaz and Don Buy de Pena ambassadors to the Spanish sovereigns, to adjust all questions relative to the new discoveries, and promised that no vessel should be permitted to sail on a voyage of discovery within sixty days after their arrival at Barcelona. These ambassadors were instructed to propose, as a mode ot effectually settling all claims, that a line should be drawn from the Canaries due west; all lands and seas north of it to apper¬ tain to the Castilian court; all south to the crown of Portugal, excepting any islands already in possession of either powers.* Ferdinand had now the vantage-ground; his object was to gain time for the preparation and departure of Columbus, by entangling King John in long diplomatic negotiations, f In re¬ ply to his proposals, he dispatched Don Pedro de Ayala and Don Garcia Lopez de Caravajal on a solemn embassy to Portu¬ gal, in which there was great outward pomp and parade, and many professions of amity, but the whole purport of which was to propose to submit the territorial questions which had risen between them to arbitration or to the court of Rome. This stately embassy moved with becoming slowness, but a special envoy was sent in advance to apprise the king of Portugal of its approach, in order to keep him waiting for its communica¬ tions. King John understood the whole nature and object of the em¬ bassy, and felt that Ferdinand was foiling him. The ambassa¬ dors at length arrived, and delivered their credentials with great form and ceremony. As they retired from his presence, he looked after them contemptuously: “This embassy from * Zurita, lib. i. cap. 25. Herrera, decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 5. ■t Vasconcelos, Don Juan II., lib. vi. 202 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. our cousin,” said he, “wants both head and feet.” He alluded to the character both of the mission and the envoys. Don Garcia de Caravajal was vain and frivolous, and Don Pedro do Ayala was lame of one leg.* In the height of his vexation, King John is even said to have held out some vague show of hostile intentions, taking occasion to let the ambassadors discover him reviewing his cavalry and dropping ambiguous words in their hearing, which might be construed into something of menacing import, f The embassy returned to Castile, leaving him in a state of perplexity and irritation; but whatever might be his chagrin, his discretion prevented him from coming to an open rupture. He had some hopes of interference on the part of the pope, to whom he had sent an embassy, complaining of the pretended discoveries of the Spaniards, as infringing the territories granted to Portu¬ gal by papal bull, and earnestly imploring redress. Here, as has been shown, his wary antagonist had been beforehand with him, and he was doomed again to be foiled. The only reply his ambassador received, was a reference to the line of partition from pole to pole, so sagely devised by his holiness.! Such was this royal game of diplomacy, where the parties were playing for a newly-discovered world. John II. was able and intelli¬ gent, and had crafty councillors to advise him in all his moves; but whenever deep and subtle policy was required, Ferdinand was master of the game. CHAPTER X. FURTHER PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND VOYAGE-CHARACTER OF ALONSO DE OJEDA—DIFFERENCE OF COLUMBUS WITH SORIA AND FONSECA. [ 1493 .] Distrustful of some attempt on the part of Portugal to in¬ terfere with their discoveries, the Spanish sovereigns, in the course of them negotiations, wrote repeatedly to Columbus, urging him to hasten his departure. His zeal, however, needed no incitement; immediately on arriving at Seville, in the * Vasconcelos, lib. vi. Barros, Asia, d. i, lib. iii. cap. 2. + Vasconcelos, lib. vi. t Herrera, decad. i., lib. ii. cap. 5. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 203 beginning of June, he proceeded with all diligence to fit out the armament, making use of the powers given him to put in re¬ quisition the ships and crews which were in the harbors of Andalusia. He was joined soon after by Fonseca and Soria, who had remained for a time at Barcelona; and with their united exertions, a fleet of seventeen vessels, large and small, was soon in a state of preparation. The best pilots were chosen for the service, and the crews were mustered in pres¬ ence of Soria the comptroller. A number of skilful husband¬ men, miners, carpenters, and other mechanics were engaged for the projected colony. Horses, both for military purposes and for stocking the country, cattle, and domestic animals of all kinds, were likewise provided. Grain, seeds of various plants, vines, sugar-canes, grafts, and saplings, were embarked, together with a* great quantity ot merchandise, consisting of trinkets, beads, hawks’ bells, looking-glasses, and other showy trifles, calculated for trafficking with the natives. Nor was there wanting an abundant supply of provisions of all sorts, munitions of war, and medicines and refreshments for the sick An extraordinary degree of excitement prevailed respecting this expedition. The most extravagant fancies were enter¬ tained with respect to the New World. The accounts given by the voyagers who had visited it were full of exaggeration; for in fact they had nothing but vague and confused notions con¬ cerning it, like the recollection a dream, and it has been shown that Columbus himself had beheld everything through the most delusive medium. The vivacity of his descriptions, and the sanguine anticipations of his ardent spirit, while they roused the public to a wonderful degree of enthusiasm, prepared the way for bitter disappointment. The cupidity of the avari¬ cious was inflamed with the idea of regions of unappropriated wealth, where the rivers rolled over golden sands, and the mountains teemed with gems and precious metals; where the groves produced spices and perfumes, and the shores of the ocean were sown with pearl. Others had conceived visions of a loftier kind. It was a romantic and stirring age, and the wars with the Moors being over, and hostilities with the French suspended, the bold and restless spirits of the nation, impatient of the monotony of peaceful life, were eager for em¬ ployment. To these the New World presented a vast field for wild enterprise and extraordinary adventure, so congenial to the Spanish character m that period of its meridian fervor and 204 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. brilliancy. Many hidalgos of high rank, officers of the royal household, and Andalusian cavaliers, schooled in arms, and inspired with a passion for hardy achievements by the roman¬ tic wars of Granada, pressed into the expedition, some in the royal service, others at their own cost. To them it was the commencement of a new series of crusades, surpassing in ex¬ tent and splendor the chivalrous enterprises to the Holy Land. They pictured to themselves vast and beautiful islands of the ocean to be overrun and subdued; their internal wonders to he explored, and the banner of the cross to he planted on the walls of the cities they were supposed to contain. Thence they were to make their way to the shores of India, or rather Asia, penetrate into Mangi and Cathay, convert, or what was the same thing, conquer the Grand Khan, and thus open a glorious career of arms among the splendid countries and semi-barbar¬ ous nations of the East. Thus, no one had any definite idea of the object or nature of the service on which he was embarking, or the situation and character of the region to which he was bound. Indeed, duiing this fever of the imagination, had sober facts and cold realities been presented, they would have been rejected with disdain; for there is nothing of which the public is more impatient than of being disturbed in the indul¬ gence of any of its golden dreams. Among the noted personages who engaged in the expedition was a young cavalier of the name of Don Alonso de Ojeda, celebrated for his extraordinary personal endowments and his daring spirit; and who distinguished himself among the early discoverers by many perilous expeditions and singular exploits. He was of a good family, cousin-german to the venerable Father Alonso de Ojeda, Inquisitor of Spain; had been brought up under the patronage of the Duke of Medina Celi, and had served in the wars against the Moors. He was of small stature, but vigorous make, well proportioned, dark complexioned, of handsome, animated countenance, and incredible strength and agility. Expert at all kinds of weapons, accomplished in all manly and warlike exercises, an admirable horseman, and a partisan soldier of the highest order; bold of heart, free of spirit, open of hand; fierce in fight, quick in brawl, but ready to forgive and prone to forget an injury; he was for a long time the idol of the rash and roving youth who engaged in the early expeditions to the New V/orld, and has been made the hero of many wonderful tales. On introducing him to histori¬ cal notice, Las Casas gives an anecdote of one of his exploits, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 205 which would he unworthy of record, hut that it exhibits the singular character of the man. Queen Isabella being in the tower of the cathedral of Seville, better known as the Giralda, Ojeda, to entertain her majesty, and to give proofs of his courage and agility, mounted on a great beam which projected in the air, twenty feet from the tower, at such an immense height from the ground, that the people below looked like dwarfs, and it was enough to mako Ojeda himself shudder to look down. Along this beam ho walked briskly, and with as much confidence as though he had been pacing his chamber. When arrived at the end, he stood on one leg, lifting the other in the air; then turning nimbly round, he returned in the same way to the tower, unaffected by the giddy height, whence the least false step would have precipitated him and dashed him to pieces. He afterward stood with one foot on the beam, and placing the other against the wall of the building, threw an orange to the summit of the tower, a proof, says Las Casas, of immense muscular strength. Such was Alonso de Ojeda, who soon became conspicuous among the followers of Columbus, and was always foremost in every enterprise of an adventurous nature; who courted peril as if for the very love of danger, and seemed to fight more for the pleasure of fighting than for the sake of distinction.* The number of persons permitted’to embark in the expe¬ dition had been limited to one thousand; but such was the urgent application of volunteers to be allowed to enlist without pay, that the number had increased to twelve hundred. Many more were refused for want of room in the ships for their accommodation, but some contrived to get admitted by stealth, so that eventually about fifteen hundred set sail in the fleet. As Columbus, in his laudable zeal for the welfare of the enter¬ prise, provided everything that might be necessary in various possible emergencies, the expenses of the outfit exceeded what had been anticipated. This gave rise to occasional demurs on the part of the comptroller, Juan de Soria, who sometimes re¬ fused to sign the accounts of the admiral, and in the course of their transactions seemed to have forgotten the deference due both to his character and station. For this he received re¬ peated and severe reprimands from the sovereigns, who em¬ phatically commanded that Columbus should be treated with *Las Casas, lib, i., ms. Pizarro, Varones Illustres. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap, 5. 206 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the greatest respect, and everything done to facilitate his plans and yield him satisfaction. From similar injunctions inserted in the royal letters to Fonseca, the archdeacon of Seville, ifc is probable that he also had occasionally indulged in the captious exercise of his official powers. He appears to have demurred to various requisitions of Columbus, particularly one for foot¬ men and other domestics for his immediate service, to form his household and retinue as admiral and viceroy; a demand which was considered superfluous by the prelate, as all who em¬ barked in the expedition were ar his command. In reply, the sovereigns ordered that he should be allowed ten escuderos de d pie , or footmen, and twenty persons in other domestic capacities, and reminded Fonseca of their charge that, both in the nature and mode of his transactions with the admiral, he should study to give him content; observing that, as the whole armament was intrusted to his command, it was but reasonable that his wishes should be consulted, and no one embarrass him with punctilios ard difficulties.* These trivial differences are worthy of particular notice, from the effect they appear to have had on the mind of Fonseca, for from them we must date the rise of that singular hostility which he ever afterward manifested toward Colum¬ bus ; which every year increased in rancor, and which he gra¬ tified in the most invidious manner, by secretly multiplying impediments and vexations in his path. While the expedition was yet lingering in port, intelligence was received that a Portuguese caravel had set sail from Madeira and steered for the west. Suspicions were imme¬ diately awakehed that she was bound for the lately-discovered lands. Columbus wrote an account of it to the sovereigns, and proposed to dispatch a part of his fleet in pursuit of her. His proposition was approved, but not carried into effect. On re¬ monstrances being .made to the court of Lisbon, King John declared that the vessel had sailed without his permission, and that he would send three caravels to bring her back. This only served to increase the jealousy of the Spanish monarchs, who considered the whole a deep-laid stratagem, and that it was intended the vessels should join their forces, and pursue their course together to the New World. Columbus was urged, therefore, to depart without an hour’s delay, and in¬ structed to steer wide of Cape St. Vincent, and entirely avoid * Navarrete, Colec., tom, H, Pocumentos, No, 62-66. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 207 the Portuguese coasts and islands, for fear of molestation. If he met with any vessels in the seas he had explored, he was to seize them,- and inflict rigorous punishment on the crews. Fonseca was also ordered to be on the alert, and in case any expedition sailed from Portugal to send double the force after it. These precautions, however, proved unnecessary. Whether such caravels actually did sail, and whether they were sent with sinister motives by Portugal, does not appear; nothing was either seen or heard of them by Columbus in the course of his voyage. It may be as well, for the sake of distinctness, to anticipate, in this place, the regular course of history, and mention the manner in which this territorial question was finally settled between the rival sovereigns. It was impossible for King John to repress his disquiet at the indefinite enterprises of the Spanish monarchs; he did not know how far they might extend, and whether they might not forestall him in all his anticipated discoveries in India. Finding, however, all at¬ tempts fruitless to gain by stratagem an advantage over his wary and skilful antagonist, and despairing of any further assistance from the court of Pome, he had recourse, at last, to fair and amicable negotiations, and found, as is generally the case with those who turn aside into the inviting but crooked paths of craft, that had he kept to the line of frank and open policy, he would have saved himself a world of perplexity, and have arrived sooner at his object. He offered to leave to the Spanish sovereigns the free prosecution of their western dis¬ covery, and to conform to the plan of partition by a meridian line; but he represented that this line had not been drawn far enough to the west; that while it left the wide ocean free to the range of Spanish enterprise, his navigators could not venture more than a hundred leagues west of his possessions, and had no scope or sea-room for their southern voyages. After much difficulty and discussion, this momentous dis¬ pute was adjusted by deputies from the two crowns, who met at Tordesillas in Old Castile, in the following year, and on the 7th of June, 1494, signed a treaty by which the papal line of partition was moved to three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape de Verde Islands. It was agreed chat within six months an equal number of caravels and mariners, on the part of the two nations, should rendezvous at the island of the Grand Canary, provided with men learned in astronomy and navigation. They were to proceed thence to the Cape de 20S LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. \ Verde Islands, and thence westward three hundred and sev¬ enty leagues, and determine the proposed line from pole to pole, dividing the ocean between the two nations.* Each of the two powers engaged solemnly to observe the bounds thus prescribed, and to prosecute no enterprise beyond its proper limits; though it was agreed that the Spanish navigators might traverse freely the eastern parts of the ocean in prose¬ cuting their rightful voyages. Various circumstances im¬ peded the proposed expedition to determine the line, but the treaty remained in force, and prevented all further discus¬ sions. Thus, says Vasconcelos, this great question, the greatest ever agitated between the two crowns, for it was the partition of a new world, was amicably settled by the prudence and address of two of the most politic monarchs that ever swayed the scep¬ tre. It was arranged to the satisfaction of both parties, each holding himself entitled to the vast countries that might be discovered within his boundary, without any regard to the rights of the native inhabitants. * Zurita, Hist, del Hey Fernand., lib. i. cap. 29. Vasconcelos, lib. vi. BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS ON HIS SECOND VOYAGE—DISCOVERY OF THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. [1493.] The departure of Columbus on his second voyage of dis¬ covery presented a brilliant contrast to his gloomy embarka¬ tion at Palos. On the 25tli of September, at the dawn of day, the Bay of Cadiz was whitened by his fleet. There were three large ships of heavy burden,* and fourteen caravels, loitering with flapping sails, and awaiting the signal to get under way. The harbor resounded with the well-known note of the sailor, hoisting sail or weighing anchor; a motley crowd were hurrying on board, and taking leave of their friends in the confidence of a prosperous voyage and triumphant return. There was the high-spirited cavalier, bound on romantic enter¬ prise; the hardy navigator, ambitious of acquiring laurels in these unknown seas; the roving adventurer, seeking novelty and excitement; the keen, calculating speculator, eager to profit by the ignorance of savage tribes; and the pale mission¬ ary from the cloister, anxious to extend the dominion of the church, or devoutly zealous for the propagation of the faith. All were full of animation and lively hope. Instead of being regarded by the populace as devoted men, bound upon a dark and desperate enterprise, they were contemplated with envy, as favored mortals, bound to golden regions and happy climes, where nothing but wealth and wonder and delights awaited * Peter Martyr says they were carracks (a large species of merchant vessel, prin cipally used in coasting trade), of one hundred tons burden, and that two of the caravels were much larger than the rest, and more capable of bearing decks from the size of their masts.—Decad. i. lib. i. 210 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. them. Columbus, conspicuous for his height and his com¬ manding appearance, was attended by his two sons, Diego and Fernando, the eldest but a stripling, who had come to witness his departure, * * * § both proud of the glory of their father. When¬ ever he passed, every eye followed him with admiration, and every tongue praised and blessed him. Before sunrise the whole fleet was under way; the weather was serene and pro¬ pitious, and as the populace watched their parting sails bright¬ ening in the morning beams, they looked forward to their joy¬ ful return laden with the treasures of the New World. According to the instructions of the sovereigns, Columbus steered wide of the coasts of Portugal and of its islands, standing to the south-west of the Canaries, where he ar¬ rived on the 1st of October. After touching at the Grand Canary, he anchored on the 5th at Gomera, to take in a supply of wood and water. Here also he purchased calves, goats, and sheep, to stock the island of Hispaniola; and eight hogs, from which, according to Las Casas, the infinite number of swine was propagated, with which the Spanish settlements in the New World subsequently abounded. A number of domestic fowls were likewise purchased, which were the origin of the species in the New World; and the same might, be said of the seeds of oranges, lemons, bergamots, melons, and various orchard fruits, f which were thus first introduced into the isl¬ ands of the west, from the Hesperides or Fortunate Islands of the Old World. | On the 7th, when about to sail, Columbus gave to the com¬ mander of each vessel a sealed letter of instructions, in which was specified his route to the harbor of Nativity, the residence of the cacique Guacanagari. This was only to be opened in case of being separated by accident, as he wfished to make a mystery, as long as possible, of the exact route to the newly- discovered country, lest adventurers of other nations, and par¬ ticularly the Portuguese, should follow in his track, and inter¬ fere with his enterprises. § After making sail from Gomera, they were becalmed for a * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 44. t Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 83. X Humboldt is of opinion that there were wild oranges, small and bitter, as well as wild lemons, in the New World, prior to the discovery. Caldcleugh also mentions that the Brazilians consider the small bitter wild orange of native origin.—Hum¬ boldt, Essai Politique sur l’lsle de Cuba, tom. i. p. 68. § Las Casas, M. Sup. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 211 % few days among the Canaries, until, on the 13th of October, a fair breeze sprang up from the east, which soon carried them out of sight of the island of Ferro. Columbus held his course to the south-west, intending to keep considerably more to the southward than in his first voyage, in hopes of falling in with the islands of the Caribs, of which he had received such vague and wonderful accounts from the Indians.* Being in the region of the trade-winds, the breeze continued fair and steady, with a quiet sea and pleasant weather, and by the 24th they had made four hundred and fifty leagues west of Gomera, with¬ out seeing any of those fields of sea-weeds encountered within a much less distance on their first voyage. At that time their appearance was important, and almost providential, inspiring continual hope, and enticing them forward in their dubious en¬ terprise. Now they needed no such signals, being full of con¬ fidence and lively anticipation, and on seeing a swallow cir¬ cling about the ships, and being visited occasionally by sudden showers, they began to look out cheerily for land. Toward the latter part of October they had in the night a gust of heavy rain, accompanied by the severe thunder and lightning of the tropics. It lasted for four hours, and they considered themselves in much peril, until they beheld several of those lambent flames playing about the tops of the masts, and gliding along the rigging, which have always been objects of superstitious fancies among sailors. Fernando Columbus makes remarks on them strongly characteristic of the age in which he lived. “On the same Saturday, in the night, was seen St. Elmo, with seven lighted tapers at the topmast: there was much rain and great thunder; I mean to say, that those lights were seen, which mariners affirm to be the body of St. Elmo, on beholding which they chant litanies and orisons, holding it for certain, that in the tempest in which he appears, no one is in danger. Be that as it may, I leave the matter to them; but if we may believe Pliny, similar lights have some¬ times appeared to the Roman mariners during tempests at sea, which they said were Castor and Pollux, of which likewise Seneca makes mention.”! * Letter of Dr. Chanca. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 45. A similar mention is made of this nautical super¬ stition in the voyage of Magellan. “During these great storms, they said that St. Elmo appeared at the topmast with a lighted candle, and sometimes with two, upon which the people shed tears of joy, receiving great consolation, and saluted him according to the custom of mariners. He remained visible for a quarter of an 212 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. On the evening of Saturday, the 2d of November, Columbus was convinced, from the color of the sea, the nature of the waves, and the variable winds and frequent showers, that they must be near to land; he gave orders, therefore, to take in sail, and to maintain a vigilant watch throughout the night. He had judged with his usual sagacity. In the morning a lofty island was descried to the west, at the sight of which there were shouts of joy throughout the fleet. Columbus gave to the island the name of Dominica, from having dis¬ covered it on Sunday. As the ships moved gently onward, other islands rose to sight, covered with forests, while flights of parrots and other tropical birds passed from one to the other. The crews were now assembled on the decks of the several ships, to return thanks to God for their prosperous voyage, and their happy discovery of land, chanting the Salve Regina and other anthems. Such was the solemn manner in which Columbus celebrated all his discoveries, and which, in fact, was generally observed by the Spanish and Portuguese voyagers. CHAPTER II. TRANSACTIONS AT THE ISLAND OF GUADALOUPE. [1493. J The islands among which Columbus had arrived were a part of that beautiful cluster called by some the Antilles, which sweep almost in a semicircle from the eastern end of Porto Rico to the coast of Paria on the southern continent, forming a kind of barrier between the main ocean and the Caribbean Sea. During the first day that he entered this archipelago, Colum¬ bus saw no less than six islands of different magnitude. They were clothed in tropical vegetation, and the breezes from them were sweetened by the fragrance of their forests. After seeking in vain for good anchorage at Dominica, he stood for another of the group, to which he gave the name of his ship, Marigalante. Here he landed, displayed the royal hour, and then disappeared, with a great dash of lightning, which blinded the peo* pie.”—Herrera, decad. ii. lib. iv. cap. 10. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 213 banner, and took possession of the archipelago in the name of his sovereigns. The island appeared to be uninhabited; a rich and dense forest overspread it; some of the trees were in blos¬ som, others laden with unknown fruits, others possessing spicy odors—among which was one with the leaf of the laurel and the fragrance of the clove. Hence they made sail for an island of larger size, with a re° markable mountain; one peak, which proved afterward to be the crater of a volcano, rose to a great height, with streams of water gushing from it. As they approached within three leagues they beheld a cataract of such height that, to use the words of the narrator, it seemed to be falling from the sky. As it broke into foam in its descent, many at first believed it to be merely a stratum of white rock.* To this island, which was called by the Indians Turuqueira, f the admiral gave the name of Guadeloupe, having promised the monks of our Lady of Guadaloupe in Estremadura to call some newly-discovered place after their convent. Landing here on the 4th, they visited a village near the shore, the inhabitants of which fled, some even leaving their children behind in their terror and confusion. These the Span¬ iards soothed with caresses, binding hawks’ bells and other trinkets round their arms. This village, like most of those of the island, consisted of twenty or thirty houses, built round a public place or square. The houses were constructed of trunks and trees interwoven with reeds and branches, and thatched with palm-leaves. They were square, not circular like those of the other islands,! and each had its portico or shelter from the sun. One of the porticos was decorated with images of serpents tolerably carved in wood. For furniture they had hammocks of cotton net, and utensils formed of cala¬ bashes or earthenware, equal to the best of those of Hispaniola. There were large quantities of cotton; some in the wool, some in yarn, and some wrought into cloth of very tolerable texture; and many bows and arrows, the fatter tipped with shap bones. Provisions seemed to abound. There were many domesticated geese like those of Europe, and parrots as large as household fowls, with blue, green, white, and scarlet plumage, being the splendid species called guaeamayos. Here also the Spaniards * Letter of Dr. Chanea. t Letter of Dr. Chanea. Peter Martyr calls it Carucueira or Queraquiera, decad. i. lib. 11. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 62. 214 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. first met with the anana, or pineapple, the flavor and fra¬ grance of which astonished and delighted them. In one of the houses they were surprised to find a pan or other utensil of iron, not having ever met with that metal in the New World. Fernando Colon supposes that it was formed of a certain kind of heavy stone found among those islands, which, when burnt, has the appearance of shining iron; or it might have been some utensil brought by the Indians from Hispaniola. Certain it is, that no native iron was ever found among the people of these islands. In another house was the stern-post of a vessel. How had it reached these shores, which appeared never to have been visit¬ ed by the ships of civilized man? Was it the wreck of some vessel from the more enlightened countries of Asia, which they supposed to lie somewhere in this direction? Or a part of the caravel which Columbus had lost at the island of Hispaniola during his first voyage? Or a fragment of some European ship which had drifted across the Atlantic? The latter was most probably the case. The constant current which sets over from the coast oi Africa, produced by the steady prevalence of the trade-winds, must occasionally bring wrecks from the Old World to the New; and long before the discovery of Columbus the savages of the islands and the coasts may have gazed with wonder at fragments of European barks which have floated to their shores. What struck the Spaniards with horror was the sight of hu¬ man bones, vestiges, as they supposed, of unnatural repasts; and skulls, apparently used as vases and other household uten¬ sils. These dismal objects convinced them that they were now in the abodes of the Cannibals, or Caribs, whose predatory ex¬ peditions and ruthless character rendered them the terror of these seas. The boat having returned on board, Columbus proceeded up¬ ward of two leagues, until he anchored, late in the evening, in a convenient port. The island on this side extended for the distance of five and twenty leagues, diversified with lofty mountains and broad p^ayis. Along the coast were small vih lages and hamlets, the inhabitants of which fled in affright. On the following day the boats landed, and succeeded in taking and bringing off a bey and several women. The information gathered from them confirmed Columbus in his idea that this was one of the islands of the Caribs. He learnt that the inhab¬ itants were in league with two neighboring islands, but made ! LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 215 war upon all the rest. They even went on predatory enter¬ prises, in canoes made from the hollowed trunks of trees, to the distance of one hundred and fifty leagues. Their arms were bows and arrows pointed with the bones of fishes or shells of tortoises, and poisoned with the juice of a certain herb. They made descents upon the islands, ravaged the villages, carried off the youngest and handsomest of the women, whom they re¬ tained as servants or companions, and. made prisoners of the men, to be killed and eaten. After hearing such accounts of the natives of this island, Co¬ lumbus was extremely uneasy at finding, in the evening, that Diego Marque, a captain of one of the caravels, and eight men were missing. They had landed early in the morning without leave, and straying into the woods, had not since been seen or heard of. The night passed away without their return. On the following day parties were sent in various directions in quest of them, each with a trumpeter to sound calls and signals. Guns were fired from the ships, and arquebuses on shore, but all to no purpose, and the parties returned in the evening, wearied with a fruitless search. In several hamlets they had met with proofs of the cannibal propensities of the natives. Human limbs were suspended to the beams of the houses, as if curing for provisions; the head of a young man recently killed was yet bleeding; some parts of his body were roasting before the fire, others boiling with the flesh of geese and parrots,* Several of the natives, in the course of the day, had been seen on the shore, gazing with wonder at the ships, but when the boats approached, they fled to the woods and mountains. Several women came off to the Spaniards for refuge, being cap¬ tives from other islands. Columbus ordered that they should be decorated with hawks’ bells and strings of beads and bugles, and sent on shore, in hopes of enticing off some of the men. They soon returned to the boats stripped of their ornaments, and imploring to be taken on board the ships. The admiral learnt from them that most of the men of the island were ab¬ sent, the king having sailed some time before with ten canoes and three hundred warriors, on a cruise in quest of prisoners and booty. When the men went forth on these expeditions, the women remained to defend their shores from invasion. They were expert archers, partaking of the warrior spirit of * P. Martyr, Letter 147 to Pomponio Lseto. Idem, decad. i. lib. ii. 216 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. their husbands, and almost equalling them in force and intre¬ pidity.* The continued absence of the wanderers perplexed Columbus extremely. He was impatient to arrive at Hispaniola, but un¬ willing to sail while there was a possibility of their being alive and being recovered. In this emergency Alonso de Ojeda, the same young cavalier whose exploit on the tower of the cathe¬ dral at Seville has been mentioned, volunteered to scour the island with forty men in quest of them. He departed accord¬ ingly, and during his absence the ships took in wood and water, and part of the crews were permitted to land, wash their clothes, and recreate themselves. Ojeda and his followers pushed far into the interior, firing off arquebuses and sounding trumpets in the valleys and from the summits of cliffy and precipices, but were only answered by their own echoes. The tropical luxuriance and density of the forests rendered them almost impenetrable; and it was neces¬ sary to wade a great many rivers, or probably the windings and doublings of the same stream. The island appeared to be naturally fertile in the extreme. The forests abounded with aromatic trees and shrubs, among which Ojeda fancied he per¬ ceived the odor of precious gums and spices. There was honey in hollow trees and in the clefts of rocks; abundance of fruit also; for, according to Peter Martyr, the Caribs, in their preda¬ tory cruisings, were accustomed to bring home the seeds and roots of all kinds of plants from the distant islands and coun¬ tries which they overran. Ojeda returned without any tidings of the stragglers. Seve¬ ral days had now elapsed since their disappearance. They were given up for lost, and the fleet was about sailing when, to the universal joy, a signal was made by them from the shore. When they came on board their haggard and exhausted looks bespoke what they had suffered. For several days they had been perplexed in trackless forests, so dense as almost to ex¬ clude the light of day. They had clambered rocks, waded rivers, and struggled through briers and thickets. Some, who were experienced seamen, climbed the trees to get a sight of the stars, by which to govern their course; but the spreading branches and thick foliage shut out all view of the heavens. They were harassed with the fear, that the admiral, thinking * Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. is. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 217 them dead, might set sail and leave them in this wilderness, cut off forever from their homes and the abodes of civilized man. At length, when almost reduced to despair, they had arrived at the sea-shore, and following it for some time, be¬ held, to their great joy, the fleet riding quietly at anchor. They brought with them several Indian women and boys; but in all their wanderings they had not met with any man; the greater part of the warriors, as has been said, being fortunately absent on an expedition. Notwithstanding the hardships they had endured, and his joy at their return, Columbus put the captain under arrest, and stopped part of the rations of the men, for having strayed away without permission, for in a service of such a critical nature, it was necessary to punish every breach of discipline.* CHAPTER III. CRUISE AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. [1493.] Weighing anchor on the 10th of November, Columbus steered toward the north-west, along this beautiful archipelago; giving names to the islands as they rose to view; such as Montserrat, Santa Maria la Redonda, Santa Maria la Antigua, and San Martin. Various other islands, lofty and well-wooded, appeared to the north, south-west, and south-east; but he for¬ bore to visit them. The weather proving boisterous, he an¬ chored on the 14th at an island called Ayay by the Indians, but to which he gave the name of Santa Cruz. A boat well manned was sent on shore to get wader and procure information. They found a village deserted by the men, but secured a few women and boys, most of them captives from other islands. They soon had an instance of Carib courage and ferocity. While at the village they beheld a canoe from a distant part of the island come round a point of land and arrive in view of the ships. The Indians in the canoe, two of whom were females, remained gazing in mute amazement at the ships, and were so entranced that the boat stole close upon them before they per- * Dr. Chanca's Letter, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 46l 218 LIFE OF CHRIS TO PEER COLUMBUS. ceived it. Seizing their paddles they attempted to escape, blit the boat being between them and the land, cut off their re¬ treat. They now caught up their bows and arrows and plied them with amazing vigor and rapidity. The Spaniards cov¬ ered themselves with their bucklers, but two of them were quickly wounded. The women fought as fiercely as the men, and one of them sent an arrow with such force that it passed through and through a buckler. The Spaniards now ran their boat against the canoe and over¬ turned it; some of the savages got upon sunken rocks, others discharged their arrows while swimming, as dexterously as though they had been upon firm land. It was with the ut¬ most difficulty they could be overcome and taken. One of them, who had been transfixed with a lance, died soon after being brought aboard the ships. One of the women, from the obedience and deference paid to her, appeared to be their queen. She was accompanied by her son, a young man strongly made, with a frowning brow and lion’s face. He had been wounded in the conflict. The hair of these savages was long and coarse. Their eyes were encircled with paint, so as to give them a hideous expression; and bands of cotton were bound firmly above and below the muscular parts of the arms and legs, so as to cause them to swell to a disproportioned size; a custom prevalent among various tribes of the New World. Though captives in chains, and in the power of their enemies, they still retained a frowning brow and an air of defiance. Peter Martyr, who often went to see them in Spain, declares, from his own experience, and that of others who accompanied him, that it was impossible to look at them without a sensation of horror, so menacing and terrible was their aspect. The sen¬ sation was doubtless caused in a great measure by the idea of their being cannibals. In this skirmish, according to the same writer, the Indians used poisoned arrows; and one of the Span¬ iards died within a few days, of a wound received from one of the females.* Pursuing his voyage, Columbus soon came in sight of a great cluster of islands, some verdant and covered with forests, but the greater part naked and sterile, rising info craggy moun¬ tains ; with rocks of a bright azure color, and some of a glister¬ ing white. These, with his usual vivacity of imagination, he *P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Hist, del Almirantc, cap. <£7. Las Casas, Ilist. Ind., tap. 85, ms. Letter of Dr. Clianca. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 219 \ supposed to contain mines of rich metals and precious stones. The islands lying close together, with the sea beating roughly in the narrow channels which divided them, rendered it danger¬ ous to enter among them with the large ships. Columbus sent in a small caravel with latine sails, to reconnoitre, which re¬ turned with the report that there were upward of fifty islands, I apparently inhabited. To the largest of this group he gave the name of Santa Ursula, and called the others the Eleven Thousand Virgins.* Continuing his course, he arrived one evening in sight of a great island covered with beautiful forests, and indented with fine havens. It was called by the natives Boriquem, but he gave it the name of San Juan Bautista; it is the same since known by the name of Porto Rico. This was the native island of most of the captives who had fled to the ships for refuge from the Caribs. According to their accounts it was fertile and popu¬ lous, and under the dominion of a single cacique. Its inhabi¬ tants were not given to rove, and possessed but few canoes. They were subject to frequent invasions from the Caribs, who were their implacable enemies. They had become warriors, therefore, in their own defence, using the bow and arrow and the war-club; and in their contests with their cannibal foes they retorted upon them their own atrocities, devouring their pri¬ soners in revenge. After running for a whole day along the beautiful coast of this island, they anchored in a bay at the west end, abounding in fish. On landing, they found an Indian village, constructed as usual round a common square, like a market-place, with one large and well-built house. A spacious road led thence to the seaside, having fences on each side, of interwoven reeds, inclos¬ ing fruitful gardens. At the end of the road was a kind of ter¬ race, or look-out, constructed of reeds and overhanging the water. The whole place had an air of neatness and ingenuity, superior to the ordinary residences of the natives, and appeared to be the abode of some important chieftain. All, however, was silent and deserted. Not a human being was to be seen during the time they remained at the place. The natives had concealed themselves at the sight of the squadron. After remaining here two days, Columbus made sail, and stood for the island of His¬ paniola. Thus ended his cruise among the Caribbee Islands, the account of whose fierce and savage people was received with * P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Letter of Dr. Claanca. 220 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. eager curiosity by the learned of Europe, and considered as settling one dark and doubtful question to the disadvantage of human nature. Peter Martyr, in his letter to Pomponius Lsetus, announces the fact with fearful solemnity. ‘ 4 The stories of the Lestrigonians and of Polyphemus, who fed on human flesh, are no longer doubtful! Attend, but beware, lest thy hair bristle with horror!” That many of the pictures given us of this extraordinary race of people have been colored by the fears of the Indians and the prejudices of the Spaniards, is highly probable. They were constantly the terror of the former, and the brave and obstinate opponents of the latter. The evidences adduced of their canni¬ bal propensities must be received with large allowances for the careless and inaccurate observations of seafaring men, and the preconceived belief of the fact, which existed in the minds of the Spaniards. It was a custom among the natives of many of the islands, and of other parts of the New World, to preserve the remains of their deceased relatives and friends; sometimes the entire body; sometimes only the head, or some of the limbs, dried at the fire; sometimes the mere bones. These, when found in the dwellings of the natives of Hispaniola, against whom no prejudice of the kind existed, were correctly regarded as relics of the deceased, preserved through affection or reverence; but any remains of the kind found among the Caribs were looked upon with horror as proofs of cannibalism. The warlike and unyielding character of these people, so dif¬ ferent from that of the pusillanimous nations around them, and the wide scope of their enterprises and wanderings, like those of the nomad tribes of the Old World, entitle them to distin¬ guished attention. They were trained to war from their infancy. As soon as they could walk, their intrepid mothers put in their hands the bow and arrow, and prepared them to take an early part in the hardy enterprises of their fathers. Their distant roamings by sea made them observant and intelligent. The natives of the other islands only knew how to divide time by day and night, by the sun and moon; whereas these had ac¬ quired some knowledge of the stars r .by which to calculate the times and seasons.* The traditional accounts of their origin, though of course ex¬ tremely vague, are yet capable of being verified to a great degree by geographical facts, and open one of the rich veins of curious * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 62. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 221 inquiry and speculation which abound in the New World. They are said to have migrated from the remote valleys embo¬ somed in the Apalachian mountains. The earliest accounts we have of them represent them with weapons in their hands, con¬ tinually engaged in wars, winning their way and shifting their abode, until in the course of time they found themselves at the i extremity of Florida. Here, abandoning the northern conti¬ nent, they passed over to the Lucayos, and thence gradually, in the process of years, from island to island of that vast and verdant chain, which links, as it were, the end of Florida to the coast of Paria, on the southern continent. The archipelago extending from Porto Rico to Tobago was their stronghold, and the island of Guadaloupe in a manner their citadel. Hence they made their expeditions, and spread the terror of their name through all the surrounding countries. Swarms of them landed upon the southern continent, and overran some parts of terra firma. Traces of them have been 4 discovered far in the interior of that vast country through which flows the Oroonoko. The Dutch found colonies of them on the banks of the Ikouteka, which empties into the Surinam; along the Esquibi, the Maroni, and other rivers of Guayana; and in the country watered by the windings of the Cayenne; and it would appear that they extended their wanderings to the shores of the southern ocean, where, among the aboriginals of Brazil, were some who called themselves Caribs, distinguished from the surrounding Indians by their superior hardihood, subtlety, and enterprise.* To trace the footsteps of this roving tribe throughout its wide migrations from the Apalachian mountains of the northern continent, along the clusters of islands which stud the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to the shores of Paria, and so across the vast regions of Guayana and Amazonia to the remote coast of Brazil, would be one of the most curious researches in aboriginal history, and throw much light upon the mysterious question of the population of the Ne w World. ♦Jiochefort, Hist. Nat. des Isles Antilles 3 Katterdam, 263$* LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 222 CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL AT THE HARBOR OP LA NAVIDAD— DISASTER OF THE FORTRESS. [1493.] On the 22d of November the fleet arrived off what was soon ascertained to be the eastern extremity of Hayti, or, as the admiral had named it, Hispaniola. The greatest excitement prevailed throughout the armada, at the thoughts of soon ar¬ riving at the end of their voyage. Those who had been here in the preceding voyage remembered the pleasant days they had passed among the groves of Hayti; and the rest looked for¬ ward with eagerness to scenes painted to them with the capti¬ vating illusions of the golden age. As the fleet swept with easy sail along the green shore, a boat was sent to land to bury a Biscayan sailor, who had died of the wound of an arrow received in the late skirmish. Two light caravels hovered near the shore to guard the boat’s crew, while the funeral ceremony was performed on the beach, under the trees. Several natives came off to the ship, with a mes¬ sage to the admiral from the cacique of the neighborhood, in¬ viting him to land, and promising great quantities of gold; anxious, however, to arrive at La Navidad, Columbus dis¬ missed them with presents and continued his course. Arriv¬ ing at the gulf of Las Flechas, or, as it is now called, the gulf of Semana, the place where, in his preceding voyage, a skir¬ mish had occurred with the natives, he set on shore one of the young Indians of the place, who had accompanied him to Spain, and had been converted to Christianity. He dismissed him finely apparelled and loaded with trinkets, anticipating favorable effects from his accounts to his countrymen of the wonders he had seen, and the kind treatment he had expe¬ rienced. The young Indian made many fair promises, but either forgot them all, on regaining his liberty and his native mountains, or fell a victim to envy caused by his wealth and finery. Nothing was seen or heard of him more.* Only one Indian of those who had been to Spain now remained m the * Herrera, Hist, ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 9. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 223 fleet; a young Lucayan, native of the island of Guanahani, who had been baptized at Barcelona, and had been named after the admiral’s brother, Diego Colon. He continued always faithful and devoted to the Spaniards. On the 25th Columbus anchored in the harbor of Monte Christi; anxious to fix upon a place for a settlement in the neighborhood of the stream to which, in his first voyage, he had given the name of the Rio del Oro, or the Golden River. As several of the mariners were ranging the coast, they found, on the green and moist banks of a rivulet, the bodies of a man and boy; the former with a cord of Spanish grass about his neck, and his arms extended and tied by the wrists to a stake in the form of a cross. The bodies were in such a state of de¬ cay that it was impossible to ascertain whether they were In¬ dians or Europeans. Sinister doubts, however, were enter¬ tained, which were confirmed on the following day; for on re¬ visiting the shore, they found, at some distance from the former, two other bodies, one of which, having a beard, was evidently the corpse of a white man. The pleasant anticipations of Columbus on his approach to La Navidad were now overcast with gloomy forebodings. The experience recently had of the ferocity of some of the in¬ habitants of these islands, made him doubtful of the amity of others, and he began to fear that some misfortune might have befallen Arana and his garrison. The frank and fearless manner, however, in which a number of the natives came off to the ships, and their unembarrassed demeanor, in some measure allayed his suspicions; for it did not appear probable that they would venture thus confidently among the white men, with the consciousness of having recent¬ ly shed the blood of their companions. On the evening of the 27th, he arrived opposite the harbor of La Navidad, and cast anchor about a league from the land, not daring to enter in the dark on account of the dangerous reefs. It was too late to distinguish objects. Impatient to satisfy his doubts, therefore, he ordered two cannon to be fired. The re¬ port echoed along the shore, but there was no reply from the fort. Every eye was now directed to catch the gleam of some signal light; every ear listened to hear some friendly shout; but there was neither light nor shout, nor any other sign of life; all was darkness and deathlike silence.* * Letter of Dr. Chanca. Navarrete, Colec. de Viage, tom. i. 224 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Several hours were passed in dismal suspense, and every one longed for the morning light, to put an end to his uncertainty. About midnight a canoe approached the fleet; when within a certain distance, it paused, and the Indians who were in it, hailing one of the vessels, asked for the admiral. When direct¬ ed to his ship they drew near, but would not venture on board until they saw Columbus. He showed himself at the side of his vessel, and a light being held up, his countenance and com¬ manding person were not to be mistaken. They now entered the ship without hesitation. One of them was a cousin of the cacique Guacanagari, and brought a present from him of two masks ornamented with gold. Columbus inquired about the Spaniards who had remained on the island. The information which the native gave was somewhat confused, or perhaps was imperfectly understood, as the only Indian interpreter on board was the young Lucayan, Diego Colon, whose native language was different from that of Hayti. He told Columbus that sev¬ eral of the Spaniards had died of sickness; others had fallen in a quarrel among themselves, and others had removed to a dif¬ ferent part of the island, where they had taken to themselves Indian wives. That Guacanagari had been assailed by Caona- bo, the fierce cacique of the golden mountains of Cibao, who had wounded him in battle, and burnt his village; and that he remained ill of his wound in a neighboring hamlet, or he would have hastened in person to welcome the admiral.* * Melancholy as were these tidings, they relieved Columbus from a dark and dismal surmise. Whatever disasters had overwhelmed his garrison, it had not fallen a sacrifice to the perfidy of the natives; his good opinion of the gentleness and kindness of these people had not been misplaced; nor had their cacique forfeited the admiration inspired by his benevolent hospitality. Thus the most corroding care was dismissed from his mind; for, to a generous spirit, there is nothing so dis¬ heartening as to discover treachery where it has reposed con¬ venience and friendship. It would seem also that some of the garrison were yet alive, though scattered about the island; they would doubtless soon hear of his arrival, and would hasten to rejoin him, well qualified to give information of the interior. Satisfied of the friendly disposition of the natives, the cheer¬ fulness of the crews was in a great measure restored. The * Dr. Chanca’s Letter. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 48. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. • lib. i. cap. 9, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 225 Indians who had come on board were well entertained, and departed in the night gratified with various presents, promising to return in the morning with the cacique G-uacanagari. The mariners now awaited the dawn of day with reassured spirits, expecting that the cordial intercourse and pleasant scenes of the first voyage would be renewed. The morning dawned and passed away, and the day advanced and began to decline, without the promised visit from the cacique. Some apprehensions were now entertained that the Indians who had visited them the preceding night might be drowned, as they had partaken freely of wine, and their small canoe was easy to be overset. There was a silence and an air of desertion about the whole neighborhood extremely suspicious. On their preceding visit the harbor had been a scene of contin¬ ual animation; canoes gliding over the clear waters, Indians in groups on the shores, or under the trees, or swimming off to the caravel. Now, not a canoe was to be seen, not an Indian hailed them from the land; nor was there any smoke rising from among the groves to give a sign of habitation. After waiting for a long time in vain, Columbus sent a boat to the shore to reconnoitre. On landing, the crew hastened and sought the fortress. It was a ruin; the palisadoes were beaten down, and the whole presented the appearance of having been sacked, burnt, and destroyed. Here and there were broken chests, spoiled provisions, and the ragged remains of European garments. Not an Indian approached them. They caught sight of two or three lurking at a distance among the trees, and apparently watching them; but they vanished into the woods on finding themselves observed. Meeting no one to explain the melancholy scene before them, they returned with dejected hearts to the ships, and related to the admiral what they had seen. Columbus was greatly troubled in mind at this intelligence, and the fleet having now anchored in the harbor, he went him¬ self to shore on the following morning. Repairing to the ruins of the fortress, he found everything as had been described, and searched in vain for the remains of dead bodies. No traces of the garrison were to be seen, but broken utensils, and torn# vestments, scattered here and there among the grass. There were many surmises and conjectures. If the fortress had been sacked, some of the garrison might yet survive, and might either have fled from the neighborhood, or been carried into captivity. Cannon and arquebuses were discharged, in hopes, 226 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. if any of the survivors were hid among rocks and thickets, they might hear them and come forth; but no one made his appearance. A mournful and lifeless silence reigned over the place. The suspicion of treachery on the pant of Guacanagari was again revived, but Columbus was unwilling to indulge it. On looking further the village of that cacique was found a mere heap of burnt ruins, which showed that he had been involved in the disaster of the garrison. Columbus had left orders with Arana and the other officers to bury all the treasure they might procure, or, in case of sud¬ den danger, to throw it into the well of the fortress. He ordered excavations to be made, therefore, among the ruins, and the well to bo cleared out. While this search was making, he proceeded with the boats to explore the neighborhood, partly in hopes of gaining intelligence of any scattered survivors of the garrison, and partly to look out for a better situation for a fortress. After proceeding about a league he came to a hamlet, the inhabitants of which had fled, taking whatever they could with them and hiding the rest in the grass. In the houses were European articles, which evidently had not been procured by barter, such as stockings, pieces of cloth, an anchor of the caravel which had been wrecked, and a beautiful Moorish robe, folded in the form in which it had been brought from Spain.* Having passed some time in contemplating these scattered documents of a disastrous story, Columbus returned to the ruins of the fortress. The excavations and search in the well had proved fruitless; no treasure was to be found. Not far from the fort, however, they had discovered the bodies of eleven men, buried in different places, and which were known by their clothing to be Europeans. They had evidently been for some time in the ground, the grass having grown upon their graves. In the course of the day a number of the Indians made their appearance, hovering timidly at a distance. Their apprehen¬ sions were gradually dispelled until they became perfectly com¬ municative. Some of them could speak a few words of Spanish, and knew the names of all the men who had remained with . Arana. By this means, and by the aid of the interpreter, the story of the garrison was in some measure ascertained. It is curious to note this first footprint of civilization in the * Letter of Dr. Clianca. Cura de los Palacios, cap. 120. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 227 New World. Those whom Columbus had left behind, says Oviedo, with the exception of the commander, Don Diego Arana, and one or two others, were but little calculated to follow the precepts of so prudent a person, or to discharge the critical duties enjoined upon them. They were principally men of the lowest order, or mariners who knew not how to conduct themselves with restraint or sobriety on shore A No sooner had the admiral departed, than all his counsels and commands died away from their minds. Though a mere hand¬ ful of men, surrounded by savage tribes and dependent upon their own prudence and good conduct, and upon the good-will of the natives, for very existence, yet they soon began to indulge in the most wanton abuses. Borne were prompted by rapacious avarice, and sought to possess themselves, by all kinds of wrongful means, of the golden ornaments and other valuable property of the natives. Others were grossly sensual, and not content with two or three wives allowed to each by Guacanagari, seduced the wives and daughters of the Indians. Fierce brawls ensued among them about their ill-gotten spoils and the favors of the Indian women; and the natives beheld with astonishment the beings whom they had worshipped, as descended from the skies, abandoned to the grossest of earthly passions, and raging against each other with worse than brutal ferocity. Still these dissensions might not have been very dangerous had they observed one of the injunctions of Columbus, and kept together in the fortress, maintaining military vigilance; but all precaution of the kind was soon forgotten. In vain did Don Diego de Arana interpose his authority; in vain did every inducement present itself which could bind man and man together in a foreign land. All order, all subordination, all unanimity was at an end. Many abandoned the fortress, and lived carelessly and at random about the neighborhood; every one was for himself, or associated with some little knot of con¬ federates to injure and despoil the rest. Thus factions broke out among them, until ambition arose to complete the destruc¬ tion of their mimic empire. Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo, whom Columbus had left as lieutenants to the com¬ mander, to succeed to him in case of accident, took advantage of these disorders and aspired to an equal share in the authority, if not to the supreme control, f Violent affrays succeeded, in * * Oviedo, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 12. t Oviedo, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 12. 228 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. which a Spaniard named Jacomo was killed. Having failed in their object, Gutierrez and Escobedo withdrew from - the fortress with nine of their adherents and a number of their women, and turned their thoughts on distant enterprise. Having heard marvellous accounts of the mines of Cibao, and the golden sands of its mountain rivers, they set off for that * district, flushed with the thoughts of amassing immense treasure. Thus they disregarded another strong injunction of Columbus, which was to keep within the friendly territories of Guacanagari. The region to which they repaired was in the interior of the island, within the province of Maguana, ruled by the famous Caonabo, called by the Spaniards the Lord of the Golden House. This renowned chieftain was a Carib by birth, and possessed the fierceness and enterprise of his nation. He had come an adventurer to Hispaniola, and by his courage and address, and his warlike exploits, had made himself the most potent of its caciques. The inhabitants universally stood in awe of him from his Carib origin, and he was the hero of the island, when the ships of the white men suddenly appeared upon its shores. The wonderful accounts of their power and prowess had reached him among his mountains, and he had the shrewdness to perceive that his consequence must decline before such formidable intruders. The departure of Columbus gave him hopes that their intrusion would be but temporary; The discords and excesses of those who remained, while they moved his detestation, inspired him with increasing confidence. No sooner did Gutierrez and Escobedo, with their companions, take refuge in his dominions, than he put them to death. He then formed a league with the cacique of Marien, whose terri¬ tories adjoined those of Guacanagari on the west, and con¬ certed a sudden attack upon the fortress. Emerging with his warriors from among the mountains, and traversing great tracts of forest with profound secrecy, he arrived in the vicinity of the village without being discovered. The Spaniards, confiding in the gentle and pacific nature of the Indians, had neglected all military precautions. But ten men remained in the fortress with Arana, and these do not appear to have main¬ tained any guard. The rest were quartered in houses in the neighborhood. In the dead of the night, when all were wrapped in sleep, Caonabo and his warriors burst upon the place with frightful yells, got possession of the fortress before its inmates could put themselves upon their defence, and sur¬ rounded and set. fire to the houses in which the rest of the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 229 white men were sleeping. Eight of the Spaniards fled to the seaside pursued by the savages, and, rushing into the waves, were drowned; the rest were massacred. Guacanagari and his subjects fought faithfully in defence of their guests, but not being of a warlike character, were easily routed; the cacique was wounded by the hand of Caonabo, and his village was burnt to the ground.* Such was the history of the first European establishment in the New World. It presents in a diminutive compass an epi¬ tome of the gross vices which degrade civilization, and the grand political errors which sometimes subvert the mightiest empires. All law and order being relaxed by corruption and licentiousness, public good was sacrificed to private interest and passion, the community was convulsed by divers factions and dissensions, until the whole was shaken asunder by two aspiring demagogues, ambitious of the command of a petty fortress in a wilderness, and the supreme control oi eight-and- thirty men. CHAPTER Y. • TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES—SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT OP GUACANAGARI. [1493. J The tragical story of the fortress, as gathered from the In¬ dians at the harbor, received confirmation from another quar¬ ter. One of the captains, Melchor Maldonado, coasting to the east with his caravel in search of some more favorable situation for a settlement, was boarded by a canoe in which were two Indians. One of them was the brother of Guacanagari, and entreated him, in the name of the cacique, to visit him at the village where he lay ill of his wound. Maldonado immediately went to shore with two or three of his companions. They found Guacanagari confined by lameness to his hammock, surrounded by seven of his wives. The cacique expressed great regret at not being able to visit the admiral. He related * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 9. Letter of Dr. Chanca. Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 49. Cura de los Palacios, cap. 120, ms. MuSoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. iv. 230 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. various particulars concerning the disasters of the garrison, and the part which he and his subjects had taken in its defence, showing his wounded leg bound up. His story agreed with that already related. After treating the Spaniards with his accustomed hospitality, he presented to each of them at girting a golden ornament. On the following morning Columbus repaired in person to visit the cacique. To impress him with an idea of his present power and importance, he appeared with a numerous train of officers, all richly dressed or in glittering armor. They found Gfuacanagari reclining in a hammock of cotton net. He exhibit¬ ed great emotion on beholding the admiral, and immediately adverted to the death of the Spaniards. As he related the dis¬ asters of the garrison he shed many tears, but dwelt particu¬ larly on the part he had taken in the defence of his guests, pointing out several of his subjects present who had received wounds in the hattle. It was evident from the scars that the wounds had been received from Indian weapons. Columbus was readily satisfied of the good faith of Guacana- gari. When he reflected on the many proofs of an open and generous nature, which he had given at the time of his ship¬ wreck, he could not believe him capable of so dark an act of perfidy. An exchange of presents now took place. The cacique gave him eight hundred beads of a certain stone called ciba, which they considered highly precious, and one hundred of gold, a golden coronet, and three small calabashes filled with gold dust, and thought himself outdone in munificence when pre¬ sented with a number of glass beads, hawks’ bells, knives, pins, needles, small mirrors, and ornaments of copper, which metal he seemed to prefer to gold.* Guacanagari’s leg had been violently bruised by a stone. At the request of Columbus, he permitted it to be examined by a surgeon who was present. On removing the bandage no signs of a wound were to be seen, although he shrunk with pain whenever the limb was handled.t As some time had elapsed since the battle, the external bruise might have disappeared, while a tenderness remained in the part. Several present, how¬ ever, who had not been in the first voyage, and had witnessed nothing of the generous conduct of the cacique, looked upon his lameness as feigned, and the whole story of the battle a fabrica- * Letter of Dr. Chanca. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. t Letter of Dr. Chanca. Cura de los Palacios, cap. 120. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 231 tion, to conceal his real perfidy. Father Boyle especially, who was of a vindictive spirit, advised the admiral to make an im¬ mediate example of the chieftain. Columbus, however, viewed the matter in a different light. Whatever prepossessions he might have were in favor of the cacique; his heart refused to believe in his criminality. Though conscious of innocence, Guacanagari might have feared the suspicions of the white men, and have exaggerated the effects of his wound; hut the wounds of his subjects made by Indian weapons, and the de¬ struction of his village, were strong proofs to Columbus of the truth of his story. To satisfy his more suspicious followers, and to pacify the friar, without gratifying his love for persecu¬ tion, he observed that true policy dictated amicable conduct to¬ ward Guacanagari, at least until his guilt was fully ascertained. They had too great a force at present to apprehend anything from his hostility, but violent measures in this early stage of their intercourse with the natives might spread a general panic, and impede all their operations on the island. Most of his offi¬ cers concurred in this opinion; so it was determined, notwith¬ standing the inquisitorial suggestions of the friar, to take the story of the Indians for current truth, and to continue to treat them with friendship. At the invitation of Columbus, the cacique, though still ap¬ parently in pain from his wound,* accompanied him to the ships that very evening. He had wondered at the power and gran¬ deur of the white men when they first visited his shores with two small caravels; his wonder was infinitely increased on be¬ holding a fleet riding at anchor in the harbor, and on going on board of the admiral’s ship, which was a vessel of heavy burden. Here he beheld the Carib prisoners. So great was the dread of them among the timid inhabitants of Hayti, that they contem¬ plated them with fear and shuddering, even though in chains, f That the admiral had dared to invade these terrible beings in their very island, and had dragged them as it were from their strongholds, was, perhaps, one of the greatest proofs-to the In¬ dians of the irresistible prowess of the white men. Columbus took the cacique through the ship. The various works of art; the plants and fruits of the Old World; domestic fowls of different kinds, cattle, sheep, swine, and other animals, brought to stock the island, all were wonders to him; but what * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 89. f Peter Martyr, Letter 153 to Pomponius Laetus. 232 LIFE .OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. most struck him with amazement was the horses. He had never seen any but the most diminutive quadrupeds, and was aston¬ ished at their size, their great strength, terrific appearance, yet perfect docility.* He looked upon all these extraordinary ob¬ jects as so many wonders brought from heaven, which he still believed to be the native home of the white men. On board of the ship were ten of the women delivered from Carib captivity. They were chiefly natives of the island of Boriquen, or Porto Pico. These soon attracted the notice of the cacique, who is represented to have been of an amorous com¬ plexion. He entered into conversation with them; for though the islanders spoke different languages, or rather, as is more probable, different dialects of the same language, they were able, in general, to understand each other. Among these wo¬ men was one distinguished above her companions by a certain loftiness of air and manner; she had been much noticed and ad¬ mired by the Spaniards, who had given her the name of Cata¬ lina. The cacique spoke to her repeatedly with great gentleness of tone and manner, pity in all probability being mingled with his admiration; for though rescued from the hand of the Caribs, she and her companions were in a manner captives on board of the ship. A collation was now spread before the chieftain, and Colum¬ bus endeavored in every way to revive their former cordial in¬ tercourse. He treated his guest with every manifestation of perfect confidence, and talked of coming to live with him in his present residence, and of building houses in the vicinity. The cacique expressed much satisfaction at the idea, but observed that the situation of the place was unhealthy, which was indeed the case. Notwithstanding every demonstration of friendship, however, the cacique was evidently ill at ease. The charm of mutual confidence was broken. It was evident that the gross licentiousness of the garrison had greatly impaired the venera¬ tion of the Indians for their heaven-born visitors. Even the reverence-of the symbols of the Christian faith, which Columbus endeavored to inculcate, was frustrated by the profligacy of its votaries. Though fond of ornaments, it was with the greatest difficulty the cacique could be prevailed upon by the admiral to suspend an image of the Virgin about his neck, when he under¬ stood it to be an object of Christian adoration.f * Hist, del Almirante, ubi sup. Letter of Dr. Chanca. t Hist, del Almirante. cap. 49 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 238 The suspicions of the chieftain’s guilt gained ground with many of the Spaniards. Father Boyle, in particular, regarded him with an evil eye, and privately advised the admiral, now that he had him on board, to detain him prisoner; but Colum¬ bus rejected the counsel of the crafty friar, as contrary to sound policy and honorable faith. It is difficult, however, to conceal lurking ill-will. The cacique, accustomed, in his former inter¬ course with the Spaniards, to meet with faces beaming with gratitude and friendship, could not but perceive their altered looks. Notwithstanding the frank and cordial hospitality of the admiral therefore, he soon begged permission to return to land.* The next morning there was a mysterious movement among the natives on shore. A messenger from the cacique inquired of the admiral how long he intended to remain at the harbor, and was informed that he should sail on the following day. In the evening the brother of Guacanagari came on board, under pretext of bartering a quantity of gold; he was observed to converse in private with the Indian women, and particularly with Catalina, the one whose distinguished appearance had at¬ tracted the attention of Guacanagari. After remaining some time on board, he returned to the shore. It would seem, from subsequent events, that the cacique had been touched by the situation of this Indian beauty, or captivated by her charms* and had undertaken to deliver her from bondage. At midnight, when the crew were buried in their first sleep, Catalina awakened her companions. The ship was anchored full three miles from the shore, and the sea was rough; but they let themselves down from the side of the vessel, and swam bravely for the shore. "With all their precautions they were overheard by the watch, and the alarm was given. The boats were hastily manned, and gave chase in the direction of a light | blazing on the shore, an evident beacon for the fugitives. Such ! was the vigor of these sea-nymphs that they reached the land in safety; four were retaken on the beach, but the heroic Cata- | lma with the rest of her companions made good their escape into the forest. When the dav dawned, Columbus sent to Guacanasrari to de- mand the fugitives; or if they were not in his possession, that he would have search made for them. The residence of the cacique, however, was silent and deserted; not an Indian was * Peter Martyr, decad i. lib. ii. 234 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to be seen. Either conscious of the suspicions of the Spaniards, and apprehensive of their hostility, or desirous to enjoy his prize unmolested, the cacique had removed with all his effects, his household, and his followers, and had taken refuge with his island beauty in the interior. This sudden and mysterious de¬ sertion gave redoubled force to the doubts heretofore enter¬ tained, and Guacanagari was generally stigmatized'as a traitor to the white men, and the perfidious destroyer of the gar¬ rison.* CHAPTER VI. FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF ISABELLA—MALADIES OF THE SPANIARDS. [1493.] The misfortunes of the Spaniards both by sea °nd land, in the vicinity of this harbor, threw a gloom round the neighbor¬ hood. The ruins of the fortress, and the graves of their mur¬ dered countrymen, were continually before their eyes, and the forests no longer looked beautiful while there was an idea that treachery might be lurking in their shades. The silence and dreariness, also, caused by the desertion of the natives, gave a sinister appearance to the place. It began to be considered by the credulous mariners as under some baneful influence or ma¬ lignant star. These were sufficient objections to discourage the founding of a settlement, but there were others of a more solid nature. The land in the vicinity was low, moist, and unhealthy, and there was no stone for building; Columbus determined, therefore, to abandon the place altogether, and found his projected colony in some more favorable situation. No time was to be lost; the animals on board the ships were suffering from long confinement; and the multitude of persons, unaccustomed to the sea, and pent up in the fleet, languished for the refreshment of the land. The lighter caravels, there¬ fore, scoured the coast in each direction, entering the rivers and harbors, in search of an advantageous site. They were in- * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Letter of Dr. Clianca. Cura de los Palacios, cap. 120, ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 235 structed also to make inquiries after Guacanagari, of whom Columbus, notwithstanding every suspicious appearance, still retained a favorable opinion. The expeditions returned after ranging a considerable extent of coast without success. There were fine rivers and secure ports, but the coast was low and marshy, and deficient in stone. The country was generally deserted, or if any natives were seen, they fled immediately to the woods. Melchor Maldonado had proceeded to the east¬ ward, until he came to the dominions of a cacique, who at first issued forth at the head of his warriors, with menacing aspect, but was readily conciliated. From him he learned that Guaca- nagari had retired to the mountains. Another party discov¬ ered an Indian concealed near a hamlet, having been disabled by a wound received from a lance when fighting against Caonabo. His account of the destruction of the fortress agreed with that of the Indians at the harbor, and concurred to vindi¬ cate the cacique from the charge of treachery. Thus the Spaniards continued uncertain as to the real perpetrators of this dark and dismal tragedy. Being convinced that there was no place in this part of the island favorable for a settlement, Columbus weighed anchor on the 7th of December, with the intention of seeking the port of La Plata. In consequence of adverse weather, however, he was obliged to put into a harbor about ten leagues east of Monte Christi; and on considering the place, was struck with its advantages. The harbor was spacious, and commanded by a point of land projected on one side by a natural rampart of rocks, and on another by an impervious forest, presenting a strong position for a fortress. There were two rivers, one large and the other small, watering a green and beautiful plain, and offering ad¬ vantageous situations for mills. About a bow-shot from the sea, on the banks of one of the rivers, was an Indian village. The soil appeared to be fertile, the waters to abound in excellent fish, and the climate to be temperate and genial; for the trees were in leaf, the shrubs in flower, and the birds in song, though it was the middle of December. They had not yet be¬ come familiarized with the temperature of this favored island, where the rigors of winter are unknown, where there is a per¬ petual succession, and even intermixture of fruit and flower, and where smiling verdure reigns throughout the year. Another grand inducement to form their setlement in this place was the information received from the Indians of the ad- 236 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. jacent village, tlmt the mountains of Cibao, where the gold mines were situated, lay at no great distance, and almost par¬ allel to the harbor. It was determined, therefore, that there could not be a situation more favorable for their colony. An animated scene now commenced. The troops and various persons belonging to the land service, and the various laborers and artificers to be employed in building, were disembarked. The provisions, articles of traffic, guns and ammunition for defence, and implements of every kind, were brought to shore, as were also the cattle and live stock, which had suffered exces¬ sively from long restraint, especially the horses. There was a general joy at escaping from the irksome confinement of the ships, and once more treading the firm earth, and breathing the sweetness of the fields. An encampment was formed on the margin of the plain, around a basin or sheet of water, and in a little while the whole place was in activity. Thus was founded the first Christian city of the New World, to which Columbus gave the name of Isabella, in honor of his royal patroness. A plan was formed, and streets and squares projected. The greatest diligence was then exerted in erecting a church, a pub¬ lic storehouse, and a residence for the admiral. These were built of stone, the private houses were constructed of wood, plaster, reeds, or such materials as the exigency of the case per¬ mitted, and for a short time every one exerted himself with the utmost zeal. Maladies, however, soon broke out. Many, unaccustomed to the sea, had suffered greatly from confinement and seasick¬ ness, and from subsisting for a length of time on salt provi¬ sions much damaged, and mouldy biscuit. They suffered great exposure on the land, also, before houses could be built for their reception; for the exhalations of a hot and moist climate, and a new, rank soil, the humid vapors from rivers, and the stagnant air of close forests, render the wilderness a severe trial to constitutions accustomed to old and highly-cul¬ tivated countries. The labor also of building houses, clearing fields, setting out orchards, and planting gardens, having all to be done with great haste, bore hard upon men who, after toss¬ ing so long upon the ocean, stood in need of relaxation and re¬ pose. The maladies of the mind mingled with those of the body. Many, as has been shown, had embarked in the expedition with visionary and romantic expectations. Some had anticipated LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 237 the golden regions of Cipango and Cathay, where they were to amass wealth without toil or trouble; others a region of Asiatic luxury, abounding with delights; and others a splen¬ did and open career for gahant adventures and chivalrous enterprises. What then was their disappointment to find them¬ selves confined to the margin of an island; surrounded by im¬ practicable forests; doomed to struggle with the rudeness of a wilderness; to toil painfully for mere subsistence, and to attain every comfort by the severest exertion. As to gold, i t was brought to them from various quarters, but in small quantities, and it was evidently to be procured only by patient and perse¬ vering labor. All these disappointments sank deep into their hearts; their spirits flagged as their golden dreams melted away, and the gloom of despondency aided the ravages of disease. Columbus himself did not escape the prevalent maladies. The arduous nature of his enterprise, the responsibility under which he found himself, not merely to his followers and his sovereigns, but to the world at large, had kept his mind in con¬ tinual agitation. The cares of so large a squadron; the inces¬ sant vigilance required, not only against the lurking dangers of these unknown seas, but against the passions and follies of his followers; the distress he had suffered from the fate of his murdered garrison, and his uncertainty as to the conduct of the barbarous tribes by which he was surrounded; all these had harassed his mind and broken his rest while on board the ship: since landing new cares and toils had crowded upon him, which, added to the exposures incident to his situation in this new climate, completely overpowered his strength. Still, though confined for several weeks to his bed by severe illness, his energetic mind rose superior to the sufferings of the body, and he continued to give directions about the building of the city, and to superintend the general concerns of the expedi¬ tion.* ♦Hist, del Almirante, cap 50. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. Lib. ii. cap. 10. Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Letter of Dr. (Jlianca, etc. 238 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . CHAPTER VII. EXPEDITION OP ALONSO DE OJEDA TO EXPLORE THE INTERIOR OP THE ISLAND—DISPATCH OF THE SHIPS TO SPAIN. [1493.] The ships having discharged their cargoes, it was necessary to send the greater part of them hack to Spain. Here new anxieties pressed upon the mind of Columbus. He had hoped to find treasures of gold and precious merchandise accumu¬ lated by the men left behind on the first voyage; or at least the source of wealthy traffic ascertained, by which speedily to freight his vessels. The destruction of the garrison had de¬ feated all those hopes. He was aware of the extravagant ex¬ pectations entertained by the sovereigns and the nation. What would be their disappointment when the returning ships brought nothing but a tale of disaster! Something must be done, before the vessels sailed, to keep up the fame of his dis¬ coveries, and justify his own magnificent representations. As yet he knew nothing of the interior of the island. If it were really the island of Cipango, it must contain populous cities, existing probably in some more cultivated region, beyond the lofty mountains with which it was intersected. All the Indians concurred in mentioning Cibao as the tract of country whence they derived their gold. The very name of its cacique, Caonabo, signifying “The Lord of the Golden House,” seemed to indicate the wealth of his dominions. The tracts where the mines were said to abound lay at a distance of but three or four days’ journey, directly in the interior; Columbus deter¬ mined, therefore, to send an expedition to explore it previous to the sailing of the ships. If the result should confirm his hopes, he would then be able to send home the fleet with confi¬ dence, bearing tidings of the discovery of the golden mountains of Cibao.* The person he chose for this enterprise was Alonso de Ojeda, the same cavalier who has been already noted for his daring spirit and great bodily force and agility. Delighting in all ser¬ vice of a hazardous and adventurous nature, Ojeda was the * Herrera, Hist. Ind., dec. i. lib, ii. cap. 10. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 239 more stimulated to this expedition from the formidable charac¬ ter of the mountain cacique, Caonabo, whose dominions he was to penetrate. He set out from the harbor, early in January, 1494, accompanied by a small force of well-armed and deter¬ mined men, several of them young and spirited cavaliers like I himself. He struck directly southward into the interior. For the two first days the march was toilsome and difficult, through a country abandoned by its inhabitants; for terror of the Spaniards extended along the sea-coast. On the second even¬ ing they came to a lofty range of mountains, which they as¬ cended by an Indian path, winding up a steep and narrow defile, and they slept for the night at the summit. Hence, the next morning, they beheld the sun rise with great glory over a vast and delicious plain covered with noble forests, studded with villages and hamlets, and enlivened by the shining waters of the Yagui. Descending into this plain, Ojeda and his companions boldly entered the Indian village. The inhabitants, far from being hostile, overwhelmed them with hospitality, and, in fact, im¬ peded their journey by their kindness. They had also to ford many rivers in traversing this plain, so that they were five or six days in reaching the chain of mountains which locked up, as it were, the golden region of Cibao. They penetrated into this district, without meeting with any other obstacles than those presented by the rude nature of the country. Caonabo, so re¬ doubtable for his courage and ferocity, must have been in some distant part of his dominions, for he never appeared to dispute their progress. The natives received them with kindness; they were naked and uncivilized, like the other inhabitants of the island, nor were there any traces of the important cities which their imaginations had once pictured forth. They saw, however, ample signs of natural wealth. The sands of the mountain streams glittered with particles of gold; these the natives would skilfully separate, and give to the Spaniards with¬ out expecting a recompense. In some places they picked up large specimens of virgin ore from the beds of the torrents, and stones streaked and richly impregnated with it. Peter Martyr affirms that he saw a mass of rude gold weighing nine ounces, which Ojeda himself had found in one of the brooks.* All these were considered as mere superficial washings of the soil, betraying the hidden treasures lurking in the deep * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. 240 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. veins and rocky bosoms of the mountains, and only requiring the hand of labor to bring them to light. As the object of his expedition was merely to ascertain the nature of the country, Ojeda led back his little band to the harbor, full of enthusiastic accounts of the golden promise of these mountains. A young cavalier of the name of Gorvalan, who had been dispatched at the same time on a similar expedition, and who had explored a different tract of country, returned with similar reports. These flattering accounts served for a time to animate the drooping and desponding colonists, and induced Columbus to believe that it was only necessary to explore the mines of Cibao, to open inexhaustible sources of riches. He determined, as soon as his health would permit, to repair in person to the mountains, and seek a favorable site for a mining establish¬ ment.* The season was now propitious for the return of the fleet, and Columbus lost no time in dispatching twelve of the ships under the command of Antonio de Torres, retaining only five for the service of the colony. By this opportunity he sent home specimens of the gold found among the mountains and rivers of Cibao, and all such fruits and plants as were curious, or appeared to be valuable. . He wrote in the most sanguine terms of the expeditions of Ojeda and Gorvalan, the last of whom returned to Spain in the fleet. He repeated his confident anticipations of soon being able to make abundant shipments of gold, of precious drugs and spices; the search for them being delayed for the present by the sickness of himself and people, and the cares and labors re¬ quired in building the infant city. He described the beauty and fertility of the island; its range of noble mountains; its wide, abundant plains, watered by beautiful rivers; the quick fecundity of the soil., evinced in the luxuriant growth of the sugar-cane, and of various grains and vegetables brought from Europe. As it would take some time, however, to obtain provisions from their fields and gardens, and the produce of their live stock, adequate to the subsistence of the colony, which consist¬ ed of about a thousand souls; and as they could not accustom themselves to the food of the natives, Columbus requested present supplies from Spain. Their provisions were already growing scanty. Much of their wine had been lost from the * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 50. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 241 badness of the casks; and the colonists, in their infirm state of health, suffered greatly from the want of their accustomed diet. There was an immediate necessity of medicines, clothing, and arms. Horses were required likewise for the public works, and for military service; being found of great effect in awing the natives, who had the utmost dread of those animals. He | requested also an additional number of workmen and mechan- i ics, and men skilled in mining and in smelting and purifying ore. He recommended various persons to the notice and favor of the sovereigns, among whom was Pedro Margerite, an Arra- | gonian cavalier of the order of St. Jago, who had a wife and children to be provided for, and who, for his good services, Columbus begged might be appointed to a command in the order to which he belonged. In like manner he entreated pa¬ tronage for Juan Aguado, who was about to return in the fleet, making particular mention of his merits. From both of these men he was destined to experience the most signal ingratitude. In these ships he sent also the men, women, and children taken in the Caribbee Islands, recommending that they should be carefully instructed in the Spanish language and the Chris¬ tian faith. From the roving and adventurous nature of these people, and their general acquaintance with the various lan¬ guages of this great archipelago, he thought that, when the precepts of religion and the usages of civilization had reformed their savage manners and cannibal propensities, they might be rendered eminently serviceable as interpreters, and as means of propagating the doctrines of Christianity. Among the many sound and salutary suggestions in this let¬ ter, there is one of a most pernicious tendency, written in that mistaken view of natural rights prevalent at the day, but fruit¬ ful of much wrong and misery in the world. Considering that the greater the number of these cannibal pagans transferred to the Catholic soil of Spain, the greater would be the number of souls put in the way of salvation, he proposed to establish an exchange of them as slaves, against live stock, to be furnished by merchants to the colony. The ships to bring such stock were to land nowhere but at the Island of Isabella, where the Carib captives would be ready for delivery. A duty was to be levied on each slave for the benefit of the royal revenue. In this way the colony would be furnished with all kinds of live stock free of expense; the peaceful islanders would be freed from warlike and inhuman neighbors; the royal treasury would be greatly enriched; and a vast number of souls would be 242 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. snatched from perdition, and carried, as it were, by main force to heaven. Such is the strange sophistry by which upright men may sometimes deceive themselves. Columbus feared the dis- appointment of the sovereigns in respect to the product of his enterprises, and was anxious to devise some mode of lightening their expenses until he could open some ample source of profit. The conversion of infidels, by fair means or foul, by persua¬ sion or force, was one of the popular tenets of the day; and in recommending the enslaving of the Caribs, Columbus thought that he was obeying the dictates of his conscience, when he was in reality listening to the incitements of his interest. It is but just to add that the sovereigns did not accord with his ideas, but ordered that the Caribs should be converted like the rest of the islanders; a command which emanated from the merci¬ ful heart of Isabella, who ever showed herself the benign pro¬ tectress of the Indians. The fleet put to sea on the 2d of February, 1494. Though it brought back no wealth to Spain, yet expectation was kept alive by the sanguine letter of Columbus, and the specimens of gold which he transmitted; liis favorable accounts were corrob¬ orated by letters from Friar Boyle, Doctor Chanca, and other persons of credibility, and by the personal reports of Gorvalan. The sordid calculations of petty spirits were as yet overruled by the enthusiasm of generous minds, captivated by the lofty nature of these enterprises. There was something wonderfully grand in the idea of thus introducing new races of animals and plants,, of building cities, extending colonies, and sowing the seeds of civilization and of enlightened empire in this beautiful but savage world. It struck the minds of learned and classical men with admiration, filling them with pleasant dreams and- reveries, and seeming to realize the poetical pictures of the olden time. ‘ ‘ Columbus, ” says old Peter Martyr, ‘ ‘ has begun to build a city, as he has lately written to me, and to sow our seeds and propagate our animals! Who of us shall now speak with wonder of Saturn, Ceres, and Triptolemus, travelling about the earth to spread new inventions among mankind? Or of the Phoenicians who built Tyre or Sid on? Or of the Tyrians them¬ selves, whose roving desires led them to migrate into foreign lands, to build new cities, and establish new communities?”* Such were the comments of enlightened'and benevolent men, who hailed with enthusiasm the discovery of the New World, * Letter 153 to Pomponius Leetus. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 243 not for the wealth it would bring to Europe, but for the field it would open for glorious and benevolent enterprise, and the blessings and improvements of civilized life, which it would widely dispense through barbarous and uncultivated regions. I Note, —Isabella at the present day is quite overgrown with forest, in the midst of j which are still to be seen, partly standing, the pillars of the church, some remains i of the king’s storehouses, and part of the residence of Columbus, all built of hewn | stone. The small fortress is also a prominent ruin; and a little north of it is a eir- | cular pillar about ten feet high and as much in diameter, of solid masonry, nearly [entire; which appears to have had a wooden gallery or battlement round the top for the convenience of room, and in the centre of which was planted the flagstaff. I Having discovered the remains of an iron clamp imbedded in the stone, which served to secure the flagstaff itself, I tore it out, and now consign to you this curi¬ ous relic of the first foothold of civilization in the New World, after it has been ex¬ posed to the elements nearly three hundred and fifty years .—From the Letter of T. S. Heneker . CHAPTER VIII. DISCONTENTS AT ISABELLA—MUTINY OF BERNAL DIAZ DE PISA. [1494.] The embryo city of Isabella was rapidly assuming a form. A dry stone wall surrounded it, to protect it from any sudden at¬ tack of the natives, although the most friendly disposition was evinced by the Indians of the vicinity, who brought supplies of their simple articles of food, and gave them in exchange for Euro¬ pean trifles. On the day of the Epiphany, the 6th of February, the church being sufficiently completed, high mass was cele¬ brated with great pomp and ceremony, by Friar Boyle and the twelve ecclesiastics. The affairs of the settlement being thus ap¬ parently in a regular train, Columbus, though still confined by indisposition, began to make arrangements for his contemplated j expedition to the mountains of Cibao, when an unexpected dis- ! turbance in his little community for a time engrossed his at- I tention. * The sailing of the fleet for Spain had been a melancholy sight to many whose terms of enlistment compelled them to remain on the island. Disappointed in their expectations of immediate ! wealth, disgusted with the labors imposed on them, and ap- ' palled by the maladies prevalent throughout the community, they began to look with horror upon the surrounding wilder- i 244 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ness, as destined to be the grave of their hopes and of them* selves. When the last sail disappeared, they felt as if completely severed from their country; and the tender recollections of home, which had been checked for a time by the novelty and bustle around them, rushed with sudden force upon their minds. To return to Spain became their ruling idea, and the same want of reflection which had hurried them into the enterprise, with¬ out inquiring into its real nature, now prompted them to extri¬ cate themselves from it, by any means however desperate. Where popular discontents prevail there is seldom wanting some daring spirit to give them a dangerous direction. One Bernard Diaz de Pisa, a man of some importance, who had held a civil office about the court, had come out with the expedition as comptroller; he seems to have presumed upon liis official powers, and to have had early differences with the admiral. Disgusted with his employment in the colony, he soon made a faction among the discontented, and proposed that they should take advantage of the indisposition of Columbus, to seize upon some or all of the five ships in the harbor, and return in them to Spain. It would be easy to justify their clandestine return, by preferring a complaint against the admiral, representing the fallacy of his enterprises, and accusing him of gross deceptions and exaggerations in his accounts of the countries he had dis¬ covered. It is probable that some of these people really con¬ sidered him culpable of the charges thus fabricated against him; for in the disappointment of their avaricious hopes, they over¬ looked the real value of those fertile islands, which were to en¬ rich nations by the produce of their soil. Every country was sterile and unprofitable in their eyes that did not immediately teem with gold. Though they had continual proofs in the specimens brought by the natives to the settlement, or fur¬ nished to Ojeda and Gorvalan, that the rivers and mountains in the interior abounded with ore, yet even these daily proofs were falsified in their eyes. One Fermin Cedo, a wrong-headed and obstinate man, who had come out as assayer and purifier of metals, had imbibed the same prejudice against the expedi¬ tion with Bernal Diaz. He pertinaciously insisted that there was no gold in the island; or at least that it was found in such inconsiderable quantities as not to repay the search. He de¬ clared that the large grains of virgin ore brought by the natives had been melted; that they had been the slow accumulation of many years, having remained a long time in the families of the Indians, and handed down from generation to generation; LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 245 which in many instances was probably the case. Other speci¬ mens of a large size he pronounced of a very inferior quality, and debased with brass bv the natives. The words of this man outweighed the evidence of facts, and many joined him in the belief that the island was really destitute of gold. It was not until some time afterward that the real character of Fermin Cedo was ascertained, and the discovery made that his igno¬ rance was at least equal to his obstinacy and presumption; qualities apt to enter largely into the compound of a meddle* some and mischievous man. * Encouraged by such substantial co-operation, a number of turbulent spirits concerted to take immediate possession of the ships and make sail for Europe. The influence of Bernal Diaz de Pisa at court would obtain for them a favorable hearing, and they trusted to their unanimous representations, to preju¬ dice Columbus in the opinion of the public, ever fickle in its smiles, and most ready to turn suddenly and capriciously from the favorites it has most idolized. Fortunately this mutiny was discovered before it proceeded to action. Columbus immediately ordered the ringleaders to be arrested. On making investigations, a memorial or infor¬ mation against himself, full of slanders and misrepresentations, was found concealed in the buoy of .one of the ships. It was in the handwriting of Bernal Diaz. The admiral conducted him¬ self with great moderation. Out of respect to the rank and station of Diaz, he forbore to inflict any punishment; but con¬ fined him on board one of the ships, to be sent to Spain for trial, together with the process or investigation of his offence, and the seditious memorial which had been discovered. Sev¬ eral of the inferior mutineers were punished according to the degree of their culpability, but not with the severity which their offence deserved. To guard against any recurrence of a similar attempt, Columbus ordered that all the guns and naval munitions should be taken out of four of the vessels, and put into the principal ship, which was given in charge to persons in whom he could place implicit confidence.! This was the first time Columbus exercised the right of pun¬ ishing delinquents in his new government, and it immediately awakened the most violent animadversions. His measures, though necessary for the general safety, and characterized by * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 120, 122, ms. t Ilerrera, Hist. Ind., deead. i. lib. ii. cap. 11. Hist, del Ahnirante, cap 50. 246 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the greatest lenity, were censured as arbitrary and vindictive. Already the disadvantage of being a foreigner among the people he was to govern was clearly manifested. He had national prejudices to encounter, of all others the most general and il¬ liberal. He had no natural friends to rally round him; where¬ as the mutineers had connections in Spain, friends in the colony, and met with sympathy in every discontented mind. An early hostility was thus engendered against Columbus, which con¬ tinued to increase throughout his life, and the seeds were sown of a series of factions and mutinies which afterward distracted the island. CHAPTER IX. EXPEDITION OF COLUMBUS TO THE MOUNTAINS OF CIBAO. [ 1494 .] Having at length recovered from his long illness, and the mutiny at the settlement being effectually checked, Columbus prepared for his immediate departure for Cibao. He intrusted the command of the city and the ships, during his absence, to his brother Don Diego, appointing able persons to counsel and assist him. Don Diego is represented by Las Casas, who knew him personally, as a man of great merit and discretion, of a gentle and pacific disposition, and more characterized by sim¬ plicity than shrewdness. He was sober in his attire, wearing almost the dress of an ecclesiastic, and Las Casas thinks he had secret hopes of preferment in the church; * indeed Colum¬ bus intimates as much when he mentions him in his will. As the admiral intended to build a fortress in the mountains, and to form an establishment for working the mines, he took with him the necessary artificers, workmen, miners, munitions, and implements. He was also about to enter the territories of the redoubtable Caonabo; it was important, therefore, to take with him a force that should not only secure him against any warlike opposition, but should spread through the country a formidable idea of the power of the white men, and deter the Indians from any future violence, either toward communities * Las Casas. Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 8:3, ms. LIFE OF CURISTPPHEB COLUMBUS. 247 or wandering individuals. Every healthy person, therefore, who could be spared from the settlement, was put in requisi¬ tion, together with all the cavalry that could be mustered-; and every arrangement was made to strike the savages with the display of military splendor. On the 12th of March Columbus set out at the head of about four hundred men well armed and equipped, with shining hel¬ mets and corselets; with arquebuses, lances, swords, and cross¬ bows, and followed by a multitude of the neighboring Indians. They sallied from the city in martial array, with banners flying, and sound of drum and trumpet. Their march for the first day was across the plain between the sea and the mountains, ford¬ ing two rivers, and passing through a fair and verdant coun¬ try. They encamped in the evening, in the midst of pleasant fields, at the foot of a wild and rocky pass of the mountains. The ascent of this rugged defile presented formidable diffi¬ culties to the little army, incumbered as it was with various implements and munitions. There was nothing but an Indian footpath, winding among rocks and precipices, or through brakes and thickets, entangled by the rich vegetation of a tropical forest. A number of high-spirited young cavaliers volunteered to open a route for the army. They had probably learnt this kind of service in the Moorish wars, where it was often necessary on a sudden to open roads for the march of troops, and the conveyance of artillery across the mountains of Granada. Throwing themselves in advance with laborers and pioneers, whom they stimulated by their example, as well as by promises of liberal reward, they soon constructed the first road formed in the New World, and which was called El Puerto de los Hidalgos, or The Gentlemen’s Pass, in honor of the gallant cavaliers who effected it.* On the following day the army toiled up this steep defile, and arrived where the gore of the mountain opened into the interior. Here a land of promise suddenly burst upon their view. It was the same glorious prospect which had delighted Ojeda and his companions. Below lay a vast and delicious plain, painted and enamelled, as it were, with all the rich variety of tropical vegetation. The magnificent forests presented that mingled beauty and majesty of vegetable forms known only to these generous climates. Palms of prodigious height, and spreading ♦Hist, del Almirante, cap. 50. Hidalgo, i.e., Hijo de Algo, literally, “a son of gomebody,” in contradistinction to an obscure and low-born man, a son of nobody. 248 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. mahogany trees, towered from amid a wilderness of variegated foliage. Freshness and verdure were maintained by numerous streams, which meandered gleaming through the deep bosom of the woodland; while various villages and hamlets, peeping from among the trees, and the smoke of others rising out of the midst of the forests, gave signs of a numerous population. The luxuriant landscape extended as far as the eye could reach, until it appeared to melt away and mingle with the horizon. The Spaniards gazed with rapture upon this soft, voluptuous country, which seemed to realize their ideas of a terrestrial paradise; and Columbus, struck with its vast extent, gave it the name of the Yega Real, or Royal Plain.* Having descended the rugged pass, the army issued upon the plain, in martial style, with great clangor of warlike instru¬ ments. When the Indians beheld this shining band of warriors, glittering in steel, emerging from the mountains with prancing steeds and flaunting banners, and heard, for the first time, their rocks and forests echoing to the din of drum and trumpet, they might well have taken such a wonderful pageant for a super¬ natural vision. In this way Columbus disposed of his forces whenever he * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 90, ms. Extract of a Letter from T. S. Heneken, Esq., dated Santiago (St. Dominqo), 20 th September , 1847. The route over which Columbus traced his course from Isabella to the mountains of Cibao exists in all its primitive rudeness. The Puerto de los Hidalgos is still the narrow rugged footpath winding among rocks and precipices, leading through the only practicable defile which traverses the Monte Christi range of mountains in this vicinity, at present called the Pass of Marney • and it is somewhat surprising that, of this first and remarkable footprint of the white man in the New World, there does not at the present day exist the least tradition of its former name or impor¬ tance. The spring of cool and delightful water met with in the gorge, in a deep dark glen overshadowed by palm and mahogany trees, near the outlet where the magnificent Vega breaks upon the view, still continues to quench the thirst of the weary travel¬ ler When I drank from this lonely little fountain, I could hardly .realize the fact that Columbus must likewise have partaken of its sparkling waters, when at the height of his glory, surrounded by cavaliers attired in the gorgeous costumes of the age, and warriors recently from the Moorish wars. ’ Judging by the distance stated to have been travelled over the plain, Columbus must have crossed the Yaqui near or at Ponton; which very likely received its name from the rafts or pontoons employed to-cross the river. Abundance of reeds grow along its banks, and the remains of an Indian village are still very distinctly to be traced in the .vicinity. By this route he avoided two large rivers, the Amina and the Mar, which discharge their waters into the Yaqui opposite Esperanza. The road from Ponton to the River Hanique passes through the defiles of La Cuesta and Nicayagua, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 249 f m » approached a populous village, placing the cavalry in front, for the horses inspired a mingled terror and admiration among the natives. Las Casas observes that at first they supposed the rider and his horse to be one animal, and nothing could exceed their astonishment at seeing the horsemen dismount, a circurn stance which shows that the alleged origin of the ancient fable of the centaurs is at least founded in nature. On the approach of the army the Indians generally fled with terror, and took refuge in their houses. Such was their simplicity, that they merely put up a slight barrier of reeds at the portal, and seemed to consider themselves perfectly secure, Columbus, pleased to meet with such artlessness, ordered that these frail barriers should be scrupulously respected, and the inhabitants allowed to remain in their fancied security.* By degrees their fears were allayed through the mediation of interpreters and the dis¬ tribution of trifling presents. Their kindness and gratitude could not then be exceeded, and the march of the army was continually retarded by the hospitality of the numerous villages through which it passed. Such was the frank communion among these people that the Indians who accompanied the army entered without ceremony into the houses, helping them¬ selves to anything of which they stood in need, without excit¬ ing surprise or anger in the inhabitants; the latter offered to do the same with respect to the Spaniards, and seemed asto¬ nished when they met a repulse. This, it is probable, was the case merely with respect to articles of food; for we are told that the Indians were not careless in their notions of property, and the crime of theft was one of the few which were punished among them with great severity. Food, however, is generally open to free participation in savage life, and is rarely made an object of barter, until habits of trade have been introduced by the white men. The untutored savage in almost every part of the world scorns to make a traffic of hospitality. After a march of five leagues across the plain, they arrived at the banks of a large and beautiful stream, called by the natives Yagui, but to which the admiral gave the name of the River of Reeds. He was not aware that it was the same stream, wdiich, after winding through the Vega, falls into the sea near Monte Christi, and which, in his first voyage, he had named the River of Gold. On its green banks the army encamped for the night, animated and delighted with the beautiful scenes through * Las Casas, lib. sup. li. cap. 90. 250 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. which they had passed. They bathed and sported in the waters of Yagui, enjoying the amenity of the surrounding landscape, and the delightful breezes which prevail in that genial season. “For though there is but little difference,” observes Las Casas, “ from one month to another in all the year in this island, and in most parts of these Indias, yet in the period from September to May, it is like living in paradise. ” 4 ' On the following morning they crossed this stream by the aid of canoes and rafts, swimming the horses over. For two days they continued their march through the same kind of rich level country, diversified by noble forests and watered by abundant streams, several of which descended from the mountains of Cibao, and were said to bring down gold dust mingled with their sands. To one of these, the limpid waters of which ran over a bed Qf smooth round pebbles, Columbus gave the name of Rio Yerde, or Green River, from the verdure and freshness of its banks. Its Indian name was Nicayagua, which it still retains.! In the course of this march they passed through nu¬ merous villages, where they experienced generally the same reception. The inhabitants fled at their approach, putting up their slight barricadoes of reeds, but, as before, they were epsily won to familiarity, and tasked their limited means to entertain the strangers. Thus penetrating into the midst of this great island, where every scene presented the v T ild luxuriance of beautiful but un¬ civilized nature, they arrived on the evening of the second day at a chain of lofty and rugged mountains, forming a kind of barrier to the Vega. These Columbus w r as told were the golden mountains of Cibao, whose region commenced at their rocky summits. The country now beginning to grow rough and diffi¬ cult, and the people being wayworn, they encamped for the night at the foot of a. steep defile, which led up into the moun¬ tains. and pioneers were sent in advance to open a road for the army. From this place they sent back mules for a supply of bread and wine, their provisions beginning to grow scanty, for they had not as yet accustomed themselves to the food of the natives, which was afterward found to be of that fight digestible kind suitable to the climate. On the next morning they resumed their march up a narrow * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 90, ms. + The name of Rio Verde was afterward given to a small stream which crosses tho road from Santiago to La Vega, a branch of the River Yuna. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 251 and steep glen, winding among craggy rocks, where they were obliged to lead the horses. Arrived at the summit, they once more enjoyed a prospect of the delicious Vega, which here pre¬ sented a still grander appearance, stretching far and wide on either hand, like a vast verdant lake. This noble plain, accord¬ ing to Las Casas, is eighty leagues in length, and from twenty to thirty in breadth, and of incomparable beauty. They now entered Cibao, the famous region of gold, which, as if nature delighted in contrarieties, displayed a miser-like poverty of exterior, in proportion to its hidden treasures. In¬ stead of the soft luxuriant landscape of the Vega, they beheld chains of rocky and sterile mountains, scantily clothed with lofty pines. The trees in the valleys also, instead of possessing the rich tufted foliage common to other parts of the island, were meagre and dwarfish, excepting such as grew on the banks of streams. The very name of the country bespoke the nature of the soil—Cibao, in the language of the natives, signifying a stone. Still, however, there were deep glens and shady ravines among the mountains, watered by limpid rivulets, where the green herbage and strips of woodland were the more delightful to the eye from the neighboring sterility. But what consoled the Spaniards for the asperity of the soil, was to observe among the sands of those crystal streams glittering particles oi gold, which, though scanty in quantity, were regarded as earnests of the wealth locked up within the mountains. The natives having been previously visited by the exploring party under Ojeda, came forth to meet them with great alacrity, bringing food, and, above all, grains and particles of gold col¬ lected in the brooks and torrents. From the quantities of gold dust in every stream, Columbus was convinced there must be several mines in the vicinity. He had met with specimens of amber and lapis lazuli, though in very small quantities, and thought that he had discovered a mine of copper. He was now about eighteen leagues from the settlement; the rugged nature of the mountains made communicatiou, even from this dis¬ tance, laborious. He gave up the idea, therefore, of penetrat- * ing farther into the country, and determined to establish a fortified post in this neighborhood, with a large number of men, as well to work the mines as to explore the rest of tho province. He accordingly selected a pleasant situation on an eminence almost entirely surrounded by a small river called the Yanique, the waters of which were as pure as if distilled, and the sound of its current musical to the ear. In its bed were 252 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. found curious stones of various colors, large masses of beautiful marble, and pieces of pure jasper. From the foot of the height extended one of those graceful and verdant plains, called savan¬ nas, which was freshened and fertilized by the river.* On this eminence Columbus ordered a strong fortress of wood to be erected, capable of defence against any attack of the natives, and protected by a deep ditch on the side which the river did not secure. To this fortress he gave the name of St. Thomas, intended as a pleasant, though pious, reproof of the •incredulity of Firmin Cedo and his doubting adherents, who obstinately refused to believe that the island produced gold, until they beheld it with their eyes and touched it with their hands, f The natives, having heard of the arrival of the Spaniards in their vicinity, came flocking from various parts, anxious to obtain European trinkets. The admiral signified to them that * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 90, ms. t Ibid. From the Letter of T. S. Heneken, Esq., 1847. « Traces of the old fortress of St. Thomas still exist, though, as. has happened to the Puerta de los Hidalgos, all tradition concerning it has long been lost. Having visited a small Spanish village known by the name of Hanique, situated on the banks of that stream, I heard by accident the name of a farm at no great distance, called La Fortaleza. This excited my curiosity, and I proceeded to the spot, a short distance up the river; yet nothing could be learned from the inhabi¬ tants; it was only by ranging the river’s banks, through a dense and luxuriant for-' est. that I by accident stumbled upon the site of the fortress. The remarkable turn in the river; the ditch, still very perfect; the entrance and the covert ways on each side for descending to the river, with a fine esplanade of beautiful short grass in front, complete the picture described by Las Casas. The square occupied by the fort is now completely covered with forest trees, un- distinguishable from those of the surrounding country; which corresponds to this day exactly with the description given above, three centuries since, by Columbus, Ojeda, and Juan de Luxan. The only change to notice is, that the neat little Indian villages, swarming with an innocent and happy population, have totally disappeared; there being at present only a few scattered huts of indigent Spaniards to be met with, buried in the gloom of the mountains, > The traces of those villages are rarely to be discovered at the present day. The situation of one near Ponton was well chosen for defence, being built on a high bank between deep and precipitous ravines. A large square occupied the centre; in the rear of each dwelling were thrown the sweepings of the apartments and the ashes from the fires, which form a line of mounds, mixed up with broken Indian utensils. As it lies in the direct road from Isabella. Cibao, and La Vega, and com¬ mands the best fording place in the neighborhood for crossing the River Yaqui in dry seasons, it must, no doubt, have been a place of considerable resort at the time of the discovery—most likely a pontoon or large canoe was stationed here for the facility of communication between St. Thomas and Isabella, whqnce it derived its name. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 253 % anything would be given in exchange for gold; upon hearing this some of them ran to a neighboring river, and gathering and sifting its sands, returned in a little while with considera¬ ble quantities of gold dust. One old man brought two pieces of virgin ore, weighing an ounce, and thought himself richly repaid when he received a hawk’s bell. On remarking that the admiral was struck with the size of these specimens, he affected to treat them with contempt, as insignificant, intimating by signs that in his country, which lay within half a day’s journey, they found pieces of gold as big as an orange. Other Indians brought grains of gold weighing ten and twelve drachms, and declared that in the country whence they got them, there were masses of ore as large as the head of a child.* As usual, how¬ ever, these golden tracts were always in some remote valley, or along some rugged and sequestered stream; and the wealthiest spot was sure to be at the greatest distance—for the land of promise is ever beyond the mountain. CHAPTER X. EXCURSION OF JUAN DE LUXAN AMONG THE MOUNTAINS—CUSTOMS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIVES—COLUMBUS RETURNS TO ISABELLA. [ 1494 .] While the admiral remained among the mountains, superin¬ tending the building of the fortress, he dispatched a young cavalier of Madrid, named Juan de Luxan, with a small band of armed men, to range about the country, and explore the whole of the province, which, from the reports of the Indians, appeared to be equal in extent to the kingdom of Portugal. Luxan returned, after a few days’ absence, with the most satis¬ factory accounts. He had traversed a great part of Cibao, which he found more capable of cultivation than had at first been imagined. It was generally mountainous, and the soil covered with large round pebbles of a blue color, yet there was good pasturage in many of the valleys. The mountains, also, ♦Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iii. 254 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. being watered by frequent showers, produced: grass of surprise ingly quick and luxuriant growth, often reaching to the saddles of the horses. The forests seemed to Luxan to be full of valu¬ able spices; he being deceived by the odors emitted by those aromatic plants and herbs which abound in the woodlands of the tropics. There were great vines also, climbing to the very summits of the trees, and bearing clusters of grapes entirely ripe, full of juice, and of a pleasant flavor. Every valley and glen possessed its stream, large or small, according to the size of the neighboring mountain, and all yielding more or less gold, in small particles. Luxan was supposed, likewise, to have learned from the Indians many of the secrets of their mountains; to have been shown the parts where the greatest quantity of ore was found, and to have been taken to the rich¬ est streams. On all these points, however, he observed a dis¬ creet mystery, communicating the particulars to no one but the admiral.* The fortress of St. Thomas being nearly completed, Columbus gave it in command to Pedro Margarite, the same cavalier whom he had recommended to the favor of the sovereigns; and he left with him a garrison of fifty-six men. He then set out on his return to Isabella. On arriving at the banks of the Rio Verde, or Nicayagua, in the Royal Vega, he found a number of Spaniards on their way to the fortress with supplies. He remained, therefore, a few days in the neighborhood, searching for the best fording place of the river, and establishing a route between the fortress and the harbor. During this time he resided in the Indian villages, endeavoring to accustom his people to the food of the natives, as well as to inspire the latter with a mingled feeling of good will and reverence for the white men. From the report of Luxan, Columbus had derived some in¬ formation concerning the character and customs of the natives, and he acquired still more from his own observations, in the course of his sojourn among the tribes of the mountains and the plains. And here a brief notice of a few of the charac¬ teristics and customs of these people may be interesting. They are given, not merely as observed by the admiral and his offi¬ cers during this expedition, but as recorded some time after¬ ward, in a crude dissertation, by a friar of the name of Roman; * Peter Martj-r, decad. i. lib. iii LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 255 i a poor hermit, as ho styled himself, of the order of the leronb mites, who was one of the colleagues of Father Boyle, and re¬ sided for some time in the Vega as a missionary. Columbus had already discovered the error of one of his opinions concerning these islanders, formed during his first voyage. They were not so entirely-pacific, nor so ignorant of warlike arts, as he had imagined. He had been deceived by the enthusiasm of his own feelings, and by the gentleness of Gua- canagari and liis subjects. The casual descents of the Caribs had compelled the inhabitants of the sea-shore to acquaint themselves with the use of arms. Some of the mountain tribes near the coast, particularly those on the side which looked toward the Caribbee Islands, were of a more hardy and war¬ like character than those of the plains. Caonabo, also, the Carib chieftain, had introduced something of his own warrior spirit into the centre of the island. Yet, generally speaking, the habits of the people were mild and gentle. If wars some¬ times occurred among them, they were of short duration, and unaccompanied by any great effusion of blood; and, in general, they mingled amicably and hospitably with each other. Columbus had also at first indulged in the error that the natives of Hayti were destitute of all notions of religion, and he had consequently flattered himself that it would be the easier to introduce into their minds the doctrines of Christi¬ anity ; not aware that it is more difficult to light up the fire of devotion in the cold heart of an atheist, than to direct the flame to a new object, when it is already enkindled. There are few beings, however, so destitute of reflection as not to be im¬ pressed with the conviction of an overruling deity. A nation of atheists never existed. It was soon discovered that these islanders had their creed, though of a vague and simple nature. They believed in one supreme being, inhabiting the sky, who was immortal, omnipotent, and invisible; to whom they as¬ cribed an origin, who had a mother, but no father.* They never addressed their worship directly to him, but employed inferior deities, called Zemes, as messengers mnd mediators. Each cacique had his tutelar deity of his order, whom he in¬ voked and pretended to. consult in all his public undertakings, and who was reverenced by his people. He had a house apart, as a temple to this deity, in which was an image of his Zemi * Escritura de Fr. Roman. Hist, del Almirante. 256 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. carved of wood or stone, or shaped of clay or cotton, and gen¬ erally of some monstrous and hideous form. Each family and each individual* had likewise a particular Zemi, or protecting I genius, like the Lares and Penates of the ancients. They were placed in every part of their houses, or carved on their furni¬ ture; some had them of a small size, and bound them about \ their foreheads when they went to battle. They believed their Zemes to be transferable, with all their powers, and often stole j them from each other. When the Spaniards came among them, they often hid their idols, lest they should be taken away. They believed that these Zemes presided over every object in nature, each having a particular charge or govern¬ ment. They influenced the seasons and the elements, causing sterile or abundant years; exciting hurricanes and whirlwinds, and tempests of rain and thunder, or sending sweet and tem¬ perate breezes and fruitful showers. They governed the seas | and forests, the springs and fountains; like the Nereids, the Dryads, and Satyrs of antiquity. They gave success in hunt¬ ing and fishing;. they guided the waters of the •mountains into safe channels, and led them down to wander through the | plains, in gentle brooks and peaceful rivers; or, if incensed, they caused them to burst forth into rushing torrents and over¬ whelming floods, inundating and laying waste the valleys. The natives had their Butios, or priests, who pretended to hold communion with these Zemes. They practised rigorous fasts and ablutions, and inhaled the powder, or drank the in¬ fusion, of a certain herb,* which produced a temporary intoxi¬ cation or delirium. In the course of this process, they pro¬ fessed to have trances and visions, and that the Zemes revealed to them future events, or instructed them in the treatment of maladies. They were, in general, great herbalists, and well ac¬ quainted with the medicinal properties of trees and vegetables. They cured diseases through their knowledge of simples, but always with many mysterious rites and ceremonies, and sup¬ posed charms; chanting and burning a light in the chamber of the patient, and pretending to exorcise the malady, to expel it from the mansion, and to send it to the sea or to the moun¬ tain.* Their bodies were painted or tattooed with figures of the Zemes, which were regarded with horror by the Spaniards, as * Oviedo, Cronic., lib. v. cap. 1. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 2fit so many representations of the devil; and the Butios, esteemed as saints by the natives, were abhorred by the former as necro¬ mancers. These Butios often assisted the caciques in practis- 7ng deceptions upon their subjects, speaking oracularly through the Zemes, by means of hollow tubes; inspiriting the Indians to battle by predicting success, or dealing forth such promises or menaces as might suit the purposed of the chieftain. There is but one of their solemn religious ceremonies of which any record exists. The cacique proclaimed a day when a kind of festival was to be held in honor of his Zemes. His subjects assembled from all parts, and formed a solemn procession; the married men and women decorated with their most precious ornaments, the young females entirely naked. The cacique, or the principal personage, marched at their head, beating a kind of drum. In this way they proceeded to the consecrated house or temple, in which were set up the images of the Zemes. Arrived at the door, the cacique seated himself on the outside, continuing to beat his drum while the procession entered, the females carrying baskets of cakes ornamented with flowers, and singing as they advanced. These offerings were received by the Butios with loud cries, or rather howlings. They broke the cakes, after they had been offered to the Zemes, and distri¬ buted the portions to the heads of families, who preserved them carefully throughout the year, as preventive of all ad' verse accidents. This done, the females danced, at a given signal, singing songs in honor of the Zemes, or in praise of the heroic actions of their ancient caciques. The whole ceremony finished by invoking the Zemes to watch over and protect the nation.* Besides the Zemes, each cacique had three idols or talismans, which were mere stones, out which were held in great revei * ence by themselves and their subjects. One they supposed had the power to produce abundant harvests, another to re¬ move all pain from women in travail, and the third to call forth rain or sunshine. Three of these were sent home by Co¬ lumbus to the sovereigns.! The ideas of the natives with respect to the creation were vague and undefined. They gave their OAvn island of Hayti priority of existence over all others, and believed that the sun i * Charlevoix-. Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. p. 56. + Hist, del Alma-ante, e^p. 61. 258 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP US, and moon originally issued out of a cavern in the island to give light to the world. This cavern still exists, about seven or eight leagues from Cape Frangais, now Cape Haytien, and is known by the name of La Voute a Minguet. It is about one hundred and fifty feet in depth, and nearly the same in height, but very narrow. It receives no light but from the entrance, and from a round hole in the roof, fvhence it was said the sun and moon issued forth to take their places in the sky. The vault was so fair and regular, that it appeared a work of art rather than of nature. In the time of Charlevoix the figures of various Zemes were still to be seen cut in the rocks, and there were the re¬ mains of niches, as if to receive statues. This cavern was held in great veneration. It was painted, and adorned with green branches, and other simple decorations. There were in it two images or Zemes. When there was a want of rain, the natives made pilgrimage and processions to it, with songs and dances, bearing offerings of fruits and flowers.* They believed that mankind issued from another cavern, the large men from a great aperture, the small men from a little cranny. They were for a long time destitute of women, but wandering on one occasion near a small lake, they saw certain animals among the branches of the trees, which proved to be women. On attempting to catch them, however, they were found to be as slippery as eels, so that it was impossible to hold them. At length they employed certain men, whose hands were rendered rough by a kind of leprosy. These succeeded in securing four of these slippery females, from whom the world was peopled. While the men inhabited this cavern, they dared only ven¬ ture forth at night, for the sight of the sun was fatal to them, turning them into trees and stones. A cacique, named Vago- niona, sent one of his men forth from the cave to fish, who lingering at his sport until the sun had risen, was turned into a bird of melodious note, the same which Columbus mistook for the nightingale. They added, that yearly about the time he had suffered this transformation, he came in the night with a mournful song, bewailing his misfortune; which was the cause why that bird always sang in the night season, f Like most savage nations, they had a tradition concerning the universal deluge, equally fanciful with most of the preced- * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. p. 60. + Fray Roman. Hist, del Almirante. P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 259 ing; for it is singular how the human mind, in its natural state, is apt to account, by trivial and familiar causes, for great events. They said that there once lived in the island a mighty cacique, who slew his only son for conspiring against him. He afterward collected and picked his bones, and preserved them in a gourd, as was the custom of the natives with the relics of their friends. On a subsequent day, the cacique and his wife opened the gourd to contemplate the bones of their son, when, to their astonishment, several fish, great and small, leaped out. Upon this the cacique closed the gourd, and placed it on the top of his house, boasting that he had the sea shut up within it, and could have fish whenever he pleased. Four brothers, however, who had been born at the same birth, and were curious inter¬ meddlers, hearing of this gourd, came during the absence of the cacique to peep into it. In their carelessness they suffered it to fall upon the ground, where it was dashed to pieces; when, lo! to their astonishment and dismay, there issued forth a mighty flood, with dolphins, and sharks, and tumbling por¬ poises, and great spouting whales; and the water spread, until it overflowed the earth, and formed the ocean, leaving only the tops of the mountains uncovered, which are the present islands.* They had singular modes of treating the dying and the dead. When the life of a cacique was despaired of, they strangled him out of a principle of respect, rather than suffer him to die like the vulgar. Common people were extended in their ham¬ mocks, bread and water placed at their head, and they were then abandoned to die in solitude. Sometimes they were car¬ ried to the cacique, and if he permitted them the distinction, they were strangled. After death the body of a cacique was opened, dried at a fire, and preserved; of others the head only was treasured up as a memorial, or occasionally a limb. Some¬ times the whole body was interred in a cave, with a calabash of water and a loaf of bread; sometimes it was consumed with fire in the house of the deceased. They had confused and uncertain notions of the existence of the soul when separated from the body. They believed in the apparitions of the departed at night, or by daylight in solitary places, to lonely individuals; sometimes advancing as if to at¬ tack them, but upon the traveller’s striking at them they van¬ ished, and he struck merely against trees or rocks. Sometimes * Escritura de Fray Roman, pobre Heremito. 260 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. they mingled among the living, and were only to be known by having no navels. The Indians, fearful of meeting with those apparitions, disliked to go about alone, and in the dark. They had an idea of a place of reward, to which the spirits of good men repaired after death, where they were reunited to the spirits of those they had most loved during life, and to all their ancestors. Here they enjoyed uninterruptedly, and in perfec¬ tion, those pleasures which constituted their felicity on earth. They lived in shady and blooming bowers, with beautiful wo¬ men, and banqueted on delicious fruits. The paradise of these happy spirits was variously placed, almost every tribe assign¬ ing some favorite spot in their native province. Many, how¬ ever, concurred in describing this region as being near a lake in the western part of the island, in the beautiful province of Xaragua. Hero there were delightful valleys, covered with a delicate fruit called the marney, about the size of an apricot. They imagined that the souls of the deceased remained con¬ cealed among the airy and inaccessible cliffs of the mountains during the day, but descended at night into these happy valleys, to regale on this consecrated fruit. The living were sparing, therefore, in eating it, lest the souls of their friends should suf¬ fer from want of their favorite nourishment.* The dances to which the natives seemed so immoderately addicted, and which had been at first considered by the Span¬ iards mere idle pastimes, were found to be often ceremonials of a serious and mystic character. They form indeed a singu¬ lar and important feature throughout the customs of the aborig¬ inals of the New World. In these are typified, by signs well understood by the initiated, and, as it were, by hieroglyphic action, their historical events, their projected enterprises, their hunting, their ambuscades, and their battles, resembling in some respects the Pyrrhic dances of the ancients. Speaking of the prevalence of these dances among the natives of Hayti, Peter Martyr observes that they performed them to the chant of certain metres and ballads, handed down from generation to generation, in which were rehearsed the deeds of their ances¬ tors. “ These rhymes or ballads,” he adds, ‘‘ they call areytos; and as our minstrels are accustomed to sing to the harp and lute, so do they in like manner sing these songs, and dance to the same, playing on timbrels made of shells of certain fishes. *Hist. del Almirante, cap. 61. Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix. Charlevoix. Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. B- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 281 These timbrels they call maguey. They have also songs and ballads of love, and others of lamentation or mourning; some also to encourage them to the Avars, all sung to tunes agreeable to the matter. ” It was for these dances, as has been already observed, that they Avere so eager to procure hawks’ bells, sus¬ pending them about then* persons, and keeping time with their sound to the cadence of the singers. This mode of dancing to a ballad has been compared to the dances of the peasants in Flanders during the summer, and to those prevalent through¬ out Spain to the sound of the castanets, and the Avild popular chants said to be derived from the Moors; but which, in fact, existed before their invasion among the Goths who overran the peninsula.* The earliest history of almost all nations has generally been preserved by rude heroic rhymes and ballads, and by the lays of the minstrels; and such Avas the case with the areytos of the Indians. “ When a cacique died,” says Oviedo, “they sang in dirges his life and actions, and all the good that he had done Avas recollected. Thus they formed the ballads or areytos Avhich constituted their history.”! Some of these ballads Avere of a sacred character, containing their traditional notions of theology, and the superstitions and fables which comprised their religious creeds. None Avere permitted to sing these but the sons of caciques, Avho were instructed in them by their Butios. They were chanted before the people on solemn festi¬ vals, like those already described, accompanied by the sound of a kind of drum, made from a holloAv tree. J Such are a few of the characteristics remaining on record of these simple people, who perished from the face of the earth before their customs and creeds were thought of sufficient im¬ portance to be investigated. The present work does not profess to enter into detailed accounts of the countries and people dis¬ covered by Columbus, otherAvise than as they may be useful for the illustration of his history; and perhaps the foregoing are carried to an unnecessary length, but they may serve to give greater interest to the subsequent transactions of the island. Many of these particulars, as has been observed, were col- * Mariana, Hist. Esp., lib. v. cap. 1. ' t Oviedo, Cron, de las Indias, lib. v. cap. 3. } Fray Roman. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 61. P. Martyr, de< i. i. lib. ix. Her¬ rera., Hist. Iud., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 4. Oviedo, lib. v. cap.l. 262 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. lected by the admiral and his officers, during their excursion among the mountains and their sojourn in the plain. The natives appeared to them a singularly idle and improvident race, indifferent to most of the objects of human anxiety and toil. They were impatient of all kinds of labor, scarcely giving themselves the trouble to cultivate the yuca root, the maize, and the potato, which formed the main articles of subsistence. For the rest, their streams abounded with fish; they caught the utia or coney, the guana, and various birds; and they had a perpetual banquet from the fruits spontaneously produced by their groves. Though the air was sometimes cold among the mountains, yet they preferred submitting to a little temporary suffering rather than take the trouble to weave garments from the gossampine cotton which abounded in their forests. Thus they loitered away existence in vacant inactivity, under the shade of their trees, or amusing themselves occasionally with various games and dances. In fact, they were destitute of powerful motives to toil, being free from most of those wants which doom mankind in civi¬ lized life, or in less genial climes, to incessant labor. They had no sterile winter to provide against, particularly in the valleys and the plains, where, according to Peter Martyr, ‘ ‘ the island enjoyed perpetual spring-time, and was blessed with continual summer and harvest. The trees preserved their leaves through¬ out the year, and the meadows continued always green.” “There is no province, nor any region,” he again observes, “which is not remarkable for the majesty of its mountains, the fruitfulness of its vales, the pleasantness of its hills, and delightful plains, with abundance of fair rivers running through them. There never was any noisome animal found in it, nor yet any ravening four-footed beast; no lion, nor bear; no fierce tigers, nor crafty foxes, nor devouring wolves, but all things blessed and fortunate.” * In the soft region of the Vega, the circling seasons brought each its store of fruits; and while some were gathered in full maturity, others were ripening on the boughs, and buds and blossoms gave promise of still future abundance. Wliat need was there of garnering up and anxiously providing for coming days, to men who lived in a perpetual harvest? What need, too, of toilfully spinning or laboring at the loom, where a genial * Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. ix., translated by R. Eden. London, 1555.. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 263 temperature prevailed throughout the year, and neither nature nor custom prescribed the necessity of clothing? The hospitality which characterizes men in such a simple and easy mode of existence, was evinced toward Columbus and his followers during their sojourn in the Vega. Wherever they went it was a continual scene of festivity and rejoicing. The natives hastened from all parts, bearing presents, and laying the treasures of their gfoves, and streams, and mountains, at the feet of beings whom they still considered as descended from the skies to bring blessings to their island. Having accomplished the purposes of his residence in the Yega, Columbus, at the end of a few days, took leave of its hospitable inhabitants, and resumed his march for the harbor, returning with his little army through the lofty and rugged gorge of the mountains called the Pass of the Hidalgos. As we accompany him in imagination over the rocky height, whence the Yega first broke upon the eye of the Europeans, we cannot help pausing to cast back a look of mingled pity and admira¬ tion over this beautiful but devoted region. The dream of natural liberty, of ignorant content, and loitering idleness, was as yet unbroken, but the fiat had gone forth; the white man had penetrated into the land; avarice, and pride, and ambition, and pining care, and sordid labor, and withering poverty, were soon to follow, and the indolent paradise of the Indian was about to disappear forever. CHAPTER XI. ARRIVAL OF COLUMBUS AT ISABELLA—SICKNESS OF THE COLONY. [1494.] On the 29th of March Columbus arrived at Isabella, higlily satisfied with his expedition into the interior. The appearance of everything in the vicinity of the harbor was calculated to increase his anticipations of prosperity. The plants and fruits of the Old World, which he was endeavoring to introduce into the island, gave promise of rapid increase. The orchards, fields, and gardens were in a great state of forwardness. The seeds of various fruits had produced young plants; the sugar-cane I 264 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. had prospered exceedingly; a native vine, trimmed and dressed with care, had yielded grapes of tolerable flavor, and cuttings from European vines already began to form their clusters. On the 30th of March a husbandman brought to Columbus ears of wheat which had been sown in the latter part of January. The smaller kind of garden herbs came to maturity in sixteen days, and the larger kind, such as melons, gourds, pompions, and cu¬ cumbers, were fit for the table within a month after the seed had been put into the ground. The soil, moistened by brooks and rivers and frequent showers, and stimulated by an ardent sun, possessed those principles of quick and prodigal fecundity which surprise the stranger, accustomed to less vigorous climates. The admiral had scarcely returned to Isabella when a mes¬ senger arrived from Pedro Margarite, the commander at fort St. Thomas, informing him that the Indians of the vicinity had manifested unfriendly feelings, abandoning their villages and shunning all intercourse with the white men; and that Caona- bo was assembling his warriors, and. preparing to attack the fortress. The fact was, that the moment the admiral had de¬ parted, the Spaniards, no longer awed by his presence, had, as usual, listened only to their passions, and exasperated the natives by wresting from them their gold, and wronging them with respect to their*women. Caonabo also had seen with impa¬ tience these detested intruders, planting their standard in the very midst of his mountains, and he knew that he had nothing to expect from them but vengeance. The tidings from Margarite, however, caused but little solici¬ tude in the mind of Columbus. From'what he had seen of the Indians in the interior, he had no apprehensions from their hos¬ tility. He knew their weakness and their awe of white men, and above all, he confided in their terror of the horses, which they regarded as ferocious beasts of prey, obedient to the Spaniards, but ready to devour their enemies. Pie contented himself, therefore, with sending Margarite a reinforcement of twenty men, with a supply of provisions and ammunition, and detaching thirty men to open a road between the fortress and the port. What gave Columbus real and deep anxiety was the sick¬ ness, the discontent, and dejection which continued to increase in the settlement. The same principles of heat and humidity which gave such fecundity to the fields were fatal to the people. The exhalations from undrained marshes, and a vast continuity LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 265 of forest, and the action of a burning sun upon a reeking vege¬ table soil, produced intermittent fevers, and various other of the maladies so trying to European constitutions in the uncul¬ tivated countries of the tropics. Many of the Spaniards suf¬ fered also under the torments of a disea-se hitherto unknown to them, the scourge, as was supposed, of their licentious inter¬ course with the Indian females; but the origin of which, whether American or European, has been a subject of great dispute. Thus the greater part of the colonists were either con¬ fined by positive illness or reduced to great debility. The stock of medicines was soon exhausted; there was a lack of medical aid, and of the watchful attendance which is even more important than medicine to the sick. Every one who was well, was either engrossed by the public labors, or by his own wants or cares; having to perform all menial offices for himself, even to the cooking of his provisions. The public works, therefore, languished, and it was impossible to cultivate the soil in a sufficient degree to produce a supply of the fruits of the earth. Provisions began to fail, much of the stores brought from Europe had been wasted on board ship, or sub fered to spoil through carelessness, and much had perished on shore from the warmth and humidity of the climate. It seemed impossible for the colonists to accommodate themselves to the food of the natives; and their infirm condition required the aliments to which they had been accustomed. To avert an absolute famine, therefore, it was necessary to put the people on a short allowance, even of the damaged and unhealthy pro¬ visions which remained. This immediately caused loud and factious murmurs, in which many of those in office, who ought to have supported Columbus in his measures for the common safety, took a leading part; among those was Father Boyle, a priest as turbulent as he was crafty. He had ’been irritated, it is said, by the rigid impartiality of Columbus, who, in enforc¬ ing his salutary measures, made no distinction of rank or per¬ sons, and put the friar and his household on a short allowance as well as the rest of the community. In the midst of this general discontent, the bread began to grow scarce. The stock of flour was exhausted, and there was no mode of grinding corn but by the tedious and toilsome pro¬ cess of the hand-mill. It became necessary, therefore, to erect a mill immediately, and other works were required equally important to the welfare of the settlement. Many of the workmen, however, were ill, some feigning greater sickness 266 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. than they really suffered; for there was a general disinclina¬ tion to all kind of labor which was not to produce immediate wealth. In this emergency, Columbus put every healthy per¬ son in requisition; and as the cavaliers and gentlemen of rank required food as well as the lower orders, they were called upon to take their share in the common labor. This was considered a cruel degradation by many youthful hidalgos of high blood and haughty spirit, and they refused to obey the summons. Columbus, however, was a strict disciplinarian, and felt the importance of making his authority respected. He resorted, therefore, to strong and compulsory measures, and enforced their obedience. This was another cause of the deep and last¬ ing hostilities that sprang up against him. It aroused the im¬ mediate indignation of every person of birth and rank in the colony, and drew upon him the resentment of several of the proud families of Spain. He was inveighed against as an arro¬ gant and upstart foreigner, who, inflated with a sudden acqui¬ sition of power, and consulting only his own wealth and ag- f randizement, was trampling upon the rights and dignities of panish gentlemen, and insulting the honor of the nation. Columbus may have been too strict and indiscriminate in his regulations. There are cases in which even justice may become oppressive, and where the severity of the law should be tem¬ pered with indulgence. What was mere toilsome labor to a common man, became humiliation and disgrace when forced upon a Spanish cavalier. Many of these young men had come out, not in the pursuit of wealth, but with romantic dreams in¬ spired by his own representations; hoping, no doubt, to dis¬ tinguish themselves by heroic achievements and chivalrous adventure, and to continue in the Indies the career of arms which they had commenced in the recent wars of Granada. Others had been brought up in soft, luxurious indulgence, m the midst of opulent families, and were little calculated for the rude perils of the seas, the fatigues of the land, and the hardships, the exposures, and deprivations which attend a new settlement in the wilderness. When they fell ill, their case soon became incurable. The ailments of the body were in¬ creased by sickness of the heart. They suffered under the irri tation of wounded pride, and the morbid melancholy of disap¬ pointed hope; their sick-bed was destitute of all the tender care and soothing attention to which they had been accus¬ tomed ; and they sank into the grave in all the sullenness of despair, cursing the day of their departure from their country. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 267 The venerable Las Casas, and Herrera after him, record, with much solemnity, a popular belief current in the island at the time of his residence there, and connected with the untimely fate of these cavaliers. In after years, when the seat of the colony was removed from Isabella 6n account of its unhealthy situation, the city fell to ruin, and was abandoned. Like all decayed and deserted places, it soon became an object of awe and superstition to the common people, and no one ventured to enter its gates. Those who passed near it, or hunted the wild swine which abounded in the neighborhood, declared they heard appalling voices issue from within its walls by night and day. The laborers became fearful, therefore, of cultivating the adjacent fields. The story went, adds Las Casas, that two Spaniards happened one day to wander among the ruined edifices of the place. On entering one of the solitary streets, they beheld two rows of men, evi¬ dently, from their stately demeanor, hidalgos of noble blood, and cavaliers of the court. They were richly attired in the old Castilian mode, with rapiers by their sides, and broad travelling hats, such as were worn at the time. The two men were asto¬ nished to behold persons of their rank and appearance ap¬ parently inhabiting that desolate place, unknown to the people of the island. They saluted them, and inquired whence they came and when they had arrived. The cavaliers maintained a gloomy silence, but courteously returned the salutation by raising their hands to their sombreros or hats, in taking oif which their heads came off also, and their bodies stood decapi¬ tated. The whole phantom assemblage then vanished. So great was the astonishment and horror of the beholders, that they had nearly fallen dead, and remained stupefied for several days.* The foregoing legend is curious, as illustrating the supersti¬ tious character of the age, and especially of the people with whom Columbus had to act. It shows, also, the deep and gloomy impression made upon the minds of the common people by the death of these cavaliers, which operated materially to increase the unpopularity of Columbus; as it was mischievously represented, that they had been seduced from their homes by his delusive promises, and sacrificed to his private interests. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap 92, ms. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 12 268 LIFE OF CHRISTO FILER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XII. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPANISH FORCES IN THE INTERIOR- PREPARATIONS FOR A VOYAGE TO CUBA. . [ 1494 .] The increasing discontents of the motle population of Isa¬ bella and the rapid consumption of the scanty stores which remained, were causes of great anxiety to Columbus. He was desirous of proceeding on another voyage of discovery, but it was indispensable, before sailing, to place the affairs of the island in such a state as to secure tranquillity. He determined, therefore, to send all the men that could be spared from Isa¬ bella, into the interior; with orders to visit the territories of the different caciques, and explore the island. By this means they would be roused and animated; they would become ac¬ customed to the climate and to the diet of the natives, and such a force would be displayed as to overawe the machinations of Caonabo or any other hostile cacique. In pursuance of this plan, every healthy person, not absolutely necessary to the concerns of the city or the care of the sick, was put under arms, and a little army mustered, consisting of two hundred and fifty cross-bow men, one hundred and ten arquebusiers, sixteen horsemen, and twenty officers. The general command of the forces was intrusted to Pedro Margarite, in whom Columbus had great confidence as a noble Catalonian, and a knight of the order of Santiago. Alonso de Ojeda was to conduct the army to the fortress of St. Thomas, where he was to succeed Mar¬ garite in the command; and the latter was to proceed with the main body of the troops on a military tour, in which he was particularly to explore the province of Cibao, and subsequently the other parts of the island. Columbus wrote a long and earnest letter of instructions to Margarite, by which to govern himself in a service requiring such great circumspection. He charged him a bove all things to observe the greatest justice and discretion in respect to the Indians, protecting them from all wrong and insult, and treat¬ ing them in such a manner as to secure their confidence and friendship. At.the same time they were to be made to respect the property of the white men, and all thefts were to be severely punished. Whatever provisions were required from them for LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 269 the subsistence of the army, were to he fairly purchased by persons whom the admiral appointed for that purpose; the purchases were to be made in the presence of the agent of the comptroller. If the Indians refused to sell the necessary pro¬ visions, then Margarite was to interfere and compel them to do so, acting, however, with all possible gentleness, and soothing them by kindness and caresses. No traffic was to be allowed between individuals and the natives, it being displeasing to the sovereigns and injurious to the service; and it was always to be kept in mind that their majesties were more desirous of the conversion of the natives than of any riches to be derived from them. A strict discipline was to be maintained in the army, all breach of orders to be severely punished, the men to be kept together and not suffered to wander from the main body, either singly or in small parties, lest they should be cut off by the natives; for though these people were pusillanimous, there were no people so apt to be perfidious and cruel as cowards.* These judicious instructions, which, if followed, might have preserved an amicable intercourse with the natives, are more especially deserving of notice, because Margarite disregarded them all, and by his disobedience brought trouble on the colony, obloquy on the nation, destruction on the Indians, and un¬ merited censure on Columbus. In addition to the foregoing orders, there were particular directions for the surprising and securing of the persons of Caonabo and his brothers. The warlike character of that chieftain, his artful policy, extensive power, and implacable hostility, rendered him a dangerous enemy. The measures proposed were not the most open and chivalrous, but Columbus thought himself justified in opposing stratagem to stratagem with a subtle and sanguinary foe. The 9tli of April, Alonso de Ojeda sallied forth from Isabella at the head of the forces, amounting to nearly four hundred men. On arriving at the Eio del Oro in the Royal Vega, he learnt that three Spaniards coming from the fortress of St. Thomas had been robbed of their effects by five Indians, whom a neighboring cacique had sent to assist them in fording the river; and that the cacique, instead of punishing the thieves, had countenanced them and shared their booty. Ojeda was a quick, impetuous soldier, whose ideas of legislation were ail ot a military kind. Having caught one of the thieves, he caused * Letter of Columbus. Navarre to, Gotoc,-! tom. ii- Dooumout. No. 72. 270 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COL EMBUS. his ears to be cut off in the public square of the village; he then seized the cacique, his son, and nephew, and sent them in chains to the admiral, after which he pursued nis march to the fortress. In the mean time the prisoners arrived at Isabella in deep dejection. They were accompanied by a neighboring cacique, who, relying upon the merit of various acts of kindness which he had shown to the Spaniards, came to plead for their for' giveness. His intercessions appeared to be of no avail. Co¬ lumbus felt the importance of striking awe into the minds of the natives with respect to the property of the white men. He ordered, therefore, that the prisoners should be taken to the public square with their hands tied behind them, their crime and punishment proclaimed by the crier, and their heads struck off. Nor was this a punishment disproportioned to their own ideas of justice, for we are told that the crime of theft was held in such abhorrence among them, that, though not otherwise sanguinary in their laws, they punished it with impalement. * It is not probable, however, that Columbus really meant to carry the sentence into effect. At the place of execution the prayers and tears of the friendly cacique were redoubled, pledging himself that there should be no repetition of the offence. The admiral at length made a merit of yielding to his entreaties, and released the prisoners. Just at this juncture a horseman arrived from the fortress, who, in passing by the village of the captive cacique, had found five Spaniards in the power of the Indians. The sight of his horse had put the mul¬ titude to flight, though upward of four hundred m number. He had pursued the fugitives, wounding several with his lance, and had brought off his countrymen in triumph. Convinced by this circumstance that nothing was to be appre¬ hended from the hostilities of these timid people as long as his orders were obeyed, and confiding in the distribution he had made of his forces, both for the tranquillity of the colony and the island, Columbus prepared to depart on the prosecution of his discoveries. To direct the affairs of the island during his absence, he formed a junta, of which his brother Hon Diego was president, and Father Boyle, Pedro Fernandes Coronel, Alonso Sanchez Caravajal, and Juan de Luxan, were councillors. He left his two largest ships in the harbor, being of too great a size and draught of water to explore unknown coasts and rivers, and he took with him three caravels, the Nina or Santa Clara, the San Juan, and the Cordera. * Oviedo, Hist. Ind., lib. v. cap. 3. BOOK VII. CHAPTER I. VOYAGE TO THE EAST END OF CUBA, [ 1494 .] The expedition of Columbus, which we are now about to record, may appear of minor importance at the present day, leading as it did to no grand discovery, and merely extending along the coasts of islands with which the reader is sufficiently familiar. Some may feel impatient at the development of opinions and conjectures which have long since been proved to be fallacious, and the detail of exploring enterprises, undertaken in error, and which they know must end in disappointment. But to feel these voyages properly, we must, in a manner, divest ourselves occasionally of the information we possess, relative to the countries visited; we must transport ourselves to the time, and identify ourselves with Columbus, thus fear¬ lessly launching into seas, where as yet a civilized sail had never been unfurled. We must accompany him, step by step, in his cautious but bold advances along the bays and channels of an unknown coast, ignorant of the dangers which might lurk around or which might await him in the interminable region of mystery that still kept breaking upon his view. We must, as it were, consult with him as to each new reach of shadowy land, and long line of promontory, that we see faintly emerg¬ ing from the ocean and stretching along the distant horizon. We must watch with him each light canoe that comes skim¬ ming the billows, to gather from the looks, the ornaments, and the imperfect communications of its wandering crew, whether those unknown lands are also savage and uncultivated, whether they are islands in the ocean, untrodden as yet by civilized man, or tracts of the old continent of Asia, and wild frontiers of its populous and splendid empires. We must enter into Ins 272 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. very thoughts and fancies, find out the data that assisted his judgment, and the hints that excited his conjectures, and for a time clothe the regions through which we are accompanying him with the gorgeous coloring of his own imagination. In this way we may delude ourselves into participation of the delight of exploring unknown and magnificent lands, where new wonders and beauties break upon us at every step, and we ;may ultimately be able, as it were, from our own familiar acquaintance, to form an opinion of the character of this ex¬ traordinary man, and of the nature of his enterprises. The plan of the present expedition of Columbus was to revisit the coast of Cuba at the point where he had abandoned it on his first voyage, and thence to explore it on the southern side. As has already been observed, he supposed it to be a continent, and the extreme end of Asia, and if so, by following its shores in the proposed direction he must eventually arrive at Cathay and those other rich and commercial though semi-barbarous countries described by Mandeville and Marco Polo.* He set sail with his little squadron from the harbor of Isa¬ bella on the 24th of April, and steered to the westward. After touching at Monte Christi, he anchored on the same day at the disastrous harbor of La Navidad. His object in revisiting this melancholy scene was to obtain an interview with Guacanagari, who, he understood, had returned to his former residence. He could not be persuaded of the perfidy of that cacique, so deep was the impression made upon his heart by past kindness; he trusted, therefore, that a frank explanation would remove all painful doubts, and restore a friendly intercourse, which would be highly advantageous to the Spaniards, in their present time of scarcity and suffering. Guacanagari, however, still main¬ tained his equivocal conduct, absconding at the sight of the ships; and though several of his subjects assured Columbus that the cacique would soon make him a visit, he did not think it advisable to delay his voyage on such an uncertainty. Pursuing his course, impeded occasionally by contrary winds, he arrived on the 29th at the port of St. Nicholas, whence he beheld the extreme point of Cuba, to which in his preceding voyage he had given the name of Alpha and Omega, but which was called by the natives Bayatiquiri, and is now known as Point Maysi. Having crossed the channel, which is about eighteen leagues wide, he sailed along the son mem coast Cura delos Palacios, cap. 123. ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 273 of Cuba, for the distance of twenty leagues, when he anchored in a harbor, to which, from its size, he gave the name of Puerto G rande, at present called Guantanamo. The entrance was nar¬ row and winding, though deep; the harbor expanded within like a beautiful lake, in the bosom of a wild and mountainous country, covered with trees, some of them in blossom, others bearing fruit. Not far from the shore were two cottages built of reeds, and several fires blazing in various parts of the beach gave signs of inhabitants. Columbus landed, therefore, attend¬ ed by several men well armed, and by the young Indian inter¬ preter Diego Colon, the native of the island of Guanahani who had been baptized in Spain. On arriving at the cottages, he found them deserted; the fires also were abandoned, and there was not a human being to be seen. The Indians had all fled to the woods and mountains. The sudden arrival of the ships had spread a panic throughout the neighborhood, and apparently interrupted the preparations for a rude but plentiful banquet. There were great quantities of fish, utias, and guanas; some suspended to the branches of the trees, others roasting on wooden spits before the fires. The Spaniards, accustomed of late to slender fare, fell with¬ out ceremony on this bounteous feast, thus spread for them, as it were, in the wilderness. They abstained, however, from the guanas, which they still regarded with disgust as a species of serpent, though they were considered so delicate a food by the savages, that, according to Peter Martyr, it was no more law¬ ful for the common people to eat of them, than of peacocks and pheasants in Spain.* After their repast, as the Spaniards were roving about the vicinity, they beheld about seventy of the natives collected on the top of a lofty rock, and looking down upon them with great awe and amazement. On attempting to approach them they instantly disappeared among the woods and clefts of the mountain. One, however, more bold or more curious than ihe rest, lingered on the brow of the precipice, gazing with timid wonder at the Spaniards, partly encouraged by their friendly signs, but ready in an instant to bound away after his com¬ panions. By order of Columbus the young Lucayan interpreter ad^ vanced and accosted him. The expressions of friendship, in his own language, soon dispelled his apprehensions. He came * P. Martyr, decacl.!. lib. ill 274 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to meet the interpreter, and being informed by him of the good intentions of the Spaniards, hastened to communicate the in¬ telligence to his comrades. In a little while they were seen descending from their rocks, and issuing from their forests, ap¬ proaching the strangers with great gentleness and veneration. Through the means of the interpreter, Columbus learnt that they had been sent to the coast by their cacique, to procure fish for a solemn banquet, which he was about to give to a neighboring chieftain, and that they roasted the fish to prevent it from spoiling in the transportation. They seemed to be of the same gentle and pacific character with the natives of Hayti. The ravages that had been made among their provisions by the hun¬ gry Spaniards gave them no concern, for they observed that one night’s fishing would replace all the loss. Columbus, how¬ ever, in his usual spirit of justice, ordered that ample compen¬ sation should be made them, and, shaking hands, they parted mutually well-pleased.* Leaving this harbor on the 1st of May, the admiral continued to the westward, along a mountainous coast, adorned by beau¬ tiful rivers, and indented by those commodious harbors for which this island is so remarkable. As he advanced, the coun¬ try grew more fertile and populous. The natives crowded to the shores, man, woman, and child, gazing with astonishment at the ships, which glided gently along at no great distance. They held up fruits and provisions, inviting the Spaniards to land; others came off in canoes, bringing cassava, bread, fish, and calabashes of water, not for sale, but as offerings to the strangers, whom, as usual, they considered celestial beings de¬ scended from the skies. Columbus distributed the customary presents among them, which were received with transports of joy and gratitude. After continuing some distance along the coast, he came to another gulf or deep bay, narrow at the entrance and expanding within, surrounded by a rich and beautiful country. There were lofty mountains sweeping up from the sea, but the shores were enlivened by numerous vil-' lages, and cultivated to such a degree as to resemble gardens and orchards. In this harbor, which it is probable was the same at present called St. Jago de Cuba, Columbus anchored and passed a night, overwhelmed, as usual, with the simple hos¬ pitality of the natives.f On inquiring of the people of this coast after gold, they uni* * Peter Martyr ubi sup. t Cura de los Palacios, cap. 124, ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 275 formly pointed to the south, and, as far as they could he understood, intimated that it abounded in a great island which lay in that direction. The admiral, in the course of his first voyage, had received information of such an island, which some of his followers had thought might be Babeque, the ob¬ ject of so much anxious search and chimerical expectation, lie had felt a strong inclination to diverge from his course and go in quest of it, and this desire increased with every new report. On the following day, therefore (the 3d of May), after standing westward to a high cape, he turned his prow directly south, and abandoning for a time the coast of Cuba, steered off into the broad sea, in quest of this reported island. CHAPTER II. DISCOVERY OF JAMAICA. [1494.] Columbus had pot sailed many leagues before the blu.e sum¬ mits of a vast and lofty island at a great distance, began to rise like clouds above the horizon. It was two days and nights, however, before he reached its shores, filled with admiration, as he gradually drew near, at the beauty of its mountains, the majesty of its forests, the fertility of its valleys, and the great number of villages with which the whole face of the country was animated. On approaching the land, at least seventy canoes, filled with savages gaily painted and decorated with feathers, sallied forth more than a league from the shore. They advanced in warlike array, uttering loud yells, and brandishing lances of pointed wood. The mediation of the interpreter, and a few presents to the crew of one of the canoes, which ventured nearer than the rest, soothed this angry armada, and the squad¬ ron pursued its course unmolested. Columbus anchored in a harbor about the centre of the island, to which, from the great beauty of the surrounding country, he gave the name of Santa Gloria.* On the following morning he weighed anchor at daybreak, * Cura de los Palacios, ca*v 125. . 276 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and coasted westward in search of a sheltered harbor, where his ship could be careened and calked, as it leaked considerably. After proceeding a few leagues, he found one apparently suit¬ able for the purpose. On sending a boat to sound the entrance, two large canoes, filled with Indians, issued forth, hurling their lances, but from such distance as to fall short of the Spaniards, t Wishing to avoid any act of hostility that might prevent future intercourse, Columbus ordered the boat to return on board, and finding there was sufficient depth of water for his ship, entered and anchored in the harbor. Immediately the whole beach was covered with Indians painted with a variety of colors, but chiefly black, some partly clothed with palm-leaves, and all wearing tufts and coronets of feathers. Unlike the hospitable islanders of Cuba and Hayti, they appeared to partake of the warlike character of the Caribs, hurling their javelins at the ships, and making the shores resound with their yells and war- whoops. The admiral reflected that further forbearance might be mis- taken for cowardice. It was necessary to careen his ship, and to send men on shore for a supply of water, but previously it was advisable to strike an awe into the savages, that might pre¬ vent any molestation from them. As the caravels could not approach sufficiently near to the beach where the Indians were collected, he dispatched the boats well manned and armed. These, rowing close to the shore, let fly a volley of arrows from their cross-bows, by which several Indians were wounded, and the rest thrown into confusion. The Spaniards then sprang on shore, and put the whole multitude to flight, giving another discharge with their cross-bows, and letting loose upon them a dog, who pursued them with sanguinary fury.* This is the first instance of the use of dogs against the natives, which were afterward employed with such cruel effect by the Spaniards in their Indian wars. Columbus now landed and took formal pos¬ session of the island, to which he gave the name of Santiago; but it has retained its original Indian name of Jamaica. The harbor, from its commodiousness, he called Puerto Bueno; it was in the form of a horseshoe, and a river entered the sea in its vicinity.f During the rest of the day the neighborhood remained silent and deserted. On the following morning, however, before sun¬ rise, six Indians were seen on the shore, making signs of amity. * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 125. + Hist, del Almirante. ubi sud. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 277 They proved to be envoys sent by the caciques with proffers of peace and friendship. These were cordially returned by the admiral; presents of trinkets were sent to the chieftains; and in a little while the harbor again swarmed with the naked and painted multitude, bringing abundance of provisions, similar in kind, but superior in quality, to those of the other islands. During three days that the ships remained in this harbor, the most amicable intercourse was kept up with the natives. They appeared to be more ingenious, as well as more warlike, than their neighbors of Cuba and Hayti. Their canoes were better constructed, being ornamented with carving and paint¬ ing at the bow and stern. Many were of great size, though formed of the trunks of single trees, often from a species of the mahogany. Columbus measured one, which was ninety-six feet long, and eight broad,* hollowed out of one of those magnificent trees which rise like verdant towers amidst the rich forests of the tropics. Every cacique prided himself on possessing a large canoe of the kind, which he seemed to regard as his ship of state. It is curious to remark the apparently innate difference between these island tribes. The natives of Porto Rico, though surrounded by adjacent islands, and subject to frequent incur¬ sions of the Caribs, were of a pacific character, and possessed very few canoes; while Jamaica, separated by distance from intercourse with other islands, protected in the same way from the dangers of invasion, and embosomed, as it were, in a peace¬ ful Mediterranean Sea, was inhabited by a warlike race, and surpassed all the other islands in its maritime armaments. His ship being repaired, and a supply of water taken in, Co¬ lumbus made sail, and continued along the coast to the west¬ ward, so close to the shore that the little squadron was contin¬ ually surrounded by the canoes of the natives, who came off from every bay, and river, and headland, no longer manifest¬ ing hostility, but anxious to exchange anything they possessed for European trifles. After proceeding about twenty-four leagues, they approached the western extremity of the island, where the coast bending to the south, the wind became unfa¬ vorable for their further progress along the shore. Being dis¬ appointed in his hopes of finding gold in Jamaica, and the breeze being fair for Cuba, Columbus determined to return thither, and not to leave it until he had explored its coast to a sufficient distance to determine the question whether it was * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 134. 278 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. terra firma or an island.* To the last place at which he touched in Jamaica, he gave the name of the Gulf of Buen- tiempo (or Fair Weather), on account of the propitious wind which blew for Cuba. Just as he was about to sail, a young In¬ dian came off to the ship, and begged the Spaniards would take him to their country. He was followed by his relatives and friends, who endeavored by the most affecting supplications to dissuade him from his purpose. For some tune he was dis-j .tracted between concern for the distress of his family, and \ an ardent desire to see the home of these wonderful strangers. Curiosity, and the youthful propensity to rove, prevailed; he tore himself from the embraces of his friends, and, that he might not behold the tears of his sisters, hid himself in a secret part of the ship. Touched by this scene of natural affection, and pleased with the enterprising and confiding spirit of the youth, Columbus gave orders that he should be treated with especial kindness.! It would have been interesting to have known something more of the fortunes of this curious savage, and of the impres¬ sions made upon so lively a mind by a first sight of the wonders of civilization—whether the land of the white men equalled his hopes; whether, as is usual with savages, he pined amid the splendors of cities for his native forests, and whether he ever returned to the arms of his family. The early Spanish histor¬ ians seem never to have interested themselves in the feelings or fortunes of these first visitors from the New to the Old World. No further mention is made of this youthful adven¬ turer. CHAPTER HI. RETURN TO CUBA—NAVIGATION AMONG THE ISLANDS CALLED THE QUEEN’S GARDENS, ' [ 1404 .] Setting sail from the Gulf of Buentiempo, the squadron once more steered for the island of Cuba, and on the 18th of May arrived at a great cape, to which Columbus gave the name of * Hist, del Almirante, cap, 54. t Ibid. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 279 Cabo de la Cruz, which it still retains. Here, landing at a large village, he was well received and entertained by the cacique and his subjects, who had long since heard of him and his ships. In fact, Columbus found, from the report of this chieftain, that the numerous Indians who had visited his ships during his cruise along the northern coast in his first voyage, had spread the story far and near of these wonderful visitors who had descended from the sky, and had filled the whole island with rumors and astonishment.* The admiral* endeav¬ ored to ascertain from this cacique and his people, whether Cuba was an island or a continent. They all replied that it was an island, but of infinite extent; for they declared that no one had ever seen the end of it. This reply, while it manifested their ignorance of the nature of a continent, left the question still in doubt and obscurity. The Indian name of this province of Cuba was Macaca. Resuming his course to the west on the following day, Columbus came to where the coast suddenly swept away to the north-east for many leagues, and then curved around again to the west, forming an immense bay, or rather gulf. Here he was assailed by a violent storm, accompanied by awful thun¬ der and lightning, which in these latitudes seem to rend the very heavens. Fortunately the storm was not of long duration, or his situation would have been perilous in the extreme; for he found the navigation rendered difficult by numerous f keys and sand-banks. These increased as he advanced, until the mari¬ ner stationed at the masthead beheld the sea, as far as the eye could reach, completely studded with small islands; some were low, naked, and sandy, others covered with verdure, and others tufted with lofty and beautiful forests. They were of various sizes, from one to four leagues, and were generally the more fertile and elevated, the nearer they wore to Cuba. Finding them to increase in number, so as to render it impossi¬ ble to give names to each, the admiral gave the whole laby¬ rinth of islands, which in a manner enamelled the face of the ocean with variegated verdure, the name of the Queen’s Gardens. He thought at first of leaving this archipelago on his right, and standing farther out to sea; but ho called to mind that Sir John Mandeville and Marco Polo had mentioned * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 126. t Keys, from Cayos, rocks which occasionally form small islands on the coast of America. 280 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. that the coast of Asia was fringed with islands to the amount of several thousand. He persuaded himself that he was among that cluster, and resolved not to lose sight of the main-land, by following which, if it were really Asia, he must soon arrive at the dominions of the Grand Khan. i Entering among these islands, therefore, Columbus soon became entangled in the most perplexed navigation, in which he was exposed to continual perils and difficulties from sand¬ banks, counter currents, and sunken rocks. The ships were compelled, in a manner, to grope their way, with men stationed at the masthead, and the lead continually going. Sometimes they were obliged to shift their course, within the hour, to all points of the compass; sometimes they were straitened in a narrow channel, where it was necessary to lower all sail, and tow the vessels out, lest they should run aground; notwith¬ standing all which precautions they frequently touched upon sand-banks, and were extricated with great difficulty. The variableness of the weather added to the embarrassment of the navigation; though after a little while it began to assume some method in its very caprices. In the morning the wind rose in the east with the sun, and following his course through the day, died away at sunset in the west. Heavy clouds gath¬ ered with the approach of evening, sending forth sheets of lightning, and distant peals of thunder, and menacing a furious tempest; but as the moon rose, the whole mass broke away, part melting in a shower, and part dispersing by a breeze which sprang up from the land. There was much in the character of the surrounding scenery to favor the idea of Columbus, that he was in the Asiatic archi¬ pelago. As the ships glided along the smooth and glassy canals which separated these verdant islands, the magnificence of their vegetation, the soft odors wafted from flowers, and blos¬ soms, and aromatic shrubs, and the splendid plumage of the searlet cranes, or rather flamingoes, which abounded in the meadows, and of other tropical birds which fluttered among the groves, resembled what is described of Oriental climes. These islands were generally uninhabited. They found a con¬ siderable village, however, on one of the largest, where they landed on the 22d of May. The houses were abandoned by their inhabitants, who appeared to depend principally on the sea for their subsistence. Large quantities of fish were found in their dwellings, and the adjacent shore was covered with the shells of tortoises. There were also domesticated parrots, and scarlet LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 281 cranes, and a number of dumb dogs, which it was afterward found they fattened as an article of food. To this island the admiral gave the name of Santa Marta. In the course of his voyage among these islands, Columbus j beheld one day a number of the natives in a canoe on the still | surface of one of the channels, occupied in fishing, and was struck with the singular means they employed. They had a small fish, the flat head of which was furnished with numerous suckers, by which it attached itself so firmly to any object, as to be torn in pieces rather than abandon its hold. Tying a line of great length to the tail of this fish, the Indians permitted it to swim at large; it generally kept near the surface of the water until it perceived its prey, when, darting down swiftly, it attached itself by the suckers to the throat of a fish or to the under shell of a tortoise, nor did it relinquish its prey until both were drawn up by the fisherman and taken out of the water. In this way the Spaniards witnessed the taking of a tortoise of immense size, and Fernando Columbus affirms that he himself saw a shark caught in the same manner on the coast of Yeragua. The fact has been corroborated by the ac¬ counts of various navigators; and the same mode of fishing is said to be employed on the eastern coast of Africa, at Mo¬ zambique, and at Madagascar. “ Thus,” it has been observed, ‘ * savage people, who probably have never held communication with each other, offer the most striking analogies in their modes of exercising empire over animals.”* These fishermen came on board of the ships in a fearless manner. They fur¬ nished the Spaniards with a supply of fish, and would cheer¬ fully have given them everything they possessed. To the ad¬ miral’s inquiries concerning those parts, they said that the sea was full of islands to the south and to the west, but as to Cuba, it continued running to the westward without any termina- . tion. Having extricated himself from this archipelago, Columbus steered for a mountainous part of the island of Cuba about fourteen leagues distant, where he landed at a large village on the 3d of June. Here he was received with that kindness and amity which distinguished the inhabitants of Cuba, whom he i extolled above all the other islanders for their mild and pacific character. Their very animals, he said, were tamer, as well as larger and better, than those of the other islands. Among the * Humboldt, Essai Politique sur l'lle de Cuba, tom. i. p. 364. 2S2 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. various articles of food which the natives brought with joyful alacrity from all parts, were stock-doves of uncommon size and flavor; perceiving something peculiar in their taste, Colum¬ bus ordered the crops of several newly killed to be opened, in which were found sweet spices. While the crews of the boats were procuring water and pro¬ visions, Columbus sought to gather information from the ven¬ erable cacique, and several of the old men of the village. They told him that the name of their province was Ornofay; that farther to the westward the sea was again covered with in¬ numerable islands, and had but little depth. As to Cuba, none of them had ever heard that it had an end to the westward; forty moons would not suffice to reach to its extremity; in fact, they considered it interminable. They observed, however, that the admiral would receive more ample information from the inhabitants of Mangon, an adjacent province, which lay toward the west. The quick apprehension of Columbus was struck with the sound of this name; it resembled that of Mangi, the richest province of the Grand Khan, bordering on the ocean. He made further inquiries concerning the region of Mangon, and understood the Indians to say that it was inhabited by people who had tails like animals, and wore garments to con¬ ceal them. He recollected that Sir John Mandeville, in his account of the remote parts of the East, had recorded a story of the same kind as current among certain naked tribes of Asia, and told by them in ridicule of the garments of their civilized neighbors, which they could only conceive useful as concealing some bodily defect.* He became, therefore, more confident than ever that, by keeping along the coast to the west¬ ward, he should eventually arrive, at the civilized realms of Asia. He flattered himself with the hopes of finding this re¬ gion of Mangon to be the rich province of Mangi, and its people with tails and garments, the long-robed inhabitants of the em¬ pire of Tartary. * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 127. LIFE OF CUIUS 1 'OFHE 11 COLUMBUS. 283 CHAPTER IV. COASTING OF THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF CUBA. I [1494.] Animated by one of the pleasing illusions of liis ardent im¬ agination, Columbus pursued his voyage, with a prosperous breeze, along the supposed continent of Asia. He was now opposite that part of the southern side of Cuba, where, for nearly thirty-five leagues, the navigation is unembarrassed by banks and islands. To his left was the broad and open sea, the dark blue color of which gave token of ample depth; to his right extended the riclily-wooded province .of Ornofay, gradu¬ ally sweeping up into a range of interior mountains; the ver¬ dant coast watered by innumerable streams, and studded with Indian villages. The appearance of the ships spread wonder and joy along the sea-coast. The natives hailed with acclama¬ tions the arrival of these wonderful beings whose fame had cir¬ culated more or less throughout the island, and who brought with them the blessings of heaven. They came off swimming, or in their canoes, to offer the fruits and productions of the land, and regarded the white men almost with adoration. After the usual evening shower, when the breeze blew from the shore and brought off the sweetness of the land, it bore with it also the distant songs of the natives and the sound of their rude music, as they were probably celebrating, with their national chants and dances, the arrival of the white men. So delightful were these spicy odors and cheerful sounds to Co- | lumbus, who was at present open to all pleasurable influences, that he declared the night passed away as a single hour.* It is impossible to resist noticing the striking contrasts which | are sometimes presented by the lapse of time. The coast here described, so populous and animated, rejoicing in the visit of the discoverers, is the same that extends westward of the city of j Trinidad, along the Gulf of Xagua. All is now silent and de¬ serted : civilization, which has covered some parts of Cuba with glittering cities, has rendered this a solitude. The whole race of Indians has long since passed away, pining and perishing be- * Cura de los Palacios. 284 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. neath the domination of the strangers whom they welcomed so joyfully to their shores. Before me lies the account of a night recently passed on this very coast, by a celebrated traveller; but with what different feelings from those of Columbus! “ X passed,” says he, “a great part of the night upon the deck. What deserted coasts! not a light to announce the cabin of a fisherman. From Batabano to Trinidad, a distance of fifty leagues, there does not exist a village. Yet in the time of Columbus this land was inhabited even along the margin of the sea. When pits are digged in the soil, or the torrents plough open the surface of the earth, there are often found hatchets of * stone and vessels of copper, relics of the ancient inhabitants of the island.” * For the greater part of two days the ships swept along this open part of the coast, traversing the wide Gulf of Xagua. At length they came to where the sea became suddenly as white as milk, and perfectly turbid, as though flour had been mingled with it. This is caused by fine sand, or calcareous particles, raised from the bottom at certain depths by the agitation of the waves and currents. It spread great alarm through the ships, which was heightened by their soon finding themselves sur¬ rounded by banks and keys, and in shallow water. The far¬ ther they proceeded, the more perilous became their situation. They were in a narrow channel, where they had no room to turn, and to beat out; where there was no hold for their an¬ chors, and where they were violently tossed about by the winds, and in danger of being stranded. At length they came to a small island, where they found tolerable anchorage. Here they remained for the night in great anxiety; many were for aban¬ doning all further prosecution of the enterprise, thinking that they might esteem themselves fortunate should they be able to return from whence they came. Columbus, however, could not consent to relinquish his voyage, now that he thought him¬ self in the route for a brilliant discovery. The next morning he dispatched the smallest caravel to explore this new labyrinth of islands, and to penetrate to the main-land in quest of fresh water, of which the ships were in great need. The caravel re¬ turned with a report that the canals and keys of this group • were as numerous and intricate as those of the Gardens of the Queen; that the main-land was bordered by deep marshes and a muddy coast, where the mangrove trees grew within the * Humboldt, Essai Pol. sur Cuba, tom. ii. p. 25. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 285 water, and so close together that they formed, as it were, an impenetrable wall; that within, the land appeared fertile and mountainous; and columns of smoke, rising from various parts, gave signs of numerous inhabitants.* Under the guidance of this caravel, Columbus now ventured to penetrate this little archipelago; working his way with great caution, toil, and peril, among the narrow channels which separated the sand> banks and islands, and frequently getting aground. At length he reached a low point of Cuba, to which he gave the name of Point Serafin; within which the coast swept off to the east, forming so deep a hay that he could not see the land at the bot¬ tom. To the north, however, there were mountains afar off, and the intermediate space was clear and open; the islands in sight lying to the south and west; a description which agrees with that of the great Bay of Batabano. Columbus now steered for these mountains, with a fair wind and three fathoms of water and on the following day anchored on the coast near a beautiful grove of palm-trees. Here a party was sent on shore for wood and water; and they found two living springs in the midst of the grove. While they were employed in cutting wood and filling their water-casks, an archer strayed into the forest with his cross-bow in search of game, but soon returned, flying with great terror, and call¬ ing loudly upon his companions for aid. He declared that he | had not proceeded far, when he suddenly espied, through an opening glade, a man in a long white dress, so like a friar of the order of St. Mary of Mercy, that at first sight he took him for the chaplain of the admiral. Two others followed in white j tunics reaching to their knees, and the three were of as fair complexions as Europeans. Behind these appeared many more, to the number of thirty, armed with clubs and lances. They made no signs of hostility, but remained quiet, the man in the long white dress alone advancing to accost him; but he was so alarmed at their number that he had fled instantly to seek the aid of his companions. The latter, however, were so daunted by the reported number of armed natives, that they had not courage to seek them nor to wait their coming, but hurried | with all speed to the ships. When Columbus heard this story he was greatly rejoiced, for he concluded that these must be the clothed inhabitants of Mangon, of whom he had recently heard, and that he had at * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 128. - 286 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. length arrived at the confines of a civilized country, if not with' in the very borders of the rich province of Mangi. On the fol¬ lowing day he dispatched a party of armed men in quest of these people clad in white, with orders to penetrate, if necessary, forty miles into the interior, until they met with some of the inhabitants; for he thought the populous and cultivated parts might be distant from the sea, and that there might be towns and cities beyond the woods and mountains of the coast. The party penetrated through a belt of thick forests which girdled the shore, and then entered upon a great plain or savanna, cov¬ ered with rank grass and herbage as tall as ripe corn, and des¬ titute of any road or footpath. Here they were so entangled and fettered, as it were, by matted grass and creeping vegeta¬ tion, that it was with the utmost difficulty they could penetrate the distance of a mile, when they had to abandon the attempt, and return weary and exhausted to the ships. Another party was sent on the succeeding day to penetrate in a different direction. They had not proceeded far from the coast, when they beheld the foot-prints of some large animal with claws, which some supposed the tracks of a lion, others of a griffon,* but which were probably made by the alligators which abound in that vicinity. Dismayed at the sight, they hastened back toward the sea-side. In their way they passed through a forest, with lawns and meadows opening in various parts of it, in which were flocks of cranes, twice the size of those of Europe. Many of the trees and shrubs sent forth those aro¬ matic odors which were continually deceiving them with the hope of finding Oriental spices. They saw also abundance of grape-vines, that beautiful feature in the vegetation of the New World. Many of these crept to the summits of the highest trees, overwhelming them with foliage, twisting themselves from branch to branch, and bearing ponderous clusters of juicy grapes. The party returned to the ships equally unsuccessful with their predecessors, and pronounced the country wild and impenetrable, though exceedingly fertile. As a proof of its abundance, they brought great clusters of the wild grapes, which Columbus afterward transmitted to the sovereigns, together * Cardinal Pierre de Aliaco, a favorite author with Columbus, speaks repeatedly, in his Imago Mundi, of the existence of griffons in India; and Glanvilie, whose work, De Proprietatibus Rerum, was familiar to Columbus, describes them as having the body and claws of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle, and as infesting the mountains which abounded with gold and precious stones, so as to render the access to them extremely pei'ilous .—De Proprietat. Rerum , lib. xviii. cap. 150. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 287 with a specimen of the water of the White Sea through which he had passed. As no tribe of Indians was ever discovered in Cuba wearing I clothing, it is probable that the story of the men in white orig- nated in some error of the archer, who, full of the idea of the mysterious inhabitants of Mangon, may have been startled in .the course of his lonely wandering in the forest, by one of those flocks of cranes which it seems abounded in the neighbor¬ hood. These birds, like the flamingoes, feed in company, with one stationed at a distance as sentinel. When seen through the openings of the woodlands, standing in rows along a smooth savanna, or in a glassy pool of water, their height and erect¬ ness give them, at the first glance, the semblance of human fig¬ ures. Whether the story originated in error or in falsehood, it made a deep impression on the mind of Columbus, who was predisposed to be deceived, and to believe everything that favored the illusion of his being in the vicinity of a civilized country. After he had explored the deep bay to the east, and ascer¬ tained that it was not an arm of the sea, he continued west¬ ward, and proceeding about nine leagues, came to an inhabited shore, where he had communications with several of the na¬ tives. They were naked as usual; but that he attributed to their being mere fishermen inhabiting a saVage coast; he pre¬ sumed the civilized regions to lie in the interior. As his Lu- cayan interpreter did not understand the language, or rather dialect, of this part of Cuba, all the information which he could obtain from the natives was necessarily received through the erroneous medium of signs and gesticulations. Deluded by his own favorite hypothesis, he understood from them that, among certain mountains, which he saw far off to the west, there was a powerful king, who reigned in great state over many [populous provinces; that he wore a white garment which | swept the ground; that he was called a saint ;* that he never spoke, but communicated his orders to his subjects by signs, which were implicitly obeyed.t In all this we see the busy im¬ agination of the admiral interpreting everything into unison with his preconceived ideas. Las Casas assures us that there was no cacique ever known in the island who wore garments, * Que le Llamaban santo e quo traia tunica blanca que le arastra por el suelo.— ! Cura de los Palacios , cap. 128. + Herrera. Hist. Ind. dec. i. lib. ii. cap. 14. 288 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. or answered in other respects to this description. This king, with the saintly title, was probably nothing more than a re¬ flected image haunting the mind of Columbus, of that mysteri¬ ous potentate, Prester John, who had long figured in the nar¬ rations of all eastern travellers, sometimes as a monarch, sometimes as a priest, the situation of whose empire ana court was always a matter of doubt and contradiction, and had re¬ cently become again an object of curious inquiry. The information derived f rom these people concerning the coast to the westward was entirely vague. They said that it continued for at least twenty days’ journey, but whether it terminated there they did not know. They appeared but little informed of anything out of their immediate neighborhood. Taking an Indian from this place as a guide. Columbus steered for the distant mountains said to be inhabited by this cacique in white raiment, hoping they might prove the confines of a more civilized country. He had not gone far before he was involved in the usual perplexities of keys, shelves, and sand¬ banks. The vessels frequently stirred up the sand and slime from the bottom of the sea; at other times they were almost imbedded in narrow channels, where there was no room to tack, and it was necessary to haul them forward by means of the 1 capstan, to their great injury. At one time they came to ' where the sea was almost covered with tortoises; at another time flights of cormorants and wood-pigeons darkened the sun, and one day the whole air was filled with clouds of gaudy but¬ terflies, until dispelled by the evening shower. When they approached the mountainous regions, they found the coast bordered by drowned lands or morasses, and beset by such thick forests that it was impossible to penetrate to the in¬ terior. They were several days seeking fresh water, of which they were in great want. At length they found a spring in f i grove of palm-trees, and near it shells of the pearl-oyster, from which Columbus thought there might be a valuable pearl-fish¬ ery in the neighborhood. While thus cut off from all intercourse with the interior by a belt of swamp and forests, the country appeared to be well peo¬ pled. Columns of smoke ascended from various parts, which grew more frequent as the vessels advanced, until they rose from every rock and woody height. The Spaniards were at a loss to determine whether these arose from villages and towns, or whether from signal fires, to give notice of the approach of the ships, and to alarm the country, such as were usual on Europe- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 289 an sea-shores, when an enemy was descried hovering in the vicinity. For several days Columbus continued exploring this per¬ plexed and lonely coast, whose intricate channels are seldom visited, even at the present day, excepting by the solitary and lurking bark of the smuggler. As he proceeded, however, lie found that the coast took a general bend to the south-west. This accorded precisely with the descriptions given by Marco Polo of the remote coast of Asia. He now became fully as¬ sured that he was on that part of the Asiatic continent which is beyond the boundaries of the Old World as laid down by Ptolemy. Let him but continue this coast, he thought, and he must surely arrive to the point where this range of coast ter¬ minated in the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients.* The ardent imagination of Columbus was always sallying in the advance, and suggesting some splendid track of enterprise. Combining his present conjectures as to his situation with the imperfect lights of geography, he conceived a triumphant route for liis return to Spain. Doubling the Aurea Chersonesus, he should emerge into the seas frequented by the ancients, and bordered by the luxurious nations of the East. Stretching across the Gulf of the Ganges, he might pass by Taprobana, and continuing on to the straits of Babelmandel, arrive on the shores of the Red Sea. Thence he might make his way by land to Jerusalem, taking shipping at Joppa, and traverse the Medi¬ terranean to Spain. Or should the route from Ethiopia to Jerusalem be deemed too perilous from savage and warlike tribes, or should he not choose to separate from liis vessels, he might sail round the whole coast of Africa, pass triumphantly by the Portuguese, in their midway groping along the shores of Guinea, and after having thus circumnavigated the globe, furl his adventurous sails at the Pillars of Hercules, the ne plus ultra of the ancient world! Such was the soaring meditation of Columbus, as recorded by one of his intimate associates; f nor is there anything surprising in his ignorance of the real magni¬ tude of our globe. The mechanical admeasurement of a known part of its circle has rendered its circumference a familiar fact I in our day; but in his time it still remained a problem with the most profound philosophers. [y\___ , : s * Tile present peninsula of Malacca. + Cura de los Palacois, cap. 1C8, m.s. 290 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER V. RETURN OF COLUMBUS ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST OF CUBA# [1494.] The opinion of Columbus, that he was coasting the continent of Asia, and approaching the confines of eastern civilization, was shared by all his fellow-voyagers, among whom were several able and experienced navigators. They were far, how¬ ever, from sharing his enthusiasm. They were to derive no glory from the success of the enterprise, and they shrunk from its increasing difficulties and perils. The ships were strained and crazed by the various injuries they had received, in run¬ ning frequently aground. Their cables and rigging were worn, their provisions were growing scanty, a great part of the biscuit was spoiled by the sea-water, wTiich oozed in through innumerable leaks. The crews were worn out by incessant labor, and disheartened at the appearance of the sea before them, which continued to exhibit a mere wilderness of islands. They remonstrated, therefore, against persisting any longer in this voyage. They had already followed the coast far enough to satisfy their minds that it was a continent, and though they doubted not that civilized regions lay in the route they were pursuing, yet their provisions might be exhausted, and their vessels disabled, before they could arrive at them. Columbus, as his imagination cooled, was himself aware of the inadequacy of his vessels to the contemplated voyage; but felt it of importance to his fame and to the popularity of his enterprises, to furnish satisfactory proofs that the land he had discovered was a continent. He therefore persisted four days longer in exploring the coast, as it bent to the south-west, until every one declared there could no longer be a doubt on the sub¬ ject, for it was impossible so vast a continuity of land should belong to a mere island. The admiral was determined, how¬ ever, that the fact should not rest on his own assertion merely, having had recent proofs of a disposition to gainsay his state^ ments, and depreciate his discoveries. He sent round, there¬ fore, a public notary, Fernand Perez de Luna, to each of the vessels, accompanied by four witnesses, who demanded foriAally of every person on board, from the captain to the ship-boy. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 291 whether he had any doubt that the land before him was a con¬ tinent, the beginning and end of the Indies, by which any ono I might return overland to Spain, and by pursuing the coast of Which, they could soon arrive among civilized people. If any one entertained a doubt, he was called upon to express it, that it might be removed. On board of the vessels, as has been observed, were several experienced navigators and men well versed in the geographical knowledge of the times. They examined their maps and charts, and the reckonings and journals of the voy¬ age, and after deliberating maturely, declared, under oath, that they had no doubt upon the subject. They grounded their belief principally upon their having coasted for three hundred and thirty-five leagues,* an extent unheard of as appertaining to an island, while the land continued to stretch forward inter¬ minably, bending toward the south, conformably to the descrip¬ tion of the remote coasts of India. Lest they should subsequently, out of malice or caprice, con¬ tradict the opinion thus solemnly avowed, it was proclaimed by the notary, that whoever should offend in such manner, if an officer, should pay a penalty of ten thousand maravedies; if a ship-boy or person of like rank, he should receive a hundred lashes, and have his tongue cut out. A formal statement was afterward drawn up by the notary, including the depositions and names of every individual; which document still exists.f This singular process took place near that deep bay called by some the Bay of Philipina, by others of Cortes. At this very time, as has been remarked, a ship-boy from the masthead might have overlooked the group of islands to the south, and beheld the open sea beyond. J Two or three days’ further sail would have carried Columbus round the extremity of Cuba; would have dispelled his illusion, and might have given an entirely different course to his subsequent discoveries. In his present conviction he lived and died; believing, to his last hour, that Cuba was the extremity of the Asiatic continent. Relinquishing all further investigation of the coast, he stood on the south-east on the 13tli of June, and soon came in sight of a large island with mountains rising majestically among this * __—--—— -— * This calculation evidently includes all the courses of the ships in their various tacks along the coast. Columbus could hardly have made such an error as to have given this extent to the southern side of the island, even including the inflections of the coast. t Navarrete, Collec.. tom ii. t Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. v. p. 217. 292 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. labyrinth of little keys. To this he gave the name of Evangel- ista. It is at present known as the Island of Pines, and is celebrated for its excellent mahogany. Here he anchored, and took in a supply of wood and water. He then stood to the south, along the shores of the island, hoping by turning its southern extremity to find an open route eastward for Hispaniola, and intending, on his way, to run along the southern side of Jamaica. He had not proceeded far before he came to what he supposed to be a channel, opening to the south-east between Evangelista and some opposite island. After entering for some distance, however, he found himself inclosed in a deep bay, being the Lagoon of Siguanca, which penetrates far into the island. Observing dismay painted on the faces of his crew at finding themselves thus land-locked and almost destitute of provisions, Columbus cheered them with encouraging words, and resolved to extricate himself from this perplexing maze by retracing his course along Cuba, Leaving the lagoon, therefore, he returned to his last anchoring place, and set sail thence on the 25th of June, navigating back through the groups of islands between Evangelista and Cuba, and across a tract of the White Sea, which had so much appalled his people. Here he experienced a repetition of the anxieties, perils, and toils which had beset him in his advance along the coast. The crews were alarmed by the frequent changes in the color of the water, sometimes green, sometimes almost black, at other times as white as milk; at one time they fancied themselves surrounded by rocks, at another the sea appeared to be a vast sand-bank. On the 30th of June the admiral’s ship ran aground with such violence as to sustain great injury. Every effort to extricate her by sending out anchors astern was ineffectual, and it was necessary to drag her over the shoal by the prow. At length they emerged from the clusters of islands called the Jardins and Jardinelles, and came to the open part of the coast of Cuba. Here they r once more sailed along the beautiful and fertile province of Ornofay, and were again delighted with fragrant and honeyed airs waited from the land. Among the mingled odors, the admiral fancied he could perceive that of storax proceeding from the smoke of fires blazing on the shores.* ♦Humboldt (in his Essai Polit., tom. ii. p. 24) speaks of the fragrance of flowers and honey which exhales from this same coast, and which is perceptible to a con¬ siderable distance at sea. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 293 Here Columbus sought some convenient harbor where he might procure wood and water, and allow his crews to enjoy repose and the recreations of the land; for they were exceed¬ ingly enfeebled and emaciated by the toils and privations of the voyage. For nearly two months they had been struggling with perpetual difficulties and dangers, and suffering from a scarcity of provisions. Among these uninhabited keys and drowned shores, their supplies from the natives had been pre¬ carious and at wide intervals; nor could the fresh provisions thus furnished last above a day, from the heat and humidity of the climate. It was the same case with any fish they might chance to catch, so that they had to depend almost entirely upon their daily allowance of ships’ provisions, which was reduced to a pound of mouldy bread and a small portion of wine. With joy, therefore, they anchored on the 7th of July in the mouth of a fine river, in this genial and abundant region. The cacique of the neighborhood, who reigned over an exten¬ sive territory, received the admiral with demonstrations of mingled joy and reverence, and his subjects came laden with whatever their country afforded—utias, birds of various kinds, particularly large pigeons, cassava bread, and fruits of a rich and aromatic flavor. It was a custom with Columbus, in all remarkable places which he visited, to erect crosses in conspicuous situations, to denote the discovery of the country, and its subjugation to the true faith. He ordered a large cross of wood, therefore, to be elevated on the bank of this river. This was done on a Sunday morning with great ceremony, and the celebration of a solemn mass. When he disembarked for this purpose, he was met upon the shore by the cacique and his principal favorite, a venerable Indian, fourscore years of age, of grave and dignified deportment. The old man brought a string of beads, of a kind to which the Indians attached a mystic value, and a calabash of a delicate kind of fruit; these he presented to the admiral in token of amity. He and the cacique then each took him by the hand and proceeded with him to the grove, where prepara¬ tions had been made for the celebration of the mass; a multi¬ tude of the natives followed. VFhile mass was performing in this natural temple, the Indians looked on with awe and rev¬ erence, perceiving from the tones and gesticulations of the priest, the lighted tapers, the smoking incense, and the devo¬ tion of the Spaniards, that it must be a ceremony of a sacred and mysterious nature. When the service was ended, the old 294 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. man of fourscore, who had contemplated it with profound attention, approached Columbus, and made him an oration in the Indian manner. “This which thou hast been doing,” said he, “is well, for it appears to be thy manner of giving thanks to God. I am told that thou hast lately come to these lands with a mighty force, and subdued many countries, spreading great fear among the people; but be not, therefore, vain-glorious. Know that, according to our belief, the souls of men have two journeys to perform after they have departed from the body. One to a place, dismal, and foul, and covered with darkness, prepared for those who have been unjust and cruel to their fellow-men; the other pleasant and full of delight, for such as have promoted peace on earth. If, then, thou art mortal and dost expect to die, and dost believe that each man shall be rewarded accord¬ ing to his deeds, beware that thou wrongfully hurt no man, nor do harm to those who have done no harm to thee.” * The admiral, to whom this speech was explained by his Lucayan interpreter, Diego Colon, was greatly moved by the simple eloquence of this untutored savage. He told him in reply that he rejoiced to hear his doctrine respecting the future state of the soul, having supposed that no belief of the kind existed among the inhabitants of these countries. That he had been sent among them by his sovereigns, to teach them the true religion; to protect them from harm and injury; and especially to subdue and punish their enemies and persecutors, the canni¬ bals. That, therefore, all innocent and peaceable men might look up to him with confidence, as an assured friend and pro¬ tector. The old man was overjoyed at these words, but was equally astonished to learn that the admiral, whom he considered so great and powerful, was yet but a subject. His wonder in¬ creased when the interpreter told him of the riches, and splen¬ dor, and power of the Spanish monarchs, and of the wonderful things he had beheld on his visit to Spain. Finding himself listened to with eager curiosity by the multitude, the interpre¬ ter went on to describe the objects which had most struck his mind in the country of the white men. The splendid cities, the vast churches, the troops of horsemen, the great animals of various kinds, the pompous festivals and tournaments of the ♦Herrera, decad. i. lib. xi. cap. 14. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 57. Peter Martyr 1 decad. i. lib. iii. Cura de los'JPalacios, cap. 130. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 295 court, the glittering armies, and, above all, the bull-fights. The Indians all listened in mute amazement, but the old man was particularly excited. He was of a curious and wandering disposition, and had been a great voyager, having according to his account, visited Jamaica, and Hispaniola, and the remote parts of Cuba.* A sudden desire now seized him to behold the glorious country thus described, and, old as he was, he offered to embark with the admiral. His wife and children, however, beset him with such lamentations and remonstrances, that he was obliged to abandon the intention, though he did it with great reluctance, asking repeatedly if the land they spoke of were not heaven, for it seemed to him impossible that earth could produce such wonderful beings, f CHAPTER YI. COASTING VOYAGE ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE OF JAMAICA. [1494.] Columbus remained for several days at anchor in the river, to which, from the mass performed on its banks, he gave the name of ’Rio de la Misa. At length, on the 16th of July, he took leave of the friendly cacique and his ancient counsellor, who beheld his departure with sorrowful countenances. He took a young Indian with him from this place, whom he after¬ ward sent to the Spanish sovereigns. Leaving to the left the Queen’s Gardens, he steered south for the broad open sea and deep blue water, until having a free navigation he could stand eastward for Hispaniola. He had scarcely got clear of the islands, however, when he was assailed by furious gusts of wind and rain, which for two days pelted his crazy vessels, and harassed his enfeebled crews. At length, as he approached Cape Cruz, a violent squall struck the ships, and nearly threw them on their beam ends. Fortunately they were able to take in sail immediately, and, letting go their largest anchors, rode out the transient gale. The admiral’s ship was so strained by * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 57. t Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iii. 296 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the injuries received among the islands, that she leaked at every seam, and the utmost exertions of the weary crew could not prevent the water from gaining on her. At length they were enabled to reach Cape Cruz, where they anchored on the ISth of July, and remained three days, receiving the same hos¬ pitable succor from the natives that they had experienced on their former visit. The wind continuing contrary for the re¬ turn to Hispaniola, Columbus, on the 22d of July, stood across for Jamaica, to complete the circumnavigation of that island. For nearly a month he continued beating to the eastward along its southern coast, experiencing just such variable winds and evening showers as had prevailed along the shores of Cuba. Every evening he was obliged to anchor under the land, often at nearly the same place whence he had sailed in the morning. The natives no longer manifested hostility, but followed the ships in their canoes, bringing supplies of provisions. Colum¬ bus was so much delighted with the verdure, freshness, and fertility of this noble island, that, had the state of his vessels and crews permitted, he would gladly have remained to explore the interior. He spoke with admiration of its frequent and ex¬ cellent harbors, but was particularly pleased with a great bay, containing seven islands, and surrounded by numerous vil¬ lages.* Anchoring here one evening, he was visited by a cacique who resided in a large village, situated on an eminence of the loftiest and most fertile of the islands. He came attend¬ ed by a numerous train, bearing refreshments, and manifested great curiosity in his inquiries concerning the Spaniards, their ships, and the region whence they came. The admiral made his customary reply, setting forth the great power and the be¬ nign intentions of the Spanish sovereigns. The Lucayan in¬ terpreter again enlarged upon the wonders he had beheld in Spain, the prowess of the Spaniards, the countries they had visited and subjugated, and, above all, their having made de¬ scents on the islands of the Caribs, routed their formidable inhabitants, and carried several of them into captivity. To these accounts the cacique and his followers remained listening in profound attention until the night was advanced. The next morning the ships were under way and standing along the coast with a light wind and easy sail, when they be¬ held three canoes issuing from among the islands of the bay. * From the description, this must be the great bay east of Portland Point, at the bottom of which is Old Harbor. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 297 They approached in regular order; one, which was very large and handsomely carved and painted, was in the centre, a little in advance of the two other, which appeared to attend and guard it. In this was seated the cacique and his family, consisting of his wife, two daughters, two sons, and five brothers. One of the daughters was eighteen years of age, beautiful in form and countenance; her sister was somewhat younger; both were naked, according to the custom of these islands, but were of modest demeanor. In the prow of the canoe stood the standard- bearer of the cacique, clad in a mantle of variegated feathers, with a tuft of gay plumes on his head, and bearing in his hand a fluttering white banner. Two Indians with caps or helmets of feathers of uniform shape and color, and their faces painted in a similar manner, beat upon tabors; two others, with hats curiously wrought of green feathers, held trumpets of a fine black wood, ingeniously carved; there were six others, in large hats of white feathers, who appeared to be guards to the cacique. Having arrived alongside of the admiral’s ship, the cacique entered on board with all his train. He appeared in full regalia. Around his head was a band of small stones of various colors, but principally green, symmetrically arranged, with large white stones at intervals, and connected in front by a large jewel of gold. Two plates of gold were suspended to his ears by rings of very small green stones. To a necklace of white beads, of a kind deemed precious by them, was suspended a large plate, in the form of a fleur-de-lis, of guanin, an inferior species of gold; and a girdle of variegated stones, similar to those round his head, completed his regal decorations. His wife was adorned in a similar manner, having also a very small apron of cotton, and bands of the same round her arms and legs. The daughters were without ornaments, excepting the eldest and handsomest, who had a girdle of small stones, from which was suspended a tablet, the size of an ivy leaf, composed of various colored stones, embroidered on network of cotton. When the cacique entered on board the ship, he distributed presents of the productions of Ins island among the officers and men. The admiral was at this time in his cabin, engaged in his morning devotions. When he appeared on deck, the chief¬ tain hastened to meet him with an animated countenance. “My friend,” said he, “I have determined to leave my coun¬ try, and to accompany thee. I have heard from these Indians 298 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. who are with thee of the irresistible power of thy sovereigns, and of the many nations thou hast subdued in their name. Whoever refuses obedience to thee is sure to suffer. Thou hast destroyed the canoes and dwellings of the Caribs, slaying their warriors, and carrying into captivity their wives and children. All the islands are in dread of thee; for who can withstand " thee now that thou knowest the secrets of the land, and the weakness of the people. Rather, therefore, than thou shouldst take away my dominions I will embark with all my household in thy ships, and will go to do homage to thy king and queen, and to behold their country, of which thy Indians relate such wonders. ” When this speech was explained to Columbus, and he beheld the wife, the sons and daughters of the cacique, and thought upon the snares to which their ignorance and sim¬ plicity would be exposed, he was touched with compassion and determined not to take them from their native land. He re¬ plied to the cacique, therefore, that he received him under his protection as a vassal of his sovereigns, but having many lands yet to visit before he returned to his country, he would at some future time fulfil his desire. Then taking leave with many expressions of amity, the cacique, with his wife and daughters, and all his retinue, re-embarked in the canoes, re¬ turning reluctantly to their island, and the ships continued on their course.* * Hitherto, in narrating the voyage of Columbus along the coast of Cuba, I have been guided principally by the manuscript history of the curate de los Palacios. His account is the most clear and satisfactory as to names, dates, and routes, and contains many characteristic particulars not inserted in any other history. His sources of information were of the highest kind. Columbus was his guest after his return to Spain in 1496, and left with him manuscripts, journals, and memorandums; from these he made extracts, collating them with the letters of Doctor Chanca, and other persons of note who had accompanied the admiral. I have examined two copies of the ms. of the curate de los Palacios, both in the possession of O. Rich, Esq. One written in an ancient handwriting, in the early part of the sixteenth century, varies from the other, but only in a few trivial par¬ ticulars. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 299 CHAPTER VII. VOYAGE ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE OF HISPANIOLA, AND RETURN TO ISABELLA. [1494.] On the 19th of August Columbus lost sight of the eastern extremity of Jamaica, to which he gave the name of Cape Farol, at present called Point Morant. Steering eastward, he beheld, on the following day, that long peninsula of Hispan¬ iola, known by the name of Cape Tiburon, but to which he gave the name of Cape San Miguel. He was not aware that it was a part of the island of Hayti, until, coasting along its southern side, a cacique came off on the 23d of August, and called him by his title, addressing him with several words of Castilian. The sound of these words spread joy through the ship, and the weary seamen heard with delight that they were on the southern coast of Hispaniola. They had still, however, many toilsome days before them. The weather was boisterous, the wind contrary and capricious, and the ships were sepa¬ rated from each other. About the end of August Columbus anchored at a small island, or rather rock, which rises singly out of the sea opposite to a long cape, stretching southward from the centre of the island, to which he gave the name of Cape Beata. The rock at which he anchored had the appear¬ ance, at a distance, of a tall ship under sail, from which cir¬ cumstance the admiral called it “ Alto Velo.” Several seamen were ordered to climb to the top of the island, which com¬ manded a great extent of ocean, and to look out for the other ships. Nothing of them was to be seen. On their return the sailors killed eight sea-wolves, which were sleeping on the sands; they also knocked down many pigeons and other birds with sticks, and took others with the hand; for in this unfre¬ quented island, the animals seemed to have none of that wild¬ ness and timidity produced by the hostility of man. Being rejoined by the two caravels, he continued along the coast, passing the beautiful country watered by the branches Neyva, where a fertile plain, covered with villages and groves, extended into the interior. After proceeding some distance farther to the east, the admiral learnt from the natives who came off to the ships that several Spaniards from the settle¬ ment had penetrated to their province. From all that he could learn from these people, everything appeared to' be going 300 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. on well in the island. Encouraged by the tranquillity of the interior, he landed nine men here, with orders to traverse the island, and give tidings of his safe arrival on the coast. Continuing to the eastward, he sent a boat on shore for water near a large village a plain. The inhabitants issued forth with bows and arrows to give battle, while others were provided with cords to bind prisoners. These were the natives of Higuey, the eastern province of Hispaniola. They were the most warlike people of the island, having been inured to arms from the frequent descent of tli Caribs. They were said also to make use of poisoned arrows. In the present instance, their hostility was but in appearance. When the crew landed, they threw by their weapons, and brought various articles of food, and asked for the admiral, whose fame had spread throughout the island, and in whose justice and magnanimity all appeared to repose confidence. After leaving this place, the weather, which had been so long variable and adverse, assumed a threatenmg appearance. A huge fish, as large as a moderate¬ sized whale, raised itself out of the water one day, having a shell on its neck like that of a tortoise, two great fins like wings, and a tail like that of a tunny fish. At sight of this fish and at the indications of the clouds and sky, Columbus antici¬ pated an approaching storm, and sought for some secure har¬ bor.* He found a channel opening between Hispaniola and a small island, called by the Indians Adamaney, but to winch he gave the name of Saona; here he took refuge, anchoring beside a key or islet in the middle of the channel. On the night of his arrival there was an eclipse of the moon, and taking an obser¬ vation, he found the difference of longitude between Saona and Cadiz to be five hours and twenty-three minutes, f This is up¬ ward of eighteen degrees more than the true longitude; an error which must have resulted from the incorrectness of his table of eclipses. \ For eight days the admiral’s ship remained weather-bound in this channel, during which time he suffered great anxiety for the fate of the other vessels, which remained at sea, exposed to the violence of the storm. They escaped, however, uninjured, and once more rejoined him when the weather had moderated. Leaving the channel- of Saona, they reached, on the 24th of * Herrera, Hist. Ind.. decad, i. lib. ii. cap. 15. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 59. + Herrera, ubi sup. Hist. Almirante, ubi sup. $ Five hours twenty-five minutes are equal to 80° 45'; whereas the true longitude of Saona is 62° 20' west of Cadiz. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 301 September, the eastern extremity of Hispaniola, to which Co- lumbus gave the name of Cape San Rafael, at present known as Cape Engano. Hence they stood to the south-east, touching at the island of Mona, or, as the Indians called it, Amona, situated between Porto Rico and Hispaniola. It was the intention of Columbus, notwithstanding the condition of the ships, to con¬ tinue farther eastward, and to complete the discovery of the Caribbee Islands, but his physical strength did not correspond to the efforts of his lofty spirit.* The extraordinary fatigues, both of mind and body, during an anxious and harassing voy¬ age of five months, had preyed upon his frame. He had shared in all the hardships and privations of the commonest seaman. He had put himself upon the same scanty allowance, and ex¬ posed himself to the same buffetings of wind and weather. But he had other cares and trials from which his people were exempt. When the sailor, worn out with the labors of his watch, slept soundly amid the howling of the storm, the anx¬ ious commander maintained his painful vigil, through long sleepless nights, amid the pelting of the tempest and the drench¬ ing surges of the sea. The safety of his ships depended upon his watchfulness; but, above all, he felt that a jealous nation and an expecting world were anxiously awaiting the result of his enterprise. During a great part of the present voyage he had been excited by the constant hope of soon arriving at the known parts of India, and by the anticipation of a triumphant return to Spain, through the regions of the East, after circum¬ navigating the globe. When disappointed in these expecta*- tions he was yet stimulated by a conflict with incessant hard¬ ships and perils, as he made his way back against contrary winds and storms. The moment he was relieved from all solic¬ itude, and beheld himself in a known and tranquil sea, the excitement suddenly ceased, and mind and body sank exhaust¬ ed by almost superhuman exertions. The very day on which he sailed from Mona he was struck with a sudden malady, which deprived him of memory, of sight, and all his faculties. He fell into a deep lethargy, resembling death itself. His crew, alarmed at this profound torpor, feared that death was really at hand. They abandoned, therefore, all further prosecution of the voyage, and spreading their sails to the east wind so prevalent in those seas, bore Columbus back, in a state of com¬ plete insensibility, to the harbor of Isabella. * Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. v. sec. 22. BOOK VIXXo CHAPTER I. ARRIVAL OF THE ADMIRAL AT ISABELLA—CHARACTER OF BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS. [1494. Sept. 4.] The sight of the little squadron of Columbus standing once more into the harbor was hailed with joy by such of the inhab¬ itants of Isabella as remained faithful to him. The long time that had elapsed since his departure on this adventurous voy¬ age, without any tidings arriving from him, had given rise to the most serious apprehensions for his safety; and it began to be feared that he had fallen a victim to his enterprising spirit in some remote part of these unknown seas. A joyful and heartfelt surprise awaited the admiral on his arrival, in finding at his bedside his brother Bartholomew, the companion of his youth, his confidential coadjutor, and in a manner his second self, from whom he had been separated for several years. It will be recollected that, about the time of the admiral’s departure from Portugal, he had commissioned Bartholomew to repair to England, and propose his project of discovery to King Henry VII. Of this application to the Eng- , lish court no precise particulars are known. Fernando Colum- bus“states that his uncle, in the course of his voyage, was cap¬ tured and plundered by a corsair, and reduced to such poverty, that he had for a long time to struggle for a mere subsistence by making sea-charts; so that some years elapsed before he made his application to the English monarch. Las Casas thinks that he did not immediately proceed to England, having found a memorandum in his handwriting, by which it would appear that he. accompanied Bartholomew Diaz in I486, in his voyage LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 303 along the coast of Africa, in the service of the King of Portugal, in the course of which voyage was discovered the Cape of Good Hope.* * The memorandum cited by Las Casas (Hist. Ind , lib. i. cap. 7) is curious, though not conclusive. He says that he found it in an old book belonging to Christopher Columbus, containing the works of Pedro de Aliaco. It was written in the margin of a treatise on the form of the globe, in the handwriting of Bartholomew Colum¬ bus, which was well known to Las Casas, as he had many of his letters in his pos¬ session. The memorandum was in a barbarous mixture of Latin and Spanish, and to the following effect: In the year 1488, in December, arrived at Lisbon Bartholomew Diaz, captain of three caravels, which the King of Portugal sent to discover Guinea, and brought ac¬ counts that he had discovered six hundred leagues of territory, four hundred and fifty to the south and one hundred and fifty^ north, to a cape, named by him the Cape of Good Hope; and that by the astrolabe he found the cape 45 degrees beyond the equinoctial line. This cape was 3100 leagues distant from Lisbon; the which the said captain says he set down, league by league, in a chart of navigation presented by him to the King of Portugal; in all which, adds the writer, I was present (in quibus omnibus interfui). Las Casas expresses a doubt whether Bartholomew wrote this note for himself or on the part of his brother, but infers that one, or both, were in this expedition. The inference may be correct with respect to Bartholomew, but Christopher, at the time specified, was at the Spanish court. Las Casas accounts for a difference in date between the foregoing memorandum and the chronicles of the voyage; the former making the return of Diaz in the year ’88, the latter ’87. This, he observes, might be because some begin to count the year after Christmas, others at the first of January; and the expedition sailed about the end of August, ’86, and returned in December, ’87, after an absence of seventeen months. Note.— Since publishing the first edition of this work, the author being in Seville, and making researches in the Bibliotheca Columbina, the library given by Fernando Columbus to the cathedral of that city, he came accidentally upon the above-men¬ tioned copy of the work of Pedro Aliaco. He ascertained it to be the same by find¬ ing the above-cited memorandum written on the margin, at the eighth chapter of the tract called “ Imago Mundi.” It is an old volume in folio, bound in parchment, published soon after the invention of printing, containing a collection in Latin of astronomical and cosmographical tracts of Pedro (or Peter) de Aliaco, Archbishop of Cambray and Cardinal, and of his disciple, John Gerson. Pedro de Aliaco was born in 1340, and died, according to some, in 1416, according to others in 1425. He was the author of many works, and one of the most learned and scientific men of his day. Las Casas is of opinion that his writings had more effect in stimulating Columbus to his enterprise than those of any other author. “ His work was so fa¬ miliar to Columbus, that he had filled its whole margin with Latin notes in his hand¬ writing; citing many things which he had read and gathered elsewhere. This book, wdiich w r as very old,” continues Las Casas, “ I had many times in my hands; and I drew some things from it, written in Latin by the said admiral, Christopher Colum¬ bus, to verify certain points appertaining to his history, of which I before was In doubt.” (Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 11.) It was a great satisfaction to the author, therefore, to discover this identical vol¬ ume, this Vade Mecum of Columbus, in a state of good preservation. [It is in the cathedral library, E-G, Tab. 178, No. 21.] The notes and citations mentioned by Las Casas are in Latin, with many abbreviations, written in a very small, but neat and distinct hand, and run throughout the volume; calling attention to the most 304 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. It is but justice to the memory of Henry VII. to say that when the proposition was eventually made to him it met with a more ready attention than from any other sovereign. An agreement was actually made with Bartholomew for the prose¬ cution of the enterprise, and the latter departed for Spain in search of his brother. On reaching Paris, he first received the joyful intelligence that the discovery was already made; that his brother had returned to Spain in triumph, and was actually at the Spanish court, honored by the sovereigns, caressed by the nobility, and idolized by the people. The glory of Colum¬ bus already shed its rays upon his family, and Bartholomew found himself immediately a person of importance. He was noticed by the French monarch Charles VIII., who, under¬ standing that he was low in purse, furnished him with one hundred crowns to defray the expenses of his journey to Spain. He reached Seville just as his brother had departed on his second voyage. Bartholomew immediately repaired to the court, then at Valladolid, taking with him his two nephews, Diego and Fernando, who were to serve in quality of pages to Prince Juan.* He was received with distinguished favor by the sovereigns; who, finding him to be an able and accom¬ plished navigator, gave him the command of three ships freighted with supplies for the colony, and sent him to aid his brother in his enterprises. He had again arrived too late; reaching Isabella just after the departure of the admiral for the coast of Cuba. The sight of this brother was an inexpressible relief to Co¬ lumbus, overwhelmed as he was by cares, and surrounded by Strangers. His chief dependence for sympathy and assistance had hitherto been on his brother Don Diego; but his mild and peaceable disposition rendered him little capable of managing the concerns of a factious colony. Bartholomew was of a striking passages, or to those which bear most upon the theories of Columbus; oc¬ casionally containing brief comments or citing the opinions of other authors, ancient and modern, either in support or contradiction of the text. The memorandum par¬ ticularly cited by Las Cases, mentioning the voyage of Bartholomew Diaz to the Cape of Good Hope, is to disprove an opinion in the text, that the torrid zone was uninhabitable. This volume is a most curious and interesting document, the only pne that remains of Calupibus prior to his discovery. It illustrates his researches and in a manner the current of his thoughts, while as yet his great enterprise ex- |ste4 but in idea, and while he vyus seeking means to convince the world of its prac¬ ticability. It will be fopnd also to contain th© grounds of many pf his opinions and speculations on a variety pf subjects. * Hist, del Admirante, cap. 80, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 305 different and more efficient character. He was prompt, active, decided, and of a fearless spirit; whatever he determined, he carried into instant execution, without regard to difficulty or danger. His person corresponded to his mind; it was tall, muscular, vigorous, and commanding. He had an air of great authority, but somewhat stern, wanting that sweet¬ ness and benignity which tempered the authorative demeanor of the admiral. Indeed, there was a certain asperity in his temper, and a dryness and abruptness in his maimers, which made him many enemies; yet notwithstanding these external defects, he was of a generous disposition, free from all arro¬ gance or malevolence, and as placable as he was brave. Pie was a thorough seaman, understanding both the theory and practice of his profession; having been formed, in a great measure, under the eye of the admiral, and being but little inferior to him in science. He was superior to him in the exercise of the pen, according to Las Casas, who had letters and manuscripts of both in his possession. He was acquainted with Latin, but does not appear to have been highly educated; his knowledge, like that of his brother, being chiefly derived from a long course of varied experience and attentive observa¬ tion. Equally vigorous and penetrating in intellect with the admiral, but less enthusiastic in spirit and soaring in imagina¬ tion, and with less simplicity of heart, he surpassed him in the subtle and adroit management of business, was more attentive to his interests, and had more of that worldly wisdom which is so important in the ordinary concerns of life. Plis genius might never have enkindled him to the sublime speculation which ended in the discovery of a world, but his practical sagacity was calculated to turn that discovery to advantage. Such is the description of Bartholomew' Columbus, as furnished by the venerable Las Casas from personal observation ;* and it | will be found to accord with his actions throughout the remain- i ing history of the admiral, in the events of which he takes a conspicuous part. Anxious to relieve himself from the pressure of public busi¬ ness, v'hich weighed heavily upon him during his present mal¬ ady, Columbus immediately invested his brother Bartholomew with the title and authority of Adelantado, an office equivalent to that of lieutenant-governor. He considered himself entitled ♦ Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib., i. cap. 29. 306 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to do so from the articles of his arrangement with the sover¬ eigns, but it was looked upon by King Ferdinand as an undue assumption of power, and gave great offence to that jealous monarch, who was exceedingly tenacious of the prerogatives of the crown, and considered dignities of this rank and impor¬ tance as only to be conferred by royal mandate.* Columbus, however, was not actuated in this appointment by a mere de¬ sire to aggrandize his family. He felt the importance of his brother’s assistance in the present critical state of the colony, but that this co-operation would be inefficient unless it bore the stamp of high official authority. In fact, during the few months that he had been absent, the whole island had become a scene of discord and violence, in consequence of the neglect, or rather the flagrant violation, of those rules which he had prescribed for the maintenance of its tranquillity. A brief re¬ trospect of the recent affairs of the colony is here necessary to explain their present confusion. It will exhibit one of the many instances in which Columbus was doomed to reap the fruits of the evil seed sown by his adversaries. CHAPTER II. MISCONDUCT OF DON PEDRO MARGARITE, AND HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE ISLAND. [1494.] It will be recollected, that before departing on his voyage, Columbus had given the command of the army to Don Pedro Margarite, with orders to make a military tour of the island, awing the natives by a display of military force, but conciliat¬ ing their good-will by equitable and amicable treatment. The island was at this time divided into five domains, each governed by a cacique of absolute and hereditary power, to whom a great number of inferior caciques yielded tributary al¬ legiance. The first or most important domain comprised the middle part of the royal Vega. It was a rich, lovely country, partly cultivated after the imperfect manner of the natives, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib., i. cap. lOl. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 307 partly covered with noble forests, studded with Indian towns, and watered by numerous rivers, many of which, rolling down from the mountains of Cibao, on its southern frontier, had gold-dust mingled with their sands. The name of the cacique was Guarionex, whose ancestors had long ruled over the pro¬ vince. The second, called Marien, was under the sway of Guacana- gari, on whose coast Columbus had been wrecked in his first voyage. It was a large and fertile territory, extending along the northern coast from Cape St. Nicholas at the western ex¬ tremity of the island, to the great river Yagui, afterward called Monte Christi, and including the northern part of the royal Vega, since called the plain of Cape Frangois, now Cape Hay- tien. The third bore the name of Maguana. It extended along the southern coast from the river Ozema to the lakes, and com¬ prised the chief part of the centre of the island lying along the southern face of the mountains of Cibao, the mineral district of Hayti. It was under the dominion of the Carib cacique Ca- onabo, the most fierce and puissant of the savage chieftains, and the inveterate enemy of the white men. The fourth took its name from Xaragua, a large lake, and was the most populous and extensive of all. It comprised the whole western coast, including the long promontory of Cape Tiburon, and extended for a considerable distance along the southern side of the island. The inhabitants were finely formed, had a noble air, a more agreeable elocution, and more soft and graceful manners than the natives of the other parts of the island. The sovereign was named Behechio; his sister, Anacaona, celebrated throughout the island for her beauty, was the favorite wife of the neighboring cacique Caonabo. The fifth domain was Higuey, and occupied the whole east¬ ern part of the island, being bounded on the north by the Bay of Samana and part of the river Yuna, and on the west by the Ozema. The inhabitants were the most active and warlike people of the island, having learned the use of the bow and ar¬ row from the Caribs, who made frequent descents upon their coasts; they were said also to make use of poisoned weapons. Their bravery, however, was but comparative, and was found eventually of little avail against the terror of European arms. They were governed by a cacique named Cotubanama. * * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. p. 69. 308 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Such were the five territorial divisions of the island at the time of its discovery. The amount of its population has never been clearly ascertained; some have stated it at a million of souls, though this is considered an exaggeration. It must, however, have been very numerous, and sufficient, in case of any general hostility, to endanger the safety of a handful of Europeans. Columbus trusted for safety partly to the awe in¬ spired by the weapons and horses of the Spaniards, and the idea of their superhuman nature, but chiefly to the measures he had taken to conciliate the good-will of the Indians by gen¬ tle and beneficent treatment. Margarite set forth on his expedition with the greater part of the forces, leaving Alonzo de Ojeda in command of the for¬ tress of St. Thomas. Instead, however, of commencing by ex¬ ploring the rough mountains of Cibao, as he had been com¬ manded, he descended into the fertile region of the Vega. Here he fingered among the populous and hospitable Indian villages, forgetful of the object of his command, and of the in¬ structions left him by the admiral. A commander who lapses from duty himself is little calculated so enforce discipline. The sensual indulgences of Margarite were imitated by his fol¬ lowers, and his army soon became little better than a crew of riotous marauders. The Indians, for a time, supplied them with provisions with their wonted hospitality, but the scanty stores of those abstemious yet improvident people were soon exhausted by the Spaniards; one of whom they declared would consume more in a day than would support an Indian for a month. If provisions were withheld, or scantily furnished, they were taken with violence; nor was any compensation given to the natives, nor means taken to soothe their irritation. The avidity for gold also led to a thousand acts of injustice and oppression; but above all the Spaniards outraged the dearest feelings of the natives, by their licentious conduct with respect to the women. In fact, instead'**of guests, they soon assumed the tone of imperious masters; instead of enlightened benefac¬ tors, they became sordid and sensual oppressors. Tidings of these excesses, and of the disgust and impatience they were awakening among the natives, soon reached Don Diego Columbus. With the concurrence of the council, he wrote to Margarite, reprehending his conduct, and requesting him to proceed on the military tour, according to the com¬ mands of the admiral. The pride of Margarite took fire at this reproof; he considered, or rather pretended to consider LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 309 himself independent in his command, and above all responsi¬ bility to the council for his conduct. Being of an ancient family, also, and a favorite of the king, he affected to look down with contempt upon the newly-coined nobility of Diego Columbus. His letters in reply to the orders of the president and council were couched in a tone either of haughty contume¬ ly or of military defiance. He continued with his followers quartered in the V ega, persisting in a course of outrages and oppressions fatal to the tranquillity of the island. He was supported in his arrogant defiance of authority by the cavaliers and adventurers of noble birtli who were in the colony, and who had been deeply wounded in the proud punc¬ tilio so jealously guarded by a Spaniard. They could not for¬ get nor forgive the stern equity exercised by the admiral in a time of emergency, in making them submit to the privations and share the labors of the vulgar. Still less could they brook . the authority of his brother Diego, destitute of his high per¬ sonal claims to distinction. They formed, therefore, a kind of aristocratical faction in the colony; affecting to consider Columbus and his family as mere mercenary and upstart for¬ eigners, building up their own fortunes at the expense of the toils and sufferings of the community, and the degradation of Spanish hidalgos and cavaliers. In addition to these partisans, Margarite had a powerful ally in his fellow-countryman. Friar Boyle, the head of the religious fraternity, one of the members of the council, and apostolical vicar of the New World. It is not easy to ascertain the origi¬ nal cause of the hostility of this holy friar to the admiral, who was never wanting in respect to the clergy. Various alterca¬ tions, however, had taken place between them. Some say that the friar interfered in respect to the strict measures deemed necessary by the admiral for the security of the colony; others that he resented the fancied indignity offered to himself and his household, in putting them on the same short allow¬ ance with the common people. He appears, however, to have been generally disappointed and disgusted with the sphere of action afforded by the colony, and to have looked back with regret to the Old World. He had none of that enthusiastic zeal and persevering self-devotion, which induced so many of the Spanish missionaries to brave all the hardships and priva¬ tions of the New World, in the hope of converting its pagan inhabitants. Encouraged and fortified by such powerful partisans, Mar- 310 LIFE OF CHIUS TO PEER COLUMBUS. garite really began to consider himself above the temporary authorities of the island. Whenever he came to Isabella, he took no notice of Don Diego Columbus, nor paid any respect to the council, but acted as if he had paramount command. He formed a cabal of most of those who were disaffected to Colum¬ bus, and discontented with their abode in the colony. Among these the leading agitator was Friar Boyle. It was concerted among them to take possession of the ships which had brought out Don Bartholomew Columbus, and to return in them to Spain. Both Margarite and Boyle possessed the favor of the king, and they deemed it would be an easy matter to justify their abandonment of their military and religious commands by a pretended zeal for the public good; hurrying home to rep¬ resent the disastrous state of the country, through the tyranny and oppression of its rulers. Some have ascribed the abrupt departure of Margarite to his fear of a severe military investi¬ gation of his conduct on the return of the admiral; others, to his having, in the course of his licentious amours, contracted a malady at that time new and unknown, and which he attribu¬ ted to the climate, and hoped to cure by medical assistance in Spain. Whatever may have been the cause, his measures were taken with great precipitancy, without any consultation of the proper authorities, or any regard to the consequences of his departure. Accompanied by a band of malcontents, he and Friar Boyle took possession of some ships in the harbor, and set sail for Spain; the first general and apostle of the New World thus setting the flagrant example of unauthorized aban¬ donment of their posts. CHAPTER III. TROUBLES W2TH THE NATIVES -ALONZO DE OJEDA BESIEGED BY CAONABO. [1494.] The departure of Pedro Margarite left the army without a head, and put an end to what little restraint or discipline remained. There is no rabble so licentious as soldiery left to their own direction in a defenceless country. They now roved about in bands or singly, according to their caprice, scattering LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 311 themselves among the Indian villages, and indulging in all kinds of excesses either as prompted by avarice or sensuality. The natives, indignant at having their hospitality thus requited, refused any longer to furnish them with food. In a little while the Spaniards began to experience the pressure of hunger, and seized upon provisions wherever they could be found, accom¬ panying these seizures with acts of wanton violence. At length, by a series of flagrant outrages, the gentle and pacific nature of this people was roused to resentment, and from con¬ fiding and hospitable hosts they were converted into vindictive enemies. All the precautions enjoined by Columbus having been neglected, the evils he had apprehended came to pass. Though the Indians, naturally timid, dared not contend with the Spaniards while they kept up any combined and disci¬ plined force, yet they took sanguinary vengeance on them whenever they met with small parties or scattered individuals, roving about in quest of food. Encouraged by these petty tri¬ umphs, and the impunity which seemed to attend them, their hostilities grew more and more alarming. Guatiguana, cacique of a large town on the banks of the Grand River, in the domin¬ ions of Guarionex, sovereign of the Vega, put to death ten Span¬ iards, who had quartered themselves in his town and outraged the inhabitants by their licentiousness. He followed up this massacre by setting fire to a house in which forty-six Spaniards were lodged.* Flushed by this success, he threatened to attack a small fortress called Magdalena, which had recently been built in his neighborhood in the Vega; so that the commander, .Luis de Arriaga, having but a feeble garrison, was obliged to remain shut up within its walls until relief should arrive from Isabella. The most formidable enemy of the Spaniards, however, was Caonabo, the Carib cacique of Maguana. With natural talents for war, and intelligence superior to the ordinary range of savage intellect, he had a proud and daring spirit to urge him on, three valiant brothers to assist him, and a numerous tribe at his command.! He had always felt jealous of the intrusion of the white men into the island; but particularly exasperated by the establishment of the fortress of St. Thomas, erected in the very centre of his dominions. As long as the army lay within call in the Vega he was deterred from any attack; but ♦Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 16. f Ibid. 312 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. when, on the departure of Margarite, it became dismembered and dispersed, the time for striking a signal blow seemed arrived. The fortress remained isolated, with a garrison of only fifty men. By a sudden and secret movement, he might overwhelm it with his forces, and repeat the horrors which he had wreaked upon La Navidad. The wily cacique, however, had a different kind of enemy to deal with in the commander of St. Thomas. Alonzo de Ojeda had been schooled in Moorish warfare. He was versed in all kinds of feints, stratagems, lurking ambuscades, and wild assaults. No man was more fitted, therefore, to cope with Indian warriors. He had a headlong courage, arising partly from the natural heat and voilence of his disposition, and, in a great measure, from religious superstition. Ho had been en¬ gaged in wars with Moors and Indians, in public battles and private combats, in fights, feuds, and encounters of all kinds, to which he had been prompted by a rash and fiery spirit, and a love of adventure; yet he had never been wounded, nor lost a drop of blood. He began to doubt whether any weapon had power to harm him, and to consider himself under the special protection of the Holy Virgin. As a kind of religious talisman, he had a small Flemish painting of the Virgin, given him by his patron, Fonseca, Bishop of Badajos. This he constantly carried with him in city, camp, or field, making it the object of his frequent orisons and invocations. In garrison or en¬ campment, it was suspended in his chamber or his tent; in his rough expeditions in the wilderness he carried it in his knap¬ sack, and whenever leisure permitted, would take it out, fix it against a tree, and address his prayers to this military patro¬ ness.* In a word, he swore by the Virgin, he invoked the Virgin whether in brawl or battle, and under the favor of the Virgin he was ready for any enterprise or adventure. Such was this Alonzo de Ojeda; bigoted in his devotion, reckless in his life, fearless in his spirit, like many of the roving Spanish cavaliers of those days. Though small in size, he was a prodigy of strength and prowess; and the chroniclers of the early dis¬ coveries relate marvels of his valor and exploits. Having reconnoitred the fortress, Caonabo assembled ten thousand warriors, armed with war clubs, bows and arrows, and lances hardened in the fire; and making his way secretly through the forests, came suddenly in the neighborhood, ex- * Herrera, Hist. Ind., deoad. i. lib. vili. cap. 4. Pizarro Varonese IHustres, cap. 8- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 313 meeting to surprise the garrison in a state of careless security. He found Ojeda’s forces, however, drawn up warily within his tower, which, being built apon an almost insulated height, with a river nearly surrounding it, and the remaining space tra¬ versed by a deep ditch, set at defiance an attack by naked warriors. Foiled in his attempt, Caonabo now hoped to reduce it by famine. For this purpose, he distributed his warriors through the adjacent forests, and waylaid every pass, so as to intercept any supplies brought by the natives, and to cut off any forag¬ ing party from the fortress. This siege or investment lasted for thirty days,* and reduced the garrison to great distress. There is a traditional anecdote, which Oviedo relates of Pedro Margarite, the former commander of this fortress, but which may with more probability be ascribed to Alonzo de Ojeda, as having occurred during this siege. At a time when the garri¬ son was sore pressed by famine, an Indian gained access to the fort, bringing a couple of wood-pigeons for the table of the commander. The latter was in an apartment of the tower surrounded by several of his officers. Seeing them regard the birds ‘with the wistful eyes of famishing men, “It is a pity,” said he, ‘ ‘ that there is not enough to give us all a meal; I can¬ not consent to feast while the rest of you are starving:” so say¬ ing, he turned loose the pigeons from a window of the tower. During the siege, Ojeda displayed the greatest activity of spirit and fertility of resource. He baffled all the arts of the Carib chieftain, concerting stratagems of various kinds to re¬ lieve the garrison and annoy the foe. He sallied forth when¬ ever the enemy appeared in any force, leading the van with that headlong valor for which he was noted; making great slaughter with his single arm, and, as usual, escaping unhurt from amidst showers of darts and arrows. Caonabo saw many of his bravest warriors slain. His forces were diminishing, for the Indians, unused to any protracted operations of war, grew weary of this siege, and returned daily in numbers to their homes. He gave up all further attempt, therefore, on the fortress, and retired, filled with admiration of the prowess and achievements of Ojeda, f The restless chieftain was not discouraged by the failure of this enterprise, but meditated schemes of a bolder and more * P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv. + Oviedo, Croniea de las Tndias, lib. iii. cap. 1. 314 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. extensive nature. Prowling in secret in the vicinity of Isa¬ bella, he noted the enfeebled state of the settlement.* Many of the inhabitants were suffering under various maladies, and most of the men capable of bearing arms were distributed about the country. He now conceived the project of a general league among the caciques, to surprise and overwhelm the settlement, and massacre the Spaniards wherever they could be found. This handful of intruders once exterminated, he trusted the island would be delivered from all further molestation of the kind; little dreaming of the hopeless nature of the contest, and that where the civilized man once plants his foot, the power of the savage is gone forever. Reports of the profligate conduct of the Spaniards had spread throughout the island, and inspired hatred and hostility even among tribes who had never beheld them, nor suffered from their misdeeds. Caonabo found three of the sovereign caciques inclined to co-operate with him, though impressed with deep awe of the supernatural power of the Spaniards, and of their terrific arms and animals. The league, however, met with un¬ expected opposition in the fifth cacique, Guacanagari, the sov¬ ereign of Marien. His conduct in this time of danger complete¬ ly manifested the injustice of the suspicions which had been entertained of him by the Spaniards. He refused to join the other caciques with his forces, or to violate those laws of hos¬ pitality by which he had considered himself bound to protect and aid the white men, ever since they had been shipwrecked on his coast. He remained quietly in his dominions,, entertain¬ ing at his own expense a hundred of the suffering soldiery, and supplying all their wants with his accustomed generosity. This conduct drew upon him the odium and hostility of his fellow caciques, particularly of the fierce Carib, Caonabo, and his brother-in-law, Behechio. They made irruptions into his territories, and inflicted on him various injuries and indig¬ nities. Behechio killed one of his wives, and Caonabo carried another away captive, f Nothing, however, could shake the devotion of Guacanagari to the Spaniards; and as his dominions lay immediately adjacent to the settlement, and those of some of the other caciques were very remote, the want of his co¬ operation impeded for some time the hostile designs of his con¬ federates. t * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 60. X Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 16 t Ibid. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 315 Such was the critical state to which the affairs of the colony ’ had been reduced, and such the bitter hostility engendered among the people of the island, during the absence of Colum¬ bus, and merely in consequence of violating all his regulations. Margarite and Friar Boyle had hastened to Spain to make false representations of the miseries of the island. Had they re¬ mained faithfully at their posts, and discharged zealously the trust confided to them, those miseries might have been easily remedied, if not entirely prevented. CHAPTER IV. ♦ MEASURES OF COLUMBUS TO RESTORE THE QUIET OF THE ISLAND —EXPEDITION OF OJEDA TO SURPRISE OAONABO. [1494.] Immediately after the return of Columbus from Cuba, while he was yet confined to his bed by indisposition, he was gratified by a voluntary visit from Guacanagari, who manifested the greatest concern at his illness, for he appears to have always entertained an affectionate reverence for the admiral. He again spoke with tears of the massacre of Fort Nativity, dwell¬ ing on the exertions he had made in defence of the Spaniards. He now informed Columbus of the secret league forming among the caciques; of his opposition to it, and the consequent perse¬ cution he had suffered; of the murder of one of his wives, and the capture of another. He urged the admiral to be on his guard against the designs of Caonabo, and offered to lead his subjects to the field, to fight by the side of the Spaniards, as well out of friendship for them as in revenge of his own in¬ juries.* Columbus had always retained a deep sense of the ancient kindness of Guacanagari, and was rejoiced to have all suspicion of his good faith thus effectually dispelled. Their former ami¬ cable intercourse was renewed, with this difference, that the man whom Guacanagari had once relieved and succored as a shipwrecked stranger, had suddenly become the arbiter of the fate of himself and all his countrymen. The manner in which this peaceful island had been exasperated * Herrera, Hist. Ind., deead. i. lib. ii. cap. 1G. 310 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and embroiled by the licentious conduct of the Europeans, was a matter of deep concern to Columbus. He saw all his plans of deriving an immediate revenue to the sovereigns completely impeded. To restore the island to tranquillity required skilful management. His forces were but small, and the awe in which the natives had stood of the white men, as supernatural beings, had been in some degree dispelled. He ^vas too ill to take a personal share in any warlike enterprise; his brother Diego was not of a military character, and Bartholomew was yet a stranger among the Spaniards, and regarded by the leading men with jealousy. Still Columbus considered the threatened combination of the caciques as but imperfectly formed; he trusted to their want of skill and experience in warfare, and conceived that by prompt measures, by proceeding in detail, punishing some, conciliating others, and uniting force, gentle* ness, and stratagem, he might succeed in dispelling the threat* ened storm. His first care was to send a body of armed men to the relief of Fort Magdalena, menaced with destruction by G-uatiguana, the cacique of the Grand River, who had massacred the Span¬ iards quartered in his town. Having relieved the fortress, the troops overran the territory of Guatiguana, killing many of his warriors, and carrying others off captives: the chieftain him¬ self made his escape.! He was tributary to Guarionex, sover¬ eign cacique of the Royal Vega. As tips Indian reigned over a great and populous extent of country, his friendship was highly important for the prosperity of the colony, while there was imminent risk of his hostility, from the unbridled excesses of the Spaniards who had been quartered in his dominions. Columbus sent for him, therefore, and explained to him that these excesses had been in violation of his orders, and contrary to his good intentions toward the natives, whom it was his wish in every way to please and benefit. He explained, likewise, that the expedition against Guatiguana was an act of mere in¬ dividual punishment, not of hostility against the territories of Guarionex. The cacique was of a quiet and placable disposition, and whatever anger he might have felt was easily soothed. To link him in some degree to the Spanish interest, Columbus pre¬ vailed on him to give his daughter in marriage to tho Indian interpreter, Diego Colon, t As a stronger precaution against * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 1 t P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv. Gio. Battista Spotorno, in his Memoir of Columbus, has been led into an error by the name of this Indian, and observes that Columbus LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 317 any hostility on the part of the cacique, and to insure tranquil¬ lity in the important region of the Vega, he ordered a fortress to be erected in the midst of his territories, which he named Fort Conception. The easy cacique agreed without hesitation to a measure fraught with ruin to himself, and future slavery to his subjects. The most formidable enemy remained to be disposed of— Caonabo. His territories lay in the central and mountainous parts of the island, rendered difficult of access by rugged rocks, entangled forests, and frequent rivers. To make war upon this subtle and ferocious chieftain, in the depths of his wild woodland territory, and among the fastnesses of his moun¬ tains, where at every step there would b- danger of ambush, would be a work of time, peril, and uncertain issue. In the meanwhile the settlements would never be secure from his secret and daring enterprises, and the working of the mines would be subject to frequent interruption. While perplexed on this subject, Columbus was relieved by an offer of Alonzo de Ojeda, to take the Carib chieftain by stratagem, and de¬ liver him alive into his hands. The project was wild, hazard¬ ous, and romantic, characteristic of Ojeda, who was fond of distinguishing himself by extravagant exploits and feats of desperate bravery. Choosing ten bold and hardy followers, well armed and well mounted, and invoking the protection of his patroness the Vir¬ gin, whose image as usual he bore with him as a safeguard, Ojeda plunged into the forest, and made his way above sixty leagues into the wild territories of Caonabo, whom he found in one of his most populous towns, the same now called Maguana, near the town of San Juan. Approaching the cacique with great deference as a sovereign prince, he professed to come on a friendly embassy from the admiral who was Guamiquina, or chief of the Spaniards, and who had sent him an invaluable present. Caonabo had tried Ojeda in battle; he had witnessed his fiery prowess, and had conceived a warrior’s admiration of him. He received him with a degree of chivalrous courtesy, if such a phrase may apply to the savage state and rude hospi¬ tality of a mid warrior of the forest. The free, fearless de- Jt • had a brother named Diego, of whom he seemed to be ashamed, and whom he mar¬ ried to the daughter of an Indian chief. 318 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. portment, the great personal strength, and the surprising agility and adroitness of Ojeda in all manly exercises, and in the use of all kinds of weapons, were calculated to delight a savage, and he soon became a great favorite with Caonabo. Ojeda now used all his influence to prevail upon the cacique to repair to Isabella, for the purpose of making a treaty with Columbus, and becoming the ally and friend of the Spaniards. It is said that he offered him, as a lure, the bell of the chapel of Isabella. This bell was the wonder of the island. When the Indians heard it ringing for mass, and beheld the Spaniards hastening toward the chapel, they imagined that it talked, and that the white men obeyed it. Regarding with superstition all things connected with the Spaniards, they looked upon this bell as something supernatural, and in their usual phrase said it had come from “Turey,” or the skies. Caonabo had heard the bell at a distance, in his prowlings about the settlement, and had longed to see it; but when it was proffered to him as a present of peace, he found it impossible to resist the tempta¬ tion. He agreed, therefore, to set out for Isabella; but when the time came to depart Ojeda beheld with surprise a powerful force of warriors assembled and ready to march. He asked the meaning of taking such an army on a mere friendly visit; the cacique proudly replied that it did not befit a great prince like himself to go forth scantily attended. Ojeda was little satisfied with this reply; he knew the warlike character of Caonabo, and his deep subtlety; he feared some sinister design —a surprise of the fortress of Isabella, or an attempt upon the person of the admiral. He knew also that it was the wish of Columbus either to make peace with the cacique, or to get pos session of his person without the alternative of open warfare. He had recourse to a stratagem, therefore, which has an air of fable and romance, but which is recorded by all the contem¬ porary historians with trivial variations, and which, Las Casas assures us, was in current circulation in the island when he ar¬ rived there, about six years after the event. It accords too with the adventurous and extravagant character of the man, and with the wild stratagems and vaunting exploits incident to Indian warfare. In the course of their march, having halted near the Little Yagui, a considerable branch of the Neyba, Ojeda one day pro¬ duced a set of manacles of polished steel, so highly burnished that they looked like silver. These he assured Caonabo were royal ornaments which had come from heaven, or the Turey of LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 319 Biscay ;* that they were worn by the monarchs of Castile on solemn dances and other high festivities, and were intended as presents to the cacique. He proposed that Caonabo should go to the river and bathe, after which he should be decorated with these ornaments, mounted on the horse of Ojeda, and should return in the state of a Spanish monarch, to astonish his subjects. The cacique was dazzled with the glitter of the manacles, and flattered with the idea of bestriding one of those tremendous animals so dreaded by his countrymen. He re¬ paired to the river, and having bathed, was assisted to mount betpnd. Ojeda, and the shackles were adjusted. Ojeda made several circuits to gain space, followed by his little band of horsemen, the Indians shrinking back from the prancing steeds. At length he made a wide sweep into the forest, until the trees concealed him from the sight of the army. His fol¬ lowers then closed round him, and drawing their swords, threatened Caonabo with instant death if he made the least noise or resistance. Binding him with cords to Ojeda to pre¬ vent his falling or effecting an escape, they put spurs to their horses, dashed across the river, and made off through the woods with their prized They had now fifty or sixty leagues of wilderness to traverse on their way homeward, with here and there large Indian towns. They had borne off their captive far beyond the pur¬ suit of his subjects; but the utmost vigilance was requisite to prevent his escape-during this long and toilsome journey, and to avoid exciting the hostilities of any confederate cacique. They had to shun the populous parts of the country therefore, or to pass through the Indian towns at full gallop. They suffered greatly from fatigue, hunger, and watchfulness; en¬ countering many perils, fording and swimming the numerous rivers of the plains, toiling through the deep tangled forests, and clambering over the high and rocky mountains. They accomplished all in safety, and Ojeda entered Isabella in triumph from this most daring and characteristic enterprise, with his wild Indian bound behind. * The principal iron manufactories of Spain are established in Biscay, where the ore is found in abundance. t This romantic exploit of Ojeda is recorded at large by Las Casas; by his copyist Herrera (decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 16); by Fernando Pizarro, in his Varones Illustres del Nuevo Mundo; and by Charlevoix in his History of St Domingo. Peter Martyr and others have given it more concisely, alluding to, but not inserting its romantic de¬ tails. 320 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Columbus could not refrain from expressing his great satis¬ faction when this dangerous foe was delivered into his hands. The haughty Carib met him with a lofty and unsubdued air, disdaining go conciliate him by submission, or to deprecate his vengeance for the blood of white men which he had shed. He never bowed his spirit to captivity; on the contrary, though completely at the mercy of the Spaniards, he displayed that boasting defiance which is a part of Indian heroism, and which the savage maintains toward his tormentors, even amid the agonies of the fagot and the stake. He vaunted his achieve¬ ment in surprising and burning the fortress of Nativity, and slaughtering its garrison, and declared that he had secretly reconnoitered Isabella, with an intention of wreaking upon it the same desolation. Columbus, though struck with the heroism of the chieftain, considered him a dangerous enemy, whom, for the peace of the island, it was advisable to send to Spain; in the meantime he ordered that he should be treated with kindness and respect and lodged him in a part of his own dwelling, where, however, he kept him a prisoner in chains. This precaution must have been necessary, from the insecurity of his prison; for Las Casas observes that the admiral’s house not being spacious, nor hav¬ ing many chambers, the passers by in the street could see the captive chieftain from the portal.* Caonabo always maintained a haughty deportment toward Columbus, wdiile he never evinced the least animosity against Ojeda. He rather admired the latter as a consummate warrior, for having pounced upon him and borne him off in this hawk¬ like manner from the very midst of his fighting-men. When Columbus entered the apartment where Caonabo was confined, all present rose, according to custom, and paid him reverence; the cacique alone neither moved nor took any notice of him. On the contrary, when Ojeda entered, though small in person and without external state, Caonabo rose and saluted him with profound respect. On being asked the reason of this, Columbus being Guamiquina, or great chief over all, and Ojeda but one of his subjects, the proud Carib replied that the admiral had never dared to come personally to his house, and seize him; it was only through the valor of Ojeda he was his prisoner; to Ojeda, therefore, he owed rever¬ ence, not to the admiral, f * Las Casas. Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 102. t Ibid., cap. 102. - LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 321 The captivity of Caonabo was deeply felt by his subjects, for the natives of this island seem generally to have been extremely loyal, and strongly attached to their caciques. One of the I brothers of Caonabo, a warrior of great courage and address, I and very popular among the Indians, assembled an army of more than seven thousand men and led them secretly to the neighborhood of St. Thomas, where Ojeda was again in com¬ mand. His intention was to surprise a number of Spaniards, in hopes of obtaining his brother in exchange for them. Ojeda, as usual, had notice of the design, but was not to be again shut up in his fortress. Having been reinforced by a detachment sent by the Adelantado, he left a sufficient force in garrison, and with the remainder, and his little troop of horse, set off boldly to meet the savages. The brother of Caonabo, when he saw the Spaniards approaching, showed some military skill, disposing his army in five battalions. The impetuous attack of Ojeda, however, with his handful of horsemen, threw the In¬ dian warriors into sudden panic. At the furious onset of these steel-clad beings, wielding their flashing weapons, and bestriding what appeared to be ferocious beasts of prey, they threw down their weapons and took to flight; many were slain, more were taken prisoners, and among the latter was the brother of Caonabo, bravely fighting in a righteous yet desperate cause.* CHAPTER V. ARRIVAL OF ANTONIO DE TORRES WITH FOUR SHIPS FROM SPAIN—HIS RETURN WITH INDIAN SLAVES. [ 1494 .] The colony was still suffering greatly from want of provi- I sions; the European stock was nearly exhausted, and such was | the idleness and improvidence of the colonists, or the confusion into which they had been thrown by the hostilities of the natives, or such was their exclusive eagerness after the precious ' metals, that they seem to have neglected the true wealth of the island, its quick and productive soil, and to have been in con¬ stant danger of famine, though in the midst of fertility. * Oviedo, Cronica de los Indias, lib. iii. cap. 1. Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. 322 LIFE OF OHRISTOPUER COLUMBUS. At length they were relieved by the arrival of four ships commanded by Antonio Torres, which brought an ample supply of provisions. There were also a physician and an apothecary, whose aid was greatly needed in the sickly state of the colony; but above all, there were mechanics, millers, fishermen, gar¬ deners, and husbandmen—the true kind of population for a colony. Torres brought letters from the sovereigns (dated August 16th, 1494) of the most gratifying kind, expressing the highest satis¬ faction at the accounts sent home by the admiral, and acknowl¬ edging that everything in the course of his discoveries had turned out as he had predicted. They evinced the liveliest interest in the affairs of the colony, and a desire of receiving frequent intelligence as to his situation, proposing that a caravel should sail each month from Isabella and Spain. They informed him that all differences with Portugal were amicably adjusted, and acquainted him with the conventional agreement with that power relative to a geographical line, separating their newly- discovered possessions; requesting him to respect this agree¬ ment in the course of his discoveries. As in adjusting the arrangement with Portugal, and in drawing the proposed line, it was important to have the best advice, the sovereigns re¬ quested Columbus to return and be present at the convention; or, in case that should be inconvenient, to send his brother Bartholomew, or any other person whom he should consider fully competent, furnished with such maps, charts, and designs as might be of service in the negotiation.* There was another letter, addressed generally to the inhabi¬ tants of the colony, and to all who should proceed on voyages of discovery, commanding them to obey Columbus as implicitly as they would the sovereigns themselves, under pain of their high displeasure and a fine of ten thousand maravedies for each offence. Such was the well-merited confidence reposed at this moment by the sovereigns in Columbus, but which was soon to be blighted by the insidious reports of worthless men. He was al¬ ready aware of the complaints and misrepresentations which j had been sent home from the colony, and which would be en¬ forced by Margarite and Friar Boyle. He was aware that his standing in Spain was of that uncertain kind which a stran- * Herrera, decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 17. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 323 m ger always possesses in the service of a foreign country, where he has no friends nor connections to support him, and where even his very merits increase the eagerness of envy to cast him down. His efforts to promote the working of the mines, and to explore the resources of the island, had been impeded by the misconduct of Margarite and the disorderly life of the Span¬ iards in general, yet he apprehended that the very evils which they had produced would be alleged against him, and the want of profitable returns be cited to discredit and embarass his ex¬ peditions. To counteract any misrepresentations of the kind, Columbus hastened the return of the ships, and would have returned with them, not merely to comply with the wishes of the sovereigns in being present at the settlement of the geographical line, but to vindicate himself and his enterprises from the aspersions of his enemies. The malady, however, which confined him to his bed prevented his departure; and his brother Bartholomew was required to aid, with his practical good sense and his resolute spirit, in regulating the disordered affairs of the island. It was determined, therefore, to send home his brother Diego, to at¬ tend to the wishes of the sovereigns, and to take care of his in¬ terests at court. At the same time he exerted himself to the utmost to send by the ships satisfactory proofs of the value of his discoveries. He remitted by them all the gold that he could collect, with specimens of other metals, and of various fruits and valuable plants, which he had collected either in His¬ paniola or in the course of his voyage. In his eagerness to pro¬ duce immediate profit, and to indemnify the sovereigns for those expenses which bore hard upon the. royal treasury, he sent, likewise, about five hundred Indian prisoners, who, he suggested, might be sold as slaves at Seville. It is painful to find the brilliant renown of Columbus sullied by so foul a stain. The customs of the tunes, however, must be pleaded in his apology. The precedent had been given long before, by both Spaniards and Portuguese, in their African dis¬ coveries, wherein the traffic in slaves had formed one of the greatest sources of profit. In fact, the practice had been sanc¬ tioned by the church itself, and the most learned theologians lad pronounced all barbarous and infidel nations, who shut heir ears to the truths of Christianity, fair objects of war and •apine, of captivity and slavery. If Columbus needed any )ractical illustration of this doctrine, he had it in the con¬ tact of Ferdinand himself, in his late wars with the Moors of 324 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP VS. Granada, in which he had always been surrounded by a crowd of ghostly advisers, and had professed to do everything for the glory and advancement of the faith. In this holy war, as it was termed, it was a common practice to make inroads into the Moorish territories and carry off cavalgadas , not merely of flocks and herds, hut of human beings, and those not warriors taken with weapons in their hands, but quiet villagers, labors mg peasantry, and helpless women and children. These were carried to the mart at Seville, or to other populous towns, and sold into slavery. The capture of Malaga was a memorable in¬ stance, where, as a punishment for an obstinate and brave de¬ fence, which should have excited admiration rather than revenge, eleven thousand people of both sexes, and of all rarfks and ages, many of them highly cultivated and delicately reared, were suddenly torn from their homes, severed from each other, and swept into menial slavery, even though half of their ran¬ soms had been paid. These circumstances are not advanced to vindicate, but to palliate the conduct of Columbus. He acted but in conformity to the customs of the times, and was sanc¬ tioned by the example of the sovereign under whom he served. Las Casas, the zealous and enthusiastic advocate of the Indians, who suffers no opportunity to escape him of exclaiming in ve¬ hement terms against their slavery, speaks with indulgence of Columbus on this head. If those pious and learned men, he observes, whom the sovereigns took for guides and instructors, were so ignorant of the injustice of this practice, it is no won¬ der that the unlettered admiral should not be conscious of its impropriety.* CHAPTER VI. EXPEDITION OF COLUMBUS AGAINST THE INDIANS OF THE VEGA —BATTLE. [ 1494 .] Notwithstanding the defeat of the Indians by Ojeda, they still retained hostile intentions against the Spaniards. The idea of their cacique being a prisoner and in chains enraged the * jLac Casas, Hist. In cl , tom. i, cap. 122, ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 825 nati ves of Maguana; and the general sympathy manifested by other tribes of the island shows how widely that intelligent savage had extended his influence, and how greatly he was ad¬ mired. He had still active and powerful relatives remaining, to attempt his rescue, or revenge his fall. One of his brothers, Manicaotex by name, a Carib, hold and warlike as himself, succeeded to the sway over his subjects. His favorite wife also, Anacoana, so famous for her charms, had great influence over her brother Behecio, cacique of the populous province of Xaragua. Through these means a violent and general hostility to the Spaniards was excited throughout the island, and the for¬ midable league of the caciques, which Caonabo had in vain at¬ tempted to accomplish when at large, was produced by his cap¬ tivity. Guacanagari, the cacique of Marien, alone remained friendly to the Spaniards, giving them timely information of the gathering storm and offering to take the field with them as a faithful ally. The protracted illness of Columbus, the scantiness of his military force, and the wretched state of the colonists in gene¬ ral, reduced by sickness and scarcity to great bodily weakness, had hitherto induced him to try every means of conciliation and stratagem to avert and dissolve the confederacy. He had at length recovered his health, and his followers were in some degree refreshed and invigorated by the supplies brought by the ships. At this time he received the intelligence that the allied caciques were actually assembled in great force in the Vega, within two days’ march of Isabella, with an intention of | making a general assault upon the settlement, and overwhelm¬ ing it by numbers. Columbus resolved to take the field at once, and to carry the war into the territories of the enemy, i rather than suffer it to be brought to his own door. | The whole sound and effective force that he could muster, in the present infirm state of the colony, did not exceed two liun- jdred infantry and twenty horse. They were armed with ; cross-bows, swords, lances, and espingardas, or heavy arque- ! buses, which in those days were used with rests, and some- 1 times mounted on wheels. With these formidable weapons, a i handful of European warriors, cased in steel and covered with I bucklers, were able to cope with thousands of naked savages. | They had aid of another kind, however, consisting of twenty i bloodhounds, animals scarcely less terrible to the Indians than I die horses, and infinitely more fatal. They were fearless and j.erocious; nothing daunted them, nor when they had once 326 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . seized upon their prey could anything compel them to relin¬ quish their hold. The naked bodies of the Indians offered no defence against their attacks. They sprang on them. Dragged them to the earth, and tore them to pieces. The admiral was accompanied in the expedition by his brother Bartholomew, whose counsel and aid he sought on all occasions, and who had not merely great personal force and undaunted courage, but also a decidedly military turn of mind. Guacanagari also brought his people into the field; neither he nor his subjects, however, were of a warlike charac¬ ter, nor calculated to render much assistance. The chief ad¬ vantage of his co-operation was, that it completely severed him from the other caciques, and insured the dependence of him¬ self and his subjects upon the Spaniards. In the present in¬ fant state of the colony its chief security depended upon jeal¬ ousies and dissensions sown among the native powers of the island. On the 27th of March, 1495, Columbus issued forth from Isa¬ bella with his little army, and advanced by marches of ten leagues a day in quest of the enemy. He ascended again to the mountain-pass of the Cavaliers, whence he had first looked down upon the Yega. With what different feelings did he now contemplate it. The vile passions of the white men had already converted this smiling, beautiful, and once peaceful and hospi¬ table region, into a land of wrath and hostility. Wherever the smoke of an Indian town rose from among the trees, it marked a horde of exasperated enemies, and the deep rich forests below him swarmed with lurking warriors. In the picture which his imagination had drawn of the peaceful and inoffensive nature of this people, he had flattered himself with the idea of ruling over them as a patron and benefactor, but now he found himself compelled to assume the odious character of a con¬ queror. The Indians had notice by their scouts of his approach, but though they had already had some slight experience of the warfare of the white men, they were confident from the vast superiority of their numbers, which, it is said, amounted to one hundred thousand men.* This is probably an exaggeration; as Indians never draw out into the open field in order of battle, but lurk among the forests, it is difficult to ascertain their force, and their rapid movements and sudden sallies and re- * Las Casas, Hist. Iud., lib. i. cap. 104, ms. LIFE OF CHRIS TO PITER COLUMBUS. 327 treats from various parts, together with the wild shouts and yells from opposite quarters of the woodlands, are calculated to give an exaggerated idea of their number. The army must, however, have been great, as it consisted of the combined forces of several caciques of this populous island. It was com¬ manded by Manicaotex, the brother of Caonabo. The Indians, who were little skilled in numeration and incapable of reckon¬ ing beyond ten, had a simple mode of ascertaining and describ¬ ing the force of an enemy, by counting out a grain of maize or Indian com for every warrior. When, therefore, the spies, who had watched from rocks and thickets the march of Columbus, came back with a mere handful of com as the amount of his army, the caciques scoffed at the idea of so scanty a number making head against their countless multitude.* Columbus drew near to the enemy about the place where the town of St. Jago has since been built. The Indian army, under Manicaotex, was posted on a plain interspersed with clusters of forest trees, now known as the Savanna of Matanza. Having ascertained the great force of the enemy, Don Bartholomew ad¬ vised that their little army should be divided into detachments, and should attack the Indians at the same moment from seve¬ ral quarters; this plan was adopted. The infantry, separating into different bodies, advanced suddenly from various direc tions with great din of drums and trumpets, and a destructive discharge of firearms from the covert of the trees. Tlie Indians were thrown into complete confusion. An army seemed press¬ ing upon them from every quarter, their fellow-warriors to be laid low with thunder and lightning from the forests. While driven together and confounded by these attacks, Alonzo de Ojeda charged their main body impetuously with his troop of cavalry, cutting his way with lance and sabre. The horses bore down the terrified Indians, while their riders dealt their blows on all sides unopposed. The bloodhounds at the same time rushed upon the naked savages, seizing them by the throat, dragging them to the earth, and tearing out their bowels. The Indians, unaccustomed to large and fierce quad¬ rupeds of any kind, were struck with horror when assailed by these ferocious animals. They thought the horses equally fierce and devouring. The contest, if such it might be called, was of short duration. The Indians fled in every direction with yells and bowlings; * Las Casas, ubi sup. 32S LIFE OF CHIUSIV PH Ell COLUMBUS. some clambered to the top of rocks and precipices, whence they made piteous supplications, and offers of complete submission; many were killed, many made prisoners, and the confederacy was for the time completely broken up and dispersed. Guacanagari had accompanied the Spaniards into the field according to his promise, but he was little more than a specta- tor of this battle or rather rout. He was not of a martial spirit, and both he and his subjects must have shrunk with awe at this unusual and terrific burst of war, even though on the part of their allies. His participation in the hostilities of the white men was never forgiven by the other caciques, and he returned to his dominions, followed by the hatred and execrations of all the islanders. CHAPTER VII. SUBJUGATION OF THE NATIVES—IMPOSITION OF TRIBUTE. [ 1494 .] Columbus followed up his victory by making a military tour through various parts of the island, and reducing them to obedience. The nati ves made occasional attempts at opposition, but were easily checked. Ojeda’s troop of cavalry was of great efficacy from the rapidity of its movements, the active in¬ trepidity of its commander, and the terror inspired by the horses. There was no service too wild and hazardous for Ojeda. If any appearance of war arose in a distant part of the country, he would penetrate with his little squadron of cavalry through the depths of the forests, and fall like a thunderbolt upon the enemy, disconcerting all their combinations and enforcing im¬ plicit submission. The Royal Vega was soon brought into subjection. Being an immense plain, perfectly level, it was easily overrun by the horsemen, whose appearance overawed the most populous vil¬ lages. Guarionex, its sovereign cacique, was of a mild and placable character, and though he had been roused to war by the instigation of the neighboring chieftains, he readily sub¬ mitted to the domination of the Spaniards. Manicaotex, the brother of Caonabo, was also obliged to sue for peace; and being the prime mover of the confederacy, the other caciques fol¬ lowed his example. Behechio alone, the cacique of Xaragua, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 329 and brother-in-law of Caonabo, made no overtures of submis¬ sion. His territories lay remote from Isabella, at the western extremity of the island, around tlie deep bay called the Bight of Leogan, and the long peninsula called Cape Tiburon. They were difficult of access, and had not as yet been visited by the white men. He retired into his domains, taking with him his sister, the beautiful Anacaona, wife of Caonabo, whom he cherished with fraternal affection under her misfortunes, who soon acquired almost equal sway over his subjects with him¬ self, and was destined subsequently to make some figure in the events of the island. Having heen forced to take the field by the confederacy of the caciques, Columbus now asserted the right of a conqueror, and considered how he might turn his conquest to most profit. His constant anxiety was to make wealthy returns to Spain, for the purpose of indemnifying the sovereigns for their great expenses; of meeting the public expectations, so extravagantly excited; and above all of silencing the calumnies of those who had gone home determined to make the most discouraging rep- resentations of his discoveries. He endeavored, therefore, to raise a large and immediate revenue by imposing heavy trib¬ utes on the subjected provinces. In those of the Vega, Cibao, and all the region of the mines, each individual above the age of fourteen years was required to pay, every three months, the measure of a Flemish hawk’s-bell of gold dust A The caciques had to pay a much larger amount for their personal tribute. Manicaotex, the brother of Caonabo, was obliged individually to render in, every three months, half a calabash of gold, amounting to one hundred and fifty pesos. In those districts which were distant from the mines, and produced no gold, each individual was required to furnish an arroba (twenty-five pounds) of cotton every three months. Each Indian, on ren¬ dering this tribute, received a copper medal as a certificate of payment, which he was to wear suspended round his neck; those who were found without such documents were liable to arrest and punishment. The taxes and tributes thus imposed bore hard upon the spirit * A hawk’s-bell, according to Las Casas (Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 105), contains about throe Castellanos’ worth of gold dust, equal to five dollars, and in estimating the superior value of gold in those days, equivalent to fifteen dollars of our time. A. quantity of gold worth one hundred and fifty castellanos was equivalent to seven hundred and ninety-eight dollars of the present day. 330 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. of the natives, accustomed to he but lightly taxed by their caciques; and the caciques themselves found the exactions in¬ tolerably grievous. Guarionex, the sovereign of the Royal Vega, represented to Columbus the difiicuty he had in comply¬ ing with the terms of his tribute. His richly fertile plain yielded no gold; and though the mountains on his borders con¬ tained mines, and their brooks and torrents washed down gold dust into the sands of the rivers, yet his subjects were not skilled in the art of collecting it. He proffered, therefore, in¬ stead of the tribute required, to cultivate with grain a band of country stretching across the island from sea to sea, enough, says Las Casas, to have furnished all Castile with bread for ten years.* His offer was rejected. Columbus knew that gold alone would satisfy the avaricious dreams excited in Spain, and in¬ sure the popularity and success of his enterprises. Seeing, however, the difficulty that many of the Indians had in furnish¬ ing the amount of gold dust required, he lowered the demand to the measure of one half of a hawk’s-bell. To enforce the payment of these tributes, and to maintain the subjection of the island, Columbus put the fortress already built in a strong state of defence, and erected others. Besides those of Isabella, and of St. Thomas, in the mountains of Cibao, there were now the fortress of Magdalena, in the Royal Vega, near the site of the old town of Santiago, on the river Jalaqua, two leagues, from the piace where the new town was afterward built; another called Santa Catalina, the site of which is near the Estencia Yaqui; another called Esperanza, on the banks of the river Yaqui, facing the outlet of the mountain pass La Puerta de los Hidalgos, now the pass of Marney; but the most important of those recently erected was Fort Conception, in one of the most fruitful and beautiful parts of the Vega, about fifteen leagues to the east of Esperanza, controlling the exten¬ sive and populous domains of Guarionex. f In this way was the yoke of servitude fixed upon the island, and its thralldom effectually insured. Deep despair now fell upon the natives when they found a perpetual task inflicted upon them, enforced at stated and frequently recurring periods. Weak and indolent by nature, unused to labor of any kind, and brought up in the untasked idleness of their soft climate * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iib. i. cap. 105. tlbid., cap. 110. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 331 and tlieir fruitful groves, death itself seemed preferable to a life of toil and anxiety. They saw no end to this harassing evil, which had so suddenly fallen upon them; no escape from its all-pervading influence; no prospect of return to that roving independence and ample leasure, so dear to the wild inhabitants of the forest. The pleasant life of the island was at an end: the dream in the shade by day; the slumber during the sultry noontide heat by the fountain or the stream, or under the spreading palm-tree; and the song, the dance, and the game in the mellow evening, when summoned to their simple amuse¬ ments by the rude Indian drum. They were now obliged to grope day by day, with bending body and anxious eye, along the borders of their rivers, sifting the sands for the grains of gold which every day grew more scanty; or to labor in their fields beneath the fervor of a tropical sun, to raise food for their task¬ masters, or to produce the vegetable tribute imposed upon them. They sank to sleep weary and exhausted at night, with the certainty that the next day was but to be a repetition of the same toil and suffering. Or if they occasionally indulged in their national dances, the ballads to which they kept time were of a melancholy and plaintive character. They spoke of the tunes that were past before the white men had introduced sor¬ row, and slavery, and weary labor among them; and they re¬ hearsed pretended prophecies, handed down from their ances¬ tors, foretelling the invasion of the Spaniards; that strangers should come into their island, clothed m apparel, with swords capable of cleaving a man asunder at a blow, under whose yoke their posterity should be subdued. These ballads, or areytos, they sang with mournful tunes and doleful voices, bewailing the loss of their liberty, and their painful servitude.* They had flattered themselves, for a time, that the visit of the strangers would be but temporary, and that, spreading their ample sails, their ships would once more bear them back * to their home in the sky. In their simplicity, they had repeat¬ edly inquired when they intended to return to Turey, or the heavens. They now beheld them taking root, as it were, in the island. They beheld their vessels lying idle and rotting in the harbor, while the crews, scattered about the country, were building habitations and fortresses, the solid construction of which, unlike their own slight cabins, gave evidence of perma¬ nent abode.! * Peter Martyr, decad iii lib ix + Las Casas, Hist. Iud., lib. i. cap 106. 332 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Finding how vain was all attempt to deliver themselves by warlike means from these invincible intruders, they now con¬ certed a forlorn and desperate mode of annoyance. They per¬ ceived that the settlement suffered greatly from shortness of provisions, and depended, in a considerable degree, upon the supplies furnished by the natives. The fortresses in the inter¬ ior, also, and the Spaniards quartered in the villages, looked almost entirely to them for subsistence. They agreed among themselves, therefore, not to cultivate the fruits, the roots, and maize, their chief articles of food, and to destroy those already growing; hoping, by producing a famine, to starve the stran¬ gers from the island. They little knew, observes Las Casas, one of the characteristics of the Spaniards, who the more hungry they are, the more inflexible they become, and the more hardened to endure suffering.* They carried their plan generally into effect, abandoning their habitations, laying waste their fields and groves, and retiring to the mountains, where there were roots and herbs and abundance of utias for their subsistence. This measure did indeed produce much distress among the Spaniards, but they had foreign resources, and were enabled to endure it by husbanding the partial supplies brought by their ships; the most disastrous effects fell upon the natives them¬ selves. The Spaniards stationed in the various fortresses, find¬ ing that there was not only no hope of tribute, but a danger of famine from this wanton waste and sudden desertion, pursued the natives to their retreats, to compel them to return to laoor. The Indians took refuge in the most sterile and dreary heights; flying from one wild retreat to another, the women with their children in their arms or at their backs, and all worn out with fatigue and hunger, and harassed by perpetual alarms. In every noise of the forest or the mountain they fancied they heard the sound of their pursuers; they hid themselves in damp and dismal caverns, or in the rocky banks and margins of the torrents, and not daring to hunt, or fish, or even to ven¬ ture forth in quest of nourishing roots and vegetables, they had to satisfy their raging hunger with unwholesome food. In this way many thousands of them perished miserably, through famine, fatigue, terror, and various contagious maladies engen- * No conociendo la propriedad de los Espanoles, los cuales cuanto mas hambri- entos, tanto mayor tcson tienen y mas duros son de sul’rir y para sufrir. Lae Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 106 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 333 derecl by their sufferings. All spirit of opposition was at length completely quelled. The surviving Indians returned in despair to their habitations, and submitted humbly to the yoke. So deep an awe did they conceive of their conquerors, that it is said a Spaniard might go singly and securely all over the island, and the natives would even transport him from place to place on their shoulders.* Before passing on to other events, it may be proper here to notice the fate of G-uacanagari, as he makes no further appear¬ ance in the course of this history. His friendship for the Span¬ iards had severed him from his countrymen, but did not exon¬ erate him from the general woes of the island. His territories, like those of the other caciques, were subjected to a tribute, which his people, with the common repugnance to labor, found it difficult to pay. Columbus, who knew his worth, and could have protected him, was long absent either in the interior of the island, or detained in Europe by his own wrongs. In the interval, the Spaniards forgot the hospitality and services of Guacanagari, and his tribute was harshly exacted. He found himself overwhelmed with opprobrium from his countrymen at large, and assailed by the clamors and lamentations of his suffering subjects. The strangers whom he had succored in dis¬ tress, and taken as it were to the bosom of his native island, had become its tyrants and oppressors. Care, and toil, and poverty, and strong handed violence, had spread their curses over the land, and he felt as if he had invoked them on his race. Unable to bear the hostilities of his fellow caciques, the woes of his subjects, and the extortions of his ungrateful allies, he took refuge at last in the mountains, where he died obscurely and in misery, f An attempt has been made by Oviedo to defame the char¬ acter of this Indian prince: it is not for Spaniards, however, to excuse their own ingratitude by casting a stigma on his name. He appears to have always manifested toward them that true friendship which shines brightest in the dark days of adversity. He might have played a nobler part, in making a stand, with his brother caciques, to drive these intruders from his native soil; but he appears to have been fascinated by his admiration of the strangers, and his personal attachment to Columbus. ♦lias Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. c 10(5. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 60 + Charlevoix, Hist, de St. Domingo, lib. ii. 384 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. He was bountiful, hospitable, affectionate, and kind-hearted; competent to rule a gentle and unwarlifce people in the happier days of the island, but unfitted, through the softness of his nature, for the stern turmoil which followed the arrival of the white men. CHAPTER VIII. INTRIGUES AGAINST COLUMBUS IN THE COURT OF SPAIN—AGUADO SENT TO INVESTIGATE THE AFFAIRS OF HISPANIOLA. « [ 1495 .] ■W hile Columbus was endeavoring to remedy the evils pro¬ duced by the misconduct of Margarite, that recreant com¬ mander and his political coadjutor, Friar Boyle, were busily undermining his reputation in the court of Castile. They accused him of deceiving the sovereigns and the public by extravagant descriptions of the countries he had discovered; they pronounced the island of Hispaniola a source of expense rather than profit, and they drew a dismal picture of the suffer¬ ings of the colony, occasioned, as they said, by the oppressions of Columbus and his brothers. They charged them with task¬ ing the community with excessive labor during a time of gen¬ eral sickness and debility; with stopping the rations of indi¬ viduals on the most trifling pretext, to the great detriment of their health; with wantonly inflicting severe corporal punish¬ ments on the common people, and with heaping indignities on Spanish gentlemen of rank. They said nothing, however, of the exigencies which had called for unusual labor; nor of the idleness and profligacy which required coercion and chastise¬ ment ; nor of the seditious cabals of the Spanish cavaliers, who had been treated with indulgence rather than severity. In addition to these complaints, they represented the state of confusion of the island, in consequence of the absence, of the admiral, and the uncertainty which prevailed concerning his fate, intimating the probability of his having perished in his fool-hardy attempts to explore unknown seas and discover unprofitable lands. These prejudiced and exaggerated representations derived much weight from the official situations of Margarite and LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 335 Friar Boyle. They were supported by the testimony of many discontented and factious idlers, who had returned with them to Spain. Some of these persons had connections of rank, who were ready to resent, with Spanish haughtiness, what they considered the arrogant assumptions of an ignoble foreigner. Thus the popularity of Columbus received a vital blow, and immediately began to decline. The confidence of the sov¬ ereigns also was impaired, and precautions were adopted which savor strongly of the cautious and suspicious policy of Ferdi¬ nand. It was determined to send some person of trust and confi¬ dence, who should take upon himself the government of the island in case of the continued absence of the admiral, and who, even in the event of his return, should inquire into the alleged evils and abuses, and remedy such as should appear really in existence. The person proposed for this difficult office was Diego Carillo, a commander of a military order; but as he was not immediately prepared to sail with the fleet of caravels about to depart with supplies, the sovereigns wrote to Fonseca, the superintendent of Indian affairs, to send some trusty person with the vessels, to take charge of the provisions with which they were freighted. These he was to distribute among the colonists, under the supervision of the admiral, or, in case of his absence, in presence of those in authority. He was also to collect information concerning the manner in which the island had been governed, the conduct of persons in office, the causes and authors of existing grievances, and the measures by which they were to be remedied. Having collected such information, he was to return and make report to the sovereigns; but in case he should find the admiral at the island, everything was to remain subject to his control. There was another measure adopted by the sovereigns about this time, which likewise shows the declining favor of Colum¬ bus. On the 10th of April, 1495, a proclamation was issued, giving general permission to native-born subjects to settle in the island of Hispaniola, and to go on private voyages of discovery and traffic to the New World. This was granted, subject to certain conditions. All vessels were to sail exclusively from the port of Cadiz, and under the inspection of officers appointed by the crown. Those who embarked for Hispaniola without pay and at their own expense, were to have lands assigned to them, and to be provisioned for one year, with a right to retain such lands, and 836 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. all houses they might erect upon them. Of all gold which they might collect, they were to retain one third for themselves, and pa$r two thirds to the crown. Of all other articles of merchant dise, the produce of the island, they were to pay merely one tenth to the crown. Their purchases were to be made in the presence of officers appointed by the sovereigns, and the royal duties paid into the hands of the king’s receiver. Each ship sailing on private enterprise was to take one or two persons named by the royal officers at Cadiz. One tenth of the tonnage of the ship was to be at the service of the crown, free of charge. One tenth of whatever such ships should procure in the newly-discovered countries was to be paid to the crown on their return. These regulations included private ships trading to Hispaniola with provisions. For every vessel thus fitted out on private adventure, Co¬ lumbus, in consideration of his privilege of an eighth of ton¬ nage, was to have the right to freight one on his own account. This general license for voyage of discovery was made in consequence of the earnest applications of Vincent Yanes Pin- zon, and other able and intrepid navigators, more of whom had sailed with Columbus. They offered to make voyages at their own cost and hazard. The offer was tempting and well-timed. The government was poor, the expeditions of Columbus were expensive, yet their object was too important to be neglected. Here was an opportunity of attaining all the ends proposed, not merely without expense, but with a certainty of gain. The permission, therefore, was granted, without consulting the opinion or the wishes of the admiral. It was loudly com¬ plained of by him, as an infringement of his privileges, and as disturbing the career of regular and well-organized discovery, by the licentious and sometimes predatory enterprises of reck¬ less adventurers. Doubtless, much of the odium that has attached itself to the Spanish discoveries in the New World has arisen from the grasping avidity of private individuals. Just at this juncture, in the early part of April, while the interests of Columbus were in such a critical situation, the ships commanded by Torres arrived in Spain. They brought intelligence of the safe return of the admiral to Haspaniola, from his voyage along the southern coast of Cuba, with the evidence which he had collected to prove that it was the ex¬ tremity of the Asiatic continent, and that he had penetrated to the borders of the wealthiest countries of the East. Specimens were likewise brought of the gold, and the various animals V LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 337 and vegetable curiosities, which he had procured in the course of his voyage. No arrival could have been more timely. It at once removed all doubts respecting his safety, and obviated the necessity of part of the precautionary measures then on the point of being taken. The supposed discovery of the rich coast of Asia also threw a temporary splendor about his expedition, and again awakened the gratitude of the sovereigns. The effect was immediately apparent in their measures. Instead of leaving it to the discretion of Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca to appoint whom he pleased to the commission of inquiry about to be sent out, they retracted that power, and nominated Juan Aguado. He was chosen, because, on returning from Hispaniola, he had been strongly recommended to royal favor by Columbus. It was intended, therefore, as a mark of consideration to the latter, to appoint as commissioner a person of whom he had expressed so high an opinion, and who, it was to be presumed, entertained for him a grateful regard. Fonseca, in virtue of his official station as superintendent of the affairs of the Indies, and probably to gratify his growing animosity for Columbus, had detained a quantity of gold which Don Diego, brother to the admiral, had brought on his own private account. The sovereigns wrote to him repeat¬ edly, ordering him not to demand the gold, or if he had seized it, to return it immediately, with satisfactory explanations, and to write to Columbus in terms calculated to soothe any angry feelings which he might have excited. He was ordered, also, to consult the persons recently arrived from Hispaniola, in what manner he could yield satisfaction to the admiral, and to act accordingly. Fonseca thus suffered one of the severest humiliations of an arrogant spirit, that of being obliged to make atonement for its arrogance. It quickened, however, the malice which he had conceived against the admiral and his family. Unfortunately his official situation, and the royal confidence which he enjoyed, gave him opportunities of grati¬ fying it subsequently in a thousand insidious ways. While the sovereigns thus endeavored to avoid any act which might give umbrage to Columbus, they took certain measures to provide for the tranquillity of the colony. In a letter to the admiral they directed that the number of persons in the settlement.should be limited to five hundred, a greater number being considered unnecessary for the service of the island, and a burdensome expense to the crown. To prevent 338 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. further discontents about provisions, they ordered that the rations of individuals should be dealt out in portions every fif¬ teen days, and that all punishment by short allowance, or the stoppage of rations, should be discontinued, as tending to in¬ jure the health of the colonists, who required every assistance of nourishing diet to fortify them against the maladies incident to a strange climate. An able and experiencee metallurgist, named Pablo Belvis, was sent out in place of the wrong-headed Firmin Cedo. He was furnished with all the necessary engines and implements for mining, assaying, and purifying the precious metals, and with liberal pay and privileges. Ecclesiastics were also sent to supply the place of Friar Boyle, and of certain of his breth¬ ren who desired to leave the island. The instruction and con¬ version of the natives awakened more and more the solicitude of the queen. In the ships of Torres a large number of Indians arrived, who had been captured in the recent wars with the caciques. Royal orders had been issued, that they should be sold as slaves in the markets of Andalusia, as had been the custom with respect to negroes taken on the coast of Africa, and to Moorish prisoners captured in the war with Granada. Jsabella, however, had been deeply interested by the accounts given of the gentle and hospitable character of these islanders, and of their great docility. The discovery had been made un¬ der her immediate auspices; she looked upon these people as under her peculiar care, and she anticipated with pious enthu¬ siasm the glory of leading them from darkness into the paths of light. Her compassionate spirit revolted at the idea of treating them as slaves, even though sanctioned by the cus¬ toms ot’ the time. Within five days after the royal order for the sale, a letter was written by the sovereigns to Bishop Fonseca, suspending that order, until they could inquire into the cause for which the Indians had been made prisoners, and consult learned and pious theologians, whether their sale would be justifiable in the eyes of God.* Much difference of opinion took place among divines on this important question; the queen eventually decided it according to the dictates of her own pure conscience and charitable heart. She ordered that the Indians should be sent back to their native country, and enjoined that the islanders should be conciliated by the •' Letter of the Sovereigns to Fonseca. Navarrete, Collefecion de los Viages, i. 11, LIFE OF CHRIS 1 '0PH Ell COLUMBUS. 339 gentlest means, instead of being treated with severity. Un¬ fortunately her orders came too late to Hispaniola to have the desired effect. The scenes of warfare and violence, produced by the bad passions of the colonists and the vengeance of the natives, were not to be forgotten, and mutual distrust and rankling animosity had grown up between them, which no after exartions could eradicate. CHAPTER IX. ARRIVAL OF AGUADO AT ISABELLA—HIS ARROGANT CONDUCT- TEMPEST IN THE HARBOR. [ 1495 .] Juan Aguado set sail from Spain toward the end of August, with four caravels, well freighted with supplies of all kinds. Don Diego Columbus returned in this squadron to Hispaniola and arrived at Isabella in the month of October, while the ad¬ miral was absent, occupied in re-establishing the tranquility of the interior. Aguado, as has already been shown, was under obligations to Columbus, who had distinguished him from among his companions, and had recommended him to the favor of the sovereigns. He was, however, one of those weak men whose heads are turned by the least elevation. Puffed up by a little temporary power, he lost sight, not merely of the respect and gratitude due to Columbus, but of the nature and extent of his own commission. Instead of acting as an agent employed to collect information, he assumed a tone of authority, as though the reins of government had been transferred into his hands. He interfered in public affairs; ordered various persons to be 3 arrested; called to account the officers employed by the admi- i ral; and paid no respect to Don Bartholomew Columbus, who remained in command during the absence of his brother. The Adelantado, astonished at this presumption, demanded a sight of the commission under which he acted; but Aguado treated him with great haughtiness, replying that he would show it only to the admiral. On second thought, however, lest there should be doubts in the public mind of his right to interfere in the affairs of the colony, he ordered his letters of credence from the sovereigns to be pompously proclaimed by sound of trum- 340 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. pet. It was brief but comprehensive, to the following purport*. “ Cavaliers, esquires, and other persons, who by our orders are in the Indies, we send to you Juan Aguado, our groom of the chambers, who will speak to you on our paid. We command you to give him faith and credit. ” The report now circulated that the downfall of Columbus and his family was at hand, and that an auditor had arrived, em¬ powered to hear and to redress the grievances of the public. This rumor originated with Aguado himself, who threw out menaces of rigid investigations and signal punishments. It was a time of jubilee for offenders. Every culprit started up into an accuser; every one who by negligence or crime had incurred the wholesome penalties of the laws, was loud in his clamors against the oppression of Columbus. There were ills enough in the col¬ ony, some incident to its situation, others produced by the mis¬ deeds of the colonists, but all were ascribed to the mal-adminis- tration of the admiral. He was made responsible alike for the evils produced by others and for his own stern remedies. All the old complaints were reiterated against him and his brothers, and the usual and illiberal cause given for their oppressions, that they were foreigners, who sought merely their own inter¬ ests and aggrandizement, at the expense of the sufferings and the indignities of Spaniards. Destitute of discrimination to perceive what was true and what false in these complaints, and anxious only to condemn, Aguado saw in everything conclusive testimony of the culpa¬ bility of Columbus. He intimated, and perhaps thought, that the admiral was keeping at a distance from Isabella, through fear of encountering his investigations. In the fulness of his presumption, he even set out with a body of horse to go in quest of him. A vain and weak man in power is prone to em¬ ploy satellites of his own description. The arrogant and boast¬ ing followers of Aguado, wherever they went, spread rumors among the natives of the might and importance of their chief, and of the punishment he intended to inflict upon Columbus. In a little while the report circulated through the island that a new admiral had arrived to administer the government, and that the former one was to be put to death. The news of the arrival and of the insolent conduct of Aguado reached Columbus in the interior of the island; he immediately hastened to Isabella to give him a meeting. Aguado, hearing of his approach, also returned there. As every one knew the lofty spirit of Columbus, his high sense of his services, and hid LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 341 jealous maintenance of his official dignity, a violent explosion was anticipated at the impending interview. Aguado also ex¬ pected something of the kind, but, secure in his royal letter of credence, he looked forward with the ignorant audacity of a little mind to the result. The sequel showed how difficult it is for petty spirits to anticipate the conduct of a man like Colum¬ bus in an extraordinary situation. His natural heat and im¬ petuosity had been subdued by a life of trials; he had learned to bring his passions into subjection to his judgment-; he had too true an estimate of his own dignity to enter into a contest with a shallow boaster like Aguado; above all, he had a pro¬ found respect for the authority of his sovereigns; for in ffis en¬ thusiastic spirit, prone to deep feelings of reverence, his loyalty was inferior only to his religion. He received Aguado, there¬ fore, with grave and punctilious courtesy; and retorted upon him his own ostentatious ceremonial, ordering that the letter of credence should be again proclaimed by sound of trumpet in presence of the populace. He listened to it with solemn defer¬ ence, and assured Aguado of his readiness to acquiesce in what¬ ever might be the pleasure of his sovereigns. This unexpected moderation, while it astonished the beholders, foiled and disappointed Aguado. He had come prepared for a scene of altercation, and had hoped that Columbus, in the heat and impatience of the moment, would have said or done some¬ thing that might be construed into disrespect for the authority of the sovereigns. He endeavored, in fact, some months after¬ ward, to procure from the public notaries present, a prejudicial statement of the interview; but the deference of the admiral for the royal letter of credence had been too marked to be dis¬ puted; and all the testimonials were highly in his favor.* Aguado continued to intermeddle in public affairs, and the respect and forbearance with which he was uniformly treated by Columbus, and the mildness of the latter in all his measures to appease the discontents of the colony, were regarded as proofs of his loss of moral courage. He was looked upon as a declining man, and Aguado hailed as the lord of the ascendant. Every dastard spirit who had any lurking ill-will, any real or imaginary cause of complaint, now hastened to give it utter¬ ance ; perceiving that, in gratifying his malice, he was promot¬ ing his interest, and that in vilifying the admiral he was gain¬ ing the friendship of Aguado. * Herrera, Hist. Ind.,- decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 18. 342 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. The poor Indians, too, harassed by the domination of tfho white men, rejoiced in the prospect of a change of rulers, vainly hoping that it might produce a mitigation of their sufferings. Many of the caciques who had promised allegiance to the admi¬ ral after their defeat in the Vega, now assembled at the house of Manicaotex, the brother of Caonabo, near the river Yagui, where they joined in a formal complaint against Columbus, whom they considered the cause of all the evils which had sprung from the disobedience and the vices of his followers. Aguado now considered the great object of his mission ful¬ filled. He had collected information sufficient, as he thought, to insure the ruin of the admiral and his brothers, and he pre¬ pared to return to Spain. Columbus resolved to do the same. He felt that it was time to appear at court, and dispel the cloud of calumny gathering against him. He had active enemies, of standing and influence, who were seeking every occasion to throw discredit upon himself and his enterprises; and, stranger and foreigner as he was, he had no active friends at court to oppose their machinations. He feared that they might eventu¬ ally produce an affect upon the royal mind fatal to the progress of discovery; he was anxious to return,, therefore, and explain the real causes of the repeated disappointments with respect to profits anticipated from his enterprises. It is not one of the least singular traits in this history that, after having been so many years in persuading mankind that there was a new world to be discovered, he had almost equal trouble in proving to them the advantage of its discovery. When the ships were ready to depart, a terrible storm swept the island. It was one of those awful whirlwinds which occa¬ sionally rage within the tropics, and were called by the Indians ‘Hurricanes,” or “uricans,” a name they still retain with trifling variation. About midday a furious wind sprang up from the east, driving before it dense volumes of cloud and vapor. Encountering another tempest of wind from the west, it appeared as if a violent conflict ensued. The clouds were rent by incessant flashes, or rather streams of lightning. At one time they were piled up high in the sky, at another they swept to the earth filling the air with a baleful darkness more dismal than the obscurity of midnight. Wherever the whirl¬ wind passed, whole tracts of forests were shivered and stripped of their leaves and branches; those of gigantic size, which re¬ sisted the blast, were torn up by the roots, and hurled to a great distance. Groves were rent from the mountain preci LIFE'OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 343 pices, with vast masses of earth and rock, tumbling into the valleys with terrific noise, and choking the course of rivers. The fearful sounds in the air and on the earth, the pealing thunder, the vivid lightning, the howling of the wind, the crash of falling trees and rocks, filled every one with affright; and many thought that the end of the world was at hand. Some fled to caverns for safety, for their frail houses were blown down, and the air was filled with the trunks and branches of trees, and even with fragments of rocks, carried along by the fury of the tempest. When the hurricane reached the harbor, it whirled the ships round as they lay at anchor, snapped their cables, and sank three of them, with all who were on board. Others were driven about, dashed against each other, and tossed mere wrecks upon the shore by the swelling surges of the sea, which in some places rolled for three or four miles upon the land. The tempest lasted for three hours. When it had passed away, and the sun again appeared, the Indians regarded each other in mute, astonishment and dismay. Never in their memory, nor in the traditions of their ancestors, had their island been visited by such a storm. They believed that the Deity had sent this fearful ruin to punish the cruelties and crimes of the white men, and declared that this people had moved the very air, the water, and the earth, to disturb their tranquil life, and to desolate their island.* CHAPTER X. DISCOVERY OF THE MINES OF HAYNA. • [ 1496 .] In the recent hurricane the four caravels of Aguado had been destroyed, together with two others which were in the harbor. The only vessel which survived was the Nina, and that in a very shattered condition. Columbus gave orders to have her im¬ mediately repaired, and another caravel constructed out of the wreck of those which had been destroyed. While waiting until they should be ready for sea, he was cheered by tidings of rich mines in the interior of the island, the discovery of which * Ramusio, tom. iii. p. 7. Peter Martyr, decad, i. lib. iv. 344 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. is attributed to an incident of a somewhat romantic nature. * A young Arragonian, named Miguel Diaz, in the service of the Adelantado, having a quarrel with another Spaniard, fought with him and wounded him dangerously. Fearful of the con¬ sequences, he fled from the settlement, accompanied by five or six comrades who had either been engaged in the affray, or were personally attached to him. Wandering about the island, they came to an Indian village on the southern coast, near the mouth of the river Ozema, where the city of San Domingo is at present situated. They were received with kindness by the natives, and resided for some time among them. The village was governed by a female cacique, who soon conceived a strong attachment for the young Arragonian. Diaz was not insensible to her tenderness; a connection was formed between them, and they, lived for some time very happily together. The recollection of his country and his friends began at length to steal upon the thoughts of the young Spaniard. It was a melancholy lot to be exiled from civilized life, and an outcast from among his countrymen. He longed to return to the settlement, but dreaded the punishment that awaited him, from the austere justice of the Adelantado. His Indian bride, observing him frequently melancholy and lost in thought, pene¬ trated the cause, with the quick intelligence of female affection. Fearful that he would abandon her, and return to his country¬ men, she endeavored to devise some means of drawing the Spaniards to that part of the island. Knowing that gold was their sovereign attraction, she informed Diaz of certain rich mines in the neighborhood, and urged him to persuade his countrymen to abandon the comparatively sterile and un¬ healthy vicinity of Isabella, and settle upon the fertile banks of the Ozema, promising they should be received with the utmost kindness and hospitality by her nation. Struck with the suggestion, Diaz made particular inquiries about the mines, and was convinced that they abounded in gold. He noticed the superior fruitfulness and beauty of the country, the excellence of the river, and the security of the harbor at its entrance. He flattered himself that the communication of such valuable intelligence would make his peace at Isabella, and obtain his pardon from the Adelantado. Full of these hopes, he procured guides from among the natives, and taking a tem¬ porary leave of his Indian bride, set out with his comrades * Oviedo, Cronica de los Indian, lib. ii. cap. 13. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 345 through the wilderness for the settlement, which was about fifty leagues distant. Arriving there secretly, he learnt to his great joy that the man whom he had wounded had recovered. He now presented himself boldly before the A delantado, relying that his tidings would earn his forgivenness. He was not mis¬ taken. No news could have come more opportunely. The admiral had been anxious to remove the settlement to a more healthy and advantageous situation. He was desirous also of carrying home some conclusive proof of the riches of the island, as the most effectual means of silencing the cavils of his enemies. If the representations of Miguel Diaz were correct, here was a means of effecting both these purposes. Measures were imme¬ diately taken to ascertain the truth. The Adelantado set forth in person to visit the river Ozetna, accompanied by Miguel Diaz, Francisco de Garay, and the Indian guides, and attended by a number of men well armed. They proceeded from Isabella to Magdalena, and thence across the Royal Vega to the fortress of Conception. Continuing on to the south, they came to a range of mountains, which they traversed by a defile two leagues in length, and descended into another beautiful plain, which was called Bonao. Proceeding hence for some distance, they came to a great river called Hayna, running through a fertile country, all the streams of which abounded in gold. On the western bank of this river, and about eight leagues from its mouth, they found gold in greater quantities and in larger particles than had yet been met with in any part of the island, not even excepting the province of Cibao. They made experiments in various places within the compass of six miles, and always with success. The soil seemed to be generally impregnated with that metal, so that a common laborer,. with little trouble, might find the amount of three drachms in the course of a day.* In several places they observed deep excavations in the form of pits, which looked as if the mines had been worked in ancient times, a circumstance which caused much speculation among the Spaniards, the natives having no idea of mining, but contenting themselves with the particles found on the surface of the soil, or in the beds of the rivers. The Indians of the neighborhood received the white men with their promised friendship, and in every respect the repre¬ sentations of Miguel Diaz were fully justified. He was not only pardoned, but received into great favor, and was subse- * Herrera, H?5t. Ind M clecad. i. lib. ii. cap. 18. Peter Martyr, decad. i lib. ir 346 LIFE OF CIIIIIS TO FILER COLUMBUS. quently employed in various capacities in the island, in all which he acquitted himself with great fidelity. He kept his faith with his Indian bride, by whom, according to Oviedo, he had two children. Charlevoix supposes that they were regu¬ larly married, as the female cacique appears to have been baptized, being always mentioned by the Christian name of Catalina.* When the Adelantado returned with this favorable report, and with specimens of ore, the anxious heart of the admiral was greatly elated. He gave orders that a fortress should be Immediately erected on the banks of the Hayna, in the vicinity of the mines, and that they should be diligently worked. The fancied traces of ancient excavations gave rise to one of his usual veins of golden conjectures. He had already surmised that Hispaniola might be the ancient Ophir. He now flattered himself ‘that he had discovered the identical mines whence King Solomon nad procured his gold for the building of the Temple of Jerusalem. He supposed that his ships must have sailed by the Gulf of Persia, and around Trapoban to this island,! which, according to his idea, lay opposite to the ex¬ treme end of Asia, for such he firmly believed the island of Cuba. It is probable that Columbus gave free license to his imagina¬ tion in these conjectures, which tended to throw a splendor about his enterprises, and to revive the languishing interest of the public. Granting, however, the correctness of his opinion, that he was in the vicinity of Asia, an error by no means sur¬ prising in the imperfect state of geographical knowledge, all his consequent suppositions were far from extravagant. The ancient Ophir was believed to lie somewhere in the East, but its situation was a matter of controversy among the learned, and remains one of those conjectural questions about which too much has been written for it ever to be satisfactorily decided. * Oviedo, Cronica de los Indias, lib. ii. cap. 13. Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo^ lib. ii. p. 146. t Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv. BOOK IX. CHAPTER I. RETURN OF COLUMBUS TO SPAIN WITH AGUADO. [ 1496 .] The new caravel, the Santa Cruz, being finished, and the Nina repaired, Columbus made every arrangement for imme¬ diate departure, anxious to be freed from the growing arrogance of Aguado, and to relieve the colony from a- crew of factious and discontented men. He appointed his brother, Don Bartholomew, to the command of the island, with the title, which he had already given him, of Adelantado; in case of his death, he was to be succeeded by his brother Don Diego. On the 10th of March the two caravels set sail for Spain, in one of which Columbus embarked, and in the other Aguado. In consequence of the orders of the sovereigns, all those who could be spared from the island, and some who had wives and relatives in Spain whom they wished to visit, returned in these caravels, which were crowded with two hundred and twenty- five passengers, the sick, the idle, the profligate, and the factious. Never did a more miserable and disappointed crew return from a land of promise. There were thirty Indians also on board of the caravels, among whom were the once redoubtable cacique Caonabo, one of his brothers, and a nephew. The curate of Los Palacios ob- terved that Columbus had promised the cacique and his brother so restore them to their country and their power, after he had taken them to visit the King and Queen of Castile.* It is probable that by kind treatment and by a display of the won¬ ders of Spain and the grandeur and might of its sovereigns, he * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 131. 348 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. hoped to conquer their enmity to the Spaniards, and convert them into important instruments towards obtaining a secure and peaceable dominion over the island. Caonabo, however, was of that proud nature, of wild but vigorous growth, which can never be tamed. He remained a moody and dejected cap¬ tive. He had too much intelligence not to perceive that his power was for ever blasted, but he retained his haughtiness, even in the midst of his despair. Being as yet but little experienced in the navigation of these seas, Columbus, instead of working up to the northward, so as to fall in with the tract of westerly winds, took an easterly course on leaving the island. The consequence was that almost the whole of his voyage was a toilsome and tedious struggle against the trade-winds and calms which prevail between the tropics. On the Cth of April he found himself still in the vicinity ot the Caribbee Islands, with his crews fatigued and sickly, and his provisions rapidly diminishing. He bore away to the southward, therefore, to touch at the most important of those islands, in search of supplies. On Saturday, the 9th, he anchored at Marigalante, whence, on the following day, he made sail for Guadaloupe. It was contrary to the custom of Colnmbus to weigh anchor on Sun¬ day, when in port, but the people murmured, and observed that when in quest of food it was no time to stand on scruples as to holy days.* Anchoring off the island of Guadaloupe, the boat was sent on shore well armed. Before it could reach the land, a large num¬ ber of females issued from the woods, armed with bows and ar¬ rows, and decorated with tufts of feathers, preparing to oppose any descent upon their shores. As the sea was somewhat rough, and a surf broke upon the beach, the boats remained at a distance, and two of the Indians from Hispaniola swam to shore. Having explained to these Amazons that the Spaniards only sought provisions, in exchange for which they would give articles of great value, the women referred them to their husbands, who were at the northern end of the island. As the boats proceeded thither, numbers of the natives were seen on the beach, who manifested great ferocity, shouting, and yelling, and discharging flights of arrows, which, however, fell far short in the water. Seeing the boats approach the land, they hid themselves in the adjacent forest, and rushed forth with * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 62 . LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 349 hideous cries as the Spaniards were landing. A discharge of firearms drove them to the woods and mountains, and the boats met with no further opposition. Entering the deserted habita¬ tions, the Spaniards began to plunder and destroy, contrary to the invariable injunctions of the admiral. Among other articles found in these houses were honey and wax, which Herrera supposes had been brought from Terra Firma, as these roving people collected the productions of distant regions in the'course of their expeditions. Fernando Columbus mentions likewise that there were hatchets of iron in their houses; these, how¬ ever. must have been made of a species of hard and heavy stone, already mentioned, which resembled iron; or they must have been procured from places which the Spaniards had pre¬ viously visited, as it is fully admitted that no iron was in use among the natives prior to the discovery. The sailors also reported that in one of the houses they found the arm of a man roasting on a spit before a fire; but these facts, so repugnant to humanity, require more solid authority to be credited; the sailors had committed wanton devastations in these dwellings, and may have sought a pretext with which to justify their maraudings to the admiral. While some of the people were getting wood and water, and making cassava bread, Columbus dispatched forty men, well armed, to explore the interior of the island. They returned on the following day with ten women and three boys. The women were of large and powerful form, yet of great agility. They were naked, and wore their long hair flowing loose upon their shoulders; some decorated their heads with plumes of various colors. Among them was the wife of a cacique, a woman of great strength and proud spirit. On tne approach of the Span¬ iards, she had fled with an agility which soon left all her pur¬ suers far behind, excepting a native of the Canary Islands, remarkable for swiftness of foot. She would have escaped even from him, bub perceiving that he was alone, and far from his companions, she turned suddenly on him, seized him with astonishing force, and would have strangled him, had not the Spaniards arrived and taken her entangled like a hawk with her prey. The warlike spirit of these Carib women, and the circumstance of finding them in armed bands defending their shores, during the absence of their husbands, led Columbus repeatedly into the erroneous idea, that certain of these islands were inhabited entirely by women; for which error, as has already been observed, he was prepared by the stories of 350 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS a Marco Polo concerning an island of Amazons near the coast of Asia. Having remained several days at the island, and prepared three weeks 1 supply of bread, Columbus prepared to make sail. As Guadaloupe was the most important of the Caribbee Islands, and in a manner the portal or entrance to all the rest, he wished to secure the friendship of the inhabitants. He dismissed, therefore, all the prisoners, with many presents, to compensate for the spoil and injury which had been done. The female cacique, however, declined going on shore, prefer¬ ring to remain and accompany the natives of Hispaniola who were on board, keeping with her also a young daughter. She had conceived a passion for Caonabo, having found out that he was a native of the Caribbee Islands. His character and story, gathered from the other Indians, had won the sympathy and admiration of this intrepid woman. * Leaving Guadaloupe on the 20th of April, and keeping in about the twenty-second degree of latitude, the caravels again worked their way against the whole current of the trade-winds, insomuch that, on he 20th of May, after a month of great fatigue and toil, they had yet a great part of their voyage to make. The provisions were already so reduced that Columbus had to put every one on a daily allowance of six ounces of bread and a pint and a half of water; as they advanced, the scarcity grew more and more severe, and was rendered more appalling from the uncertainty which prevailed on board the vessels as to their situation. There were several pilots in the caravels; but being chiefly accustomed to the navigation of the Mediterranean, or the Atlantic coasts, they were utterly confounded, and lost all reckoning when traversing the broad ocean. Every one had a separate opinion, and none heeded that of the admiral. By the beginning of June there was an absolute famine on board of the ships. In the extremity of their sufferings, while death stared them in the face, it was proposed by some of the Spaniards, as a desperate alternative, that they should kill and eat their Indian prisoners; others suggested that they should throw them into the sea, as so many expensive and useless mouths. Nothing but the absolute authority of Columbus prevented this last counsel from being adopted. He represented that the Indians were their fellow- beings, some of them Christians like themselves, and all * Hist, del Almirante, cap. G3. ZIFE OF CURISTOPIIER COLJJMBUS. 351 entitled to similar treatment. He exhorted them to a little patience, assuring them that they would s soon make land, for that, according to his reckoning, they were not far from Cape St. Vincent. At this all scoffed, for they believed themselves yet far from their desired haven; some affirming that they were in the English Channel, others that they were approach¬ ing Gallicia; when Columbus, therefore, confident in his opinion, ordered that sail should he taken in at night, lest they should come upon the land in the dark, there was a general murmur; the men exclaiming that it was better to he cast on shore than to starve at sea. The next morning, however, to their great joy, they came in sight of the very land which Columbus had predicted. From this time he was regarded by the seamen as deeply versed in the mysteries of the ocean, and almost oracular in matters of navigation.* On the 11th of June the vessels anchored in the Bay of Cadiz, after a weary voyage of about three months. In the course of this voyage the unfortunate Caonabo expired. It is by the mere casual mention of contemporary writers that we have any notice of this circumstance, which appears to have been passed over as a matter of hut little moment. He maintained his haughty nature to the last, for his death is principally ascribed to the morbid melancholy of a proud but broken spirit, f He was an extraordinary character in savage life. From being a simple Carib warrior hg had risen, by his enterprise and cour¬ age, to be the most powerful cacique, and the dominant spirit of the populous island of Hayti. He was the only chieftain that appeared to have had sagacity sufficient to forsee the fatal effects of Spanish ascendency, or military talent to combine any resistance to its inroads. Had his warriors been of his own intrepid nature, the war which he raised would have been for= midable in the extreme. His fate furnishes, on a narrow scale, a lesson to human greatness. When the Spaniards first arrived on the coast of Hayti, their imaginations were inflamed with rumors of a magnificent prince in the interior, the lord of the Golden House, the sovereign of the mines of Cibao, who reigned in splendid state among the mountains; but a short time had * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 63. tCnra de los Palacios, cap. 131. Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv. Some have affirmed that Caonabo perished in one of the caravels which foundered in the harbor of Isabella during the hurricane, but the united testimony of the curate of Los Palacios, Peter Martyr, and Fernando Columbus, proves that he sailed with the admiral in his return voyage. 352 LIFE OF CHIUS TO PEER COLUMBUS. elapsed, and this fancied potentate of the East, stripped of every illusion, was a naked and dejected prisoner on the deck of one of their caravels, with none but one of his own wild native heroines to sympathize in his misfortunes. All his importance vanished with his freedom; scarce any mention is made of him during his captivity, and with innate qualities of a high and heroic nature, he perished with the obscurity of one of the vulgar. CHAPTER II. DECLINE OF THE POPULARITY OF COLUMBUS IN SPAIN—HIS RECEPTION BY THE SOVEREIGNS AT BURGOS—HE PROPOSES A THIRD VOYAGE. Envy and malice had been but too successful in undermining the popularity of Columbus. It is impossible to keep up a state of excitement for any length of time, even by miracles. The world, at first, is prompt and lavish in its admiration, but soon grows cool, distrusts its late enthusiasm, and fancies it has been defrauded of what it bestowed with such prodigality. It is then that the cavalier who had been silenced by the general ap¬ plause, puts in his insidious suggestion, detracts from the merit of the declining favorite, and succeeds^in rendering him an ob¬ ject of doubt and censure, if not of absolute aversion. In three short years the public had become familiar with the stupen¬ dous wonder of a newly-discovered world, and was now open to every insinuation derogatory to the fame of the discoverer and the importance of his enterprises. The circumstances which attended the present arrival of Columbus were little calculated to diminish the growing preju¬ dices of the populace. When the motley crowd of mariners and adventurers who had embarked with such sanguine ex pectations landed from the vessels in the port of Cadiz, instead of a joyous crew, bounding on shore, flushed with success, and laden with the spoils of the golden Indies, a feeble train of wretched men crawled forth, emaciated by the diseases of the colony and the hardships of the voyage, who carried in their yellow countenances, says an old writer, a mockery of that gold which had been the object of their search, and who had nothing to relate of the New World but tales of sickness, poverty, and disappointment. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 353 i ! I ! Columbus endeavored, as much as possible, to counteract these unfavorable appearances, and to revive the languishing enthusiasm of the public. He dwelt upon the importance of his recent discoveries along the coast of Cuba, where, as he supposed, he had arrived nearly to the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients, bordering on some of the richest provinces of Asia. Above all, he boasted of his discovery of the abundant mines on the south side of Hispaniola, which he persuaded himself were those of the ancient Ophir. The public listened to these accounts with sneering incredulity; or if for a moment a little excitement was occasioned, it was quickly destroyed by gloomy pictures drawn by disappointed adventurers. In the harbor of Cadiz Columbus found three caravels, com¬ manded by Pedro Alonzo Nino, on the point of sailing with supplies for the colony. Nearly a year had elapsed without any relief of the kind; four caravels which had sailed on the preceeding January having been lost on the coast of the Pen¬ insula.* Having read the royal letters and dispatches of which Nino was the bearer, and being informed of the wishes of the sovereigns, as well as of the state of the public mind, Columbus wrote by this opportunity, urging the Adelantado to endeavor, by every means, to bring the island into a peaceful and pro¬ ductive state, appeasing all discontents and commotions, and seizing and sending to Spain all caciques, or their subjects, who should be concerned in the deaths of any of the colonists. He recommended the most unremitting diligence in exploring and working the mines recently discovered on the river Hayna, and that a place should be chosen in the neighborhood, and a seaport founded. Pedro Alonzo Nino set sail with the three caravels on the 17th of June. Tidings of the arrival of Columbus having reached the sov¬ ereigns, he received a gracious letter from them, dated at Almazen, 12th July, 1496; congratulating him on his safe return, and inviting him to court when he should have recov¬ ered from the fatigue of his voyage. The kind terms in which this letter was couched were calculated to reassure the heart of Columbus, who, ever since the mission of the arrogant Aguado, had considered himself out of favor with the sovereigns, and fallen into disgrace. As a proof of the dejection of his spirits, we are told that when he made his appearance this time in Spain, he was clad in a humble garb, resembling in form and * Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. vi. 854 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. . color the habit of a Franciscan monk, simply girded with a cord, and that he had suffered his beard to grow like4113 breth¬ ren of that order.* * This was probably in fulfilment of some penitential vow made in a moment of danger or despondency—• a custom prevalent in those days, and frequently observed by Columbus. It betokened, however, much humility and depres¬ sion of spirit, and afforded a striking contrast to his appear¬ ance on his former triumphant return. He was doomed, in fact, to yield repeated examples of the reverses to which those are subject who have once launched from the safe shores of obscurity on the fluctuating waves of popular opinion. However indifferent Columbus might be to his own personal appearance, he was anxious to keep alive the interest in his discoveries, fearing continually that the indifference awaken¬ ing toward him might impede their accomplishment. On his way to Burgos, therefore, where the sovereigns were expected, he made a studious display of the curiosities and treasures which he had brought from the New World. Among these were collars, bracelets, anklets, and coronets of gold, the spoils of various caciques, and which were considered as trophies won from barbaric princes of the rich coasts of Asia, or the islands of the Indian seas. It is a proof of the petty standard by which the sublime discovery of Columbus was already esti¬ mated, that he had to resort to this management to dazzle the gross perceptions of the multitude by the mere glare of gold. He carried with him several Indians also, decorated after their savage fashion, and glittering with golden ornaments; among whom were the brother and nephew of Caonabo, the former about thirty years of age, the latter only ten. They were brought merely to visit the king and queen, that they might be impressed with an idea of the grandeur and power of the Spanish sovereigns, after which they were to be restored in safety to their country. Whenever they passed through any principal place, Columbus put a massive collar and chain of gold upon the brother of Caonabo, as being cacique of the golden country of Cibao. The curate of Los Palacios, who entertained the discoverer and his Indian captives for several days in his house, says that he had this chain of gold in his hands, and that it weighed six hundred Castellanos, f The + Cura de los Palacios, cap. 131. Ovisdo, lib. ii. cap. 13. * Equivalent to the value of three thousand one hundred and ninety-five dollars of the present time. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 355 worthy curate likewise makes mention of various Indian masks and images of wood or cotton, wrought with fantastic faces of animals, all of which he supposed were representations of the devil, who he concludes must be the object of adoration of these islanders.* The reception of Columbus by the sovereigns was different from what he had anticipated; for he was treated with dis¬ tinguished favor, nor was any mention made either of the com¬ plaints of Margarite and Boyle, or the judicial inquiries con¬ ducted by Aguado. However these may have had a transient effect on the minds of the sovereigns, they were too conscious of the great deserts of Columbus, and the extraordinary difficul¬ ties of his situation, not to tolerate what they may have con¬ sidered errors on his part. Encouraged by the favorable countenance he experienced, and by the interest with which the sovereigns listened to his , account of his recent voyage along the coast of Cuba, and the discovery of the mines of Hayna, which he failed not to repre¬ sent as the Ophir of the ancients, Columbus now proposed a further enterprise, by which he promised to make yet more extensive discoveries, and to annex Terra Firma to their dominions. For this purpose he asked eight ships: two to be dispatched to the island of Hispaniola with supplies, the remaining six to be put under his command for a voyage of discovery. The sovereigns readily promised to comply with his request, and were probably sincere in their intentions to do so, but in the performance of their promise Columbus was doomed to meet with intolerable delay; partly in consequence of the operation of public events, partly in consequence of the intrigues of men of office, the two great influences which are continually diverting and defeating the designs of princes. The resources of Spain were, at this moment, tasked to the utmost by the ambition of Ferdinand, who lavished all his revenues in warlike expenses and in subsidies. While main¬ taining a contest of deep and artful policy with France, with the ultimate aim of grasping the sceptre of Naples, he was laying the foundation of a wide and powerful connection by the marriages of the royal children, who were now maturing in years. At this time arose that family alliance, which afterward consolidated such an immense empire under his , grandson and successor, Charles V. * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 131. 356 LIFE Oh CUK1ST0TIIER COLUMBUS. While a large army was maintained in Italy, under Gonsalvo of Cordova, to assist the King of Naples in recovering his throne, of which he had been suddenly dispossessed by Charles VIII. of France, other armies were required on the frontier of Spain, which were menaced with a French invasion. Squad¬ rons also had to be employed for the safeguard of the Medi¬ terranean and Atlantic coasts of the Peninsula, while a mag¬ nificent armada of upward of a hundred ships, having on board twenty thousand persons, many of them of the first nobility, was dispatched to convoy the Princess Juana to Flanders, to be married to Philip, Archduke of Austria, and to bring back his sister Margarita, the destined bride of Prince Juan. These widely-extended operations, both of war and amity, put all the land and naval forces into requisition. They drained the royal treasury, and engrossed the thoughts of the sov¬ ereigns, obliging then} also to journey from place to place in their dominions. With such cares of an immediate and home- felt nature pressing upon their minds, the distant enterprises of Columbus were easily neglected or postponed. They had hitherto been sources of expense instead of profit; and there were artful counsellors ever ready to whisper in the royal ear that they were likely to continue so. What, in the ambitious eyes of Ferdinand, was the acquisition of a number of wild, uncultivated, and distant islands, to that of the brilliant domain of Naples; cr the intercourse with naked and barbaric princes, to that of an alliance with the most’ potent sovereigns of Christendom? Columbus had the mortification, therefore, to see armies levied and squadrons employed in idle contests about a little point of territory in Europe, and a vast armada of upward of a hundred sail destined to the ostentatious service of convoying a royal bride; while he vainly solicited a few caravels to prosecute his discovery of a world. At length, in the autumn, six millions of maravedies were ordered to be advanced to Columbus for the equipment of his promised squadron.* Just as the sum was about to be de¬ livered, a letter was received from Pedro Alonzo Nino, who had arrived at Cadiz with his three caravels, on his return from the island of Hispaniola. Instead of proceeding to court in person, or forwarding the dispatches of the Adelantado, he had gone to visit his family at Huelva, taking the dispatches with * Equivalent to 80,950 dollars of the present day. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 357 him, and merely writing, in a vaunting style, that he had a great amount of gold on board of his ships.* This was triumphant intelligence to Columbus, who immedi¬ ately concluded that the new mines were in operation, and the treasures of Ophir about to be realized. The letter of Nino, however, was fated to have a most injurious effect on his ' concerns. The king at that moment was in immediate want of money, to repair the fortress of Salza, in Roussillon, which had been sacked by the French; the six millions of maravedies about to be advanced to Columbus were forthwith appropriated to patch up the shattered castle, and an order was given for the amount to be paid out of the gold brought by Nino. It was not until the end of December, when Nino arrived at court, and delivered the dispatches of the Adelantado, that his boast of gold was discovered to be a mere figure of speech, and that his caravels were, in fact, freighted with Indian prisoners, from the sale of whom the vaunted gold was to arise. It is difficult to describe the vexatious effects of this absurd hyperbole. The hopes of Columbus, of great and immediate profit from the mines, were suddenly cast down; the zeal of his few advocates was cooled; an air of empty exaggeration was given to his enterprises; and his enemies pointed with scorn and ridicule to the wretched cargoes of the caravels, as the boasted treasures of the New World. The report brought by Nino and his crew represented the colony as in a disastrous condition, and the dispatches of the Adelantado pointed out the importance of immediate supplies; but in proportion as the necessity of the case was urgent, the measure of relief was tardy. All the unfavorable representations hitherto made seemed corroborated, and the invidious cry of “great cost and j little gain” was revived by those politicians of petty sagacity I and microscopic eye, who, in all great undertakings, can dis- j cem the immediate expense, without having scope of vision to j embrace the future profit. ♦ Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i cap. 123, ms. i 358 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER III. PREPARATIONS FOR A THIRD VOYAGE—DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DELAYS. [1497.] It was not until tlie following spring of 1497 that the con¬ cerns of Columbus and of the New World began to receive serious attention from the sovereigns. The fleet had returned from Flanders with the Princess Margarita of Austria. Her nuptials with Prince Juan, the heir-apparent, had been cele¬ brated at Burgos, the capital of Old Castile, with extraordinary- splendor. All the grandees, the dignitaries, and chivalry of Spain, together with ambassadors from the principal potentates of Christendom, were assembled on the occasion. Burgos was for some time a scene of chivalrous pageant and courtly revel, and the whole kingdom celebrated with great rejoicings this powerful alliance, which seemed to insure to the Spanish sov¬ ereigns a continuance of their extraordinary prosperity. In the midst of these festivities, Isabella, whose maternal heart had recently been engrossed by the marriages of her children, now that she was relieved from these concerns of a tender and domestic nature, entered into the affairs of the New World with a spirit that showed she was determined to place them upon a substantial foundation, as well as clearly to define the powers and reward the services of Columbus. To her pro¬ tecting zeal all the provisions in favor of Columbus must be attributed; for the king began to look coldly on him, and the royal counsellors, who had most influence in the affairs of the Indies, were his enemies. • / Various royal ordinances dated about this time manifest the generous and considerate disposition of the queen. The rights, ^ privileges, and dignities granted to Columbus at Santa Fe, were again confirmed; a tract of land in Hispaniola, fifty leagues in length and twenty-five in breadth, was offered to him with the title of duke or marquess. This, however, Columbus had the forbearance to decline; he observed that it would only increase the envy which was already so virulent against him, and would cause new misrepresentations; as he should be accused of paying more attention to the settlement LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 359 and improvement of his own possessions than of any other part of the island.* As the expenses of the expeditions had hitherto far exceeded the returns, Columbus had incurred debt rather than reaped profit from the share he had been permitted to take in them; he was relieved, therefore, from his obligation to hear an eighth part of the cost of the past enterprises, excepting the sum - which he had advanced toward the first voyage; at the same time, however, he was not to claim any share of what had hitherto been brought from the island. For three ensuing years he was to be allowed an eighth of the gross proceeds of every voyage, and an additional tenth after the costs had been deducted. After the expiration of the three years, the original terms of agreement were to he resumed. To gratify his honorable ambition also, and to perpetuate in his family the distinction gained by his illustrious deeds, he was allowed the right of establishing a mayorazgo, or per¬ petual entail of his estates, so that they might always descend with his titles of nobility. This he shortly after exercised in a solemn testament executed at Seville in the early part of 1498, by which he devised his estate to his own male descendants, and on their failure to the male descendants of his brothers, and in default of male heirs to the females of his lineage. The heir was always to bear the arms of the admiral, to seal with them, to sign with his signature, and in signing, never to use any other title than simply “The Admiral,” whatever other titles might be given him by the king, and used by him on other occasions. Such was the noble pride with which he valued this title of his real greatness. In this testament he made ample provision for his brother, the Adelantado, his son Fernando, and his brother Don Diego, | the last of whom, he intimates, had a desire to enter into eccle¬ siastical life. He ordered that a tenth part of the revenues arising from the mayorazgo should be devoted to pious and charitable purposes, and in relieving all poor persons of his lineage. He made provisions for the giving of marriage-por¬ tions to the poor females of hi$ family. lie ordered that a married person of his kindred, who had been born in his native city of Genoa, should be maintained there in com¬ petence and respectability, by way of keeping a domicil for the family there; and he commanded whoever should inherit * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 123. 300 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the mayorazgo, always to do everything in his power for the honor, prosperity, and increase of the city of Genoa, provided it should not be contrary to the service of the church and the interests of the Spanish crown. Among various other provi¬ sions in this will, he solemnly provides for his favorite scheme, the recovery of the holy sepulchre. He orders his son Diego, , or whoever else may inherit his estate, to invest from time to time as much money as he can spare, in stock in the bank of St. George at Genoa, to form a permanent fund, with which he is to stand ready at any time to follow and serve the king in the conquest of Jerusalem. Or should the king not undertake such enterprise, then, when the funds have accumulated to suf¬ ficient amount, to set on foot a crusade at his own charge and risk, in hopes that, seeing his determination, the sovereigns may be induced either to adopt the undertaking or to author¬ ize him to pursue it in their name. Besides this special undertaking for the Catholic faith, he charges his heir in case there should arise any schism in the church, or any violence menacing its prosperity, to throw him¬ self at the feet of the pope, and devote his person and property to defend the church from all insult and spoliation. Next to the service of God, he enjoins loyalty to the throne; command¬ ing him at all times to serve the sovereigns and their heirs, faithfully and zealously, even to the loss of life and estate. To insure the constant remembrance of this testament, he orders his heir that, before he confesses, he shall give it to his father confessor to read, who is to examine him upon his faithful ful¬ filment of its conditions.* As Columbus had felt aggrieved by the general license granted in April, 1495, to make discoveries in the New World, considering it as interfering with his prerogatives, a royal edict was issued on the 2d of June, 1497, retracting whatever might be prejudicial to his interests, or to the previous grants made him by the crcwn. “It never was our intention,” said the sovereigns in their edict, “in any way to affect the rights of the said Don Christopher Columbus, nor to allow the conven¬ tions, privileges, and favors which we have granted him to be encroached upon or violated; but on the contrary, in conse¬ quence of the services which he has rendered us, we intend to confer still further favors on him.” Such, there is every rea- * This testament is inserted at large in the Appendix. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 361 eon to believe, was the sincere intention of the magnanimous Isabella; but the stream of her royal bounty was poisoned or diverted by the base channels through which it flowed. The favor shown to Columbus was extended likewise to his family. The titles and prerogatives of Adelantado, with which he had invested his brother Don Bartholomew, had at first awakened the displeasure of the king, who jealously reserved all high dignities of the kind to be granted exclusively by the crown. By a royal letter the office was now conferred upon Don Bartholomew, as if through spontaneous favor of the sovereigns, no allusion being made to his having previously enjoyed it. While all these measures were taken for the immediate gratification of Columbus, others were adopted for the inter¬ ests of the colony. Permission was granted him to take out three hundred and thirty persons in royal pay, of whom forty were to be escuderos, or servants, one hundred foot-soldiers, thirty sailors, thirty ship-boys, twenty miners, fifty husband¬ men, ten gardeners, twenty mechanics of various kinds, and thirty females. He was subsequently permitted to increase the number, if he thought proper, to five hundred; but the ad¬ ditional individuals were to be paid out of the produce and merchandise of the colony. He was likewise authorized to grant lands to all such as were disposed to cultivate vineyards, orchards, sugar plantations, or to form any other rural estab¬ lishments, on condition that they should reside as householders on the island for four years after such grant, and that all the brazil-wood and precious metals found on their lands should be reserved to the crown. Nor were the interests of the unhappy natives forgotten by the compassionate heart of Isabella. Notwithstanding the sophisms by which their subjection and servitude were made matters of civil and divine right, and sanctioned by political prelates of the day, Isabella always consented with the great¬ est reluctance to the slavery even of those who were taken in open warfare; while her utmost solicitude was exerted to pro¬ tect the unoffending part of this helpless and devoted race. She ordered that the greatest care should be taken of their religious instruction, and the greatest leniency shown in col¬ lecting the tributes imposed upon them, with all possible in¬ dulgence to defalcators. In fact, the injunctions given with respect to the treatment both of Indians and Spaniards, aro the only indications in the royal edicts of any impression 362 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. having been made by the complaints against Columbus of severity in his government. It was generally recommended by the sovereigns that, whenever the public safety did not require stern measures, there should be manifested a disposi¬ tion to lenity and easy rule. When every intention was thus shown on the part of the crown to dispatch the expedition to the colony, unexpected difficulties arose on the part of the public. The charm was dis¬ pelled which in the preceding voyage had made every adven¬ turer crowd into the service of Columbus. An odium had been ‘industriously thrown upon his enterprises; and his new-found world, instead of a region of wealth and delight, was considered a land of poverty and disaster. There was a difficulty in pro¬ curing either ships or men for the voyage. To remedy the first of these deficiencies, one of those arbitrary orders was issued, so opposite to our present ideas of commercial policy, empower¬ ing the officers of the crown to press into the service whatever ships they might judge suitable for the purposed expedition, together with their masters and pilots; and to fix such price for their remuneration as the officers should deem just and rea¬ sonable. To supply the want of voluntary recruits, a measure was adopted at the suggestion of Columbus,* which shows the desperate alternatives to which he was reduced by the great re¬ action of public sentiment. This was to commute the sentences of criminals condemned to banishment, to the galleys, or to the mines, into transportation to the new settlements, where they were to labor in the public service without pay. Those whose sentence was banishment for life, to be transported for ten years; those banished for a specific term., to be transported for half that time. A general pardon was published for all malefactors at large, who within a certain time should surren¬ der themseves to the admiral and embark for the colgnies; those who had committed offences meriting death, to serve for two years, those whose misdeeds were of a lighter nature, to serve for one year.f Those only were excepted from this in¬ dulgence who had committed heresy, treason, coining, murder, and certain other specific crimes. This pernicious measure, cal¬ culated to poison the population of an infant community at its very source, was a fruitful cause of trouble to Columbus, and of misery and detriment to the colony. It has been frequently * Las Casas. Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 112, MS. t Munoz, lib. vi. § 19. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 363 adopted by various nations, whose superior experience should have taught them better, and has proved the bane of many a rising settlement. It is assuredly as unnatural for a metropo¬ lis to cast forth its crimes and vices upon its colonies, as it would be for a parent wilfully to engraft disease upon his children. In both instances the obligation of nature is vitiated; nor should it be matter of surprise, if the seeds of evil thus sown should bring forth bitter retribution. Notwithstanding all these violent expedients, there was still a ruinous delay in fitting out the expedition. This is partly ac¬ counted for by changes which took place in the persons ap¬ pointed to superintend the affairs of the Indies. These con¬ cerns had for a time been consigned to Antonio de Torres, in whose name, conjointly with that of Columbus, many of the official documents had been made out. In consequence of high and unreasonable demands on the part of Torres, he was re¬ moved from office, and Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Bishop of Badajos, reinstated. The papers had, therefore, to be made out anew, and fresh contracts formed. Vvffiilp these concerns were tardily attended to, the queen was suddenly overwhelmed with affliction by the death of her only son, Prince Juan, whoso nuptials had been celebrated with such splendor in the spring. It was the first of a series of domestic calamities which assailed her affectionate heart, and overwhelmed her with affliction for the remainder of her days, in the midst of her distress, how- ever, she still thought of Columbus. In consequence of his ur¬ gent representations of the misery to which the colony must be reduced, two ships were dispatched in the beginning of 1498, under the command of Pedro Fernandez Coronel, freighted with supplies. The necessary funds were advanced by the queen herself, out of the moneys intended to form the endow- | ment of her daughter Isabella, then betrothed to Emanuel, King of Portugal. An instance of her kind feeling toward Columbus was also evinced in the time of her affliction; his two sons, Diego and Fernando, had been pages to the deceased prince; the queen now took them, in the same capacity, into her own service. With all this zealous disposition on the part of the queen, Columbus still met with the most injurious and discouraging delays in preparing the six remaining vessels for his voyage. His cold-blooded enemy Fonseca, having the superintendence of Indian affairs, was enabled to impede and retard all his plans. The various petty officers and agents employed in the 364 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. concerns of the armament were many of them minions of the bishop, and knew that they were gratifying him in annoying Columbus. They looked upon the latter as a man declining in popularity, who might be offended with impunity; they scrupled not, therefore, to throw all kinds of difficulties in his path, and to treat him occasionally with that arrogance which petty and ignoble men in place are prone to exercise. It seems almost incredible at the present day that such im¬ portant and glorious enterprises should have been subject to such despicable molestations. Columbus bore them all with silent indignation. He was a stranger in the land he was bene¬ fiting ; he felt that the popular tide was setting against him, and that it was necessary to tolerate many present grievances for the sake of effecting his great purposes. So wearied and disheartened, however, did he become by the impediments art¬ fully thrown in his way, and so disgusted by the prejudices of the fickle public, that he at one time thought of abandoning his discoveries altogether. He was chiefly induced to persevere by his grateful attachment to the queen, and his desire to achieve something that might cheer and animate her under her afflictions.* At length, after all kinds of irritating delays, the six vessels were fitted for sea, though it was impossible to conquer the popular repugnance to the service sufficiently to enlist the al¬ lotted number of men. In addition to the persons in employ already enumerated, a physician, surgeon, and apothecary were sent out lor the relief of the colony, and several priests to replace Friar Boyle and certain of his discontented brethren; while a number of musicians were embarked by the admiral to cheer and enliven the colonists. The insolence which Columbus had suffered from the minions of Fonseca throughout this long protracted time of preparation harassed him to the last moment of his sojourn in Spain, and followed him to the very water’s edge. Among the worthless hirelings who had annoyed him, the most noisy and presuming was one Ximcno Breviesca, treasurer or accountant of Fonseca. He was not an old Christian, observes the venerable Las Casas; by which it is to be understood that he was either a Jew or a Moor converted to the Catholic faith. He had an impudent front and an unbridled tongue, and, echo ‘ ng the sentiments of his patron the bishop, had been loud ± his abuse of the ad- * Letter of Columbus to thv_ nurse of Ci inee Juan. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 365 miral and his enterprises. The very day when the squadron was on the point of weighing anchor, Columbus was assailed by the insolence of this Ximeno, either on the shore when about to embark, or on board of his ship where he had just entered. In the hurry of the moment he forgot his usual self-command; his indignation, hitherto repressed, suddenly burst forth; he struck the despicable minion to the ground, and kicked him repeatedly, venting in this unguarded paroxysm the accumu- lated griefs and vexations which had long rankled in his mind.* Nothing could demonstrate more strongly what Columbus had previously suffered, from the machinations of unworthy men, than this transport of passion, so unusual in his well- governed temper. He deeply regretted it, and in a letter writ¬ ten some time afterward to the sovereigns, he endeavored to obviate the injury it might do him in their opinion, through the exaggeration and false coloring of his enemies. His appre¬ hensions were not ill-founded, for Las Casas attributes the hu¬ miliating measures shortly after adopted by the sovereigns toward Columbus, to the unfavorable impression produced by this affair. It had happened near at home, as it were, under the very eye of the sovereigns; it spoke, therefore, more quickly to their feelings than more important allegations from a dis¬ tance. The personal castigation of a public officer was repre¬ sented as a flagrant instance of the vindictive temper of Colum¬ bus, and a corroboration of the charges of cruelty and oppres¬ sion sent from the colony. As Ximeno was a creature of the invidious Fonseca, the affair was represented to the sovereigns in the most odious point of view. Thus the generous inten¬ tions of princes, and the exalted services of their subjects, are apt to be defeated by the intervention of cold and crafty men in place. By his implacable hostility to Columbus, and the secret obstructions which he threw in the way of the most illustrious of human enterprises, Fonseca has insured perpetiu jty to his name, coupled with the contempt of every generous mind. ♦ Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 136, ms. * BOOK X. CHAPTEB I. m s DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS FROM SPAIN ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE- DISCOVERY OF TRINIDAD. [1498.] On the 30th of May, 1498, Columbus set sail from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, with his squadron of six vessels, on his third voyage of discovery. The route he proposed to take was different from that pursued in his former voyages. He intended to depart from the Cape de Verde Islands, sailing to the south-west, until he should come under the equinoctial line, then to steer directly westward, with the favor of the trade- winds, until he should arrive at land, or find himself m the longitude of Hispaniola. Various considerations induced him to adopt this course. In his preceding voyage, when he coasted the southern side of Cuba, under the belief that it was the con¬ tinent of Asia, he had observed that it swept off toward the south. From this circumstance, and from information gath¬ ered among the natives of the Caribbee Islands, he was induced to believe that a great tract of the main-land lay to the south of the countries he had already discovered. King John II. of Portugal appears to have entertained a similar idea; as Herrera records an opinion expressed by that monarch, that there was a continent in the southern ocean.* If this were the case, it was supposed by Columbus that, in proportion as he approached the equator, and extended his discoveries to climates more and more under the torrid influence of the sun, he should find the productions of nature sublimated by its rays to more perfect and precious qualities. He was strengthened in this belief by + Herrera, Hist Iud., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 9. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 367 a letter written to him at the command of the queen, by one Jayne Ferrer, an eminent and learned lapidary, who, in the course of his trading for precious stones and metals, had been in the Levant and in various parts of the East; had conversed with the merchants of the remote parts of Asia and Africa, and the natives of India, Arabia, and Ethiopia, and was considered deeply versed in geography generally, but especially in the natural histories of those countries whence the valuable mer¬ chandise in which he dealt was procured. In this letter Ferrer assured Columbus that, according to his experience, the rarest objects of commerce, such as gold, precious stones, drugs, and spices, were chiefly to be found in the regions about the equi¬ noctial line, where the inhabitants were black, or darkly col¬ ored ; and that until the admiral should arrive among people of such complexions he did not think he would find those ar¬ ticles in great abundance.* Columbus expected to find such people more to the south. He recollected that the natives of Hispaniola had spoken of black men who had once come to their island from the south and south-east, the heads of whose javelins were of a sort of metal which they called Guanin. They had given the admiral speci¬ mens of this metal, which, on being assayed in Spain, proved to be a mixture of eighteen parts gold, six silver, and eight copper, a proof of valuable mines in the country whence they came. Charlevoix conjectures that these black people may have come from the Canaries, or the western coast of Africa, and been driven by tempest to the shores of Hispaniola, t It is probable, however, that Columbus had been misinformed as to their color, or had misunderstood his informants. It is dif¬ ficult to believe that the natives of Africa, or the Canaries, could have performed a voyage of such magnitude, in the frail and scantily provided barks they were accustomed to use. It was to ascertain the truth of all these suppositions, and if correct, to arrive at the favored and opulent countries about the equator, inhabited by people of similar complexions with those of the Africans under the line, that Columbus in his * present voyage to the New World took a course much farther to the south than that which he had hitherto pursued. Having heard that a French squadron was cruising off Cape St. Vincent, he stood to the south-west after leaving St. Lucar, * Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii. doc. 68. t Charlevoix, Eist. St. Domingo, lib. iii. p. 160. 368 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. touching at the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira, where he remained a few days taking in wood and water and other sup¬ plies, and then continued his course to the Canary Islands. On the 19th of June he arrived at Gomara, where there lay at anchor a French cruiser with two Spanish prizes. On seeing the squad¬ ron of Columbus standing into the harbor, the captain of the pri¬ vateer put to sea in all haste, followed by his prizes; one of which, in the hurry of the moment, left part of her crew on shore, mak¬ ing sail with only four of her armament and six Spanish pris¬ oners. The admiral at first mistook them for merchant ships alarmed by his warlike appearance; when informed of the truth, however, he sent three of his vessels in pursuit, but they were too distant to be overtaken. The six Spaniards, however, on board of one of the prizes, seeing assistance at hand, rose on their captors, and the admiral’s vessel coming up, the prize was retaken, and brought back in triumph to the port. The admiral relinquished the ship to the captain, and gave up the prisoners to the governor of the island, to be exchanged for six Spaniards carried off by the cruiser.* Leaving Gomara on the 21st of June, Columbus divided his squadron off the island of Ferro: three of the ships he dis¬ patched direct for Hispaniola, to carry supplies to the colony. One of these ships was commanded by Alonzo Sanchez de Ca,- ravajal, a native of Baeza, a man of much worth and integrity; the second by Pedro de Arana of Cordova, brother of Dona Beatrix Henriquez, the mother of the admiral’s second son, Fernando. He wast cousin also of the unfortunate officer who commanded the fortress of La Navidad at the time of the mas¬ sacre. The third was commanded by Juan Antonio Columbus (or Colombo), a Genoese, related to the admiral, a man of much judgment and capacity. These captains were alternately to have the command, and bear the signal light a week at a tune. The admiral carefully pointed out their course. When they came in sight of Hispamola they were to steer for the south side, for the new port and town, which he supposed to be by this time established in the mouth of the Ozema, according to royal orders sent out by Coronel. With the three remaining vessels the admiral prosecuted his voyage toward the Cape de Verde Islands. The ship in which he‘ sailed was decked, the other two were merchant caravels, f As he advanced within the tropics the change of climate and the close and sultry * Hist, del Almiraute cap. 65. t P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. vi. LIFE OF CIimSTOPHER COLUMBUS. 369 weather brought on a severe attack of the gout, followed by a violent fever. Notwithstanding his painful illness, he enjoyed the full possession of his faculties, and continued to keep his reckoning and make his observations with his usual vigilance and minuteness. On the 27th of June he arrived among the Cape de Verde Islands, which, instead of the freshness and verdure which their name would betoken, presented an aspect of the most cheerless sterility. He remained among these islands but a very few days, being disappointed in his expectation of obtain¬ ing goats : flesh for ships’ provisions, and cattle for stock for the island of Hispaniola. To procure them would require some de¬ lay ; in the mean time the health of himself and of his people suffered under the influence of the weather. The atmosphere was loaded with clouds and vapors; neither sun nor star was to be seen; a sultry, depressing temperature prevailed; and the livid looks of the inhabitants bore witness to the insalubrity of the climate,* Leaving the island of Buena Vista on the 5th of July, Colum¬ bus stood to the souMi-west, intending to continue on until he found himself under the equinoctial line. The currents, how¬ ever, which ran to the north and north-west among these islands impeded his progress, and kept him for two days in sight of the Island del Fuego. The volcanic summit of this island, which, seen at a distance, resembled a church with a lofty steeple, and which was said at times to emit smoke and flames, was the last point discerned of the Old World. Continuing to the south-west about one hundred and twenty leagues, he found himself, on the 13th of July, according to his observations, in the fifth degree of north latitude. He had en¬ tered. that region which extends for eight or ten degrees on each side of the line, and is known among seamen by the name of the calm latitudes. The trade-winds from the south-east and north-east, meeting in the neighborhood of the equator, neutra¬ lize each other, and a steady calmness of the elements is pro¬ duced. The whole sea is like a mirror, and vessels remain al¬ most motionless, with flapping sails; the crews panting under the heat of a vertical sun, unmitigated by any refreshing breeze. Weeks are sometimes employed in crossing this torpid tract of the ocean. The weather for some time past had been cloudy and op- * Hist, del Almirante. caD. 65. 370 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. pressive; but on the 18th there was a bright and burning sun, The wind suddenly fell, and a dead sultry calm commenced, which lasted for eight days. The air was like a furnace; the tar melted, the seams of the ship yawned; the salt meat be¬ came putrid; the wheat was parched as if with fire; the hoops shrank from the wine and water casks, some of which leaked, and others burst; while the heat in the holds of the vessels was so suffocating that no one could remain below a sufficient time to prevent the damage that was taking place. The mariners lost all strength and spirits, and sank under the oppressive heat. It seemed as if the old fable of the torrid zone was about to be realized; and that they were appioaching a fiery region, where it would be impossible to exist. It is true the heavens were, for a great part of the time, overcast, and there were drizzling^ showers; but the atmosphere was close and stifling, and there was that combination of heat and moisture which re¬ laxes all the energies of the human frame. During this time the admiral suffered extremely from the gout, but, as usual, the activity of his mind, heightened by his anxiety, allowed him no indulgence nor impose. He was in an unknown part of the ocean, where everything depended upon his vigilance and sagacity; and was continually watching the phenomena of the elements, and looking out for signs of land. Finding the heat so intolerable, he altered his course, and steered to the south- west, hoping to find a milder temperature further on, even under the same parallel. He had observed, in his previous voyages, that after sailing westward a hundred leagues from the Azores, a wonderful change took place in the sea and sky, both becoming serene and bland, and the air temperate and refreshing. He imagined that a peculiar mild¬ ness and suavity prevailed over a great tract of ocean extend¬ ing from north to south, into wdiich the navigator, sailing from east to west, would suddenly enter, as if crossing a fine. The event seemed to justify his theory, for after making their way slowly for some time to the westward, through an ordeal of heats and calms, with a murky, stifling atmosphere, the ships ail at once emerged into a genial region, a pleasant, cooling breeze played over the surface of the sea, and gently filled their sails, the close and drizzling clouds broke away, the sky be¬ came serene, and clear, and the slln shone forth with all its splendor, but no longer with a burning heat. Columbus had intended on reaching this temperate tract, to have stood once more to the south and then westward; but the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 371 late parching weather had opened the seams of his ships, and caused them to leak excessively, so that it was necessary to seek a harbor as soon as possible, where they might be refitted. Much of the provisions also was spoiled, and the water nearly i exhausted. He kept on therefore directly to the west, trusting, I from the flights of birds and other favorable indications, he should soon arrive at land. Day after day passed away with- I out his expectations being realized. The distresses of his men I became continually more urgent; wherefore, supposing himself j in the longitude of the Caribbee Islands, he bore away toward the northward in search of them.* On the 31st of July there was not above one cask of water remaining in each ship, when, about midday, a mariner at the masthead beheld the summits of three mountains rising above the horizon, and gave the joyful cry of land. As the ships drew nearer it was seen that these mountains were united at the base. Columbus had determined to give the first land he should behold the name of the Trinity. The appearance of these three mountains united into one struck him as a singular coincidence; and, with a solemn feeling of devotion, he gave the island the name of La Trinidad, which it bears at the pres¬ ent day.f CHAPTER II. VOYAGE THROUGH THE GULF OF PARIA. [1498.] * Shaping his course for the island, Columbus approached its ' eastern extremity, to which he gave the name of Punta de la 1 Galera, from a rock in the sea, which resembled a galley under I sail. He was obliged to coast for five leagues along the south- | crn shore before he could find safe anchorage. On the following j day (August 1), he continued coasting westward, in search of | water and a convenient harber where the vessels might be ; careened. He was surprised at the verdure and fertility of the country, having expected to find it more parched and sterile as he approached the equator; whereas he beheld groves of * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 67. tlbid., ubi sup 372 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. palm-trees and luxuriant forests, sweeping down to the sea¬ side, with fountains and running streams. The shores were low and uninhabited, but the country rose in the interior, was cultivated in many places, and enlivened by hamlets and scat¬ tered habitations. In a word, the softness and purity of the climate, and the verdure, freshness, and sweetness of the coun¬ try, appeared to him to equal the delights of early spring in the beautiful province of Valencia.* Anchoring at a point to which he gave the name of Punta de la Playa, he sent the boats on shoce for water. They found an abundant and limpid brook, at which they filled their casks, but there was no safe harbor for the vessels, nor could they meet with any of the islanders, though they found prints of footsteps, and various fishing implements, left behind in the hurry of the flight. There were tracks also of animals, which they supposed to be goats, but which must have been deer, with which, as it was afterward ascertained, the island abounded. While coasting the island Columbus beheld land to the south, stretching to the distance of more than twenty leagues. It was that low tract of coast intersected by the numerous branches of the Oronoco, but the admiral, supposing it to be an island, gave it the name of La Isla Santa; little imagining that he now for the first time beheld that continent, that Terra Firma, which had been the object of his earnest search. On the 2d of August he continued on to the south-west point of Trinidad, which he called Point Arenal. It stretched toward a corresponding point of Terra Firma, making a narrow pass, with a high rock in the centre, to which he gave the name of El Gallo. Near this pass the ships cast anchor. As they were approaching this place, a large canoe with five and twenty In¬ dians put off from the shore, but paused on coming within bow-shot, and hailed the ships in a language which no one on board understood. Columbus tried to allure the savages on board, by friendly signs, by the display of looking-glasses, basins of polished metal, and various glittering trinkets, but all in vain. They remained gazing in mute wonder for above two hours, with their paddles in their hands, ready to take to flight on the least attempt to approach them. They were all young men, well formed, and naked, excepting bands and fillets of cottons about oheir heads, and colored cloths of the same about their loins. They were armed with bows and arrows, the latter * Letter of Columbus to the Sovereigns from Hispaniola, Navarrete, Colec., tom. t LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 373 feathered and tipped with hone, and they had bucklers, an article of armor seen for the first time among the inhabitants of the New World. Finding all other means to attract them ineffectual, Colum¬ bus now tried the power of music. He knew the fondness of the Indians for dances performed to the sound of their rude drums and the chant of their traditional ballads. Ho ordered something similar to be executed on the deck of his ship, where, while one man sang to the beat of the tabor, and the sound of other musical instruments, the ship-boys danced, after the popular Spanish fashion. No sooner, however, did this sym¬ phony strike up, than the Indians, mistaking it for a signal of hostilities, put their bucklers on their arms, seized their bows, and let fly a shower of arrows. This rude salutation was im¬ mediately answered by the discharge of a couple of cross-bows, which put the auditors to flight, and concluded this singular entertainment. Though thus shy of the admiral’s vessel, they approached one of the caravels without hesitation, and, running under the stern, had a parley with the pilot, who gave a cap and a mantle to the one who appeared to be the chieftain. He received the presents with great delight, inviting the pilot by signs to come to land, where he should be well entertained, and receive great presents in return. On his appearing to consent, they went to shore to wait for him. The pilot put off in the boat of the caravel to ask permission of the admiral; but the Indians, seeing him go on board of the hostile ship, suspected somo treachery, and springing into their canoe, darted away, nor was anything more seen of them.* The complexion and other physical characteristics of these savages caused much surprise and speculation in the mind of Columbus. Supposing himself in the seventh degree of latitude, though actually in the tenth, he expected to find the inhabitants similar to the natives of Africa under the same parallel, who were black and ill-shaped, with crisped hair, or rather wool; whereas these were well formed, had long hair, and were even fairer than those more distant from the equator. The climate, also, instead of being hotter as he approached the equinoctial, appeared more temperate. He was now in the dog-days, yet * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 88. P. Martyr, decad. i. lib vi. Las Casas. Hist. Tnd . |ib. i. cap. 138. MS. Letter of Columbus to the Castilian Sovereigns, Navarrete, Colec., iwm. - 374 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the nights and mornings were so cool that it was necessary to use covering as in winter. This is the case in many parts of the torrid zone, especially in calm weather, when there is no wind, for nature, by heavy dews, in the long nights of those latitudes, cools and refreshes the earth after the great heats of the day. Columbus was at first greatly perplexed by these contradictions to the course of nature, as observed in the Old World; they were in opposition also to the expectations he had founded on the theory of Ferrer the lapidary, but they gradu¬ ally contributed to the formation of a theory which was spring¬ ing up in his active imagination, and which will be presently shown. After anchoring at Point Arenal, the crews were permitted to land and refresh themselves. There were no runs of water, but by sinking pits in the sand they soon obtained sufficient to fill the casks. The anchorage, at this place, however, was ex¬ tremely insecure. A rapid current set from the eastward through the strait formed by the maindand and the island of Trinidad, flowing, as Columbus observed, night and day, with as much fury as the Guadalquiver, when swollen by floods. In the pass between Point Arenal and its correspondent point, the confined current boiled and raged to such a degree that he thought it was crossed by a reef of rocks and shoals, preventing all entrance, with others extending beyond, over which the waters roared like breakers on a rocky shore. To this pass, from its angry and dangerous appearance, he gave the name of Boca del Sierpe (the Mouth of the Serpent). He thus found himself placed between two difficulties. The continual current from the east seemed to prevent all return, while the rocks which appeared to beset the pass threatened destruction if he should proceed. Being on board of his ship, late at night, kepi; awake by painful illness and an anxious and watchful spirit, he heard a terrible roaring from the south, and beheld the sea heaped up, as it were, into a great ridge or hill, the height of the ship, covered with foam, and rolling toward him with a tremendous uproar. As this furious surge approached, rendered more terrible in appearance by the obscurity of night, he trembled for the safety of his vessels. His own ship was sud¬ denly lifted up to such a height that he dreaded lest it should be overturned or cast upon the rocks, while another of the ships was torn violently from her anchorage. The crews were for a time in great consternation, fearing they should be swal¬ lowed up; but the mountainous surge passed on, and gradually LIFE Ob .CUliLSTOFllLli COLO ML OF. 375 subsided, after a violent contest with the counter-current of the strait.* * This sudden rush of water, it is supposed, was caused by the swelling of one of the rivers which flow into the Gulf of Paria, and which were as yet unknown to Columbus. Anxious to extricate himself from this dangerous neighbor¬ hood, he sent the boats on the following morning to sound the depth of water at the Boca del Sierpe, and to ascertain whether it was possible for ships to pass through to the northward. To his great joy, they returned with a report that there were several fathoms of water, and currents and eddies setting both ways, either to enter or return. A favorable breeze prevailing, he immediately made sail, and passing through the formidable Strait in safety, found himself in a tranquil expanse beyond. He was now on the inner side of Trinidad. To his left spread the broad gulf since known by the name of Paria, which he supposed to be the open sea, but was surprised, on tasting it, to find the water fresh. He continued northward, toward a mountain at the north-west point of the island, about fourteen leagues from Point Arenal. Here he beheld two lofty capes opposite each other, one on the island of Trinidad, the other to the west, on the long promontory of Paria, which stretches from the main-land and forms the northern side of the gulf, but which Columbus mistook for an island, and named Isla de Gracia. Between these capes there was another pass, which appeared even more dangerous then the Boca del Sierpe, being beset with rocks, among which the current forced its way with roaring turbulence. To this pass Columbus gave the name of Boca del Dragon. Not choosing to encounter its apparent dangers, he turned northward, on Sunday, the 5th of August, and steered along the inner side of the supposed island of Gracia, intending j to keep on until he came to the end of it, and then to strike | northward into the free and open ocean, and shape his course | for Hispaniola. It was a fair and beautiful coast, indented with fine harbors lying close to each other; the country cultivated in many places, in others covered with fruit trees and stately forests, and watered by frequent streams. What greatly astonished Columbus was still to find the water fresh, and that it grew more and more so the farther he proceeded; it being that sea- ■ f * Letter of Columbus to the Castilian Sovereigns, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i, Herrera, Hist. Inch, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 10. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 69. 376 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. son of the year when the various rivers which empty themselves into this gulf are swollen by rains, and pour forth such quan¬ tities of fresh water as to conquer the saltness of the ocean. He was also surprised at the placidity of the sea, which ap¬ peared as tranquil and safe as one vast harbor, so that there was no need of seeking a port to anchor in. As yet he had not been able to hold any communication with the people of this part of the New World. The shores which he had visited, though occasionally cultivated, were silent and deserted, and. excepting the fugitive party in the canoe at Point Arenal, he had seen nothing of the natives. After sail¬ ing several leagues along the coast, he anchored, on Monday, the Gth of August, at a place where there appeared signs of cultivation, and sent the boats on shore. They found recent traces of people, but not an individual was to be seen. The coast was hilly, covered with beautiful and fruitful groves, and abounding with monkeys. Continuing farther westward, to where the country was more level, Columbus anchored in a river. . Immediately a canoe, with three or four Indians, came off to the caravel nearest to the shore, the captain of which, pretend¬ ing a desire to accompany them to land, sprang into their canoe, overturned it, and, with the assistance of his seamen, secured the Indians as they were swimming. When brought to the admiral, he gave them beads, hawks’ bells, and sugar, and sent them highly gratified on shore, where many of their countrymen were assembled. This kind treatment had the usual effect. Such of the natives as had canoes came off to the ships with the fullest confidence. They were tall of stature, finely formed, and free and graceful in their movements. Their hair was long and straight; some wore it cut short, but none of them braided it, as was the custom among the natives of Hispaniola. They were armed with bows, arrows, and tar¬ gets; the men wore cotton clotns about their heads and loins, beautifully wrought with various colors, so as at a distance to look like silk; but the women were entirely naked. They brought bread, maize, and other eatables, with different kinds of beverage, some white, made from maize, and resembling beer, and others green, of a vinous flavor, and expressed from various fruits. • They appeared to judge of everything by the sense of smell, as others examine objects by the sight or touch. When they approached a boat, they smelt to it, and then to the people. In like maimer everything that was given them 377 \LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. i i ! I I was tried. They set but little value upon beads, but were extravagantly delighted with hawks’ bells. Brass was also held in high estimation; they appeared to find something ex¬ tremely grateful in the smell of it, and called it Turey, signify¬ ing that it was from the skies.* From these Indians Columbus understood that the name of their country was Paria, and that farther to the west he would find it more populous. Taking several of them to serve as guides and mediators, he proceeded eight leagues westward to a point which he called Aguja or the Needle. Here he arrived at three o’clock in the morning. When the day dawned he was delighted with the beauty of the country. It was culti¬ vated in many places, highly populous, and adorned with magnificent vegetation; habitations wore interspersed among groves laden with fruits and flowers; grape-vines entwined themselves among the trees, and birds of brilliant plumage fluttered from branch to branch. The air was temperate and bland, and sweetened by the fragrance of flowers and blossoms; and numerous fountains and limpid streams kept up a unir versal verdure and freshness. Columbus was so much charmed with the beauty and amenity of this part of the coast that he gave it the name of The Gardens. The natives came off in great numbers, in canoes, of superior construction to these hitherto seen, being very large and light, with a cabin in the centre for the accommodation of the owner and his family. They invited Columbus, in the name of their king, to come to land. Many of them had collars and burn¬ ished plates about their necks, of that inferior kind of gold called by the Indians Guanin. They said that it came from a high land, which they pointed out, at no great distance, to the west, but intimated that it was dangerous to go there, either because the inhabitants were cannibals, or the place infested by venomous animals, f But what aroused the attention and awakened the cupidity of the Spaniards, was the sight of strings of pearls round the arms of some of the natives. These, they informed Columbus, were procured on the sea- coast, on the northern side of Paria, which he still supposed to be an island; and they showed the mother-of-pearl shells whence they had been taken. Anxious for farther informa¬ tion, and to procure specimens of these pearls to send to Spain, * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 11. t Letter of Columbus to the Castilian Sovereigns, Navarrete Coleo., tom. i. p. 262. 378 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. he dispatched the boats to shore. A multitude of the natives came to the beach to receive them, headed by the chief cacique and his son. They treated the Spaniards with profound rever¬ ence, as beings descended from heaven, and conducted them to a spacious house, the residence of the cacique, where they were regaled with bread and various fruits of excellent flavor, and the different kinds of beverage already mentioned. While they were in the house, the men remained together at one end of it, and the women at the other. After they had finished their collation at the house of the cacique, they were taken to that of his son, where a like repast was set before them. These people were remarkably affable, though, at the same time, they possessed a more intrepid and martial air and spirit than the natives of Cuba and Hispaniola. They were fairer, Columbus observes, than any he had yet seen, though so near to the equinoctial line, where he had expected to find them of the color of Ethiopians. Many ornaments of gold were seen among them, but all of an inferior quality: one Indian had a piece of the size of an apple. They had various kinds of domesticated parrots, one of a light green color, with a yellow neck, and the tips of the wings of a bright red; others of the size of domestic fowls, and of a vivid scarlet, excepting some azure feathers in the wings. These they readily gave to the Spaniards; but what the latter most coveted were the pearls, of which they saw many necklaces and bracelets among the Indian women. The latter gladly gave them in • exchange for hawks’ bells or any article of brass, and several specimens of fine pearls were procured for the admiral to send to*the sovereign A The kindness and amity of this people were heightened by an intelligent demeanor and a martial frankness. They seemed worthy of the beautiful country they inhabited. It was a cause of great concern both to them and the Spaniards, 'that they could not understand each other’s language. They conversed, however, by signs; mutual good-will made their intercourse easy and pleasant; and at the hour of vespers the Spaniards returned on board of their ships, highly gratified with their entertainment. * Letter of Columbus. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 11. Hist, del Alruirante, cap. 70. » LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 379 ' CHAPTER III. CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGE THROUGH THE GULF OF PARIA—- RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. [1498.] • The quantity of fine pearls found among the natives of Paria was sufficient to arouse the sanguine anticipations of Columbus. It appeared to corroborate the theory of Ferrer, the learned jeweller, that as he approached the equator he would find the most rare and precious productions of nature. His active imagination, with its intuitive rapidity, seized upon every circumstance in unison with his wishes, and, combining them, drew thence the most brilliant inferences. He had read in Pliny that pearls are generated from drops of dew which fall into the mouths of oysters; if so, what place could be more propitious to their growth and multipli¬ cation than the coast of Paria? The dew in those parts was heavy and abundant, and the oysters were so plentiful that they clustered about the roots and pendant branches of the mangrove trees, which grew within the margin of the tran¬ quil sea. When a branch which had drooped for a time in the water was drawn forth, it was found covered with oysters. » Las Casas, noticing this sanguine conclusion of Columbus, ob¬ serves, that the shell-fish here spoken of are not of the kind which produce pearl, for that those by a natural instinct, as if conscious of their precious charge, hide themselves in the deepest water.* Still imagining the coast of Paria to be an island, and anxious to circumnavigate it, and arrive at the place where these pearls were said by the Indians to abound, Columbus left the Gardens on the 10th of August, and continued coast¬ ing westward within the gulf, in search of an outlet to the north. He observed portions of Terra Firma appearing to¬ ward the bottom of the gulf, which he supposed to be islands, and called them Isabeta and Tramontana, and fancied that the desired outlet to the sea must lie between them. As he advanced, however, he found the water continually growing ♦Las Casas, Hist. Ind., cap. 136. 380 LIFE OF CIIRISTOPIIER COLUMBUS . shallower and fresher, until he did not dare to venture any farther with his ship, which, he observed, was of too great a size for expeditions of this kind, being of an hundred tons burden, and requiring three fathoms of water. He came to anchor, therefore, and sent a light caravel called the Correo, to ascertain whether there was an outlet to the ocean be¬ tween the supposed islands. The caravel returned on the following day, reporting that at the western end of the gulf there was an opening of two leagues, which led into an inner and circular gulf, surrounded by four openings, apparently smaller gulfs, or rather mouths of rivers, from which flowed the great quantity of fresh water that sweetened the neigh¬ boring sea. In fact, from one of these mouths issued the great river the Cuparipari, or, as it is now called, the Paria. To this inner and circular gulf Columbus gave the name of the Gulf of Pearls, through a mistaken idea that they abounded in its waters, though none, in fact, are found there. He still imagined that the four openings of which the mariners spoke might be intervals between islands, though they affirmed that all the land he saw was connected.* As it was impossible to proceed further westward with his ships, he had no alterna¬ tive but to retrace his course, and seek an exit to the north by the Boca del Dragon. He would gladly have continued for some time to explore this coast, for he considered himself in one of those opulent regions described as the most favored upon earth, and which increase in riches toward the equator. Imperious considerations, however, compelled him to shorten his voyage, and hasten to San Domingo. The sea-stores of his ships were almost exhausted, and the various supplies for the colony, with which they were freighted, were in danger of spoiling. He was suffering, also, extremely in his health. Besides the gout, which had rendered him a cripple for the greater part of the voyage, he was afflicted by a complaint in his eyes, caused by fatigue and over-watching, which al¬ most deprived him of sight. Even the voyage along the coast of Cuba, he observes, in which he was three and thirty days almost without sleep, had not so injured his eyes and disordered his frame, or caused him so much painful suffering as the present.! On the 11th of August, therefore, he set sail eastward for * Hist, del Alrairante. cap. 7fl. + Letter of Columbus to the Sovereigns, Navarrete, tom. i. p. 253 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 381 the Boca del Dragon, and was borne along with great velocity by the currents, which, however, prevented him from landing again at his favorite spot, the Gardens. On Sunday, the 13th, he anchored near to the Boca, in a fine harbor, to which he gave the name of Puerto de Gatos, from a species of monkey called gato paulo,with which the neighborhood abounded. On the margin of the sea he perceived many trees which, as he thought, produced the mirabolane, a fruit only found in the countries of the East. There were great numbers also of man¬ groves growing within the water, with oysters clinging to their branches, their mouths open, as he supposed, to receive the dew, which was afterward to be transformed to pearls.* On the following morning, the 14th of August, toward noon the ships approached the Boca del Dragon, and prepared to venture through that formidable pass. The distance from Cape Boto at the end of Paria, and Cape Lapa the extremity of Trinidad, is about five leagues; but in the interval there were two islands, which Columbus named Caracol and Delphin. The impetuous body of fresh water which flows through the gulf, particularly in the rainy months of July and August, is confined at narrow outlets between these islands, where it causes a turbulent sea, foaming and roaring as if breaking over rocks, and rendering the entrance and exit of the gulf extremely dangerous. The horrors and perils of such places are always tenfold to discoverers, who have no chart, nor pilot, nor advice of previous voyager, to guide them. Colum¬ bus, at first, apprehended sunken rocks and shoals; but on at¬ tentively considering the commotion of the strait, he attrib¬ uted it to the conflict between the prodigious body of fresh water setting through the gulf and struggling for an outlet, and the tide of salt water struggling to enter. The ships had scarcely ventured into the fearful channel when the wind died away, and they were in danger every moment of being thrown upon the rocks or sands. The current of fresh water, how¬ ever, gained the victory, and carried them safely through. The admiral, when once more sate in the open sea, congratu¬ lated himself upon his escape from this perilous strait, which, he observes, might well be called the Mouth of the Dragon, f He now stood to the westward, running along the outer coast of Paria, still supposing it an island, and intending to visit the ♦Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. in. cap. 10. X Ibid., cap. 11. 382 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Gulf of Pearls, which he imagined to be at the end of it, open¬ ing to the sea. He wished to ascertain whether this great body of fresh water proceeded from rivers, as the crew of the caravel Correo had affirmed; for it appeared to him impossible that the streams of mere islands, as he supposed the surrounding lands, could furnish such a prodigious volume of water. On leaving the Boca del Dragon, he saw to the north-east, many leagues distant, two islands, which he called Assumption and Conception; probably those now known as Tobago and Granada. In his course along the northern coast of Paria he saw several other small islands and many fine harbors, to some of which he gave names, but they have ceased to be known by them. On the 15th he discovered the islands of Margarita and * Cubagua, afterward famous for their pearl fishery. The Island of Margarita, about fifteen leagues in length and six in breadth, was well peopled. The little island of Cubagua, lying between it and the main-land, and only about four leagues from the latter, was dry and sterile, without either wood or fresh water, but possessing a good harbor. On approaching this island the admiral beheld a numher of Indians fishing for pearls, who made for the land. A boat being sent to communicate with them, one of the sailors noticed many strings of pearls round the neck of a female. Having a plate of Valencia ware, a kind of porcelain painted and varnished with gaudy colors, he broke it, and presented the pieces to the Indian woman, who gave him' in exchange a considerable number of her pearls. These he carried to the admiral, who immediately sent persons on shore, well provided with Valencian plates and hawks 1 bells, for which in a little time he procured about three pounds 1 weight of pearls, some of which were of a very large size, and were sent by him afterward to the soverigns as specimens.* There was great temptation to visit other spots, which the Indians mentioned as abounding in pearls. The coast of Paria also continued extending to the westward as far as the eye could reach, rising into a range Of mountains, and provoking examination to ascertain whether, as he began to think, it was a part of the Asiatic continent. Columbus was compelled, however, though with the greatest reluctance, to forego this most interesting investigation. The malady of his. eyes had now grown so virulent that he could no longer take observations or keep a lookout, but had to * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. iii. p. 109. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 383 trust to the reports of the pilots and mariners. He bore away, therefore, for Hispaniola, intending to repose there from the toils of his voyage, and to recruit his health, while he should send his brother, the Adelantado, to complete the discovery of this important country. After sailing for. five days to the north-west, he made the island of Hispaniola on the 19th of August, fifty leagues to the westward of the river Ozema, the place of his destination; and anchored on the following morn¬ ing under the little island of Beata. He was astonished to find himself so mistaken in his calcula¬ tions, and so far below his destined port; but he attributed it correctly to the force of the current setting out of the Boca del Dragon, which, while he had lain to at nights, to avoid running on rocks and shoals, had borne his ship insensibly to the west. This current which sets across the Carribean Sea, and the con¬ tinuation of which now bears the name of the Gulf Stream, was so rapid, that on the 15th, though the wind was but moderate, the ships had made seventy-five leagues in four and twenty hours. Columbus attributed to the violence of this current the formation of that pass called the Boca del Dragon, where he supposed it had forced its way through a narrow isthmns that formerly connected Trinadad with the extremity of Paria. He imagined, also, that its constant operation had worn away and inundated the borders of the main-land, gradually producing that fringe of islands which stretches from Trinidad to the Lucayos or Bahamas, and which, according to his idea, had originally been part of the solid continent. In corroboration of this opinion, he notices the form*of those islands: narrow from north to south, and extending in length from east to west, in the direction of the current.* The island of Beata, where he had anchored, is about thirty | leagues to the west of the river Ozema, where he expected to [find the new seaport which his brother had been instructed to I establish. The strong and steady current from the east, how- lever, and the prevalence of winds from that quarter, might (detain him for a long time at the island, and render the re¬ mainder of his voyage slow and precarious. He sent a boat on shore, therefore, to procure an Indian messenger to take a letter to his brother, the Adelantado. Six of the natives came 'Off to the ships, one of whom was armed with a Spanish cross¬ bow. The admiral was alarmed at seeing a weapon of the kind * Letter to the King and Queen, Navarrete Colec., tom. i. 384 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. in the possession of an Indian. It was not an article of traffic, and he feared could only have fallen into his hands by the death of some Spaniard.* He apprehended that further evils had befallen the settlement, during his long absence, and that there had again been troubles with the natives. Having dispatched his messenger, he made sail, and arrived off the mouth of the river on the 30th of August. He was met on the way by a caravel, on board of which was the Adelantado, who, having received his letter, had hastened forth with affec¬ tionate ardor to welcome his arrival. The meeting of the brothers was a cause of mutual joy; they were strongly attached to each other, each had had his trials and sufferings during their long separation, and each looked with confidence to the other for comfort and relief. Don Bartholomew appears to have always had great deference for the brilliant genius, the enlarged mind, and the commanding reputation of his brother; while the latter placed great reliance in times of difficulty, on the worldly knowledge, the indefatigable activity, and the lion- hearted courage of the Adelantado. Columbus arrived almost the wreck of himself. His voyages were always of a nature to wear out the human frame, having to navigate amid unknown dangers, and to keep anxious watch, at all hours, and in all weathers. As age and infirmity increased upon him, these trials became the more severe. His constitu¬ tion must originally have been wonderfully vigorous: but con¬ stitutions of this powerful kind, if exposed to severe hardships at an advanced period of life, when the frame has become some¬ what rigid and unaccommodating, are apt to be suddenly broken up, and to be a prey to violent aches and maladies. In this last voyage Columbus had been parched and consumed by fever, racked by gout, and his whole system disordered by incessant watchfulness; he came into port haggard, emaciated, and almost blind. His spirit, however, was, as usual, superior to all bodily affliction or decay, and he looked forward with magnificent anticipations to the result of his recent discoveries, which he intended should be immediately prosecuted by his hardy and enterprising brother. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 148. # LIFE OF GUIIIS1 'GFILER COLUMBUS. 385 CHAPTER IV. SPECULATIONS OF COLUMBUS CONCERNING THE COAST OF PARIA, [1498.] The natural phenomena of a great and striking nature pre¬ sented to the ardent mind of Columbus in the course of this voyage, led to certain sound deductions and imaginative specu¬ lations. The immense body of fresh water flowing into the the Gulf of Paria, and thence rushing into the ocean, was too vast to be produced by an island or by islands. It must be the congregated streams of a great extent of country pouring forth in one mighty river, and the land necessary to furnish such a river must be a continent. He now supposed that most of the tracts of land which he had seen about the Gulf were connected; that the coast of Paria extended westward far beyond a chain of mountains which he had beheld afar off from Margarita; and that the land opposite- to Trinidad, instead of being an island, continued to the south, far beyond the equator, into that I hemisphere hitherto unknown to civilized man. He considered all this an extension of the Asiatic continent; thus presufning that the greater part of the surface of the globe was firm land. In this last opinion he found himself supported by authors of the highest name both ancient and modern; among whom he cites Aristotle and Seneca, St. Augustine and Cardinal Pedro de Alliaco. He lays particular stress also on the assertion of the apocryphal Esdras, that of seven parts of the world, six are dry land, and one part only is covered with water. The land, therefore, surrounding the Gulf of Paria, was but I the border of an almost boundless continent, stretching far to pie west and to the south, including the most precious regions )f the earth, lying under the most auspicious stars and benig- lant skies, but as yet unknown and uncivilized, free to be dis¬ covered and appropriated by any Christian nation. ‘ ‘ May it )lease our Lord,” he exclaims in his letter to the sovereigns, ' to give long life and health to your highnesses, that you may >rosecute this noble enterprise, in which, methinks, God will j eceive great service, Spain vast increase of grandeur, and ail | Christians much consolation and delight, since the name of our aviour will be divulged throughout these lands.” 386 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Thus far the deductions of Columbus, though sanguine, admit of little cavil; but he carried them still farther, until they ended in what may appear some mere chimerical reveries. In his letter to the sovereigns he stated that on his former voyages, when he steered westward from the Azores, he had observed, after sailing about a hundred leagues, a sudden and great change in the sky and the stars, the temperature of the air, and the calmness of the ocean. It seemed as if a line ran from north to south, beyond which everything became different. The needle which had previously inclined toward the north-east, now varied a whole point to the north-west. The sea, hitherto clear, was covered with wqjeds so dense that in his first voyage he had expected to run aground upon shoals. A universal tranquillity reigned throughout the elements, and the climate was mild and genial whether in summer or winter. On taking his astronomi¬ cal observations at night, after crossing that imaginary line, the north star appeared to him to describe a diurnal circle in the heavens, of five degrees in diameter. On his present voyage he had varied his route, and had run southward from the Cape de Verde Islands for the equinoctial line. Before reaching it, however, the heat had become insup¬ portable, and a wind springing up from the east, he had been induced to strike westward, when in the parallel of Sierra Leone in Guinea. For several days he had been almost consumed by scorching and stifling heat under a sultry yet clouded sky, and in a drizzling atmosphere, until he arrived at the ideal line already mentioned, extending from north to south. Here sud¬ denly, to his great relief, he had emerged into serene weather, with a clear blue sky and a sweet and temperate atmosphere. The farther he had proceeded west, the more pure and genial be had found the climate; the sea tranquil, the breezes soft and balmy. All these phenomena coincided with those he had remarked at the same line, though farther north, in his former voyages; excepting that here there was no herbage in the sea, and the movements of stars were different. The polar star ap¬ peared to him here to describe a diurnal circle of ten degrees instead of five; an augmentation which struck him with aston¬ ishment, but which, he says, he ascertained by observations taken in different nights, with bis quadrant. Its greatest alti¬ tude at the former place, in the parallel of the Azores, he had found to be ten degrees, and in the present place fifteen. From these and other circumstances, he was inclined to doubl the received theory with respect to the form of the earth. Pbilo LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 38 ? gophers had described it as spherical; but they knew nothing of the part of the world which he had discovered. The ancient part, kuown to them, he had no doubt was spherical, but he now supposed the real form of the earth to be that of a pear, one part much more elevated than the rest, and tapering up¬ ward toward the skies. This part he supposed to be in the in¬ terior of this newly found continent, and immediately under the equator. All the phenomena which he had previously no¬ ticed, appeared to corroborate this theory. The variations which he had observed in passing the- imaginary line running from north to south, he concluded to be caused by the ships having arrived at this supposed swelling of the earth, where they began gently to mount toward the skies into a purer and more celestial atmosphere.* The variation of the needle he ascribed to the same cause, being affected by the coolness and mildness of the climate; varying to the north-west in propor¬ tion as the ships continued onward in then* ascent, t So also the altitude of the north star, and the circle it described in the J heavens, appeared to be greater, in consequence of being regarded from a greater elevation, less obliquely, and through a purer medium of atmosphere; and these phenomena would be found to increase the more the navigator approached the equa¬ tor, from the still increasing eminence of this part of the earth. He noticed also the difference of climate, vegetation, and people of this part of the New World from those under the same parallel in Africa. There the heat was insupportable, the land parched and sterile, the inhabitants were black, with crisped wool, ill-sliapen in their forms, and dull and brutal in their natures. Here, on the contrary, although the sun was in Leo, he found the noontide heat moderate, the mornings and i evenings fresh and cool, the country green and fruitful, and covered with beautiful forests, the people fairer even than I those in the lands he had discovered farther north, having long ! hair, with well-proportioned and graceful forms, lively minds, * Peter Martyr mentions that the admiral told him, that, from the climate of | great heat and unwholesome air, he had ascended the back of the sea, as it were as- | cending a high mountain toward heaven. Decad. i. lib. vi. t Columbus, in his attempts to account for the variation of the needle, supposed 1 that the north star possessed the quality of the four cardinal points, as did likewise I the loadstone. That if the needle were touched with one part of the loadstone, it : would point east, with another west, and so on. Wherefore, he adds, those who prepare or magnetize the needles, cover the loadstone with a cloth, so that the north part only remains out; that is to say, the part which possesses the virtue of causing the needle to point to the north. Ilist. del Almirante, cap. 66. 388 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and courageous dispositions. All this in a latitude so near to the equator, he attributed to the superior altitude of this part of the world, by which it was raised into a more celestial region of the air. On turning northward, through the Gulf of Paria, he had found the circle described by the north star again to diminish. The current of the sea also increased in velocity, wearing away, as has already been remarked, the borders of the continent, and producing by its incessant operation the adjacent islands. This was a further confirmation of the idea that he ascended in going southward, and descended in return¬ ing northward. Aristotle had imagined that the highest part of the earth, and the nearest to the skies, was under the antarctic pole. Other sages had maintained that it was under the arctic. Hence it was apparent that both conceived one part of the earth to be more elevated and noble, and nearer to the heavens than the rest. They did not think of this eminence being under the equinoctial line, observed Columbus, because they had no cer¬ tain knowledge of this hemisphere, but only spoke of it theo¬ retically and from conjecture. As usual, he assisted his theory by Holy Writ. “The sun, when God created it,” he observes, “was in the first point of the Orient, or the first light was there.” That place, according to his idea, must be here, in the remotest part of the East, where the ocean and the extreme part of India meet under the equinoctial line, and where the highest point of the earth is situated. He supposed this apex of the world, though of immense height, to be neither rugged nor precipitous, but that flie land rose to it by gentle and imperceptible degrees. The beautiful and fertile shores of Paria were situated on its remote borders, abounding of course with those precious articles which are con¬ genial with the most favored and excellent climates. As one penetrated the interior and gradually ascended, the land would be found to increase in beauty and luxuriance, and in the exquisite nature of its productions, until one arrived at the summit under the equator. This he imagined to be the noblest and most perfect place on earth, enjoying from its position an equality of nights and days and a uniformity of seasons; and being elevated into a serene and heavenly temperature, above the heats and colds, the clouds and vapors, the storms and tempests which deform and disturb the lower regions. In a word, here he supposed to be situated the original abode of our LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 389 first parents, the primitive seat of human innocence and bliss, the G-arden of Eden, or terrestrial paradise! He imagined this place, according to the opinion of the most eminent fathers of the church, to be still flourishing, possessed of all its blissful delights, but inaccessible to mortal feet, excepting by divine permission. From this height he presumed, though of course from a great distance, proceeded the mighty stream of fresh water which filled the Gulf of Paria, and sweetened the salt ocean in its vicinity, being supplied by the fountain mentioned in Genesis as springing from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. Such was the singular speculation of Columbus, which he details at full length in a letter to the Castilian sovereigns,* * 1 citing various authorities for his opinions, among which were St. Augustine, St. Isidor, and St. Ambrosius, and fortifying his theory with much of that curious and speculative erudition in which he was deeply versed, f It shows how his ardent mind was heated by the magnificence of his discoveries. Shrewd men, in the coolness and quietude of ordinary life, and in these modern days of cautious and sober fact, may smile at such a reverie, but it was countenanced by the speculations of the most sage and learned of those times; and if this had not been the case, could we wonder at any sally of the imagination in a man placed in the situation of Columbus? He beheld a vast world, rising, as it were, into existence before him, its nature and extent unknown and undefined, as yet a mere region for conjecture. Every day displayed some new feature of beauty I and sublimity; island after island, where the rocks, he was told, were veined with gold, the groves teemed with spices, or the shores abounded with pearls. Interminable ranges of coast, promontory beyond promontory, stretching as far as the I eye could reach: luxuriant valleys sweeping away into a vast ! interior, whose distant mountains, he was told, concealed still | happier lands, and realms of greater opulence. When he * Navarrete, Colec. de Viages, tom. i. p. 242. + See Illustrations, article “ Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise.” Note.— A great part of these speculations appear to have been founded on the treatise of the Cardinal Pedro de Aliaco, in -which Columbus found a compendium j >f the opinions of various eminent authors on the subject; though it is very proba' : )le he consulted many of their works likewise. In the volume of Pedro de Aliaco, i "xisting in the library of the Cathedral at Seville, I have traced the germs of these j ieas in various passages of the text, opposite to which marginal notes have been I aade in the handwriting of Columbus. 390 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. looked upon all this region of golden promise, it was with the glorious conviction that his genius had called it into existence; he regarded it with the triumphant eye of a discoverer. Had not Columbus been capable of these enthusiastic soarings of the imagination, he might, with other sages, have reasoned calmly and coldly in his closet about the probability of a conti¬ nent existing in the west; but he would never have had the daring enterprise to adventure in search of it into the unknown realms o± ocean. Still, in the midst of his fanciful speculations, we find that sagacity which formed the basis of his character. The conclu- ; sion which he drew from the great flow of the Oronoco, that it must be the outpouring of a continent, was acute and striking. A learned Spanish historian has also ingeniously excused other parts of his theory. “He suspected,” observes he, “a certain elevation of the globe at one part of the equator; philosophers have since determined the world to be a spheroid, slightly elevated in its equatorial circumference. He suspected that the diversity of temperatures influenced the needle, not being able to penetrate the cause of its inconstant variations; the successive series of voyages and experiments have made this inconstancy more manifest, and have shown that extreme cold sometimes divests the needle of all its virtue. Perhaps new observations may justify the surmise of Columbus. Even his error concerning the circle described by the polar star, which he thought augmented by an optical illusion in proportion as the observer approached the equinox, manifests him a philoso¬ pher superior to the time in which he lived.” * * Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. vi. § 33. BOOK XI. CHAPTER I. ADMINISTRATION OF TEE ADELANTADO —EXPEDITION TO THE PROVINCE OF XARAGUA. [1498.] Columbus had anticipated repose from his toils on arriving at Hispaniola, but a new scene of trouble and anxiety opened upon him, destined to impede the prosecution of his enterprises, and to affect all his future fortunes. To explain this, it is necessary to relate the occurrences of the island during his long detention in Spain. When he sailed for Europe in March, 1496, his brother, Don Bartholomew, who remained as Adelantado, took the earliest measures to execute his directions with respect to the mines recently discovered by Miguel Diaz on the south side of the island. Leaving Don Diego Columbus in command at Isabella, he repaired with a. large force to the neighborhood of the mines, and, choosing a favorable situation in a place most abounding i in ore, built a fortress, to which he gave the name of San Christovai. The workmen, however, finding grains of gold among the earth and stone employed in its construction, gave it the name of the Golden Tower.* The Adelantado remained here three months, superintending the building of the fortress, and making the necessary prepara¬ tions for working the mines and purifying the ore. The pro¬ gress of the work, however, was greatly impeded by scarcity of provisions, having frequently to detach a part of the men about he country in quest of supplies. The former hospitality of he island was at an end. The Indians no longer gave their * Feter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv. I 392 LIFE OF CUFISTOPEEB COLUMBUS. provisions freely; they had learned from the white men to profit by the necessities of the stranger, and to exact a price for bread. Their scanty stores, also, were soon exhausted, for their frugal habits, and natural indolence and improvidence, seldom permitted them to have more provisions, on hand than was requisite for present support.* The Adelantado found it difficult, therefore, to maintain so large a force in the neighbor¬ hood, until they should have time to cultivate the earth, and raise live-stock, or should receive supplies from Spain. Leaving ten men to guard the fortress, with a dog to assist them in catching utias, he marched with the rest of his men, about four hundred in number, to Fort Conception, in the abundant country of the Vega. He passed the whole month of June collecting the quarterly tribute, being supplied with food by Guarionex and his subordinate caciques. In the following month (July, 1496), the three caravels commanded by Mho arrived from Spain, bringing a reinforcement of men, and, what was still more needed, a supply of provisions. The latter was quickly distributed among the hungry colonists, but unfor¬ tunately a great part had been injured during the voyage. This was a serious misfortune in a community where the least scarcity produced murmur and sedition. By these ships the Adelantado received letters from his brother directing him to found a town and seaport at the mouth of the Ozema, near to the new mines. He requested him, also, to send prisoners to Spain such of the caciques and their sub¬ jects as had been concerned in the death of any of the colonists; that being considered as sufficient ground, by many of the ablest jurists and theologians of Spain, for selling them as slaves. On the return of the caravels, the Adelantado dis¬ patched three hundred Indian prisoners, and three caciques. These formed the ill-starred cargoes about which Nino had made such absurd vaunting, as though the ships were laden with treasures, and which had caused such mortification, disappoint¬ ment, and delay to Columbus. Having obtained by this arrival a supply of provisions, the Adelantado returned to the fortress of San Christoval, and thence proceeded to the Ozema, to choose a site for the pro¬ posed seaport. After a careful examination, he chose the eastern bank of a natural haven at the mouth of the river. It was easy of access, of sufficient depth, and good anchorage. * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 393 The river ran through a beautiful and fertile country; its waters were pure and salubrious, and well stocked with fish; its banks were covered with trees bearing the fine fruits of the island, so that in sailing along, the fruits and flowers might be plucked with the hand from the branches which overhung the stream.* This delightful vicinity was the dwelling-place of the female cacique who had conceived an affection for the young Spaniard Miguel Diaz, and had induced him to entice his coun¬ trymen to that part of the island. The promise she had given of a friendly reception on the part of her tribe was faithfully performed. On a commanding bank of the harbor Don Bartholomew erected a fortress, which at first was called Isabella, but after¬ ward San Domingo, and was the origin of the city which still bears that name. The Adelantado was of an active and in¬ defatigable spirit. No sooner was the fortress completed than he left in it a garrison of twenty men, and with the rest of his forces set out to visit the dominions of Behechio, one of the principal chieftains of the island. This cacique, as has already been mentioned, reigned over Xarague, a province comprising almost the whole ooast at the west end of the island, including Cape Tibu-ron, and extending along the south side as far as Point Aguida, or the small island of Beata. It was one of the most populous and fertile districts, with a delightful climate; and its inhabitants were softer and more graceful in their man¬ ners than the rest of the islanders. Being so remote from all the fortresses, the cacique, although he had taken a part in the combination of the chieftains, had hitherto remained free from the incursions and exactions of the white men. "With this cacique resided Anacaona, widow of the late for¬ midable Caonabo. She was sister to Behechio, and had taken refuge with her brother after the capture of her husband. She was one of the most beautiful females of the island; her name in the Indian language signified “The Golden Flower.” She possessed a genius superior to the generality of her race, and was said to excel in composing those little legendary ballads, or areytos, which the natives chanted as they performed their national dances. All the Spanish writers agree in describing | her as possessing a natural dignity and grace hardly to be i credited in her ignorant and savage condition. Notwithstand¬ ing the ruin with which her husband had been overwhelmed * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. 394 LIFE OF (JURIST OP HER COLUMBUS . by the hostility of the white men, she appears to have enter¬ tained no vindictive feeling toward diem, knowing that he had provoked their vengeance by his own voluntary warfare. She regarded the Spaniards with admiration as almost superhuman beings, and her intelligent mind perceived the futility and im¬ policy of any attempt to resist their superiority in arts and arms. Having great influence over her brother Behechio, she counselled him to take warning by the fate of her husband, and to conciliate the friendship of the Spaniards; and it is supposed that a knowledge of the friendly sentiments and powerful in¬ fluence of this princess, in a great measure prompted the Ade- lantado to his present expedition.* In passing through those parts of the island which had hither¬ to been unvisited by the Europeans, the Adelantado adopted the same imposing measures which the admiral had used on a former occasion; he put his cavalry in the advance, and entered all the Indian towns in martial array, with standards displayed, and the sound of drum and trumpet. After proceeding about thirty leagues, he came to the river Neyva, which, issuing from the mountains of Cibao, divides the southern side of the island. Crossing this stream, he dispatched two parties of ten men each along the seacoast in search of brazil-wood. They found great quantities, and felled many trees, which they stored in the Indian cabins, until they could be taken away by sea. Inclining* with his main force to the right, the Adelantado met, not far from the river, the cacique Behechio, with a great army of his subjects, armed with bows and arrows and lances. If he had come forth with the intention of opposing the inroad into his forest domains, he was probably daunted by the for¬ midable appearance of the Spaniards. Laying aside his weapons, he advanced and accosted the Adelantado very amicably, pro¬ fessing that he was thus in arms for the purpose of subjecting certain villages along the river, and inquiring, at the same time, the object of this incursion of the Spaniards. The Adelantado assured him that he came on a peaceful visit, to pass a little time in friendly intercourse at Xaragua. He succeeded so well in allaying the apprehensions of the cacique, that the latter dis¬ missed his army, and sent swift messengers to order prepara¬ tions for the suitable reception of so distinguished a guest. As the Spaniards advanced into the territories of the chieftain, and * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. ii. p. 147. Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo. lib. vi § vL LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 895 passed through the districts of his inferior caciques, the latter brought forth cassava bread, hemp, cotton, and various other productions of the land. At length they drew near to the resi¬ dence of Behechio, which was a large town situated in a beau¬ tiful part of the country near the coast, at the bottom of that deep bay, called at present the Bight of Leogan. The Spaniards had heard many accounts of the soft and de¬ lightful region of Xaragua, in one part of which Indian tradi¬ tions placed their Elysian fields. They had heard much, also, of the beauty and urbanity of the inhabitants: the mode of their reception was calculated to confirm their favorable pre¬ possessions. As they approached the place, thirty females of the cacique’s household came forth to meet them, singing their areytos, or traditionary ballads, and dancing and waving palm branches. The married females wore aprons of embroidered cotton, reaching half way to the knee; the young women were entirely naked, with merely a fillet round the forehead, their hair falling upon their shoulders. They were beautifully pro¬ portioned, their skin smooth and delicate, and their complexion of a clear, agreeable brown. According to old Peter Martyr, the Spaniards when they beheld them issuing forth from their green woods, almost imagined they beheld the fabled dryads, or native nymphs and fairies of the fountains, sung by the ancient poets.* When they came before Don Bartholomew, they knelt and gracefully presented him the green branches. After these came the female cacique Anacaona, reclining on a kind of light litter borne by six Indians. Like the other females, she had no other covering than an apron of various- colored cotton. She wore round her head a fragrant garland of red and white flowers, and wreaths of the same round her neck and arms. She received the Adelantado and his followers with that natural grace and courtesy for which she was cele¬ brated; manifesting no hostility toward them for the fate her husband had experienced at their hands. The Adelantado and his officers were conducted to the house of Behechio, where a banquet was served up of utias, a great variety of sea and river fish, with roots and fruits of excellent I quality. Here first the Spaniards conquered their repugnance I to the guana, the favorite delicacy of the Indians, but which he former had regarded with disgust, as a species of serpent, j The Adelantado, willing to accustom himself to the usages of * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. 896 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the country, was the first to taste this animal, being kindly pressed thereto by Anacaona. His followers imitated his ex¬ ample, they found it to be highly palatable and delicate; and from that time forward the guana was held in repute among Spanish epicures.* The banquet being over, Don Bartholomew with six of his principal cavaliers were lodged in the dwelling of Behechio; the rest were distributed in the houses of the inferior caciques, where they slept in hammocks of matted cotton, the usual beds of the natives. For two days they remained with the hospitable Behechio, entertained with various Indian games and festivities, among which the most remarkable was the representation of a battle. Two squadrons of naked Indians, armed with bows and arrows, sallied suddenly into the public square and began to skirmish in a manner similar to the Moorish play of canes, or tilting reeds. By degrees they became excited, and fought with such earnestness, that four were slain, and many wounded, which seemed to increase the interest and pleasure of the spectators. The contest would have continued longer, and might have been still more bloody, had not the Adelantado and the other cava' liers interfered and begged that the game might cease, f When the festivities were over, and familiar intercourse had promoted mutual confidence, the Adelantado addressed the cacique and Anacaona on the real object of his visit. He in¬ formed him that his brother, the admiral, had been sent to this island by the sovereigns of Castile, who were great and mighty potentates, with many kingdoms under their sway. That the- admiral had returned to apprise his sovereigns how many tributary caciques there were in the island, leaving him in command, and that he had come to receive Behechio under the protection of these mighty sovereigns, and to arrange a tribute to be paid by him, in such manner as should be most convenient and satisfactory to himself. J * “These serpentes are lyke unto crocodiles, saving in bygness; they call them guanas. Unto that day none of owre men durste adventure to taste of them, by reason of theyre horrible deformitie and lothsomnes. Yet the Adelantado being entysed by the pleasantnes of the king’s sister, Anacaona, determined to taste the serpentes. But when he felte the flesh thereof to be so delycate to his tongue, he fei to amayne without al feare. The which thyng his companions perceiving, were not behynde liym in greedynesse: insomuche that they had now none other talke than of the sweetnesse of these serpentes, which they affirm to be of more pleasant taste than eyther our pliesantes or partriches.” Peter Martyr, decad. i. book v. Eden’s Eng. Trans. + Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. US. $ Ibid., cap. 114. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 397 * The cacique was greatly embarrassed by this demand, know¬ ing the sufferings inflicted on the other parts of the island by the avidity of the Spaniards for gold. He replied that he had been apprised that gold was the great object for which the white men had come to their island, and that a tribute was paid in it by some of his fellow-caciques; but that in no part of his territories was gold to be found; and his subjects hardly/ knew what it was. To this the Adelantado replied with great adroitness, that nothing was farther from the intention or wish of his sovereigns than to require a tribute in things not pro¬ duced in his dominions, but that it might be paid in cotton, hemp, and cassava bread, with which the surrounding country appeared to abound. The countenance of the cacique bright¬ ened at this intimation; he promised cheerful compliance, and instantly sent orders to all his subordinate caciques to sow abundance of cotton for the first payment of the stipulated tribute. Having made all the requisite arrangements, the Adelantado took a most friendly leave of Behechio and his sister, and sec out for Isabella. Thus by amicable and sagacious management, one of the most extensive provinces of the island was brought into cheer¬ ful subjection, and had not the wise policy of the Adelantado been defeated by the excesses of worthless and turbulent men, a large revenue might have been collected, without any re> course to violence or oppression. In all instances these simple people appear to have been extremely tractable, and meekly and even cheerfully to have resigned their rights to the white men, when treated with gentleness and humanity. CHAPTER IL i | ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHAIN OF MILITARY POSTS—INSURRECTION OF GUARIONEX, THE CACIQUE OF THE VEGA. [ 1496 .] On arriving at Isabella, Don Bartholomew found it, as usual, a scene of misery and repining. Many had died during his absence; most were ill. Those who were healthy complained of the scarcity of food, and those who were ill, of the want of medicines. The provisions distributed among them, from the *398 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. supply brought out a few months before by Pedro Alonzo Kino, had been consumed. Partly from sickness, and partly from a repugnance to labor, they had neglected to cultivate the surrounding country, and the Indians, on whom they chiefly depended, outraged by their oppressions, had aban¬ doned the vicinity, and fled to the mountains; choosing rather to subsist on roots and herbs, in their rugged retreats, than re¬ main in the luxuriant plains, subject to the wrongs and cruel¬ ties of the white men. The history of this island presents continual pictures of the miseries, the actual want and poverty produced by the grasping avidity of gold. It had rendered the Spaniards heedless of all the less obvious, but more certain and salubrious sources of wealth. All labor seemed lost that was to produce profit by a circuitous process. Instead of cultivat¬ ing the luxuriant soil around them, and deriving real treasures from its surface, they wasted their time in seeking for mines and golden streams, and were starving in the midst of fertility. No sooner were the provisions exhausted which had been brought out by Nino than the colonists began to break forth in their accustomed murmurs. They represented themselves as neglected by Columbus, who, amid the blandishments and de¬ lights of a court, thought little of their sufferings. They con¬ sidered themselves equally forgotten by government; while, having no vessel in the harbor, they were destitute of all means of sending home intelligence of their disastrous situ¬ ation, and imploring relief. To remove this last cause of discontent, and furnish some object for their hopes and thoughts to rally round, the Adelan- tado ordered that two caravels should be built at Isabella, for the use of the island. To relieve the settlement, also, from all useless and repining individuals, during this time of scarcity, he distributed such as were too ill to labor, or to bear arms, into the interior, where they would have the benefit of a better climate, and more abundant supply of Indian provisions. He at the same time completed and garrisoned the chain of mili¬ tary posts established by his brother in the preceding year, con¬ sisting of five fortified houses, each surrounded by its depend¬ ent hamlet. The first of these was about nine leagues from Isa¬ bella, and was called la Esperanza. Six leagues beyond was Santa Catalina. Four leagues and a half further was Magda¬ lena, where the first town of Santiago was afterward founded; and five leagues farther Fort Conception—which was fortified with great care, being in the vast and populous Vega, and * - LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 399 within half a league from the residence of its cacique, Guario- nex. * * Having thus relieved Isabella of all its useless population, and left none but such as were too ill to be removed, or were required for the service and protection of the place, and the construction of the caravels, the Adelantado returned, with a large body of the most effective men, to the fortress of San Domingo. The military posts thus established, succeeded for a time in overawing the natives; but fresh hostilities were soon mani¬ fested, excited by a different cause from the preceding. Among the missionaries who had accompanied Friar Boyle to the island, were two of far greater zeal than then’ superior. When he returned to Spain, they remained, earnestly bent upon the fulfilment of their mission. One was called Roman Pane, a poor hermit, as he styled himself, of the order of St. Geronimo: the other was Juan Borgohon, a Franciscan. They resided for some time among the Indians of the Vega, strenuously endea¬ voring to make converts, and had succeeded with one family of sixteen persons, the chief of which, on being baptized, took the name of Juan Mateo. The conversion of the cacique Gua- rionex, however, was their main object. The extent of his pos¬ sessions made his conversion of great importance to the inter¬ ests of the colony, and was considered by the zealous fathers a means of bringing his numerous subjects under the dominion I of the church. For some time he lent a willing ear; he learnt the Pater Noster, the Ave Maria, and the Creed, and made his whole family repeat them daily. The other caciques of the Vega and of the provinces of Cibao, however, scoffed at him for meanly conforming to the laws and customs of strangers, usurpers of his domains and oppressors of his nation. The friars complained that, in consequence of these evil communi¬ cations, their convert suddenly relapsed into infidelity; but I another and more grievous cause is assigned for his recantation. His favorite wife was seduced or treated with outrage by a Spaniard of authority; and the cacique renounced all faith in a religion, which, as he supposed, admitted of such atrocities. Losing all hope of effecting his conversion, the missionaries re¬ moved to the territories of another cacique, taking with them I Juan Mateo, their Indian convert. Before their departure, . * P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Of the residence of Guarionex, which must have been a considerable town, not the least vestige can be discovered at present. 400 LIFE OF CUUISTOPUEU COLUMBUS . they erected a small chapel, and furnished it with an altar, cru¬ cifix, and images, for the use of the family of Mateo. Scarcely had they departed, when several Indians entered the chapel, broke the images in pieces, trampled them under foot, and buried them in a neighboring field. This, it is said, was done by order of Guarionex, in contempt of the religion from which he had apostatized. A complaint of this enormity was carried to the Adelantado, who ordered a suit to be imme¬ diately instituted, and those who were found culpable, to be punished according to lav/. It was a period of great rigor in ecclesiastical law, especially among the Spaniards. In Spain all heresies in religion, all recantations from the faith, and all acts of sacrilege, either by Moor or Jew, were punished with fire and fagot. Such was the fate of the poor ignorant Indians, convicted of this outrage on the church. It is questionable whether Guarionex had any hand in this offence, and it is probable that the whole affair was exaggerated. A proof of the credit due to the evidence brought forward, may be judged by one of the facts recorded by Roman Pane, ‘ 4 the poor her¬ mit.” The field in which the holy images were buried was planted, he says, with certain roots shaped like a turnip, or radish, several of which, coming up in the neighborhood of the images, were found to have grown most miraculously in the form of a cross.* The cruel punishment inflicted on these Indians, instead of daunting their countrymen, filled them with horror and indig¬ nation. Unaccustomed to such stern rule and vindicative jus¬ tice, and having no clear ideas nor powerful sentiments with respect to religion of any kind, they could not comprehend the nature nor extent of the crime committed. Even Guarionex, a man naturally moderate and pacific, was highly incensed with the assumption of power within his territories, and the inhu¬ man death inflicted on his subjects. The other caciques per¬ ceived his irritation, and endeavored to induce him to unite in a sudden insurrection, that by one vigorous and general effort, they might break the yoke of their oppressors. Guarionex wavered for some time. He knew the martial skill and prowess of the Spaniards; he stood in awe of their cavalry; and he had before him the disastrous fate of Caonabo; but he was rendered bold by despair, and he beheld in the domination of these strangers the assured ruin of his race. The early writers t Escritura rle Fir. ItQrnarj Hist, del A]rmranf,o. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 401 speak of a tradition current among the inhabitants of the island, respecting this Guarionex. He was of an ancient line of hereditary caciques. His father, in times long preceding the discovery, having feasted for five days, according to their su¬ perstitious observances, applied to his zemi, or household deity, for information of things to come. He received for answer that within a few years there should come to the island a nation covered with clothing, which should destroy all their customs and ceremonies, and slay their children or reduce them to painful servitude.* * * § The tradition was probably invented by the Butios, or priests, after the Spaniards had begun to exercise their severities. Whether their prediction had an effect in dis¬ posing the mind of Guarionex to hostilities is uncertain. Some have asserted that he was compelled to take up arms by his subjects, who threatened, in case of his refusal, to choose some other chieftain; others have alleged the outrage commit¬ ted upon his favorite wife, as the principal cause of his irrita¬ tion. f It was probably these things combined, which at length induced him to enter into the conspiracy. A secret consulta¬ tion was held among the caciques, wherein it was concerted that on the day of payment of their quarterly tribute, when a great number could assemble without causing suspicion, they should suddenly rise upon the Spaniards and massacre them, f By some means the garrison at Fort Conception received intimation of this conspiracy. Being but a handful of men, and surrounded by hostile tribes, they wrote a letter to the Adelantado, at San Domingo, imploring immediate aid. As this letter might be taken from their Indian messenger, the natives having discovered that these letters had a wonderful power of communicating intelligence, and fancying they could talk, it was inclosed in a reed, to be used as a staff. The mes¬ senger was, in fact, intercepted; but, affecting to be dumb and lame, and intimating by signs that he was returning home, was permitted to limp forward on his journey. When out of sight he resumed his speed, and bore the letter safely and expedi¬ tiously to San Domingo. § The Adelantado, with his characteristic promptness and activity, set out immediately with a body of troops for the * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix. t Las Casas, Hist. Ind. lib. i. cap. 121. X Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. G5. Peter Martyr, decad. vi. lib. v. § Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. 402 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. fortress; and though his men were much enfeebled by scanty fare, hard service, and long marches, hurrietj. them rapidly for¬ ward. Never did aid arrive more opportunely. The Indians were assembled on the plain, to the amount of many thousands, armed after their manner, and waiting for the appointed time to strike the blow. After consulting with the commander of the fortress and his officers, the Adelantado concerted a mode of proceeding. Ascertaing the places in which the various caciques had distributed their forces, he appointed an officer with a body of men to each cacique, with orders, at an ap¬ pointed hour of the night, to rush into the villages, surprise them asleep and unarmed, bind the caciques, and bring them off prisoners. As Gfuarionex was the most important person¬ age, and his capture would probably be attended with most difficulty and danger, the Adelantado took the charge of it upon himself, at the head of one hundred men. This stratagem, founded upon a knowledge of the attachment of the Indians to their chieftains, and calculated to spare a great effusion of blood, was completely successful. The villages hav¬ ing no walls nor other defences, were quietly entered at mid¬ night, and the Spaniards, rushing suddenly into the houses where the caciques were quartered, seized and bound them, to the number of fourteen, and hurried them off to the fortress, before any effort could be made for their defence or rescue. The Indians, struck with terror, made no resistance, nor any show of hostility; surrounding the fortress in great multitudes, but without weapons, they filled the air with doleful howlings and lamentations, imploring the release of their chieftains. The Adelantado completed his enterprise with the spirit, saga¬ city, and moderation with which he had hitherto conducted it. He obtained information of the causes of this conspiracy, and the individuals most culpable. Two caciques, the principal movers of the insurrection, and who had most wrought upon the easy nature of Guarionex, were put to death. As to that unfortunate cacique, the Adelantado, considering the deep wrongs he had suffered, and the slowness with which he had been provoked to revenge, magnanimously pardoned him; nay, according to Las Casas, he proceeded with stern justice against the Spaniard whose outrage on his wife had sunk so deeply in his heart. He extended his lenity also to the remaining chief¬ tains of the conspiracy; promising great favors and rewards, if they should continue firm in their loyalty; but terrible pun¬ ishments should they again be found in rebellion. The heart LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 403 of Guarionex was subdued by this .unexpected clemency. He made a speech to his people setting forth the irresistible might and valor of the Spaniards; their great lenity to offenders, and their generosity to such as were faithful; and he earnestly ex¬ horted them henceforth to cultivate their friendship. The In¬ dians listened to him with attention; his praises of the white men were confirmed by their treatment of himself; when he had concluded, they took him up on their shoulders, bore him to his habitation with songs and shouts of joy, and for some time the tranquility of the Vega was restored.* CHAPTER III. THE ADELANTADO REPAIRS TO XARAGUA TO RECEIVE TRIBUTE. [1497. j With all his energy and discretion, the Adelantado found it difficult to manage the proud and turbulent spirit of the colo¬ nists. They could ill brook the sway of a foreigner, who, when they were restive, curbed them with an iron hand. Hon Bar¬ tholomew had not the same legitimate authority in their eyes as his brother. The admiral was the discoverer of the country, and the authorized representative of the sovereigns; yet even him they with difficulty brought themselves to obey. The Adelantado, on the contrary, was regarded by many as a mere intruder, assuming high command without authority from the crown, and shouldering himself into power on the merits and services of his brother. They spoke with impatience and in¬ dignation, also, of the long absence of the admiral, and his fancied inattention to their wants; little aware of the incessant anxieties he was suffering on their account, during his deten¬ tion in Spain. The sagacious measure of the Adelantado in building the caravels, for some time diverted their attention. They watched their progress with solicitude, looking upon them as a means either of obtaining relief or of abandoning the island, j Aware that repining and discontented men should never be left in idleness, Hon Bartholomew kept them continually in * Peter Martyr, docad. i. lib. v. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. a* .404 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. movement; and indeed a state of constant activity was com genial to his own vigorous spirit. About this time messengers arrived from Behechio, cacique of Xaragua, informing him that he had large quantities of cotton, and other articles, in which his tribute was to be paid, ready for delivery. The Adelantado immediately set forth with a numerous train, to revisit this fruitful and happy region. He was again received with songs and dances, and all the national demonstrations of respect and amity by Behechio and his sister Anacaona. The latter appeared to be highly popular among the natives, and to have almost as much sway in Xaragua as her brother. Her natural ease, and the graceful dignity of her manners, more and more won the admiration of the Spaniards. The Adelantado found thirty-two inferior caciques assembled in the house of Behechio, awaiting his arrival with their respec¬ tive tributes. The cotton they had brought was enough to fill one of their houses. Having delivered this, they gratuitously offered the Adelantado as much cassava bread as he desired. The offer was most acceptable in the present necessitious state of the colony; and Don Bartholomew sent to Isabella for one of the caravels, which was nearly finished, to be dispatched as soon as possible to Xaragua, to be freighted with bread and cotton. In the the mean time the natives brought from all quarters large supplies of provisions, and entertained their guests with continual festivity and banqueting. The early Spanish writers, whose imaginations, heated by the accounts of the voyagers, could not form an idea of the simplicity of savage life, espe¬ cially in these newly discovered countries which were sup¬ posed to border upon Asia, often speak in terms of Oriental magnificence of the entertaimnents of the natives, the palaces of the caciques, and the lords and ladies of their courts, as if they were describing the abodes of Asiatic potentates. The ac¬ counts given of Xaragua, however, have a different character; and give a picture of savage life, in its perfection of idle and ignorant enjoyment. The troubles which distracted the other parts of devoted Hayti had not reached the inhabitants of this pleasant region. Living among beautiful and fruitful groves, on the borders of a sea, apparently forever tranquil and un¬ vexed by storms; having few wants, and those readily supplied, they appeared emancipated from the common lot of labor, and to pass their lives in one uninterrupted holiday. When the Spaniards regarded the fertility and sweetness of this LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 405 country, the gentleness of its people, and the beauty of its women, they pronounced it a perfect paradise. At length the caravel arrived which was to be freighted with the articles of tribute. It anchored about six miles from the residence of Behechio, and Anacaona proposed to her brother that they should go together to behold what she called the great canoe of the white man. On their way to the coast, the Ade- lantado was lodged one night in a village, in a house where Anacaona treasured up those articles which she esteemed most rare and precious. They consisted of various manufactures of cotton, ingeniously wrought; of vessels of clay, moulded into different forms; of chairs, tables, and like articles of furniture formed of ebony and other kinds of wood, and carved with various devices—all evincing great skill and ingenuity in a people who had no iron tools to work with. Such were the simple treasures of this Indian princess, of which she made numerous presents to her guest. Nothing could exceed the wonder and delight of this intelli¬ gent woman when she first beheld the ship. Her brother, who treated her with a fraternal fondness and respectful attention, worthy of civilized life, had prepared two canoes, gayly painted and decorated, one to oonvey her and her attendants, and the other for himself and his chieftains. Anacaona, however, pre¬ ferred to embark with her attendants in the ship’s boat with the Adelantado. As they approached the caravel, a salute was fired. At the report of the cannon, and the sight of the smoke, Anacaona, overcome with dismay, fell into the arms of the Adelantado, and her attendants would have leaped overboard, but the laughter and the cheerful words of Don Bartholomew speedily reassured them. As they drew nearer to the vessel, several instruments of martial music struck up, with which | they were greatly delighted. Their admiration increased on entering on board. Accustomed only to their simple and slight canoes, everything here appeared wonderfully vast and compli¬ cated. But when the anchor was weighed, the sails were spread, and, aided by a gentle breeze, they beheld this vast mass, mov¬ ing apparently by its own volition, veering from side to side, and playing like a huge monster in the deep, the brother and sister remained gazing at each other in mute astonishment.* Nothing seems to have filled the mind of the most stoical Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 6. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 406 savage with more wonder than that sublime and beautiful triumph of genius, a ship under sail. Having freighted and dispatched the caravel, the Adelan- tado made many presents to Behechio, his sister, and their attendants, and took leave of them, to return by land with his troops to Isabella. Anacaona showed great affliction at their parting, entreating him to remain some time longer with them, and appearing fearful that they had failed in their humble attempt to please him. She even offered to follow him to the settlement, nor would she be consoled until he had promised to return again to Xaragua.* We cannot but remark the ability shown by the Adelantado in the course of his transient government of the island. Won¬ derfully alert and active, he made repeated marches of great extent, from one remote province to another, and was always at the post of danger at the critical moment. By skilful man¬ agement, with a handful of men he defeated a formidable insur¬ rection without any effusion of blood. He conciliated the most inveterate enemies among the natives by great moderation, while he deterred all wanton hostilities by the infliction of signal puhishments. He had made firm friends of the most important chieftains, brought their dominions under cheerful tribute, opened new sources of supplies for the colony, and pro¬ cured relief from its immediate wants. Had his judicious mea¬ sures been seconded by those under his command, the whole country would have been a scene of tranquil prosperity, and would have produced great revenues to the crown, without cruelty to the natives; but, like his brother the admiral, his good intentions and judicious arrangements were constantly thwarted by the vile passions and perverse conduct of others. While he was absent from Isabella, new mischiefs had been fomented there, which were soon to throw the whole island into confusion. * Ramusio. vol. iii. p. 9. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 407 CHAPTER IV. CONSPIRACY OF ROLDAN. [1497.] | i I | ! i < The prime mover of the present mischief was one Francisco Roldan, a man under the deepest obligations to the admiral. Raised by him from poverty and obscurity, he had been em¬ ployed at first in menial capacities; but, showing strong natural talents and great assiduity, he had been made ordinary alcalde, equivalent to justice of the peace. The able manner in which he acquitted himself in this situation, and the persuasion of his great fidelity and gratitude, induced Columbus, on departing for Spain, to appoint him alcalde mayor, or chief judge of the island. It is true he was an uneducated man, but, as there were as yet no intricacies of law in the colony, the office required little else than shrewd good sense and upright principles for its discharge.* Roldan was one of those base spirits which grow venomous in the sunshine of prosperity. His benefactor had returned to Spain apparently under a cloud of disgrace; a long interval had elapsed without tidings from him; he considered him a fallen man, and began to devise how he might profit by his downfall. He was entrusted with an office inferior only to that of the Ade- lantado; the brothers of Columbus were highly unpopular; he imagined it possible to ruin them, both with the colonists and with the government at home, and by dexterous cunning and brstling activity, to work his way into the command of the colony. The vigorous and somewhat austere character of the Adelantado for some time kept him in awe; but when he was absent from the settlement, Roldan was able to carry on his machinations with confidence. Don Diego, who then com¬ manded at Isabella, was an upright and worthy man, but defi¬ cient in energy. Roldan felt himself his superior in talent and spirit, and his self-conceit was wounded at being inferior to him in authority. He soon made a party among the daring and dis¬ solute of the community, and secretly loosened the ties of order and good government by listening to and encouraging the discon- * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. i. 408 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. tents of the common people, and directing them against the char¬ acter and conduct of Columbus and his brothers. He had hereto¬ fore been employed as superintendent of various public works; this brought him into familiar communication w r ith workmen, sailors, and others of the lower order. His originally vulgar character enabled him to adapt himself to their intellects and manners, while his present station gave him consequence in their eyes. Finding them full of murmurs about hard treat¬ ment, severe toil, and the long absence of the admiral, he affected to be moved by their distresses. He threw out sugges¬ tions that the admiral might never return, being disgraced and ruined in consequence of the representations of Aguado. He sympathized with the hard treatment they experienced from the Adelantado and his brother Hon Diego, who, being foreigners, could take no interest in their welfare, nor feel a proper respect for the pride of a Spaniard; but who used them merely as slaves, to build houses and fortresses for them, or to swell their state and secure their power, as they marched about the island enriching themselves with the spoils of the caciques. By these suggestions he exasperated their feelings to such a height, that they had at one time formed a conspiracy to take away the life of the Adelantado, as the only means of delivering themselves from an odious tyrant. The time and place for the perpetration of the act were concerted. The Adelantado had condemned to death a Spaniard of the name of Berahona, a friend of Roldan, and of several of the conspirators. What was his offence is not positively stated, but from a passage in Las Casas,* there is reason to believe that he was the very Spaniard who had vio¬ lated the favorite wife of Guarionex, the cacique of the Vega. The Adelantado would be present at the execution. It was arranged, therefore, that when the populace had assembled, a tumult should be made as if by accident, and in the confusion of the moment Don Bartholomew should be dispatched with a poniard. Fortunately for the Adelantado, he pardoned the criminal, the assemblage did not take place, and the plan of the conspirators was disconcerted.! When Don Bartholomew was absent collecting the tribute in Xaragua, Roldan thought it was a favorable time to bring affairs to a crisis. He had sounded the feelings of the colonists, and ascertained that there was a large party disposed for open * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 118. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 73. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 409 sedition. His plan was to create a popular tumult, to interpose in his official character of alcalde mayor, to throw the blame upon the oppression and injustice of Don Diego and his brother, and, while he usurped the reins of authority, to appear as if actuated only by zeal for the peace and prosperity of the island, and the interests of the sovereigns. A pretext soon presented itself for the proposed tumult. When the caravel returned from Xaragua laden with the Indian tributes, and the cargo was discharged, Don Diego had the vessel drawn up on the land, to protect it from accidents, or from any sinister designs of the disaffected colonists. Roldan immediately pointed this circumstance out to his partisans. He secretly inveighed against the hardship of having this vessel drawn on shore instead of being left afloat for the benefit of the colony, or sent to Spain to make known their distresses. He hinted that the true reason was the fear of the Adelantado and his brother, lest accounts should be carried to Spain of their misconduct, and he affirmed that they wished to remain undis¬ turbed masters of the island, and keep the Spaniards there aS subjects, or rather as slaves. The people took fire at these sug¬ gestions. They had long looked forward to the completion of the caravels as their only chance for relief; they now insisted that the vessel should be launched and sent to Spain for supplies. Don Diego endeavored to convince them of the folly of their demand, the vessel not being rigged and equipped for such a voyage; but the more he attempted to pacify them, the more unreasonable and turbulent they became. Roldan, also, became more bold and explicit in his instigations. He advised them to launch and take possession of the caravel, as the only mode of regaining their independence. They might then throw off the tyranny of these upstart strangers, enemies in their hearts to Spaniards, and might lead a life of ease and pleasure; sharing equally all that they might gain by barter in the island, employing the Indians as slaves to work for them, and enjoy¬ ing unrestrained iddulgence with respect to the Indian women. * Don Diego received information of what was fermenting among the people, yet feared to come to an open rupture with Roldan in the present mutinous state of the colony. He sud¬ denly detached him, therefore, with forty men, to the Vega, under pretext of overawing certain of the natives who had refused to pay their tribute, and had shown a disposition to * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 73. 410 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . revolt. Eoldan made use of this opportunity to strengthen his faction. He made friends and partisans among the discontent¬ ed caciques, secretly justifying them in their resistance to the imposition of tribute, and promising them redress. He secured the devotion of his own soldiers by great acts of indulgence, disarming and dismissing such as refused full participation in his plans, and returned with his little band to Isabella, where he felt secure of a strong party among the common people. The Adelantado had by this time returned from Xaragua; but Roldan, feeling himself at the head of a strong faction, and arrogating to himself great authority from his official station, now openly demanded that the caravel should be launched, or permission given to himself and his followers to launch it. The Adelantado peremptorily refused, observing that neither he nor his companions were mariners, nor was the caravel furnished and equipped for sea, and that neither the safety of the vessel nor of the people should be endangered by their attempt to navigate her. Eoldan perceived that his motives were suspected, and felt that the Adelantado was too formidable an adversary to contend with in any open sedition at Isabella. He determined, there¬ fore, to carry his plans into operation in some more favorable part of the island, always trusting to excuse any open rebellion against the authority of Don Bartholomew, by representing it as a patriotic opposition to his tyranny over Spaniards. He had seventy well-armed and determined men under his com¬ mand, and he trusted, on erecting his standard, to be joined by all the disaffected throughout the island. He set off suddenly, therefore, for the Vega, intending to surprise the fortress of Conception, and by getting command of that post and the rich country adjacent, to set the Adelantado at defiance. He stopped on his way at various Indian villages in which the Spaniards were distributed, endeavoring to enlist the latter in his party, by holding out promises of great gain and free living. He attempted also to seduce the natives from their allegiance, by promising them freedom from all tribute. Those caciques with whom he had maintained a previous understand¬ ing, received him with open arms; particularly one who had taken the name of Diego Marque, whose village he made his headquarters, being about two leagues from Fort Conception. He was disappointed in his hopes of surprising the fortress. Its commander, Miguel Ballester, was an old and stanch soldier, both resolute and wary. He drew himself into his stronghold LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 411 on the approach of Roldan, and closed his gates. His garrison was small, hut the fortification, situated on the side of a hill, with a river running at its foot, was proof against any assault. Roldan had still some hopes that Ballester might be disaffected to government, and might be gradually brought into his plans, or that the garrison would be disposed to desert, tempted by the licentious life which he permitted among his followers. In the neighborhood was the town inhabited by Gfuarionex. Here were quartered thirty soldiers, under the command of Captain Garcia de Barrantes. Roldan repaired thither with his armed force, hoping to enlist Barrantes and his party; but the captain shut himself up with his men in a fortified house, refusing to permit them to hold any communication with Roldan. The latter threatened to set fire to the house; but after a little con¬ sideration, contented himself with seizing their store of provis¬ ions, and then marched toward Fort Conception, which was not quite half a league distant.* * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. Hist. del. Almirante, cap. 74. Extract of a letter from T. S. HeneTcen, Esq., 1847. Fort Conception is situated at the foot of a hill now called Santo Cerro. It is constructed of bricks, and is almost as entire at the present day as when just fin¬ ished. It stands in the gloom of an exuberant forest which has invaded the scene of former bustle and activity; a spot once considered of great importance, and surrounded by swarms of intelligent beings. What has become of the countless multitudes this fortress was intended to awe ? Not a trace of them remains excepting in the records of history. The silence of the tomb prevails where their habitations responded to their songs and dances. A few indigent Spaniards, living in miserable hovels, scattered widely apart in the bosom of the forest, are now the sole occupants of this once fruitful and beautiful region. A Spanish town gradually grew up round the fortress, the ruins of which extend to a considerable distance. It was destroyed by an earthquake, at nine o’clock of the morning of Saturday, 20th April, 1564, during the celebration of mass. Part of the massive walls of a handsome church still remain, as well as those of a very large convent or hospital, supposed to have been constructed in pursuance of the testamentary dispositions of Columbus. The inhabitants who survived the catas¬ trophe retired to a small chapel, on the banks of a river, about a league distant, where the new town of La Vega was afterward built. . 412 LIFE OF CHRISTOP HER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER V. THE ADELANTADO REPAIRS TO THE YEGA IN RELIEF OF FORT CONCEPTION—HIS INTERVIEW WITH ROLDAN. [1497.] The Adelantado had received intelligence of the flagitous pro¬ ceedings of Roldan, yet hesitated for a time to set out in pursuit of him. He had lost all confidence in the loyalty of the people around him, and knew not how far the conspiracy extended, nor on whom he could rely. Diego de Escobar, alcayde of the fortress of La Madelena, together with Adrian de Moxica and Pedro de Valdivieso, all principal men, were in league with Roldan. He feared that the commander of Font Conception might likewise be in the plot, and the whole island in arms against him. He was reassured, however, by tidings from Miguel Ballaster. That loyal veteran wrote to him pressing letters for succor, representing the weakness of his garrison, and the increasing forces of the rebels. Don Bartholomew hastened to his assistance with his accus¬ tomed promptness, and threw himself with a reinforcement into the fortress. Being ignorant of the force of the rebels, and doubtful of the loyalty of his own followers, he determined to adopt mild measures. Understanding that Roldan was quar¬ tered at a village but half a league distant, he sent a message to him, remonstrating on the flagrant irregularity of his conduct, the injury it was calculated to produce in the island, and the certain ruin it must bring upon himself, and summoning him to appear at the fortress, pledging his word for his personal safety. Roldan repaired accordingly to Fort Conception, where the Adelantado held a parley with him from a window, demanding the reason of his appearing in arms, in opposition to royal authority. Roldan replied boldly, that he was in the service of his sovereigns, defending their subjects from the oppression of men who sought their destruction. The Adelan¬ tado ordered him to surrender Ms staff of office, as alcalde mayor, and to submit peaceably to superior authority. Roldan refused to resign his office, or to put himself in the power of Don Bartholomew, whom he charged with seeking his life. He refused also to submit to any trial, unless commanded by the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 413 king. Pretending, however, to make no resistance to the peaceable exercise of authority, he offered to go with his fol¬ lowers, and reside at any place the Adelantado might appoint. The latter immediately designated the village of the cacique Diego Colon, the same native of the Lucayos Islands who had been baptized in Spain, and had since married a daughter of Guarionex. Roldan objected, pretending there were not suffi¬ cient provisions to be had there for the subsistence of his men, and departed, declaring that he would seek a more eligible residence elsewhere.* He now proposed to his followers to take possession of the remote province of Xaragua. The Spaniards who had returned thence gave enticing accounts of the life they had led there; of the fertility of the soil, the sweetness of the climate, the hos¬ pitality and gentleness of the people, their feasts, dances, and various amusements, and, above all, the beauty of the women; for they had been captivated by the naked charms of the danc¬ ing nymphs of Xaragua. In this delightful region, emancipated from the iron rule of the Adelantado, and relieved from tho necessity of irksome labor, they might lead a life of perfect freedom and indulgence, and have a world of beauty at their command. In short, Roldan drew a picture of loose sensual enjoyment such as he knew to be irresistible with men of idle and dissolute habits. His followers acceded with joy to his proposition. Some preparations, however, were necessary to carry it into effect. Taking advantage of the absence of the Adelantado, he suddenly marched with his band to Isabella, and entering it in a manner by surprise, endeavored to launch the caravel, with which they might sail to Xaragua. Don Diego Columbus, hearing the tumult, issued forth with several cavaliers; but such was the force of the mutineers and their menacing conduct, that he was obliged to withdraw, with hia adherents, into the fortress. Roldan held several parleys with him, and offered to submit to his command, provided he would set himself up in opposition to his brother the Adelantado. ! His proposition was treated with scorn. The fortress was too strong to be assailed with success; he found it impossible to launch the caravel, and feared the Adelantado might return, and he be inclosed between two forces. He proceeded, there¬ fore, in all haste to make provisions for the proposed expedition to Xaragua. Still pretending to act in his official capacity, and * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. Hist. del. Almirante, cap. 74, 414 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to do everything from loyal motives, for the protection and support of the oppressed subjects of the crown, he broke open the royal warehouse, with shouts of “Long live the king!” supplied his followers with arms, ammunition, clothing, and whatever they desired from the public stores; proceeded to the inclosure, where the cattle and other European animals were kept to breed, took such as he thought necessary for his in¬ tended establishment, and permitted his followers to kill such of the remainder as they might want for present supply. Hav¬ ing committed this wasteful ravage, he marched in triumph out of Isabella.* Reflecting, however, on the prompt and vigorous character of the Adelantado, he felt that his situation would be but little secure with such an active enemy behind him; who, on extricating himself from present perplexities; would not fail to pursue him to his proposed paradise of Xaragua. He determined, therefore, to march again to the Vega, and endeavor either to get possession of the person of the Adelan¬ tado, or to strike some blow, in his present crippled state, that should disable him from offering further molestation. Return¬ ing, therefore, to the vicinity of Fort Conception, he endeavored in every way, by the means of subtle emissaries, to seduce the garrison to desertion, or to excite it to revolt. The Adelantado dared not take the field with his forces, hav¬ ing no confidence in their fidelity. He knew that they listened wistfully to the emissaries of Roldan, and contrasted the meagre fare and stern discipline of the garrison, with the abun¬ dant cheer and easy misrule that prevailed among the rebels. To counteract these seductions, he relaxed from his usual strict¬ ness, treating his men with great indulgence, and promising them large rewards. By these means he was enabled to main¬ tain some degree of loyalty amongst his forces, his service having the advantage over that of Roldan, of being on the side of the government and law. Finding his attempts to corrupt the garrison unsuccessful, and fearing some sudden sally from the vigorous Adelantado, Roldan drew off to a distance, and sought by insidious means to strengthen his own power and weaken that of the govern¬ ment. He asserted equal right to manage the affairs of the island with the Adelantado, and pretended to have separated from him on account of his being passionate and vindictive in the exercise of his authority. He represented him as the * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 74. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 415 tyrant of the Spaniards, the oppressor of the Indians. For himself, he assumed the character of a redresser of grievances and champion of the injured. He pretended to feel a patriotic indignation at the affronts heaped upon Spaniards by a family | of obscure and arrogant foreigners; and professed to. free the natives from tributes wrung from them by these rapacious men for their own enrichment, and contrary to the beneficent intentions of the Spanish monarchs. He connected himself j closely with the Carib cacique Manicaotex, brother of the late Caonabo, whose son and nephew were in his possession as hostages for payment of tributes. This warlike chieftain he conciliated by presents and caresses, bestowing on him the appellation of brother.* The unhappy natives, deceived by his professions, and overjoyed at the idea of having a protector in arms for their defence, submitted cheerfully to a thousand impositions, supplying his followers with provisions in abun¬ dance, and bringing to Eoldan all the gold they could collect; voluntarily yielding him heavier tributes than those from which he pretended to free them. The affairs of the island were now in a lamentable situation. The Indians, perceiving the dissensions among the white men, and encouraged by the protection of Eoldan, began to throw off all allegiance to the government. The caciques at a dis¬ tance ceased to send in their tributes, and those who were in the vicinity were excused by the Adelantado, that by indul¬ gence he might retain their friendship in this time of danger. Eoldan’s faction daily gained strength; they ranged insolently and at large in the open country, and were supported by the misguided natives; while the Spaniards who remained loyal, fearing conspiracies among the natives, had to keep under shelter of the fort, or in the strong houses which they had erected in the villages. The commanders were obliged to palli¬ ate all kinds of slights and indignities, both from their soldiers and from the Indians, fearful of driving them to sedition by any severity. The clothing and munitions of all kinds, either for maintenance or defence, were rapidly wasting away, and the want of all supplies or tidings from Spain was sinking the spirits of the well-affected into despondency. The Adelantado was shut up in Fort Conception, in daily expectation of being openly besieged by Eoldan, and was secretly informed that * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap- 118. 416 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. means were taken to destroy him, should he issue from the walls of the fortress.* Such was the desperate state to which the colony was reduced, in consequence of the long detention of Columbus in Spain, and the impediments thrown in the way of all his measures for the benefit of the island by the delays of cabinets and the chi¬ canery of Fonseca and his satellites. At this critical juncture, when faction yeigned triumphant, and the colony was on the brink of ruin, tidings were brought to the Vega that Pedro Fernandez Coronal had arrived at the port of San Domingo, with two ships, bringing supplies of all kinds, and a strong reinforcement of troops, f CHAPTER VI. SECOND INSURRECTION OF GUARIONEX, AND HIS FLIGHT TO THE MOUNTAINS OF CIGUAY. [1498.] The arrival of Coronal, which took place on the third of February, was the salvation of the colony. The reinforce¬ ments of troops, and of supplies of all kinds, strengthened the hands of Don Bartholomew. The royal confirmation of his title and authority as Adelantado at once- dispelled all doubts as to the legitimacy of his power; and the tidings that the admiral was in high favor at court, and would soon arrive with a powerful squadron, struck consternation into those who had entered into the rebellion cn the presumption of his having fallen into disgrace. The Adelantado no longer remained mewed up in his fortress, but set out immediately for San Domingo with a part of his troops, although a much superior rebel force was at the village of the cacique Guarionex, at a very short distance. Roldan followed slowly and gloomily with his party, anxious to ascer¬ tain the truth of these tidings, to make partisans, if possible, among those who had newly arrived, and to take advantage of * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 119. t Las Casas. Herrera. Hist, del Almirante. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 417 every circumstance that might befriend his rash and hazardous projects. The Adelantado left strong guards on the passes of the roads to prevent his near approach to San Domingo, but Roldan paused within a few leagues of the place. When the Adelantado found himself secure in San Domingo with this augmentation of force, and the prospect of a still greater reinforcement at hand, his magnanimity prevailed over his indignation, and he sought by gentle means to allay the popular seditions that the island might be restored to tranquility before his brother’s arrival. He considered that the colonists had suffered greatly from the want of supplies; that their dis¬ contents had been heightened by the severities he had been compelled to inflict; and that-many had been led to rebellion by doubts of the legitimacy of his authority. While therefore he proclaimed the royal act sanctioning his title and powers, he promised amnesty for all past offences, on condition of im¬ mediate return to allegiance. Hearing that Roldan was within five leagues of San Domingo with his band, he sent Pedro Fer¬ nandez Coronal, who had been appointed by the sovereigns alguazil mayor of the island, to exhort him to obedience, promising him oblivion of the past. He trusted that the repre¬ sentations of a discreet and honorable man like Coronal, who had been witness of the favor in which his brother stood in Spain, would convince the rebels of the hopelessness of their course. Roldan, however, conscious of his guilt, and doubtful of the clemency of Don Bartholomew, feared to venture within his power; he determined also to prevent his followers from com¬ municating with Coronal, lest they should be seduced from him by the promise of pardon. When that emissary, therefore, ap¬ proached the encampment of the rebels, he was opposed in a narrow pass by a body of archers, with their cross-bows lev¬ elled. “Halt there! traitor!” cried Roldan; “had you arrived eight days later, we should all have been united as one man. ” * In vain Coronal endeavored by fair reasoning and earnest entreaty to win this perverse and turbulent man from his career. Roldan answered with hardihood and defiance, pro¬ fessing to oppose only the tyranny and misrule of the Adelan¬ tado, but to be ready to submit to the admiral on his arrival. He and several of his principal confederates wrote letters to the * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 3. 418 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. same effect to their friends in San Domingo, urging them to plead their cause with the admiral when he should arrive, and to assure him of their disposition to acknowledge his authority. When Coronal returned with accounts of Roldan’s contu¬ macy, the Adelantado proclaimed him and his followers trai¬ tors. That shrewd rebel, however, did not suffer his men to remain within either the seduction of promise or the terror of menace; he immediately set out on his march for his promised land of Xaragua, trusting to impair every honest principle and virtuous tie of his misguided followers by a life of indolence and libertinage. In the mean time the mischievous effects of his intrigues among the caciques became more and more apparent. No ■ sooner had the Adelantado left Fort Conception than a con¬ spiracy was formed among the natives to surprise it. G uarionex was at the head of this conspiracy, moved by the instigations of Roldan, who had promised him protection and assistance, ; and led on by the forlorn hope, in this distracted state of the Spanish forces, of relieving his paternal domains from the in- ! tolerable domination of usurping strangers. Holding secret communications with his tributary caciques, it was concerted that they should all rise simultaneously and massacre the sol¬ diery quartered in small parties in their villages; while he, with a chosen force, should surprise the fortress of Conception. The night of the full moon was fixed upon for the insurrection. One of the principal caciques, however, not being a correct observer of the heavenly bodies, took up arms before the appointed night, and was repulsed by the soldiers quartered in his village. The alarm was given, and the Spaniards were all put on the alert. The cacique tied to Guarionex for protection, but the chieftain, enraged at his fatal blunder, put him to death upon the spot. No sooner did the Adelantado hear of this fresh conspiracy than he put himself on the march for the Vega with a strong body of men. Guarionex did not await his coming. He saw that every attempt was fruitless to shake off these strangers, who had settled like a curse upon his territories. He had found their very friendship, withering and destructive, and he now dreaded their vengeance. Abandoning, therefore, his rightful domain, the once happy Vega, he fled with his family and a small band of faithful followers to the mountains of Ciguay. This is a lofty chain, extending along the north side of the island, between the Vega and the sea. The inhabitants were LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 419 tlie most robust and hardy tribe of the island, and far more formidable than the mild inhabitants of the plains. It was a part of this tribe which displayed hostility to the Spaniards in the course of the first voyage of Columbus, and in a skirmish with them in the Gulf of Samana the first drop of native blood had been shed in the New World. The reader may remember the frank and confiding conduct of these people the day after the skirmish, and the intrepid faith with which their cacique trusted himself on board of the caravel of the admiral, and in the power of the Spaniards. It was to this same cacique, named Mayobanex, that the fugitive chieftain of the Vega now applied for refuge. He came to his residence at an Indian town near Cape Cabron, about forty leagues east of Isabella, and implored shelter for his wife and children, and his handful of loyal followers. The noble-minded cacique of the mountains received him with open arms. He not only gave an asylum to his family, but engaged to stand by him in his distress, to defend his cause, and share his desperate fortunes.* Men in civilized life learn magnanimity from precept, but their most generous actions are often rivalled by the deeds of untutored savages, who act only from natural impulse. CHAPTER VII. CAMPAIGN OF THE ADELANTADO IN THE MOUNTAINS OF CIGUAY. [1498.] Aided by his mountain ally, and by bands of hardy Cigu- ayans, Guarionex made several descents into the plain, cutting off straggling parties of the Spaniards, laying waste the villages of the natives which continued in allegiance to them, and destroying the fruits of the earth. The Adelantado put a speedy stop to these molestations; but he determined to root out so formidable an adversary from the neighborhood. Shrinking ! from no danger nor fatigue, and leaving nothing to be done by ! others which he could do himself, he set forth in the spring with a band of ninety men, a few cavalry, and a body of In- I dians, to penetrate the Ciguay mountains. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., cap. 121, ms. Peter Martyr, decad.:. cap. 5. 420 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. After passing a steep defile, rendered almost impracticable for troops by rugged rocks and exuberant vegetation, lie descended into a beautiful valley or plain, extending along the coast, and embraced by arms of the mountains which approached the sea. His advance into the country was watched by the keen eyes of Indian scouts, who lurked among rocks and thickets. As the Spaniards were seeking the ford of a river at the entrance of the plain, two of these spies darted from among the bushes on its bank. One flung himself head¬ long into the water, and swimming across the mouth of the river escaped; the other being taken, gave information that six thousand Indians lay in ambush on the opposite shore, waiting to attack them as they crossed. The Adelantado advanced with caution, and finding a shallow place, entered the river with his troops. They were scarcely midway in the stream when the savages, hideously painted, and looking more like fiends than men, burst from their con¬ cealment. The forest rang with their yells and bowlings. They discharged a shower of arrows and lances, by which, notwith¬ standing the protection of their targets, many of the Spaniards I were wounded. The Adelantado, however, forced his way across the river, and the Indians took to flight. Some were killed, but their swiftness of foot, their knowledge of the forest, and their dexterity in winding through the most tangled thick¬ ets, enabled the greater number to elude the pursuit of the Spaniards, who were incumbered with armor, targets, cross¬ bows, and lances. By the advice of one of his Indian guides, the Adelantado pressed forward along the ^valley to reach the residence of Mayobanex, at Cabron. In the way he had several skirmishes with the natives, who would suddenly rush forth with furious war-cries from ambuscades among the bushes, discharge their weapons, and take refuge again in the fastnesses of their rocks and forests, inaccessible to the Spaniards. Having taken several prisoners, the Adelantado sent one accompanied by an Indian of a friendly tribe, as a messenger to Mayobanex, demanding the surrender of Gfuarionex; promising friendship and protection in case of compliance, but threaten¬ ing, in case of refusal, to lay waste his territory with fire and sword. The cacique listened attentively to the messenger: “Tell the Spaniards,” said he in reply, ‘‘ that they are bad men, cruel and tyrannical; usurpers of the territories of others, and shedders of innocent blood. I desire not the friendship of such LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 421 men; Guarionex is a good man, he is my friend, he is my guest, he has fled to me for refuge, I have promised to protect him, and I will keep my word. ” This magnanimous reply, or rather defiance, convinced the Adelantado that nothing was to be gained by friendly over¬ tures. When severity was required, he could be a stern sol¬ dier. He immediately ordered the village in which he had been quartered, and several others in the neighborhood, to be set on fire. He then sent further messengers to Mayobanex warning him that, unless he delivered up the fugitive cacique, his whole dominions should be laid waste in like manner; and he would see nothing in every direction but the smoke and flames of burning villages. Alarmed at this impending destruction, the Ciguayans surrounded their chieftain with clamorous lamenta¬ tions, cursing the day that Guarionex had taken refuge among them, and urging that he should he given up for the salvation of the country. The generous cacique was inflexible. He reminded them of the many virtues of Guarionex and the sacred claims he had on their hospitality, and declared he would abide all evils rather than it should ever be said Mayobanex had betrayed his guest. The people retired with sorrowful hearts, and the chieftain, summoning Guarionex into his presence, again pledged his word to protect him, though it should cost him his dominions. He sent no reply to the Adelantado, and lest further messages might tempt the fidelity of his subjects, he placed men in am¬ bush, with orders to slay any messenger who might approach. They had not lain in wait long before they beheld two men advancing through the forest, one of whom was a captive Ciguayan, and the other an Indian ally of the Spaniards. They were both instantly slain. The Adelantado was following at no great distance, with only ten foot soldiers and four horse¬ men. When he found his messengers lying dead in the forest 1 path, transfixed with arrows, he was greatly exasperated, and resolved to deal rigorously with this obstinate tribe. He advanced, therefore, with all his force to Cabron, where Mayo¬ banex and his army were quartered. At his approach the inferior caciques and their adherents fled, overcome by terror of the Spaniards. Finding himself thus deserted, Mayobanex took refuge with his family in a secret part of the mountains. Sev¬ eral of the Ciguayans sought for Guarionex, to kill him or deliver him up as a propitiatory offering, but he fled to the 422 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. heights, where he wandered about alone, in the most savage and desolate places. The density of the forests and the ruggedness of the mourn tains rendered this expedition exessively painful and laborious, and protracted it far beyond the time that the Adelantado had contemplated. His men suffered, not merely from fatigue, hut hunger. The natives had all fled to the mountains; their villages remained empty and desolate; all the provisions of the Spaniards consisted of cassava bread, and such roots and herbs as their Indian allies could gather for them, with now and then a few utias, taken with the assistance of their dogs. They slept almost always on the ground, in the open air, under the trees, exposed to the heavy dew which falls in this climate. For three months they were thus ranging the mountains; until almost worn out with toil and hard fare. Many of them had farms in the neighborhood of Fort Conception, which required their attention; they, therefore, entreated permission, since the Indians were terrified and dispersed, to return to their abodes in the Vega. The Adelantado granted many of them passports, and an allowance out of the scanty stock of bread which remained. Retaining only thirty men, he resolved with these to search every den and cavern of the mountains until he should find the two caciques. It was difficult, however, to trace them in such a wilderness. There was no one to give a clue to their retreat, for the whole country was abandoned. There were the habita¬ tions of men, but not a human being to be seen; or if, by chance, they caught some wretched Indian stealing forth from the mountains in quest of food, he always professed utter ignor¬ ance of the hiding-place of the caciques. It happened, one day, however, that several Spaniards, while hunting utias, captured two of the followers of Mayo- banex who w:ere on their way to a distant village in search of bread. They were taken to the Adelantado, who compelled them to betray the place of concealment of their chieftain, and to act as guides. Twelve Spaniards volunteered to go in quest of him. Stripping themselves naked, staining and painting their bodies so as to look like Indians, and covering their swords with palm-leaves, they were conducted by the guides to the retreat of the unfortunate Mayobanex. They came secretly upon him, and found him surronnded by his wife and children and a few of his household, totally unsuspicious of danger. Drawing their swords, the Spaniards rushed upon LIFE OF CmilSTOPlIEK COLUMBUS. 423 them and made them all prisoners. When they were brought . to the Adelantado, he gave up all further search after Guario¬ nex, and returned to Fort Conception. Among the prisoners thus taken was the sister of Mayobanex. She was the wife of another cacique of the mountains, whose territories had never yet been visited by the Spaniards; and she was reputed to be one of the most beautiful women of the island. Tenderly attached to her brother, she had abandoned the security of her own dominions, and had followed him among rocks and precipices, participating in all his hardships* and comforting him with a woman’s sympathy and kindness. When her husband heard of her captivity, he hastened to the Adelantado and offered to submit himself and all his posses¬ sions to his sway, if his wife might be restored to him. The Adelantado accepted his offer of allegiance, and released his wife and several of his subjects who had been captured. The cacique, faithful to his word, became a firm and valuable ally of the Spaniards, cultivating large tracts of land, and supply¬ ing them with great quantities of bread and other provisions. Kindness appears never to have b^n lost upon the people of this island. When this act of clemency reached the Ciguayans, they came, in multitudes to the fortress, bringing presents of various kinds, promising allegiance, and imploring the release of Mayobanex and his family. The Adelantado granted their prayers in part, releasing the wife and household of the cacique, but still detaining him prisoner to insure the fidelity of his subjects. In the mean time, the unfortunate Guarionex, who had been hiding in the wildest parts of the mountains, was driven by hunger to venture down occasionally into the plain in quest of food. The Ciguayans looking upon him as the cause of their misfortunes, and perhaps hoping by his sacrifice to procure the release of their chieftain, betrayed his haunts to the Adclan- tado. A party was dispatched to secure him. They lay in wait in the path by which he usually returned to the mountains. As the unhappy cacique, after one of his famished excursions, was returning to his den among the cliffs, he was surprised by | the lurking Spaniards, and brought in chains to Fort Concep¬ tion. After his repeated insurrections, and the extraordinary zeal and perseverance displayed in his pursuit, Guarionex expected nothing less than death from the vengeance of the Adelantado. Don Bartholomew, however, though stern in his policy, was neither vindictive nor cruel in his nature. He con- 424 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . sidered the tranquility of the Vega sufficiently secured by the captivity of the cacique; and ordered him to be detained as a prisoner and hostage in the fortress. The Indian hostilities in this important part of the island being thus brought to a con¬ clusion, and precautions taken to prevent their recurrence, Don Bartholomew returned to the city of San Domingo, where, shortly after his arrival, he had the happiness of receiving his brother, the admiral, after nearly two years and six months’ absence.* Such was the active, intrepid, and sagacious, but turbulent and disastrous administration of the Adelantado, in which we find evidences of the great capacity, the mental and bodily vigor of this self-formed and almost self-taught mam. He united, in a singular degree, the sailor, the soldier, and the legislator. Like his brother, the admiral, his mind and man¬ ners rose immediately to the level of his situation, showing no arrogance nor ostentation, and exercising the sway of sudden and extraordinary power, with the sobriety and moderation of one who had been born to rule. He has been accused of severity in his government, but no instance appears of a cruel or wanton abuse of authority. If he was stern toward the factious Spaniards, he was just; the disasters of his adminis¬ tration were not produced by his own rigor, but by the per¬ verse passions of others, which called for its exercise; and the admiral, who had more suavity of manner and benevolence of heart, was not more fortunate in conciliating the good will and insuring the obedience of the colonists. The merits of Don Bartholomew do not appear to have been sufficiently appreci¬ ated by the world. His portrait has been suffered to remain too much in the shade; it is worthy of being brought into the light, as a companion to that of his illustrious brother. Less amiable and engaging, perhaps, in its lineaments, and less characterized by magnanimity, its traits are nevertheless bold, generous, and heroic, and stamped with iron firmness. *The particulars of this chapter are chiefly from P. Martyr, decnd. i. lib. vi.: the manuscript history of Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 121 ; and Herrera, Hist. Ind. dee&a. i. lib. iii. cap. 8, 9. BOOK XII CHAPTER I. CONFUSION IN THE ISLAND—PROCEEDINGS OF THE REBELS AT SARAGUA. [August 30, 1498.] Columbus arrived at San Domingo, wearied by a long and arduous voyage, and worn down by infirmities; both mind and body craved repose, but from the time he first entered into public life he had been doomed never again to taste the sweets of tranquillity. The island of Hispaniola, the favorite child, as it were, of his hopes, was destined to involve him in per¬ petual troubles, to fetter his fortunes, impede his enterprises, and imbitter the conclusion of his life. What a scene of poverty and suffering had this opulent and lovely island been rendered by the bad passions of a few despicable men! The wars with the natives and the seditions among the colonists had put a stop to the labors of the mines, and all hopes of wealth were at an end. The horrors of famine had succeeded to those of war. The cultivation of the earth had been gen¬ erally neglected; several of the provinces had been desolated during the late troubles; a great part of the Indians had fled to the mountains, and those who remained had lost all heart to labor, seeing the produce of their toils liable to be wrested from them by ruthless strangers. It is true, the Vega was once more tranquil, but it was a desolate tranquillity. That beautiful region, which the Spaniards but four years before had found so populous and happy, seeming to inclose in its luxuriant bosom all the sweets of nature, and to exclude all the cares and sorrows of the world, was now a scene of wretch¬ edness and repining. Many of those Indian towns, where the 426 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . Spaniards had been detained by genial hospitality, and almost worshipped as beneficent deities, were now silent and deserted. Some of their late inhabitants were lurking among rocks and caverns; some were reduced to slavery; many had perished with hunger, and many had fallen by the sword. It seems almost incredible, that so small a number of men, restrained too by well-meaning governors, could in so short a space of time have produced such wide-spreading miseries. But the principles of evil have a fatal activity. With every exertion, the best of men can do but a moderate amount of good; but it seems in the power of the most contemptible individual to do incalculable mischief. The evil passions of the white men which had inflicted such calamities upon this innocent people, had insured likewise a merited return of suffering to themselves. In no part was this more truly exemplified than among the inhabitants of Isabella, the most idle, factious, and dissolute of the island. The public works were unfinished; the gardens and fields they had begun to cultivate lay neglected; they had driven the natives from their vicinity by extortion and cruelty, and had rendered the country around them a solitary wilderness. Too idle to labor, and destitute of any resources with which to occupy their indolence, they quarrelled among themselves, mutinied against their rulers, and wasted their time in alternate riot and des¬ pondency. Many of the soldiery quartered about the island had suffered from ill health during the late troubles, being shut up in Indian villages where they could take no exercise, and obliged to subsist on food to which they could not accustom themselves. Those actively employed had been worn down by hard service, long marches, and scanty food. Many of them were broken in constitution, and many had perished by disease. There was a universal desire to leave the island, and escape from miseries created by themselves. Yet this was the favored and fruitful land to which the eyes of philosophers and poets in Europe were fondly turned, as realizing the pictures of the golden age. So true it is that the fairest Elysium fancy ever devised would be turned into a purgatory by the passions of bad men! One of the first measures of Columbus on his arrival was to issue a proclamation approving of all the measures of the .Adelantado, and denouncing Roldan and his associates. That turbulent man had taken possession of Xaragua, and been kindly received by the natives. He had permitted his fol* i LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 427 lowers to lead an idle and licentious life among its beautiful scenes, making the surrounding country and its inhabitants subservient to their pleasures and their passions. An event happened previous to their knowledge of the arrival of Colum¬ bus, which threw supplies into their hands and strengthened their power. As they were one day loitering on the sea-shore, they beheld three caravels at a distance, the sight of which, in this unfrequented part of the ocean, filled them with wonder and alarm. The ships approached the land and came to anchor. The rebels apprehended at first they were vessels dispatched in pursuit of them. Roldan, however, who was sagacious as he was bold, surmised them to be ships which had wandered from their course, and been borne to the westward by the currents, and that they must be ignorant of the recent occur¬ rences of the island. Enjoining secrecy on his men he went on board, pretending to be stationed in that neighborhood for the purpose of keeping the natives in obedience, and collecting tribute. His conjectures as to the vessels were correct. They were, in fact, the three caravels detached by Columbus from his squadron at the Canary Islands, to bring supplies to the colonies. The captains, ignorant of the strength of the cur¬ rents, which set through the Caribbean Sea, had been carried west far beyond their reckoning until they had wandered to the coast of Xaragua. Roldan kept his secret closely for three days. Being consid¬ ered a man in important trust and authority, the captains did not hesitate to grant all his requests for supplies. He procured swords, lances, cross-bows, and various military stores; while his men dispersed through the three vessels, were busy among the crews, secretly making partisans, representing the hard life of the colonists at San Domingo, and the ease and revelry in which they passed their time at Xaragua. Many of the crews had been shipped in compliance with the admiral’s I ill-judged proposition, to commute criminal punishments into I transportation to the colony. They were vagabonds, the refuse I of Spanish towns, and culprits from Spanish dungeons; the ! very men, therefore, to be wrought upon by such representa- j tions, and they promised to desert on the first opportunity and join the rebels. It was not until the third day that Alonzo Sanchez de Carva- jal, the most intelligent of the three captains, discovered the real character of the guests he had admitted so freely on board of his vessels. It was then too late; the mischief was effected. 428 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. He and his fellow-captains had many earnest conversations with Roldan, endeavoring to persuade him from his dangerous opposition to the regular authority. The certainty that Colum¬ bus was actually on his way to the island, with additional forces and augmented authority, had operated strongly on his mind. He had, as has already been intimated, prepared his friends at San Domingo to plead his cause with the admiral, assuring him that he had only acted in opposition to the injus¬ tice and oppression of the Adelantado, but was ready to submit to Columbus on his arrival. Carvajal perceived that the reso¬ lution of Roldan and of several of his principal confederates was shaken, and flattered himself that, if he were to remain some little time among the rebels, he might succeed in draw¬ ing them back to their duty. Contrary winds rendered it im¬ possible for the ships to work up against the currents to San Domingo. It was arranged among the captains, therefore, that a large number of the people on board, artificers and others most important to the service of the colony, should pro¬ ceed to the settlement by land. They were to be conducted by Juan Antonio Colombo, captain of one of the caravels, a rela¬ tive of the admiral, and zealously devoted to his interests. Arana was to proceed with the ships, when the wind would permit, and Carvajal volunteered to remain on shore to endeavor to bring the rebels to their allegiance. On the following morning Juan Antonio Colombo landed with forty men well armed with cross-bows, swords, and lances, but was astonished to find himsOlf suddenly deserted by all his party excepting eight. The deserters went off to the rebels, who received with exultation this important reinforce¬ ment of kindred spirits. Juan Antonio endeavored in vain by remonstrances and threats to bring them back to their duty. They were most of them convicted culprits, accustomed to detest order, and to set law at defiance. It was equally in vain that he appealed to Roldan, and reminded him of his profes¬ sions of loyalty to the government. The latter replied that he had no means of enforcing obedience; his was a mere “Monas¬ tery of Observation,” where every one was at liberty to adopt the habit of the order. Such was the first of a long train of evils, which sprang from this most ill-judged expedient of peopling a colony with criminals, and thus mingling vice and villainy with the fountain-head of its population. Juan Antonio, grieved and disconcerted, returned on board vdth the few who remained faithful. Fearing further deser- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 429 eions, the two captains immediately put to sea, leaving Carva¬ jal on shore to prosecute his attempt at reforming the rebels. It was not without great difficulty and delay that the vessels reached San Domingo; the ship of Carvajal having struck on a sand-hank, and sustained great injury. By the time of their arrival, the greater part of the provisions with which they had been freighted was either exhausted or damaged. Alonzo San¬ chez de Carvajal arrived shortly afterward by land, having been escorted to within six leagues of the place by several of the insurgents, to protect him from the Indians. He failed in his attempt to persuade the band to immediate submission; but Roldan had promised that the moment he heard of the arrival of Columbus he would repair to the neighborhood of San Domingo, to be at hand to state his grievances, and the reasons of his past conduct, and to enter into a negotiation for the adjustment of all differences. Carvajal brought a letter from him to the admiral to the same purport, and expressed a confi¬ dent opinion, from all that he observed of the rebels, that they might easily be brought back to their allegiance by an assur¬ ance of amnesty.* CHAPTER II. NEGOTIATION OF THE ADMIRAL WITH THE REBELS—DEPARTURE OF SHIPS FOR SPAIN. [1438.] Notwithstanding the favorable representations of Carvajal, Columbus was greatly troubled by the late event at Xaragua. He saw that the insolence of the rebels and their confidence in their strength must be greatly increased by the accession of such a large number of well-armed and desperate confederates. The proposition of Roldan to approach to the neighborhood of San Domingo startled him. He doubted the sincerity of his professions, and apprehended great evils and dangers from so artful, daring, and turbulent a leader, with a rash and devoted crew at his command. The example of this lawless horde, * Las Ca^as, lib. i. cap. 149, 150. nerrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 12. Hist, del ! Almirantft. cap. 77. 430 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. roving at large about the island, and living in loose revel and open profligacy, could not but have a dangerous effect upon the colonists newly arrived; and when they were close at hand, to carry on secret intrigues, and to hold out a camp of refuge to all malcontents, the loyalty of the whole colony might be sapped and undermined. ■x Some measures were immediately necessary to fortify the fidelity of the people against such seductions. He was aware of a vehement desire among many to return to Spain; and of an assertion industriously propagated by the seditious, that he and his brothers wished to detain the colonists on the island through motives of self-interest. On the 12th of September, therefore, he issued a proclamation, offering free passage and provisions for the voyage to all who wished to return to Spain, in five vessels nearly ready to put to sea. He hoped by this means to relieve the colony from the idle and disaffected; to weaken the party of Roldan, and to retain none about him but such as were sound-hearted and well-disposed. He wrote at the same time to Miguel Ballester, the stanch and well-tried veteran who commanded the fortress of Con¬ ception, advising him to be upon his guard, as the rebels were coming into his neighborhood. He empowered him also to have an interview with Roldan; to offer him pardon and oblivion of the past, on condition of his immediate return to duty; and to invite him to repair to St. Domingo to have an interview with the admiral under a solemn, and, if required, a written assurance from the latter, of personal safety. Colum¬ bus was sincere in his intentions. He was of a benevolent and placable disposition, and singularly free from all vindictive feeling toward the many worthless and wicked men who heaped sorrow on his head. Ballester had scarcely received this letter when the rebels began to arrive at the village of Bonao. This was situated in a beautiful valley, or Vega, bearing the same name, about ten leagues from Fort Conception, and about twenty from San Domingo, in a well-peopled and abundant country. Here Pedro Requelme, one of the ringleaders of the sedition, had large possessions, and his residence became the headquarters of the rebels. Adrian de Moxica, a man of turbulent and mischievous character, brought his detachment of dissolute ruffians to this place of rendezvous. Roldan and others of the conspirators drew: together there by different routes LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 431 No sooner did the veteran Miguel Ball ester hear of the arrival of Roldan than he set forth to meet him. Ballester was a venerable man, grayheaded, and of a soldier-like demeanor. Loyal, frank, and virtuous, of a serious disposition, and great simplicity of heart, he was well chosen as a mediator with rash and profligate men; being calculated to calm their pas sions by his sobriety; to disarm their petulance by his age, to win their confidence by his artless probity; and to awe their licentiousness by his spotless virtue.* Ballester found Roldan in company with Pedro Requelme, Pedro de Gamez, and Adrian de Moxica, three of his princi¬ pal confederates. Flushed with a confidence of his present strength, Roldan treated the proffered pardon with contempt, declaring that he did not come there to treat of peace, but to demand the release of certain Indians captured unjusti¬ fiably, and about to be shipped to Spain as slaves, notwith¬ standing that he, in his capacity of alcalde mayor, had pledged his word for their protection. He delcared that, until these Indians were given up, he would listen to no terms of com¬ pact ; throwing out an insolent intimation at the same time, that he held the admiral and his fortunes in his hand, to make and mar them as he pleased. The Indians there alluded to were certain subjects of Guarionex, who had been incited by Roldan to resist the exactions of tribute, and who, under the sanction of his sup¬ posed authority had engaged in the insurrections of the Vega. Roldan knew that the enslavement of the Indians was an unpopular feature in the government of the island, especially with the queen; and the artful character of this man is evinced in his giving his opposition to Columbus the appearance of a vindication of the rights of the suffering islanders. Other demands were made of a highly insolent nature, and the rebels declared that, in all further negotiations, they would treat with no other intermediate agent than Carvajal, having had proofs of his fairness and impartiality in the course of their late communications with him at Xaragua. This arrogant reply to his proffer of pardon was totally dif¬ ferent from what the admiral had been led to expect, and placed him in an embarrassing situation. He seemed sur¬ rounded by treachery and falsehood. He knew that Roldan had friends and secret partisans even among those who professed * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 153, 432 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to remain faithful; and he knew not how far the ramifications of the conspiracy might extend. A circumstance soon oc¬ curred to show the justice of his apprehensions. He ordered the men of San Domingo to appear under arms, that he might ascertain the force with which he could take the field in case of necessity. A report was immediately circulated that they were to be led to Bonao against the rebels. Not above seventy men appeared under arms, and of these not forty were to be I relied upon. One affected to be lame, another ill; some had relations, and others had friends among the followers of Roldan; almost all were disaffected to the service.* Columbus saw that a resort to arms would betray his own weakness and the power of the rebels, and completely prostrate the dignity and authority of government. It was necessary to temporize, therefore, however humiliating such conduct might be deemed. He detained the five ships for eighteen days in port, hoping in some way to have put an end to this rebellion, so as to send home favorable accounts of the island to the sovereigns. The provisions of the ships, however, were wast¬ ing. The Indian prisoners on board were suffering and perish¬ ing; several of them threw themselves overboard, or were suffocated with heat in the holds of the vessels. He was anxious also that as many of the discontented colonists as pos¬ sible should make sail for Spain before any commotion should take place. On the 18th of October, therefore, the ships put to sea.t Columbus wrote to the sovereigns an account of the rebellion,* and of his proffered pardon being refused. As Roldan pre¬ tended that it was a mere quarrel between him and the Adelan- tado, of which the admiral was not an impartial judge, the latter entreated that Roldan might be summoned to Spain, where the sovereigns might be his judges; or that an investigation might take place in presence of Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, who was friendly to Roldan, of Miguel Ballester, as witness on the part of the Adelantado. He attributed, in a great measure, the troubles of this island to his own long detention in Spain, and the delays thrown in his way by those appointed to assist him, v/ho had retarded the departure of the ships with supplies, until the colony had been reduced * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 78. + In one of these ships sailed the father of the venerable historian, Las Casas, from whom he derived many of the facts of his history. Las Casas, lib. 1. cap. 153. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 433 to the greatest scarcity. Hence had arisen discontent, mur¬ muring, and finally rebellion. He entreated the sovereigns, in the most pressing manner, that the affairs of the colony might not be neglected, and those at Seville, who had charge of its concerns, might be instructed at least not to devise im¬ pediments instead of assistance. He alluded to his chastise¬ ment of the contemptible Ximeno Breviesca,, the insolent minion of Fonseca, and entreated that neither that nor any other circumstance might be allowed to prejudice him in the royal favor, through the misrepresentations of designing men. He assured them that the natural resources of the island required nothing but good management to supply-all the wants of the colonies; but that the latter were indolent and profli¬ gate. He proposed to send home by every ship, as in the present instance, a number of the discontented and worthless, to be re¬ placed by sober and industrious men. He begged also that eccle¬ siastics might be sent out for the instruction and conversion of the Indians; and, what was equally necessary, for the refor¬ mation of the dissolute Spaniards. He required also a man learned in the law to officiate as judge over the island, together with several officers of the royal revenue. Nothing could sur- j pass the soundness and policy of these suggestions; but unfor- tunately one clause marred the moral beauty of this excellent letter. He requested that for two years longer the Spaniards might be permitted to employ the Indians as slaves; only making use of such, however, as were captured in wars and insurrections. Columbus had the usage of the age in excuse for his suggestion; but it is at variance with his usual be¬ nignity of feeling, and his paternal conduct toward these unfortunate people. At the same time he wrote another letter, giving an account of his recent voyage, accompanied by a chart, and by speci¬ mens of the gold, and particularly of the pearls found in the Gulf of Paria. He called especial attention to the latter as being the first specimens of pearls found in the New World. It was in this letter that he described the newly discovered conti¬ nent in such enthusiastic terms as the most favored part of the East, the source of inexhaustible treasures, the supposed seat of the terrestrial paradise; and he promised to prosecute the discovery of its glorious realms with the three remaining ships as soon as the affairs of the island should permit. By this opportunity Roldan and his friends likewise sent let¬ ters to Spain, endeavoring to justify their rebellion by charging 434 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Columbus and his brothers with oppression and injustice, and painting their whole conduct in the blackest colors. It would naturally be supposed that the representations of such men would have little weight in the balance against the tried merits and exalted services of Columbus; but they had numerous friends and relatives in Spain; they had the popular prejudice on their side, and there were designing persons in the confidence of the sovereigns ready to advocate their cause. Columbus, to use his own simple but affecting words, was “absent, envied, and a stranger.” * • CHAPTER III NEGOTIATIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS WITH THE REBELS. [1498.] The ships being dispatched, Columbus resumed his negotia¬ tion with the rebels, determined at any sacrifice to put an end to a sedition which distracted the island and interrupted all his plans of discovery. His three remaining ships lay idle in the harbor, though a region of apparently boundless wealth was to be explored. He had intended to send his brother on the dis¬ covery, but the active and military spirit of the Adelantado rendered his presence indispensable, in case the rebels should come to violence. Such were the difficulties encountered at every step of his generous and magnanimous enterprises; im¬ peded at one time by the insidious intrigues of crafty men in place, and checked at another by the insolent turbulence of a handful of ruffians. In his consultations with the most- important persons about him, Columbus found that much of the popular discontent was attributed to the strict rule of his brother, who was accused of dealing out justice with a rigorous hand. Las Casas, however, who saw the whole of the testimony collected from various sources with respect to the conduct of the Adelantado, acquits him of all charges of the kind, and affirms that, with respect to Rolden in particular, he had exerted great forbearance. Be this as it may, Columbus now, by the advice of his counsellors, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 157. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 435 resolved to try the alternative of extreme lenity. He wrote a letter to Roldan, dated the 20th of October, couched in the jmost conciliating terms, calling to mind past kindnesses, and ■expressing deep concern for the feud existing between him and the Adelantado. He entreated him, for the common good, and for the sake of his own reputation, which stood well with the sovereigns, not to persist in his present insubordination, and repeated the assurance that he and his companions might come to him, under the faith of his word for the inviolability of their persons. There was a difficulty as to who should be the bearer of this letter. The rebels had declared that they would receive no one as mediator but Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal. Strong doubts, however, existed in the minds of those about Columbus as to the integrity of that officer. They observed that he had suf¬ fered Roldan to remain two days on board of his caravel at Xaragua; had furnished him with weapons and stores; had neglected to detain him on board, when he knew him to be a rebel; had not exerted himself to retake the deserters; had ! been escorted on his way to San Domingo by the rebels, and had sent refreshments to them at Bonao. It was alleged, more¬ over, that he had given himself out as a colleague of Columbus, appointed by government to have a watch and control over his conduct. It was suggested, that, in advising the rebels to approach San Domingo, he had intended, in case the admiral did not arrive, to unite his pretended authority as colleague, to that of Roldan, as chief judge, and to seize upon the reins of government. Finally, the desire of the rebels to have him sent to them as an agent, was cited as proof that he was to join I them as a leader, and that the standard of rebellion was to be I hoisted at Bonao.* These circumstances, for some time, per- ! plcxed Columbus; but he reflected that Carvajal, as far as he ! had observed his conduct, had behaved like a man of integrity; I most of the circumstances alleged against him admitted of a construction in his favor; the rest were mere rumors, and he | had unfortunately experienced, in his own case, how easily the ! fairest actions and the fairest characters may be falsified by rumor. He discarded, therefore, all suspicion, and determined to confide implicitly in Carvajal; nor had he ever any reason to repent of his confidence. The admiral had scarcely dispatched this letter, when he * Hist, del Aimirante, cap. 78. 436 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. received one from the leaders of the rebels, written several days previously In this they not merely vindicated themselves from the charge of rebellion, but claimed great merit, as hav¬ ing dissuaded their followers from a resolution to kill the Ade- lantado, in revenge of his oppressions, prevailing upon them to await patiently for redress from the admiral. A month had elapsed since his arrival, during which they had waited anx¬ iously for his orders, but he had manifested nothing but irri¬ tation against them. Considerations of honor and safety, therefore, obliged them to withdraw from his service, and they accordingly demanded their discharge. This letter was dated from Bonao, the 17th of October, and signed by Francisco Roldan, Adrian de Moxica, Pedro de Gamez, and Diego de Escobar.* In the mean time Carvajal arrived at Bonao, accompanied by Miguel Ballester. They found the rebels full of arrogance and presumption. The conciliating letter of the admiral how¬ ever, enforced by the earnest persuasions of Carvajal and the admonitions of the veteran Ballester, had a favorable effect on several of the leaders, who had more intellect than their brutal followers. Roldan, Gamez, Escobar, and two or three others, actually mounted their horses to repair to the admiral, but were detained by the clamorous opposition of their men; too infatuated with their idle, licentious mode of life, to relish the idea of a return to labor and discipline. These insisted that it was a matter which concerned them all; whatever arrange¬ ment was to be made, therefore, should be made in public, in writing, and subject to their approbation or dissent. A day or two elapsed before this clamor could be appeased. Roldan then wrote to the admiral, that his followers objected to his coming, unless a written assurance, or passport, were sent, protecting the persons of himself and such as should accompany him. Miguel Ballester wrote, at the same time, to the admiral, urging him to agree to whatever terms the rebels might demand. He represented their forces as continually augmenting, the soldiers of his garrison daily deserting to them; unless, therefore, some compromise were speedily effected, and the rebels shipped off to Spain, he feared that, not merely the authority, but even the person of the admiral would be in danger; for though the Hidalgos and the officers and servants immediately about him * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 79. Herrera, decad. i. lib, iii. cap. 13. I LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 437 I would, doubtless, die in his service, the common people were | but little to be depended upon.* Columbus felt the increasing urgency of the case, and sent I the required passport. Roldan came to San Domingo; but, from his conduct, it appeared as if his object was to make par- ! tisans, and gain deserters, rather than to effect a reconciliation. | He had several conversations with the admiral, and several | letters passed between them. He made many complaints, and I numerous demands; Columbus made large concessions, but some of the pretensions were too arrogant to be admitted.! Nothing definite was arranged. Roldan departed under the pretext of conferring with his people, promising to send his terms in writing. The admiral sent his mayordomo, Diego de Salamanca, to treat in his behalf. I On the 6th of November Roldan wrote a letter from Bonao, containing his terms, and requesting that a reply might be sent to him to Conception, as scarcity of provisions obliged him to leave Bonao. He added that he should wait for a leply until the following Monday (the 11th). There was an insolent menace implied in this note, accompanied as it was by insolent demands. The admiral found it impossible to comply with the latter; but to manifest his lenient disposition, and to take from the rebels all plea of rigor, he had a proclamation affixed for thirty days at the gate of the fortress, promising full indul¬ gence and complete oblivion of the past to Roldan and his fol¬ lowers, on condition of their presenting themselves before him ! and returning to their allegiance to the crown within a month; together with free conveyance for all such as wished to return to Spain; but threatening to execute rigorous justice upon those who should not appear within the limited time. A copy of this paper he sent to Roldan by Carvajal, with a letter, stating the impossibility of compliance with his terms, but offering to agree to any compact drawn up with the approbation of ! Carvajal and Salamanca. When Carvajal arrived, he found the veteran Ballester actu¬ ally besieged in his fortress of Conception by Roldan, under pretext of claiming, in his official character of alcalde mayor, a | culprit who had taken refuge there from justice. He had cut off the supply of water from the fort, by way of distressing it into a surrender. When Carvajal posted up the proclamation * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 153. ? Hist, del Almirante, cap. 79. t Ibid., cap. 158. 438 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. of the admiral on the gate of the fortress, the rebels scoffed at the proffered amnesty, saying that, in a little while, they would oblige the admiral to ask the same at their hands. The earnest intercessions of Carvajal,- however, brought the leaders at length to reflection, and through his mediation articles of capitulation were drawn up. By these it was agreed that Rol¬ dan and his followers should embark for Spain from the port of Xaragua in two ships, to be fitted out and victualled within fifty days. That they should each receive from the admiral a certificate of good conduct, and an order for the amount of their pay, up to the actual date. That slaves should be given to them, as had been given to others, in consideration of ser¬ vices performed; and as several of their company had wives, natives of the island, who were pregnant, or had lately been delivered, they might take them with them, if willing to go, in place of the slaves. That satisfaction should be made for pro¬ perty of some of the company which had been sequestrated, and for live stock which had belonged to Francisco Roldan. There were other conditions, providing for the security of their per¬ sons ; and it was stipulated that, if no reply were received to those terms within eight days, the whole should be void.* This agreement was signed by Roldan and his companions at Fort Conception on the 16th of November, and by the admiral at San Domingo on the 21st. At the same time, he proclaimed a further act of grace, permitting such as chose to remain in the island either to come to San Domingo, and enter into the royal service, or to hold lands in any part of the island. They preferred, however, to follow the fortunes of Roldan, who departed with his band for Xaragua, to await the arrival of the ships, accompanied by Miguel Ballester, sent by the admiral to superintend the preparations for their embarkation. Columbus was deeply grieved to have his projected enter¬ prise to Terra Firma impeded by such contemptible obstacles, and the ships which should have borne his brother to explore that newly-found continent devoted to the use of this turbulent and worthless rabble. He consoled himself, however, with the reflection, that all the mischief which had so long been lurking in the island, would thus be at once shipped off, and thenceforth everything restored to order and tranquillity. He ordered every exertion to be made, therefore, to get the ships in readi¬ ness to be sent round to Xaragua; but the scarcity of sea-stores, * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 80. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 439 and the difficulty of completing the arrangements for such a voyage in the disordered state of the colony, delayed their departure far beyond the stipulated time. Feeling that he had [ been compelled to a kind of deception toward the sovereigns, in the certificate of good conduct given to Roldan and his followers, he wrote a letter to them, stating the circumstances under which that certificate had been in a manner wrung from him to save the island from utter confusion and ruin. He rep¬ resented the real character and conduct of those men; how they had rebelled against his authority; prevented the Indians from paying tribute; pillaged the island; possessed themselves of large quantities of gold, and carried off the daughters of several of the caciques. He advised, therefore, that they should be seized, and their slaves and treasure taken from them, until their conduct could be properly investigated. This letter he intrusted to a confidential person, who was to go in one of the ships.* The rebels having left the neighborhood, and the affairs of San Domingo being in a state of security, Columbus put his brother Don Diego in temporary command, and departed with the Adelantado on a tour of several months to visit the various stations, and restore the island to order. The two caravels destined for the use of the rebels sailed from San Domingo for Xaragua about the end of February; but, encountering a violent storm, were obliged to put into one of the harbors of the island, where they were detained until the end of March. One was so disabled as to be compelled to return to San Domingo. Another vessel was dispatched to supply its place, in which the indefatigable Carvajal set sail, to expedite the embarkation of the rebels. He was eleven days in making the voyage, and found the other caravel at Xaragua. The followers of Roldan had in the mean time changed their minds, and now refused to embark; as usual, they threw all the blame on Columbus, affirming that he had purposely delayed the ships far beyond the stipulated time; that he had sent them in a state not seaworthy, and short of provisions, with many other charges, artfully founded on circumstances over which they knew he could have no control. Carvajal made a formal protest before a notary who had accompanied him, and finding that the ships were suffering great injury from the teredo or worm, and their provisions failing, he sent them back * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. 440 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to San Domingo, and set out on his return by land. Roldan accompanied him a little distance on horseback, evidently dis¬ turbed in mind. He feared to return to Spain, yet was shrewd enough to know the insecurity of his present situation at the head of a band of dissolute men, acting in defiance of authority. What tie had he upon their fidelity stronger than the sacred obligations which they had violated? After riding thoughtfully for some distance, he paused, and requested some private com versation with Carvajal, before they parted. They alighted under the shade of a tree. Here Roldan made further profes¬ sions of the loyalty of his intentions, and finally declared, that if the admiral would once more send him a written security for his person, with the guarantee also of the principal persons about him, he would come to treat with him, and trusted that the whole matter would be arranged on terms satisfactory to both parties. This offer, however, he added, must be kept secret from his followers. Carvajal, overjoyed at this prospect of a final arrangement, lost no time in conveying the proposition of Roldan to the admiral. The latter immediately forwarded the required pass¬ port or security, sealed with the royal seal, accompanied by a letter written in amicable terms, exhorting his quiet obedience to the authority of the sovereigns. Several of the principal persons also, who were with the admiral, wrote, at his request, a letter of security to Roldan, pledging themselves for the safety of himself and his followers during the negotiation, provided they did nothing hostile to the royal authority or its represen¬ tative. While Columbus was thus, with unwearied assiduity and loyal zeal, endeavoring to bring the island back to its obedience, he received a reply from Spain, to the earnest representations made by him, in the preceding autumn, of the distracted state of the colony and the outrages of these lawless men, and his prayers for royal countenance and support. The letter was written by his invidious enemy, the Bishop Fonseca, superin¬ tendent of Indian affairs. It acknowledged the receipt of his statement of the alleged insurrection of Roldan, but observed that this matter must be suffered to remain in suspense, as the sovereigns would investigate and remedy it presently. * This cold reply had a disheartening effect upon Columbus. He saw that his complaints had little weight with the govern- * Herrara, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 441 ment; lie feared that his enemies were prejudicing him with the sovereigns; and he anticipated redoubled insolence on the part of the rebels, when they should discover how little influ¬ ence he possessed in Spain. Full of zeal, however, for the suc¬ cess of his undertaking, and of fidelity to the interests of the sovereigns, he resolved to spare no personal sacrifice of comfort or dignity in appeasing the troubles of the island. Eager to expedite the negotiation with Roldan, therefore, he sailed in the latter part of August with two caravels to the port of Azua, west of San Domingo, and much nearer to Xaragua. He was accompanied by several of the most important personages of the colony. Roldan repaired thither likewise, with the turbu¬ lent Adrian de Moxica, and a number of his band. The conces¬ sions already obtained had increased his presumption; and he had, doubtless, received intelligence of the cold manner in which the complaints of the admiral had been received in Spain. He conducted himsell more like a conqueror, exacting trium¬ phant terms, than a delinquent seeking to procure pardon by atonement. He came on board of the caravel, and with his usual effrontery, propounded the preliminaries upon which he and his companions were disposed to negotiate. First, that he should be permitted to send several of his com¬ pany, to the number of fifteen, to Spain, in the vessels which were at San Domingo. Secondly, that those who remained should have lands granted them, in place of royal pay. Third¬ ly, that it should be proclaimed that everything charged against him and bis party had been grounded upon false testimony, | and the machinations of persons disaffected to the royal service. Fourthly, that he should be reinstated in his office of alcalde mayor, or chief judge."- These were hard and insolent conditions to commence with, but they were granted. Roldan then went on shore, and com¬ municated them to his companions. At the end of two days the insurgents sent their capitulations, drawn up in form, and couched in arrogant language, including all the stipulations granted at Fort Conception, with those recently demanded by Roldan, and concluding with one, more insolent than all the rest, namely, that if the admiral should fail in the fulfilment of | any of these articles, they should have a right to assemble together, and compel his performance of them by force, or by any other means they might think proper, f The conspirators * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. t Ibid. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 38. t 442 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. thus sought not merely exculpation of the past, but a pretext for future rebellion. The mind grows wearied and impatient with recording, and the heart of the generous reader must burn with indignation at perusing, this protracted and ineffectual struggle of a man of the exalted merits and matchless services of Columbus, in the toils of such miscreants. Surrounded by doubt and danger; a foreigner among a jealous people; an unpopular commander in a mutinous island; distrusted and slighted by the govern¬ ment he was seeking to serve; and creating suspicion by his very services; he knew not where to look for faithful ! advice, efficient aid, or candid judgment. Tbe very ground on which he stood seemed giving way under him, for he was told of seditious symptoms among his own people. Seeing the impunity with which the rebels rioted in the possession of one of the finest parts of the island, they began to talk among them¬ selves of following their example, of abandoning the standard of the admiral, and seizing upon the province of Higuey, at the eastern extremity of the island, which was said to contain valuable mines of gold. Thus critically situated, disregarding every consideration of personal pride and dignity, and determined, at any individual sacrifice, to secure the interests of an ungrateful sovereign, Columbus forced himself to sign this most humiliating capitula¬ tion. He trusted that afterward, when he could gain quiet access to the royal ear, he should be able to convince the king and queen that it had been compulsory, and forced from him by the extraordinary difficulties in which he had been placed, and the imminent perils of the colony. Before signing it, however, he inserted a stipulation, that the commands of the sovereigns, of himself, and of the justices appointed by him, should be punc¬ tually obeyed.* * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 443 CHAPTER IV. GRANTS MADE TO ROLDAN AND HIS FOLLOWERS—DEPARTURE OF SEVERAL OF THE REBELS FOR SPAIN. [1499.] When Roldan resumed his office of alcalde mayor, or chief •judge, he displayed all the arrogance to be expected from one who had intruded himself into power by profligate means. At the city of San Domingo he was always surrounded by his faction; communed only with the dissolute and disaffected; and, having all the turbulent and desperate men of the com¬ munity at his beck, was enabled to intimidate the quiet and loyal by his frowns. He bore an impudent front against the authority even of Columbus himself, discharging from office one Rodrigo Perez, a lieutenant of the admiral, declaring that none but such as he appointed should bear a staff of office in the island.* Columbus had a difficult and painful task in bearing with the insolence of this man, and of the shameless rabble which had returned, under his auspices, to the settlements. He tacitly permitted many abuses; endeavoring by mildness and indulgence to allay the jealousies and prejudices awakened against him, and by various concessions to lure the factious to the performance of their duty. To such of the colonists gener¬ ally as preferred to remain in the island, he offered a choice of either royal pay or portions of lands, with a number of Indians, some free, others as slaves, to assist in the cultivation. The latter was generally preferred; and grants were made out, in which ho endeavored as much as possible to combine the benefit of the individual with the interests of the colony. Roldan presented a memorial signed by upward of one hun¬ dred of his late followers, demanding grants of lands and licenses to settle, and choosing Xaragua for their place of abode. The admiral feared to trust such a numerous body of factious partisans in so remote a province; he contrived, there¬ fore, to distribute them in various parts of the island, some at Bonao, where their settlement gave origin to the town of that name; others on the bank of the Rio Verde, or Green River, in * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 1G. 444 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the Vega; others about six leagues thence, at St. Jago. He assigned to them liberal portions of land, and numerous Indian slaves, taken in the Avars. He made an arrangement, also, by which the caciques in their vicinity, instead of paying tribute, should furnish parties of their subjects, free Indians, to assist the colonists in the cultivation of their lands; a kind of feudal service, which was the origin of the repartmientos, or distribu¬ tions of free Indians among the colonists, afterward generally adopted, and shamefully abused, throughout the Spanish colonies; a source of intolerable hardships and oppressions to the unhappy natives, and which greatly contributed to exter- i minate them from the island of Hispaniola.* Columbus considered the island in the light of a conquered country, and arrogated to himself all the rights of a conqueror, in the name of the sovereigns for whom he fought. Of course all his com¬ panions in the enterprise were entitled to take part in the acquired territory, and to establish themselves there as feudal lords reducing the natives to the condition of villains or vassals, f This was an arrangement widely different from his original intention of treating the natives with kindness, as peaceful subjects of the crown. But all his plans had been subverted, and his present measures forced upon him by the exigency of the times and the violence of laAvless men. He ap¬ pointed a captain Avith an armed band, as a kind of police, Avith orders to range the provinces; oblige the Indians to pay their tributes; watch over the conduct of the colonists; and check the least appearance of mutiny or insurrection. | Having sought and obtained such ample provisions for his followers, Roldan Avas not more modest in making demands for himself. He claimed certain lands in the vicinity of Isabella, as having belonged to him before his rebellion; also a royal farm, called La Esperanza, situated on the Vega, and devoted to the rearing of poultry. These the admiral granted him with permission to employ, in the cultivation of the farm, the subjects of the cacique whose ears had been cut off by Alonzo de Ojeda in his first military expedition into the Vega. Roldan received also grants of land in Xaragua, and a variety of live stock from the cattle and other animals belonging to the crown. These grants were made to him provisionally, until the pleasure ♦Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. t Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. vi. § 50. X Hist, del Aimirante, cap. 84. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 445 of the sovereigns should be known; * for Columbus yet trusted that when they should understand the manner in which these concessions had been extorted from him, the ring-leaders of the rebels would not merely be. stripped of their ill-gotten posses¬ sions, but receive well-merited punishment. Roldan having now enriched himself beyond his hopes, requested permission of Columbus to visit his lands. This was granted with great reluctance. He immediately departed for the Vega, and stopping at Bonao, his late headquarters, made Pedro Requelme one of his most active confederates, alcalde, 3r judge of the place, with the power of arresting all delin¬ quents, and sending them prisoners to the fortress of Concep¬ tion, where he reserved to himself the right of sentencing them. This was an assumption of powers not vested in his office, and md gave great offence to Columbus. Other circumstances created apprehensions of further troubles from the late insur¬ gents. Pedro Requelme, under pretext of erecting farming Duildings for his cattle, began to construct a strong edifice on i hill, capable of being converted into a formidable fortress. This, it was whispered, was done in concert with Roldan, by vay of securing a stronghold in case of need. Being in the leighborhood of the Vega, where so many of their late parti¬ sans were settled, it would form a dangerous rallying place for my new sedition. The designs of Requelme were suspected md his proceedings opposed by Pedro de Arana, a loyal and lonorable man, who was on the spot. Representations were nade by both parties to the admiral, who prohibited Requelme rom proceeding with the construction of his edifice, f Columbus had prepared to return, with his brother, Don Bartholomew, to Spain, where he felt that his presence was of he utmost importance to place the late events of the island in a >roper light; having found that his letters of explanation were iabie to be counteracted by the misrepresentations of malevo- ent enemies. The island, however, was still in a feverish state. 4e was not well assured of the fidelity of the late rebels, though ■o dearly purchased; there was a rumor of a threatened descent nto the Vega, by the mountain tribes of Cig jay, to attempt the uscue of their cacique Mayobanex. still detained a prisoner in he fortress of Conception. Tidings were brought about the ame time from the western parts of the island, that tour strange * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 1G. + Ibid. Hist, del Almiraute, cap. 83, S4. 446 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ships had arrived at the coast, under suspicious appearances. These circumstances obliged him to postpone his departure, and held him involved in the affairs of this favorite but fatal island. The two caravels were dispatched for Spain in the beginning of October, taking such of the colonists as chose to return, and among them a number of Roldan’s partisans. Some of these took with them slaves, others carried away the daughters of , caciques, whom they had beguiled from their families and homes. ( At these iniquities, no less than at many others which equally ; grieved his spirit, the admiral was obliged to connive. He was , conscious, at the same time, that he was sending home a rein forcement of enemies and false witnesses, to defame his char- : acter and traduce his conduct, but he had no alternative. To counteract, as much as possible, their misrepresentations, he i sent by the same caravel the loyal and upright veteran Miguel ] Ballester, together with Garcia de Barrantes, empowered to attend to his affairs at court, and furnished with the depositions taken relative to the conduct of Roldan and his accomplices. In his letters to the sovereigns he entreated them to inquire into the truth of the late transactions. He stated his opinion that his capitulations with the rebels were null and void, for various reasons—viz., they had been extorted from him by violence, and at sea, where he did not exercise the office of viceroy; there had' been two trials relative to the insurrection and the insurgents having been condemned as traitors, it was not in the power of the admiral to absolve them from their criminality; the capitulations treated of matters touching the royal revenue, over which he had no control, without the intervention of the proper officers; lastly, Francisco Roldan and his companions, on leaving Spain, had taken an oath to be faithful to the sovereigns, and to the admiral in their name, which oath they had violated. For these and similar reasons, some just, others rather sophistical, he urged the sovereigns not to consider themselves bound to ratify the compulsory terms ceded on these profligate men, but to inquire into their offences, and treat them accordingly.* He repeated the request made in the former letter, that a learned judge might be sent out to administer the laws in the island, since he himself had been ciiarged with rigor, although conscious of having always observed a guarded clemency. He * Herrera, decad. 1 . lib. iii cap. 16 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 447 requested also that discreet persons should be sent out to form a council, and others for certain fiscal employments, entreat- ing, however, that their powers should be so limited and defined, as not to interfere with his dignity and privileges. He bore strongly on this point; as his prerogatives on former occasions had been grievously invaded. It appeared to him, he said, that princes ought to show much confidence in their gov¬ ernors ; for without the royal favor to give them strength and consequence, everything went to ruin under their command; a sound maxim, forced from the admiral by his recent experi- I 'ence, in which much of his own perplexities, and the triumph of the rebels, had been caused by the distrust of the crown, and its inattention of his remonstrances. Finding age and infirmity creeping upon him, and his health much impaired by his last voyage, he began to think of his son Diego, as an active coadjutor; who, being destined Sis his suc¬ cessor, might gain experience under his eye, for the future lischarge of his high duties. Diego, though still serving as a page at the court, was grown to man’s estate, and capable of entering into the important concerns of life. Columbus en- -reated, therefore, that he might be sent out to assist him, as le felt himself infirm in health and broken in constitution, ind less capable of exertion than formerly.* 1 CHAPTEB V. B 88 *' RRTV AT. OF OJEDA WITH A SQUADRON AT THE WESTERN PART OF THE ISLAND—ROLDAN SENT TO MEET HIM. I [1499.] Among the causes which induced Columbus to postpone his eparture for Spain, has been mentioned the arrival of four hups at the western part of the island. These had anchored n the 5th of September in a harbor a little below Jacquemel, pparently with the design of cutting dyewoods, which abound > i that neighbortiood, and of carrying off the natives for slaves. ! urtlier reports informed him that they were commanded by * Herrera, decad. i. lib. ili. caD. 16. 448 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Alonso de Ojeda, the same hot-headed and bold-hearted cava¬ lier who had distinguished himself on various occasions in the previous voyages of discovery, and particularly in the capture of the cacique Caonabo. Knowing the daring and adventur¬ ous spirit of this man, Columbus felt much disturbed at his visiting the island in this clandestine manner, on what appeared to be little better than a freebooting expedition. To call him to account, and oppose his aggressions, required an agent of spirit and address. No one seemed better fitted for the purpose than Roldan. He was as daring as Ojeda, and of a more crafty character. An expedition of the kind would oc- cupythe attention of himself and his partisans, and divert them from any schemes of mischief. The large concessions recently made to them would, he trusted, secure their present fidelity, rendering it more profitable for them to be loyal than rebel¬ lious. Roldan readily undertook the enterprise. He had nothing t further to gain by sedition, and was anxious to secure his ill- 1 gotten possessions and atone for past offences by public services, j He was vain as well as active, and took a pride in acquitting- | himself well in an expedition which called for both courage and shrewdness. Departing from San Domingo with two cara¬ vels, he arrived on the 29th of September within two leagues of the harbor where the ships of Ojeda were anchored. Here he landed with five and twenty resolute followers, well armed, and accustomed to range the forests. He sent five scouts to reconnoitre. They brought word that Ojeda was several leagues t distant from his ships, with only fifteen men, employed in mak- p ing cassava bread in an Indian village. Roldan threw himself | between them and the ships, thinking to take them by surprise. They were apprised, however, of his approach by the Indians, 1 with whom the very name of Roldan inspired terror, from his late excesses in Xaragua. Ojeda saw his danger; he supposed j Roldan had been sent in pursuit of him, and he found himself , cut off from his ships. With his usual intrepidity he imme- , diately presented himself before Roldan, attended merely by half a dozen followers. The latter craftily began by convers¬ ing on general topics. He then inquired into his motives for landing on the island, particularly on that remote and lonely part, without first reporting his arrival to the admiral. Ojeda replied that he had been on a voyage of discovery, and had put in there in distress, to repair his ships and procure provisions. Roldan then demanded, m filename of the government, a sight LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 449 of the license under which he sailed. Ojeda, who knew the resolute character of the man he had to deal with, restrained his natural impetuosity, and replied that his papers were on board of his ship. He declared his intention, on departing |fchence, to go to San Domingo, and pay his homage to the admiral, [having many things to tell him which were for his private ear alone. He intimated to Roldan that the admiral was in com¬ plete disgrace at court; that there was a talk of taking from him his command, and that the queen, his patroness, was ill beyond all hopes of recovery. This intimation, it is presumed, was referred to by Roldan in his dispatches to the admiral, wherein he mentioned that certain things had been communi¬ cated to him by Ojeda, which he did not think it safe to ponfide to a letter. Roldan now repaired to the ships. He found several persons )n board with whom he was acquainted, and who had already oeen in Hispaniola. They confirmed the truth of what Ojeda lad said, and showed a license signed by the Bishop of Fonseca, is superintendent of the affairs of the Indias, authorizing him o sail on a voyage of discovery.* It appeared, from the report of Ojeda and his followers, that he glowing accounts sent home by Columbus of his late dis- overies on the coast of Paria, his magnificent speculations with espect to the riches of the newly-found country, and the speci- nen of pearls transmitted to the sovereigns, had inflamed the upidity of various adventurers. Ojeda happened to be at that ime in Spain. He was a favorite of the Bishop of Fonseca, nd obtained a sight of the letter written by the admiral to the overeigns, and the charts and maps of his route by which it fas accompanied. Ojeda knew Columbus to be embarrassed y the seditions of Hispaniola; he found, by his conversations dth Fonseca and other of the admiral’s enemies, that strong oubts and jealousies existed in the mind of the king with aspect to his conduct, and that his approaching downfall was onfidently predicted. The idea of taking advantage of these ircumstances struck Ojeda, and, by a private enterprise, he oped to be the first in gathering the wealth of these newly- iscovered regions. He communicated his project to his patron, onseca. The latter was but too ready for anything that might afeat the plans and obscure the glory of Columbus; and it lay be added that he always showed himself more disposed to * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 3. 456 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. patronize mercenary adventurers than upright and high-minded men. He granted Ojeda every facility; furnishing him with copies of the papers and charts of Columbus, by which to direct himself in his course, and a letter of license signed with his own name, though not with that of the sovereigns. In this, it was stipulated that he should not touch at any land belonging to the King of Portugal, nor any that had been discovered by Columbus prior to 1495. The last provision shows the perfid¬ ious artifice of Fonseca, as it left Paria and the Pearl Islands free to the visits of Ojeda, they having been discovered by Columbus subsequent to the designated year. The ships were to be fitted out at the charges of the adventurers, and a certain proportion of the products of the voyage were to be rendered to the crown. Under this license Ojeda fitted out four ships at Seville, assisted by many eager and wealthy speculators. Among the number was the celebrated Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine merchant, well acquainted with geography and navigation. The principal pilot of the expedition was Juan de la Cosa, s mariner of great repute, a disciple of the admiral, whom he had accompanied in his first voyage of discovery, and in thal along the southern coast of Cuba, and round the island oi Jamaica. There were several also of the mariners, and Bar tholomew Roldan, a distinguished pilot, who had been witt Columbus in his voyage to Paria.* Such was the expeditior which, by a singular train of circumstances, eventually gave the name of this Florentine merchant, Amerigo Vespucci, t( the whole of the New World. . This expedition had sailed in May, 1499. The adventurer! had arrived on the southern continent, and ranged along it: coast, from two hundred leagues east of the Oronoco, to tb Gulf of Paria. Guided by the charts of Columbus, they ha( passed through this gulf, and through the Boca del Dragon and had kept along westward to Cape de la Vela, visiting tb island of Margarita and the adjacent continent, and discover ing the gulf of Venezuela. They had subsequently touched a the Caribbee Islands, where they had fought with the fierc natives, and made many captives, with the intention of selling' them in the slave-markets of Spain. Thence, being in need o supplies, they had sailed to Hispaniola, having performed th 1 * Las Casas. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 451 most extensive voyage hitherto made along the shores of the New World.* Having collected all the information that he could obtain concerning these voyagers, their adventures and designs, and trusting to the declaration of Ojeda, that he should proceed forthwith to present himself to the admiral, Roldan returned to San Domingo to render a report of his mission. CHAPTER VI. MANOEUVRES OF ROLDAN AND OJEDA. [1500.] When intelligence was brought to Columbus of the nature of :he expedition of Ojeda, and the license under which he sailed, le considered himself deeply aggrieved, it being a direct in- raction of his most important prerogatives, and sanctioned by luthority which ought to have held them sacred. He awaited )atiently, however, the promised visit of Alonso de Ojeda to )btain fuller explanations. Nothing was farther from the in- ention of that roving commander than to keep such promise : le had made it merely to elude the vigilance of Roldan. As oon as he had refitted his vessels and obtained a supply of •revisions, he sailed round to the coast of Xaragua, where he rrived in February. Here he was well received by the Span- xrds resident in that province, who supplied all his wants, xmong them were many of the late comrades of Roldan; loose, andom characters, impatient of order and restraint, and burn- ig with animosity against the admiral, for having again J rought them under the wholesome authority of the laws. Knowing the rash and fearless character of Ojeda, and find- ig that there were jealousies between him and the admiral, ley hailed him as a new leader, come to redress their fancied pievances, in place of Roldan, whom they considered as hav- ig deserted them. They made clamorous complaints to Ojeda - the injustice of the admiral, whom they charged with with- jlding from them the arrears of their pay. * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 4. Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, part in ms. 'published. 452 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Ojeda was a hot-headed man, with somewhat of a vaunting spirit, and immediately set himself up for a redresser of griev¬ ances. It is said also that he gave himself out as authorized by government, in conjunction with Carvajal, to act as counsel¬ lors, or rather supervisors of the admiral; and that one of the first measures they were to take, was to enforce the payment of all salaries due to the servants of the crown.* It is question¬ able, however, whether Ojeda made any pretension of the kind, which could so readily be disproved, and would have tended to disgrace him with the government. It is probable that he was encouraged in his intermeddling, chiefly by his knowledge of the tottering state of the admiral’s favor at court, and of his own security in the powerful protection of Fonseca. He may have imbibed also the opinion, diligently fostered by those with whom he had chiefly communicated in Spain, just before his departure, that these people had been driven to extremities by the oppression of the admiral and his brothers. Some feeling of generosity, therefore, may have mingled with his usual love of action and enterprise, when he proposed to redress all their wrongs, put himself at their head, march at once to San Domingo, and oblige the admiral to pay them on the spot, or expel him from the island. The proposition of Ojeda was received with acclamations of transport by some of the rebels; others made objections. Quarrels arose; a ruffianly scene of violence and brawl ensued, in which several were killed and wounded on both sides; but the party for the expedition to San Domingo remained trium¬ phant. • t li.jffi Fortunately for the peace and safety of the admiral, Roldan arrived in the neighborhood just at this critical juncture, at¬ tended by a crew of resolute fellows. He had been dispatched by Columbus to watch the movements of Ojeda, on hearing oi his arrival on the coast of Xaragua. Apprised of the violent scenes which were taking place, Roldan, when on the way, sent to his old confederate, Diego de Escobar, to follow him with all the trusty force he could collect. They reached Xaragua within a day of each other. An instance of the bad faith usual between bad men was now evinced. The former partisans of Roldan, finding him earnest in his intention of serving the government, and that there was no hope of engaging him in their new sedi- * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 84. ' LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 45‘3 II, | fcion, sought to waylay and destroy him on his march, hut his | vigilance and celerity prevented them.* Ojeda, when he heard of the approach of Roldan and Escobar, i retired on board of his ships. Though of a daring spirit, he had no inclination, in the present instance, to come to blows, where there was a certainty of desperate fighting, and no gain; and where he must raise his arm against government. Roldan now issued such remonstrances as had often been ineffectually addressed to himself. He wrote to Ojeda, reasoning with him ; on his conduct, and the confusion he was producing in the island, and inviting him on shore to an amicable arrangement of all alleged grievances. Ojeda, knowing the crafty, violent character of Roldan, disregarding his repeated messages, and refused to venture within his power. He even seized one of his messengers, Diego de Truxillo, and landing suddenly at Xaragua, carried off another of his followers, named Toribio de Lenares, both of whom he retained in irons, on board of his vessel, as hostages for a certain Juan Pintor, a one-armed sailor, who had deserted, threatening to hang them if the deserter was not given up. f Various manoeuvres took place between these two well- !matched opponents; each wary of the address and prowess of the other. Ojeda made sail, and stood twelve leagues to the northward, to the province of Cahay, one of the most .beautiful ind fertile parts of the country, and inhabited by a kind and gentle people. Here he landed with forty men, seizing upon whatever he could find of the provisions of the natives. Rol- lan and Escobar followed along shore, and were soon at his lecls. Roldan then dispatched Escobar in a light canoe, pad¬ ded swiftly by Indians, who approaching within hail of the hip, informed Ojeda that, since he would not trust himself on hore, Roldan w.ould come and confer with him on board, if he yould send a boat for him. Ojeda now thought himself secure of his enemy; he immedi- tely dispatched a boat within a short distance of the shore, . rtiere the crew lay on their oars, requiring Roldan to come to hem. “How many may accompany me?” demanded the itter. “ Only five or six,” was the reply. Upon this Diego de Iscobar and four others waded to the boat. The crew refused ) admit more. Roldan then ordered one man to carry him to * Hist, del Almirante, ubi cup. t Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 169. M3. 454 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. the barge, and another to walk by his side and assist him. By this stratagem, his party was eight strong. The instant he entered the boat he ordered the oarsmen to row to shore. On their refusing, he and his companions attacked them sword in hand, wounded several, and made all prisoners, excepting an Indian archer, who, plunging under the water, escaped by swimming. Tjiis was an important triumph for Roldan. Ojeda, anxious for the recovery of his boat, which was indispensable for the service of the ship, now made overtures of peace. He approached the shore in his remaining boat of small size, taking with him his principal pilot, an arquebusier, and four oarsmen. Roldan entered the boat he had just captured, with seven row¬ ers and fifteen fighting men, causing fifteen others to be ready on shore to embark in a large canoe, in case of need. A char¬ acteristic interview took place between these doughty antago¬ nists, each keeping warily on his guard. Their conference was carried on at a distance. Ojeda justified his hostile movements by alleging that Roldan had come with an armed force to seize him. This the latter positively denied, promising him the most amicable reception from the admiral, in case he would repair to San Domingo. An arrangement was at length effected; the boat was restored, and mutual restitution of the men took place, with the exception of Juan Pintor, the one-armed deserter, who had absconded; and on the following day Ojeda, according to agreement, set sail to leave the island, threatening, however, to return at a future time with more ships and men.* Roldan waited in the neighborhood, doubting the truth of his departure. In the course of a few days word was brought that Ojeda had landed on a distant part of the coast. He im¬ mediately pursued him with eighty men, in canoes, sending scouts by land. Before he arrived at the place Ojeda had agaiD made sail, and Roldan saw and heard no more of him. Las Casas asserts, however, that Ojeda departed either to some re¬ mote district of Hispaniola, or to the island of Porto Rico, where he made up what he called his Cavalgada, or drove oi slaves, carrying off numbers of the unhappy natives, whom he sold in the slave-market of Cadiz, f * Letter of Columbus to the Nurse of Prince Juan, t Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 169. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 455 CHAPTER VII. CONSPIRACY OF GUEVARA AND MONICA. [1500.] When men have been accustomed to act falsely, they take great merit to themselves for an exertion of common honesty. The followers of Roldan were loud in trumpeting forth their unwonted loyalty, and the great service they had rendered to government in driving Ojeda from the island. Like all reformed knaves, they expected that their good conduct would be amply rewarded. Looking upon their leader as having everything in his gift, and being well pleased with the delight¬ ful province of Cahay, they requested him to share the land among them, that they might settle there. Roldan would have had no hesitation in granting their request had it been made during his freebooting career; but he was now anxious to establish a character for adherence to the laws. He declined, therefore, acceding to their wishes, until sanctioned by the ad¬ miral. Knowing, however, that he had fostered a spirit among diese men which it was dangerous to contradict, and that their opacity, by long indulgence, did not admit of delay, he shared imong them certain lands of his own, in the territory of his mcient host Behechio, cacique of Xaragua, He then wrote to he admiral for permission to return to San Domingo, and •eceived a letter in reply, giving him many thanks and commen¬ dations for the diligence and address which he had manifested, >ut requesting him to remain for a time in Xaragua, lest Ojeda hould be yet hovering about the coast, and disposed to make j mother descent in that province. | The troubles of the island were not yet at an end, but were | estined again to break forth, and from somewhat of a roman- | ic cause. There arrived about this time, at Xaragua, a young javalier of noble family, named Don Hernando de Guevara. ! te possessed an agreeable person and winning manners, but r as headstrong in his passions and dissolute in his principles, -e was cousin to Adrian de Moxica, one of the most active ngleaders in the late rebellion of Roldan, and had conducted 1 irnself with such licentiousness at San Domingo that Colum- is had banished him from the island. There being no other >portunity of embarking, ho had been sent to Xaragua, to 456 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. return to Spain in one of the ships of Ojeda, but arrived after their departure. Eoldan received him favorably, on account j of his old comrade, Adrian de Moxica, and permitted him tc choose some place of residence until further orders concerning him should arrive from the admiral. He chose the province oi Cahay, at the place where Eoldan had captured the boat oi Ojeda. It was a delightful part of that beautiful coast; but the reason why Guevara choose it, was the vicinity to Xaragua. While at the latter place, in consequence of the indulgence oi Eoldan, he was favorably received at the house of Anacaona. \ the widow of Caonabo, and sister of the cacique Behechio 0 That remarkable woman still retained her partiality to th( Tl Spaniards, notwithstanding the disgraceful scenes which hac j passed before her eyes; and the native dignity of her charactei i, had commanded the respect even of the dissolute rabble whicl infested her province. By her late husband, the cacique Cao nabo, she had a daughter named Higuenamota, just grown up and greatly admired for her beauty. Guevara, being often ii - company with her, a mutual attachment ensued. It was to b< near her that he chose Cahay as a residence, at a place when his cousin Adrian de Moxica kept a number of dogs and hawks to be employed in the chase. Guevara delayed his departure Eoldan discovered the reason, and warned him to desist fron his pretensions and leave the province. Las Casas intimate: that Eoldan was himself attached to the young Indian beauty and jealous of her preference of his rival. Anacaona, th' mother, pleased with the gallant appearance and ingratiating manners of the youthful cavalier, favored his attachment especially as he sought her daughter in marriage. Not withstand ing the orders of Eoldan, Guevara still lingered in Xaragua, h the house of Anacaona; and sending for a priest, desired hin to baptize his intended bride. Hearing of this Eoldan sent for Guevara, and rebuked hin sharply for remaining at Xaragua, and attempting to deceiv a person of the importance of Anacaona, by ensnaring th >, affections of her daughter. Guevara avowed the strength of hi > passion, and his correct intentions, and entreated permission t 1 remain. Eoldan was inflexible. He alleged that some evi • construction might be put on his conduct by the admiral; bu < it is probable his true motive was a desire to send away a rivai who interfered with his own amorous designs. Guavar - obeyed; but had scarce been three days at Cahay, when unabl > to remain longer absent from the object of his passion, h 1 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 457 t returned to Xaragua, accompanied by four or five friends, and I concealed himself in the dwelling of Anacaona. Roldan, who iwas at that time confined by a malady in his eyes, being I apprised of his return, sent orders for him to depart instantly to iCahay. The young cavalier assumed a tone of defiance. He t warned Roldan not to make foes when he had such great need |of friends; for to his certain knowledge, the admiral intended to behead him. Upon this, Roldan commanded him to quit that part of the island, and repair to San Domingo, to present himself before the admiral. The thoughts of being banished 3ntirely from the vicinity of his Indian beauty checked the vehemence of the youth. He changed his tone of haughty lefiance into one of humble supplication; and Roldan, appeased >y this submission, permitted him to remain for the present in he neighborhood. Roldan had instilled wilfulness and violence into the hearts (>f his late followers, and now was doomed to experience the fleets. Guevara, incensed at his opposition to his passion, aeditated revenge. He soon made a party among the old com- ades of Roldan, who detested, as a magistrate, the man they ad idolized as a leader. It was concerted to rise suddenly pon him, and either to kill him or put out his eyes. Roldan r as apprised of the plot, and proceeded with his usual prompt- ess. Guevara was seized in the dwelling of Anacaona, in the resence of his intended bride; seven of his accomplices were kewise arrested. Roldan immediately sent an account of the fair to the admiral, professing, at present, to do nothing ithout his authority, and declaring himself not competent to idge impartially in the case. Columbus, who was at that me at Fort Conception, in the Vega, ordered the prisoner to !; conducted to the fortress of San Domingo. I The vigorous measures of Roldan against his old comrades ! educed commotions in the island. When Adrian de Moxica I ard that his cousin Guevara was a prisoner, and that, too, r command of his former confederate, he was highly exas- rated, and resolved on vengeance. Hastening to Bonao, the 1 haunt of rebellion, he obtained the co-operation of Pedro ;quelme, the recently appointed alcalde. They went round j long their late companions in rebellion, who had received J ids and settled in various parts of the Vega, working upon * hr ready passions, and enlistening their feelings in the cause an old comrade. These men seemed to have had an irresist- *! e propensity to sedition. Guevara was a favorite with them 458 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. all; the charms of the Indian beauty had probably their influence; and the conduct of Roldan was pronounced a tyran¬ nical interference, to prevent a marriage agreeable to all par¬ ties, and beneficial to the colony. There is no being so odious to his former associates as a reformed robber, or a rebel, enlisted in the service of justice. The old Scenes of faction were renewed; the weapons which had scarce been hung up from the recent rebellions, were again snatched down from the walls, and rash preparations were made for action. Moxica soon saw a body of daring and reckless men ready, with horse and weapon, to follow him cn any desperte enterprise. Blinded by the impunity which had attended their former outrages, he now threatened acts of greater atrocity, meditating, not merely the rescue of his cousin, but the death of Roldan and the admiral. Columbus was at Fort Conception, with an inconsiderable force, when this dangerous plot was concerted in his very neighborhood. Not dreaming of any further hostilities from men on whom he had lavished favors, he would doubtless have fallen into their power, had not intelligence been brought him of the plot by a deserter from the conspirators. He saw at a glance the perils by which he was surrounded, and the storm about to burst upon the island. It was no longer a time for lenient measures; he determined to strike a blow which should crush the very head of the rebellion. Taking with him but six or seven trusty servants, and three esquires, all well-armed, he set out in the night for the place where the ringleaders were quartered. Confiding probably in the secrecy of their plot, and the late passiveness of the admiral, they appeared to have been perfectly unguarded. Columbus came upon them by surprise, seized Moxica and several of his principal confederates, and bore them off to Fort Conception. The moment was critical; the Vega was ripe for a revolt; he had the fomenter of the conspiracy in his power, and an exam¬ ple was called for, that should strike terror into the factious. He ordered Moxica to be hanged on the top of the fortress. The latter entreated to be allowed to confess himself previous to execution. A priest was summoned. The miserable Moxica, who had been so arrogant in rebellion, lost all courage at the near approach of death. He delayed to confess, beginning and pausing, and recommencing, and again hesitating, as if he hoped, by whiling away time, to give a chance for rescue. Instead of confessing his own sins, he accused others of crinu LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 459 nality, who were known to be innocent; until Columbus, incensed at this falsehood and treachery, and losing all patience, in his mingled indignation and scorn, ordered the dastard wretch to be swung off from the battlements.* This sudden act of severity was promptly followed up. Several of the accomplices of Moxica were condemned to death and thrown in irons to await their fate. Before tho conspira¬ tors had time to recover from their astonishment, Pedro Bequelme was taken, with several of his compeers, in his ruffian den at Bonao, and conveyed to the fortress of San Domingo; where was also confined the original mover of this second rebellion, Hernando de Guevara, the lover of the young Indian princess. These unexpected acts of rigor, proceeding from a quarter which had been long so lenient, had the desired effect. The conspirators fled for the most part to Xaragua, their old and favorite retreat. They were not suffered to congregrate there again, and concert new seditions. The Adelantado, seconded by Roldan, pursued them with his characteristic rapidity of movement and vigor of arm. It has been said that he carried a priest with him, in order that, as he arrested delinquents, they might be confessed and hanged upon the spot; but the more probable account is that he transmitted them prisoners to San Domingo. He had seventeen of them at one time confined in one common dungeon, awaiting their trial, while he continued in indefatigable pursuit of the remainder.! These wore prompt and severe measures; but when we con¬ sider how long Columbus had borne with these men; how much he had ceded and sacrificed to them; how he had been interrupted in all his great undertakings, and the welfare of the colony destroyed by their contemptible and seditious brawls; how they had abused his lenity, defied his authority, and at length attempted his life—we cannot wonder that he should at last let fall the sword of justice, which he had hitherto ! held suspended. The power of faction was now completely subdued, and the good effects of the various measures taken by Columbus, since bis last arrival, for the benefit of the island, began to appear. The Indians, seeing the inefficacy of resistance, submitted to the yoke. Many gave signs of civilization, having, in some j instances, adopted clothing and embraced Christianity. Assist- * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 5. t Las Casas. Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 170, ms. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 7. 460 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ed by their labors the Spaniards now cultivated their lands diligently, and there was every appearance of settled and regu¬ lar prosperity. Columbus considered all this happy change as brought about by the especial intervention of Heaven. In a letter to Doha Juana de la Torre, a lady of distinction, ay a or nurse of Prince Juan, he gives an instance of those visionary fancies to which he was subject in times of illness and anxiety. In the preced¬ ing winter, he says, about the festival of Christmas, when menaced by Indian war and domestic rebellion, when distrust¬ ful of those around him and apprehensive of disgrace at court, he sank for a time into complete dispondency. In this hour of gloom, when abandoned to despair, he heard in the night a voice addressing him in words of comfort, “Oh man of little faith! why art thou cast down? Fear nothing, I will provide for thee. The seven years of the term of gold are not expired; in that, and in all other things, I will take care of thee. ” The seven years term of gold here mentioned alludes to a vow made by Columbus on discovering the New World, and recorded by him in a letter to the sovereigns, that within seven years he would furnish, from the profits of his discoveries, fifty thousand foot and five thousand horse, for the deliverance of the holy sepulchre, and an additional force of like amount, within five years afterward. The comforting assurance given him by the voice was cor¬ roborated, he says, that very day, by intelligence received of the discovery of a large tract of country rich in mines. * This imaginary promise of divine aid thus mysteriously given, appeared to him at present in still greater progress of fulfil¬ ment. The troubles and dangers of the island had been suc¬ ceeded by tranquillity. He now anticipated the prosperous prosecution of his favorite enterprise, so long interrupted—tlie exploring of the regions of Paria, and the establishment o f a fishery in the Gulf of Pearls. How illusive were his hopes! At this moment events were maturing which were to over¬ whelm him with distress, strip him of his honors, and render him comparatively a wreck for the remainder of his days! I * Letter of Columbus to the Nurse of Prince Juan. Hist, del Almirante. cap 84. s BOOK XIII. CHAPTER I. « REPRESENTATIONS AT COURT AGAINST COLUMBUS—BOBADILLA. EMPOWERED TO EXAMINE INTO HIS CONDUCT. [1500.] While Columbus was involved in a series of difficulties in the factious island of Hispaniola, his enemies were but to suc¬ cessful in undermining his reputation in the court of Spain. The report brought by Ojeda of his anticipated disgrace was lot entirely unfounded; the event was considered near at land, and every perfidious exertion was made to accelerate it. Svery vessel from the New World came freighted with com- )laints, representing Columbus and his brothers as new men, maccustomed to command, inflated by their sudden rise from jbscurity; arrogant and insulting toward men of birth and ifty spirit; oppressive of the common people, and cruel in heir treament of the natives. The insidious and illiberal isinuation was continually urged, that they were foreigners, /ho could have no interest in the glory of Spain, or the pros- erity of Spaniards; and contemptible as this plea may seem, ; had a powerful effect. Columbus was even accused of a esign to cast off all allegience to Spain, and either make himself pvereign of the countries he had discovered, or yield them ito the hands of some other power; a slander, which, how¬ ler extravagant, was calculated to startle the jealous mind of erdinand. It is true that by every ship Columbus likewise sent home atements, written with the frankness and energy of truth, stting forth the real cause and nature of the distractions of ie island, and pointing out and imploring remedies, which, if j.'operly applied, might have been efficacious. His letters, nvever, arriving at distant intervals, made but single and ansient impressions on the royal mind, which were speedily 462 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. effaced by the influence of daily and active misrepresentation. His enemies at court, having continual access to the sover¬ eigns, were enabled to place everything urged against him in the strongest point of view, while they secretly neutralized the force of his vindications. They used a plausible logic to prove either bad management or bad faith on his part. There was an incessant drain upon the mother country for the support of the colony. Was this compatible with the extravagant pic¬ tures he had drawn of the wealth of the island, and its golden mountains, in which he had pretended to find- the Ophir of ancient days, the source of all the riches of Solomon? They inferred that he had either deceived the sovereigns by design¬ ing exaggerations, or grossly wronged them by malpractices, or was totally incapable of the duties of government. The disappointment of Ferdinand, in finding his newly- discovered possessions a source of expense instead of profit, was known to press sorely on his mind. The wars, dictated by his ambition, had straitened his resources, and involved him in perplexities. He had looked with confidence to the New World for relief, and for ample means to pursue his triumphs.; and grew impatient at the repeated demands which it occasioned on his scanty treasury. For the pur¬ pose of irritating his feelings and heightening his resent¬ ment, every disappointed and repining man who returned from the colony was encouraged by the hostile faction, to put in claims for pay withheld by Columbus, or losses sustained in his service. This was especially the case with the disorderly ruffians shipped off to free the island from sedition. Finding their way to the court at Granada, they followed the king when he rode out, filling the air with their complaints, and clamoring for their pay. At one time about fifty of these vagabonds found their way into the inner court of the Alham¬ bra, under the royal apartments; holding up bunches of grapes as the meagre diet left them by their poverty, and railing aloud at the deceits of Columbus and the cruel neglect of government. The two sons of Columbus, who were pages to the queen, happening to pass by, they followed them with im¬ precations, exclaiming, ‘ ‘ There go the sons of the admiral, the whelps of him who discovered the land of vanity and delusion, the grave of Spanish hidalgos.”* The incessant repetition of falsehood will gradually wear its * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 85. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 463 way into the most candid mind. Isabella herself began to enter¬ tain doubts respecting the conduct of Columbus. Where there was such universal and incessant complaint, it seemed reason¬ able to conclude that there must exist some fault. If Colum¬ bus and his brothers were upright, they might be injudicious; and, in government, mischief is oftener produced through error of judgment than iniquity of design. The letters written by Columbus himself presented a lamentable picture of the con¬ fusion of the island. Might not this arise from the weakness and incapacity of the rulers? Even granting that the prevalent abuses arose in a great measure from the enmity of the people to the admiral and his brothers, and their prejudices against them as foreigners, was it safe to intrust so important and dis¬ tant a command to persons so unpopular with the community? These considerations had much weight in the candid mind of Isabella, but they were all-powerful with the cautious and jealous Ferdinand. He had never regarded Columbus with real cordiality; and ever since he had ascertained the import¬ ance of his discoveries, had regretted the extensive powers vested in his hands. The excessive clamors which had arisen during the brief administration of the Adelantado and the breaking out of the faction of Eoldan at length determined the king to send out some person of consequence and ability to in¬ vestigate the affairs of the colony, and if necessary for its safety, to take upon himself the command. This important and critical measure it appears had been decided upon, and the papers and powers actually drawn out, in the spring of 1499. it was not carried into effect, however, until the following year. Various reasons have been assigned for this delay. The mportant services rendered by Columbus in the discovery of 3 aria and the Pearl Islands may have had some effect on the ■oyal mind. The necessity of fitting out an armament just at hat moment, to co-operate with the Venetians against the -urks; the menacing movements of the new king of France, jouis XII.; the rebellion of the Moors of the Alpuxarra moun- ains, in the lately conquered kingdom of Granada—all these ave been alleged as reasons for postponing a measure which ailed for much consideration, and might have important ffects upon the newly discovered possessions.* The most ! robable reason, however, was the strong disinclination of * Muftoz. Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished. 464 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Isabella to take so harsh a step against a man for whom she entertained such ardent gratitude and high admiration. At length the arrival of the ships with the late followers of Roldan, according to their capitulation, brought matters to a crisis. It is true that Ballester and Barrantes came in these ships, to place the affairs of the island in a proper light; but they brought out a host of witnesses in favor of Roldan, and letters written by himself and his confederates, attributing all their late conduct to the tyranny of Columbus and his brothers. Unfortunately the testimony of the rebels had the greatest weight with Ferdinand; and there was a circumstance in the case which suspended for a time the friendship of Isabella, hitherto the greatest dependence of Columbus. Having a maternal interest in the welfare of the natives, the queen had been repeatedly offended by what appeared to her pertinacity on the part of Columbus, in continuing to make slaves of those taken in warfare, in contradiction to her known wishes. The same ships which brought home the companions of Roldan, brought likewise a great number of slaves. Some, Columbus had been obliged to grant to these men by the articles of capitulation; others they had brought away clandestinely. Among them were several daughters of caciques, seduced away from their families and their native island by these profligates. Some of these were in a state of pregnancy, others had new¬ born infants. The gifts and transfers of these unhappy beings were all ascribed to the will of Columbus, and represented to Isabella in the darkest colors. Her sensibility as a woman, and her dignity as a queen, were instantly in arms. “What power,” exclaimed she indignantly, “has the admiral to give away my vassals? ” * Determined, by one decided and peremp¬ tory act, to show her abhorrence of these outrages upon human¬ ity, she ordered all the Indians to be restored to their country and friends. Nay, more; her measure was retrospective. She commanded that those formerly sent to Spain by the admiral should be sought out and sent back to Hispaniola. Unfortu¬ nately for Columbus, at this very juncture, in one of his letters he advised the continuance of Indian slavery for some time longer, as a measure important for the welfare of the colony. This contributed to heighten the indignation of Isabella, and induced her no longer to oppose the sending out of a commis- * Las Casas, lib.i LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 465 sion to investigate his conduct, and, if necessary, to supersede him in command. Ferdinand was exceedingly embarrassed in appointing this commission, between his sense of what was due to the charac¬ ter and services of Columbus, and his anxiety to retract with delicacy the powers vested in him. A pretext at length was furnished by the recent request of the admiral that a person of talents and probity, learned in the law, might be sent out to act as chief judge; and that an impartial umpire might be appointed, to decide in the affair between himself and Eoldan. Ferdinand proposed to consult his wishes, but to unite those two offices in one; and as the person he appointed would have to decide in matters touching the highest functions of the admiral and his brothers, he was empowered, should he find them culpable, to supersede them in the government; a singu¬ lar mode of insuring partiality. The person chosen for this momentous and delicate office was Don Francisco de Bobadilla, an officer of the royal household, and a commander of the military and religious order of Cala- trava. Oviedo pronounces him a very honest and religious man; * but he is represented by others, and his actions corrobo¬ rate the description, as needy, passionate, and ambitious— three powerful objections to his exercising the rights of judica¬ ture in a case requiring the utmost patience, candor, and cir¬ cumspection, and where the judge was to derive wealth and power from the conviction of one of the parties. The authority vested in Bobadilla is defined in letters from the sovereigns still extant, and which deserve to be noticed chronologically; for the royal intentions appear to have varied with times and circumstances. The first was dated on the 21st of March, 1499, and mentions the complaint of the admiral that an alcade, and certain other persons had risen in rebellion against him. “Wherefore,” adds the letter, “ we order you to inform yourself of the truth of the foregoing; to ascertain who and what persons they were who rose against the said admiral and our magistracy, and for what cause; and what robberies and other injuries they have committed; and furthermore, to extend your inquiries to all other matters relating to the prem¬ ises; and the information obtained, and the truth known, ! whomsoever you find culpable, arrest their persons, and i sequestrate their effects ; and thus taken, proceed against them H I * Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. G. 400 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and the absent, both civilly and criminally, and impose and inflict such fines and punishments as you may think fit.” To carry this into effect, Bobadilla was authorized, in case of necessity, to call in the assistance of the admiral, and of all other persons in authority. The powers here given are manifestly directed merely against the rebels, and in consequence of the complaints of Co¬ lumbus. Another letter, dated on the 21st of May, two months subsequently, is of quite different purport. It makes no men¬ tion of Columbus, but is addressed to the various functionaries and men of property of the islands and Terra Firma, informing them of the appointment of Bobadilla to the government, with full civil and criminal jurisdiction. Among the powers speci¬ fied, is the following: “It is our will, that if the said comman¬ der, Francisco de Bobadilla, should think it necessary for our service, and the purposes of justice, that any cavaliers, or other persons who are at present in those islands, or may arrive there, should leave them, and not return and reside in them, and that they should come and present themselves before us, he may command it in our name, and oblige them to depart; and whomsoever he thus commands, we hereby order, that immediately, without waiting to inquire or consult us, or to receive from us any other letter or command, and without interposing appeal or supplication, they obey whatever he shall say and order, under the penalties which he shall impose on our part,” etc., etc. Another letter, dated likewise on the 21st of May, in which Columbus is styled simply “ admiral of the ocean sea,” orders him and his brothers to surrender the fortress, ships, houses, arms, ammunition, cattle, and all other royal property, into tlio hands of Bobadilla, as governor, under penalty of incurring the punishments to which those subject themselves who refuse to surrender fortresses and other trusts, when commanded by their sovereigns. A fourth letter, dated on the 26th of May, and addressed to Columbus, simply by the title of admiral, is a mere letter of credence, ordering him to give faith and obedience to whatever Bobadilla should impart. The second and third of these letters were evidently provision¬ al, and only to be produced, if, on examination, there should appear such delinquency on the part of Columbus and his brothers as to warrant their being divested of command. This heavy blow, as has been shown, remained suspended for LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 467 a year; yet, that it was whispered about, and triumphantly anticipated by the enemies of Columbus, is evident from the assertions of Ojeda, who sailed from Spain about the time of the signature of those letters, and had intimate communion' tions with Bishop Fonseca, who was considered instrumental in producing this measure. The very license granted by the bishop to Ojeda to sail on a voyage of discovery in contraven¬ tion of the prerogatives of the admiral, has the air of being given on a presumption of his speedy downfall; and the same presumption, as has already been observed, must have encouraged Ojeda in his turbulent conduct at Xaragua. At length the long-projected measure was carried into effect. Bohadilla set sail for San Domingo about the middle of July, 1500, with two caravels, in which were twenty-five men, enlisted for a year, to serve as a kind of guard. There were six friars likewise, who had charge of a number of Indians sent back to their country. Besides the letters patent, Bobadilla was authorized, by royal order, to ascertain and discharge all | arrears of pay due to persons in the service of the crown, and to oblige the admiral to pay what was due on his part, “so that those people might receive what was owing to them, and there might be no more complaints.” In addition to all these powers, Bobadilla was furnished with many blank letters signed by the sovereigns, to be filled up by him in such manner, and directed to such persons, as he might think advisable, in rela¬ tion to the mission with which he was intrusted.* IIHKhtTV *£ tii CHAPTER IL ARRIVAL OF BOBADILLA AT SAN DOMINGO—HIS VIOLENT A'SSUMP- * TION OF THE COMMAND. [1500.] I Columbus was still at Fort Conception, regulating the affairs of the Vega, after the catastrophe of the sedition of Moxica; his brother, the Adelantado, accompanied by Roldan, was pursuing and arresting the fugitive rebels in Xaragua; and Don Diego 1 * Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 7, 468 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Columbus remained in temporary command at San Domingo, Faction had worn itself out; the insurgents had brought down ruin upon themselves; and the island appeared delivered from the domination of violent and lawless men. Such was the state of public affairs, when, on the morning of the 23d of August, two caravels were descried off the harbor of San Domingo, about a league at sea. They were standing off and on, waiting until the sea breeze, which generally pre¬ vails about ten o’clock, should carry them into port. Don Diego Columbus supposed them to be ships sent from Spain with supplies, and hoped to find on board his nephew Diego, whom the admiral had requested might be sent out to assist him in his various concerns. A canoe was immediately dis¬ patched to obtain information; which, approaching the cara¬ vels, inquired what news they brought, and whether Diego, the son of the admiral, was on board. Bobadilla himself replied from the principal vessel, announcing himself as a commis¬ sioner sent out to investigate the late rebellion. The master of the caravel then inquired about the news of the island, and was informed of the recent transactions. Seven of the rebels, he was told, had been hanged that week, and five more were in the fortress of San Domingo, condemned to suffer the same fate. Among these were Pedro Koquelme and Fernando de Guevara, the young cavalier whose passion for the daughter of Anacaona had been the original cause of the rebellion. Further conversation passed, in the course of which Bobadilla ascer¬ tained that the admiral and the Adelantado were absent, and Don Diego Columbus in command. When the canoe returned to the city with the news that a commissioner had arrived to make inquisition into the late troubles, there was a great stir and agitation throughout the community. Knots of whisperers gathered at every corner; those who were conscious of malpractices were filled with con¬ sternation ; while those who had grievances, real or imaginary, to complain of, especially those whose pay was in arrear, appeared with joyful countenances.* As the vessels entered the river, Bobadilla beheld on either bank a gibbet with the body of a Spaniard hanging on it, ap¬ parently but lately executed. He considered these as conclusive proofs of the alleged cruelty of Columbus. Many boats came off to the ship, every one being anxious to pay early court to * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 169. Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 8. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 469 this public censor. Bobadilla remained on board all day, in the course of which he collected much of the rumors of the place; and as those who sought to secure his favor were those who had most to fear from his investigations, it is evident that the nature of the rumors must generally have been unfavora¬ ble to Columbus. In fact, before Bobadilla landed, if not before he arrived, the culpability of the admiral was decided in his mind. The next morning he landed, with all his followers, and went to the church to attend mass, where he found Don Diego Columbus, Rodrigo Perez, the lieutenant of the admiral, and other persons of note. Mass meeting ended, and those persons, with a multitude of the populace, being assembled at the door of the church, Bobadilla ordered his letters patent to be read, authorizing him to investigate the rebellion, seize the persons and sequestrate the property of delinquents, and proceed against them with the utmost rigor of the law; commanding also the admiral, and all others in authority, to assist him in the dis¬ charge of his duties. The letter being read, he demanded of Don Diego and the alcaldes to surrender to him the persons of Fernando Guevara, Pedro Roquelme, and the other prisoners, with the depositions taken concerning them; and ordered that the parties by whom they were accused, and those by whose command they had been taken, should appear before him. Don Diego replied, that the proceedings had emanated from the orders of the admiral, who held superior powers to any Bobadilla could possess, and without whose authority he could do nothing. He requested, at the same time, a copy of the letter patent, that he might send it to his brother, to whom alone the matter appertained. This Bobadilla refused, observ¬ ing that, if Don Diego had power to do nothing, it was useless to give him a copy. He added, that since the office and au¬ thority he had proclaimed appeared to have no weight, he would try what power and consequence there was in the name of governor, and would show them that he had command, not j merely over them, but over the admiral himself. The little community remained in breathless suspense, await¬ ing the portentous movements of Bobadilla. The next morn¬ ing he appeared at mass, resolved on assuming those powers which were only to have been produced after full investigation, and ample proof of the mal-conduct of Columbus. When mass was over, and the eager populace had gathered round the door of the church, Bobadilla, in presence of Don Diego and Rodrigo 470 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . Perez, ordered his other royal patent to be read, investing him with the government of the islands, and of Terra Firma. The patent being read, Bobadilla took the customary oath, and then claimed the obedience of Don Diego, Rodrigo Perez, and all present, to this royal instrument; on the authority of which he again demanded the prisoners confined in the for¬ tress. In reply, they professed the utmost deference to the letter of the sovereigns, but again observed that they held the prisoners in obedience to the admiral, to whom the sovereigns had granted letters of a higher nature. The self-importance of Bobadilla was incensed at this non- compliance, especially as he saw it had some effect upon the populace, who appeared to doubt his authority. He now pro¬ duced the third mandate of the crown, ordering Columbus and his brothers to deliver up all fortresses, ships, and other royal property. To win the public completely to his side, he read also the additional mandate, issued on the 30th of May, of the same year, ordering him to pay the arrears of wages due to all persons in the royal service, and to compel the admiral to pay the arrears of those to whom he was accountable. This last document was received with shouts by the multi¬ tude, many having long arrears due to them in consequence of the poverty of the treasury. Flushed with his growing impor¬ tance, Bobadilla again demanded the prisoners; threatening, if refused, to take them by force. Meeting with the same reply, he repaired to the fortress to execute his threats. This post was commanded by Miguel Diaz, the same Arragonian cavalier who had once taken refuge among the Indians on the banks of the Ozema, won the affections of the female cacique Catalina, received from her information of the neighboring gold mines, and induced his countrymen to remove to those parts. When Bobadilla came before the fortress, he found the gates closed, and the alcayde, Miguel Diaz, upon the battle¬ ments. He ordered his letters patent to be read with a loud voice, the signatures and seals to be held up to view, and then demanded the surrender of the prisoners. Diaz requested a copy of the letters; but this Bobadilla refused, alleging that there was no time for delay, the prisoners being under sentence of death, and liable at any moment to be executed. He threat¬ ened at the same time, that if they were not given up, he would proceed to extremities, and Diaz should be answerable for the consequences. The wary alcayde again required time to reply, and a copy of the letters, saying that he held the fortress for LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 471 the king by the command of the admiral, his lord, who had gained these territories and islands, and that when the latter arrived he should obey his orders.* The whole spirit of Bobadilla was roused within him, at the refusal of the alcayde. Assembling all the people he had brought from Spain, together with the sailors of the ships and the rabble of the place, he exhorted them to aid him in getting possession of the prisoners, but to harm no one unless in case of resistance. The mob shouted assent, for Bobadilla was already the idol of the multitude. About the hour of vespers he set out at the head of this motley army, to storm a fortress destitute of a garrison, and formidable only in name, being cal¬ culated to withstand only a naked and slightly-armed people. The accounts of this transaction have something in them bor¬ dering on the ludicrous, and give it the air of absurd rhodo- montade. Bobadilla assailed, the portal with great impetuosity, the frail bolts and locks of which gave way at the first shock, and allowed him easy admission. In the mean time, however, his zealous myrmidons applied ladders to the walls, as if about to carry the place by assault, and to experience a desperate defence. The alcayde, Miguel Diaz, and Don Diego de Alvarado, alone appeared on the battlements; they had drawn swords, but offered no resistance. Bobadilla entered the fortress in triumph, and without molestation. The prisoners were found in a chamber in irons. He ordered that they should be brought np to him to the top of the fortress, where, having put a few questions to them, as a matter of form, he gave them in charge to an alguazil named Juan de 'Espinosa, f Such was the arrogant and precipitate entrance into office of Francisco de Bobadilla. He had reversed the order of his written instructions, having seized upon the government before he had investigated the conduct of Columbus. He continued his career in the same spirit, acting as if the case had been pre¬ judged in Spain, and he had been sent out merely to degrade the admiral from his employments, not to ascertain the manner in which he had fulfilled them. He took up his residence in the I house of Columbus, seized upon his arms, gold, plate, jewels, horses, together with his letters, and various manuscripts, both public and private, even to his most secret papers. He 1 gave no account of the property thus seized, and which he no * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 179. t Las Casas, ubi sup. Herrera, ubi sup. 472 LIFE OF CHRISTOPIIER COLUMBUS. doubt considered already confiscated to the crown, excepting that he paid out of it the wages of those to whom the admiral was in arrears.* To increase his favor with the people, he proclaimed, on the second day of his assumption of power, a general license for the term of twenty years, to seek for gold, paying merely one eleventh to government, instead of a third as heretofore. At the same time he spoke in the most disre¬ spectful and unqualified terms of Columbus, saying that he was empowered to send him home in chains, and that neither he nor any of his lineage would ever again be permitted to govern in the island.! CHAPTER III. COLUMBUS SUMMONED TO APPEAR BEFORE BOBADILLA. [ 1500 .] When the tidings reached Columbus at Fort Conception of the high-handed proceedings of Bobadilla, he considered them the unauthorized acts of some rash adventurer like Ojeda. Since government had apparently thrown open the door to pri¬ vate enterprise, he might expect to have his path continually crossed, and his jurisdiction infringed by bold intermeddlers, feigning or fancying themselves authorized to interfere in the affairs of the colony. Since the departure of Ojeda another squadron had touched upon the coast, and produced a transient alarm, being an expedition under one of the Pinzons, licensed by the sovereigns to make discoveries. There had also been a rumor of another squadron hovering about the island, which proved, however, to be unfounded.! The conduct of Bobadilla bore all the appearance of a lawless usurpation of some intruder of the kind. He had possessed himself forcibly of the fortress, and consequently of the town. He had issued extravagant licenses injurious to the govern¬ ment, and apparently intended only to make partisans among the people; and had threatened to throw Columbus himself in irons. That this man could really be sanctioned by govern- * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 85. Las Casas. Herrera, ubi sup. t Letter of Columbus to the Nurse of Prince Juan. t Ibid. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 473 ment in such intemperate measures was repugnant to belief. The admiral’s consciousness of his own services, the repeated assurances he had received of high consideration on the part of the sovereigns, and the perpetual prerogatives granted to him under their hand and seal, with all the solemnity that a compact could possess, all forbade him to consider the transactions at San Domingo otherwise than as outrages on his authority by some daring or misguided individual. To be nearer to San Domingo, and obtain more correct infor¬ mation, he proceeded to Bonao, which was now beginning to assume the appearance of a settlement, several Spaniards having erected houses there, and* cultivated the adjacent country. He had scarcely reached the place when an alcalde, bearing a staff of office, arrived there from San Domingo, proclaiming the ap¬ pointment of Bobadilla to the government, and bearing copies of his letters patent. There was no especial letter or message sent to the admiral, nor were any of the common forms of courtesy and ceremony observed in superseding him in the command; all the proceedings of Bobadilla toward him were abrupt and insulting. Columbus was exceedingly embarrassed how to act. It was evident that Bobadilla was intrusted with extensive powers by the sovereigns, but that they could have exercised such a sud¬ den, unmerited, and apparently capricious act of severity, as that of divesting him of all his commands, he could not believe. He endeavored to persuade himself that Bobadilla was some person sent out to exercise the functions of chief judge, accord¬ ing to the request he had written home to the sovereigns, and that they had intrusted him likewise with provisional powers to make an inquest into the late troubles of the island. All beyond these powers he tried to believe were mere assump¬ tions and exaggerations of authority, as in the case of Aguado. At all events, he was determined to act upon such presump¬ tion, and to endeavor to gain time. If the monarchs had really taken any harsh measures with respect to him, it must have been in consequence of misrepresentations. The least delay might give them an opportunity of ascertaining their error, and making the necessary amends. He wrote to Bobadilla, therefore, in guarded terms, welcom¬ ing him to the island; cautioning him against precipitate meas¬ ures, especially in granting licenses to collect gold; informing him that he was on the point of going to Spain, and in a little time would leave him in command, with everything fully and 474 LIFE OF CHRISTOPH Eli COLUMBUS. clearly explained. He wrote at the same time to the like pur¬ port to certain monks who had come out with Bobadilla, though he observes that these letters were only written to gain time.* He received no replies; but while an insuBmg silence was ob¬ served toward him, Bobadilla filled up several of the blank let¬ ters, of which he had a number signed by the sovereigns, and sent them to Boldan, and other of the admiral’s enemies, the very men whom he had been sent out to judge. These letters were full of civilities and promises of favor, t To prevent any mischief which might arise from the licenses and indulgences so prodigally granted by Bobadilla, Columbus published by word and letter that the powers assumed by him could not be valid, nor his licenses availing, as he himself held superior powers granted to him in perpetuity by the* crown, which could no more be superseded in this instance than they had been in that of Aguado. For some time Columbus remained in this anxious and per¬ plexed state of mind, uncertain what line of conduct to pursue in so singular and unlooked-for a conjuncture. He was soon brought to a decision. Francisco Velasquez, deputy treas¬ urer, and Juan de Trasierra, a Franciscan friar, arrived at Bonao, and delivered to him the royal letter of credence, signed by the sovereigns on the 26th of May, 1490, commanding him to give implicit faith and obedience to Bobadilla; and they de¬ livered, at the same time, a summons from the latter to appear immediately before him. This laconic letter from the sovereigns struck at once at the root of all his dignity and power. He no longer made hesita¬ tion or demur, but complying with the peremptory summons of Bobadilla, departed, ahnost alone and unattended, for San Bomingo.J * Letter of Columbus to the Nui'se of Prince Juan. + Ibid. Herrera, decad. i. lib. X Herrera, decad i. lib. iv. cap. 9. Letter to the Nurse of Prince Juan. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 475 CHAPTER IV. R COLUMBUS AND HIS BROTHERS ARRESTED AND SENT TO SPAIN IN CHAINS. [ 1500 .] The tidings that a new governor had arrived, and that Co¬ lumbus was in disgrace, and to be sent home in chains, circu¬ lated rapidly through the Vega, and the colonists hastened from all parts to San Romingo to make interest with Bobadilla. It was soon perceived that there was no surer way than that of vilifying his predecessor. Bobadilla felt that he had taken a rash step in seizing upon the government, and that his own safety required the conviction of Columbus. He listened eagerly, therefore, to all accusations, public or private; and welcome was he who could bring any charge, however extrava¬ gant, against the admiral and his brothers. Hearing that the admiral was on his way to the city, he made a bustle of preparation, and armed the troops, affecting to be¬ lieve a rumor that Columbus had called upon the caciques of the Vega to aid him with their subjects in a resistance to the commands of government. No grounds appear for this absurd report, which was probably invented to give a coloring of pre¬ caution to subsequent measures of violence and insult. The admiral’s brother, Don Diego, was seized, thrown in irons, and confined on board of a caravel, without any reason being as¬ signed for his imprisonment. In the mean time Columbus pursued his journey to San Do¬ mingo, travelling in a lonely manner, without guards or retinue. Most of his people were with the Adelantado, and he had de¬ clined being attended by the remainder. He had heard of the rumors of the hostile intentions of Bobadilla; and although he knew that violence was threatened to his person, he came in this unpretending manner to manifest his pacific feelings, and : to remove all suspicion.* No sooner did Bobadilla hear of his arrival than he gave orders to put him in irons, and confine him in the fortress. This outrage to a person of such dignified and venerable ap¬ pearance and such eminent merit, seemed for the time to shock even his enemies. When the irons were brought, every one 470 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, present shrank from the task of putting them on him, either from a sentiment of compassion at so great a reverse of fortune, or out of habitual reverence for his person. To fill the meas¬ ure of ingratitude meted out to him, it was one of his own do¬ mestics, “a graceless and shameless cook,” says Las Casas, “ who, with unwashed front, riveted the fetters with as much readiness and alacrity as though he were serving him with choice and savory viands. I knew the fellow,” adds the ven¬ erable historian, “ and I think his name was Espinosa.” * Columbus conducted himself with characteristic magnanim¬ ity under the injuries heaped upon him. There is a noble scorn which swells and supports the heart, and silences the tongue of the truly great, when enduring the insults of the unworthy. Columbus could not stoop to deprecate the arrogance of a weak and violent man like Bobadilla. He looked beyond his shallow agent and all his petty tyranny to the sovereigns who had em¬ ployed him. Their injustice or ingratitude alone could wound his spirit; and he felt assured that when the truth came to be known, they would blush to find how greatly they had wronged him. With this proud assurance he bore all present indignities in silence. Bobadilla, although h had the admiral and Don Diego in his power, and had secured the venal populace, felt anxious and ill at ease. The Adelantado, with an armed force under his com¬ mand, was still in the distant province of Xaragua, in pursuit of the rebels. Knowing his soldier-like and determined spirit, he feared he might take some violent measure when he should hear of the ignominious treatment and imprisonment of his brothers. He doubted whether any order from himself would have any effect, except to exasperate the stern Don Bartholo¬ mew. He sent a demand, therefore, to Columbus, to write to his brother, requesting him to repair peaceably to San Domingo, and forbidding him to execute the persons he held in confine¬ ment ; Columbus readily complied. He exhorted his brother to submit quietly to the authority of his sovereigns, and to en¬ dure all present wrongs and indignities, under the confidence that when they arrived at Castile, everything would be ex¬ plained and redressed, f * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180. t Peter Martyr mentions a vulgar rumor of the day, that the admiral, not know¬ ing what might happen, wrote a letter in cipher to the Adelantado, urging him to come with arms in his hands to prevent any violence that might be contrived against him; that the Adelantado advanced, in effect, with his armed force, but LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 477 On receiving this letter, Don Bartholomew immediately com¬ plied. Relinquishing his command, he hastened peacefully to San Domingo, and on arriving experienced the same treatment with his brothers, being put in irons and confined on board of a caravel. They were kept separate from each other, and no communication permitted between them. Bobadilla did not see them himself, nor did he allow others to visit them, but kept them in ignorance of the cause of their imprisonment, the crimes with which they were charged, and the process that was going on against them.* * It has been questioned whether Bobadilla really had authority for the arrest and imprisonment of the admiral and his broth¬ ers,! and whether such violence and indignity was in any case contemplated by the sovereigns. He may have fancied him¬ self empowered by the clause in the letter of instructions, dated March 21st, 1499, in which, speaking of the rebellion of Roldan, “he is authorized to seize the persons and sequestrate the prop¬ erty of those who appeared to be culpable, and then to proceed against them and against the absent, with the highest civil and criminal penalties. ” This evidently had reference to the per¬ sons of Roldan and his followers, who were then in arms, and against whom Columbus had sent home complaints; and this, by a violent construction, Bobadilla seems to have wrested into an authority for seizing the person of the admiral himself. In fact, in the whole course of his proceedings, he reversed and confounded the order of his instructions. His first step should have been to proceed against the rebels; this he made the last. having the imprudence w> proceed some distance ahead of it, was surprised by the governor, before his men could come to his succor, and that the letter in cipher had been sent to Spain. This must have been one of the groundless rumors of the day, circulated to prejudice the public mind. Nothing of the kind appears among the charges in the inquest made by Bobadilla, and which was seen, and extracts made from it, by Las Casas, for his history. It is, in fact, in total contradiction to the statements of Las Casas, Herrera, and Fernando Columbus. * Charlevoix, in his History of San Domingo (lib. iii. p. 199), states, that the suit against Columbus was conducted in writing; that written charges were sent to him, to which he replied in the same way. This is contrary to the statements of Las Casas, Herrera, and Fernando Columbus. The admiral himself, in his letter to the Nurse of Prince Juan, after relating the manner in which he and his brothers had been thrown into irons anc. confined separately, without being visited by Bobadilla, 1 or permitted to see any other persons, expressly adds, “I make oath that I do not i know for what I am imprisoned.” Again, in a letter written, some time afterward from Jamaica, he says, “I was taken and thrown with two of my brothers in a ship, loaded with irons, with little clothing and much ill-treatment, without being summoned or convicted by justice.” t Herrera, decad. i. lib iv. cap. 10, Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. 6 478 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . TTis last step should have been, in case of ample evidence against the admiral, to have superseded him in office; and this he made the first, without waiting for evidence. Having pre¬ determined, from the very outset, that Columbus was in the wrong, by the same rule he had to presume that all the oppo¬ site parties were in the right. It became indispensable to his own justification to inculpate the admiral and his brothers; and the rebels he had been sent to judge became, by this singular perversion of rule, necessary and cherished evidences, to crim¬ inate those against whom they had rebelled. The intentions of the crown, however, are not to be vindicated at the expense of its miserable agent. If proper respect had been felt for the rights and dignities of Columbus, Bobadilla would never have been intrusted with powers so extensive, un¬ defined, and discretionary; nor would he have dared to proceed to such lengths, with such rudeness and precipitation, had he not felt assured that it would not be displeasing to the jealous- minded Ferdinand. The old scenes of the time of Aguadc were now renewed with tenfold virulence, and the old charges revived, with others still more extravagant. From the early and never-to-be-forgotten outrage upon Castilian pride, of compelling hidalgos, in time of emergency, to labor in the construction of works necessary to the public safety, down to the recent charge of levying war against the government, there was not a hardship, abuse, nor sedition in the island, that was not imputed to the misdeeds of Columbus and his brothers. Besides the usual accusations of inflicting oppressive labor, unnecessary tasks, painful restric¬ tions, short allowances of food, and cruel punishments upon the Spaniards, and waging unjust wars against the natives, they were now charged with preventing the conversion of the latter, that they might send them slaves to Spain, and profit by their sale. This last charge, so contrary to the pious feelings of the admiral, was founded on his having objected to the baptism of certain Indians of mature age, until they could be instructed in the doctrines of Christianity; justly considering it an abuse of that holy sacrament to administer it thus blindly.* Columbus was charged, also, with having secreted pearls, and other precious articles, collected in his voyage along the coast of Paria, and with keeping the sovereigns in ignorance of the nature of his discoveries there, in order to exact new privileges * Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 470 from them; yet it was notorious that he had sent home speci¬ mens of the pearls and journals and charts of his voyage, by which others had been enabled to pursue his track. Even the late tumults, now that the rebels were admitted as evidence, were all turned into matters of accusation. They were represented as spirited and loyal resistances to tyranny exercised upon the colonists and the natives. The well-merited punishments inflicted upon certain of the ringleaders were cited as proofs of a cruel and revengeful disposition, and a secret hatred of Spaniards. Bobadilla believed, or affected to believe, all these charges. He had, in a manner, made the rebels his confederates in the ruin of Columbus. It was become a com¬ mon cause with them. He could no longer, therefore, conduct himself toward them as a judge. Guevara, Requelme, and their fellow-convicts, were discharged almost without the form of a trial, and it is even said were received into favor and coun¬ tenance. Roldan, from the very first, had been treated with confidence by Bobadilla, and honored with his correspondence. All the others, whose conduct had rendered them liable to justice, received either a special acquittal or a general pardon. It was enough to have been opposed in any way to Columbus, to obtain full justification in the eyes of Bobadilla. The latter had now collected a weight of testimony, and pro¬ duced a crowd of witnesses, sufficient, as he conceived,to insure the condemnation of the prisoners, and his own continuance in command. He determined, therefore, to send the admiral and his brothers home in chains, in the vessels ready for sea, trans¬ mitting at the same time the inquest taken in their case, and writing private letters, enforcing the charges made against them, and advising that Columbus should on no account be restored to the command, which he had so shamefully abused. San Domingo now swarmed with miscreants just delivered from the dungeon and the gibbet. It was a perfect jubilee of triumphant villainy and dastard malice. Every base spirit, which had been awed into obsequiousness by Columbus and his brothers when in power, now started up to revenge itself upon them when in chains. The most injurious slanders were loudly proclaimed in the streets; insulting pasquinades and | inflammatory libels were posted up at every corner; and horns were blown in the neighborhood of their prisons, to taunt them with the exultings of the rabble.* When these rejoicings of his * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 86. 480 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. enemies reached him in his dungeon, and Columbus reflected on the inconsiderate violence already exhibited by Bobadilla, he knew not how far his rashness and confidence might carry him, and began to entertain apprehensions for his life. The vessels being ready to make sail, Alonzo de Villejo was appointed to take charge of the prisoners, and carry them to Spain. This officer had been brought up by an uncle of Fonseca, was in the employ of that bishop, and had come out with Bobadilla. The latter instructed him, on arriving at Cadiz, to deliver his prisoners into the hands of Fonseca, or of his uncle, thinking thereby to give the malignant prelate a triumphant gratification. This circumstance gave weight with many to a report that Bobadilla was secretly instigated and en¬ couraged in his violent measures by Fonseca, and was promised his protection and influence at court, in case of any complaints of his conduct.* Villejo undertook the office assigned him, but he discharged it in a more generous manner, than was intended. “This Alonzo de Villejo,” says the worthy Las Casas, “ was a hidalgo of honorable character, and my particular friend.” He cer¬ tainly showed himself superior to the low malignity of his patrons. When he arrived with a guard to conduct the ad¬ miral from the prison to the ship, he found him in chains in a state of silent despondency. So violently had he been treated, and so savage were the passions let loose against him, that he feared he should be sacrificed without an opportunity of being heard, and his name go down sullied and dishonored to pos¬ terity. When he beheld the officer enter with the guard, he thought it was to conduct him to the scaffold. “Villejo,” said he, mournfully, “ whither are you taking me ?” “To the ship, your Excellency, to embark, ” replied the other. ‘ ‘ To embark!” repeated the admiral, earnestly; “Villejo, do you speak the truth ?” “ By the life of your Excellency,” replied the honest officer, “it is true!” With these words the admiral was com¬ forted, and felt as one restored from death to life. Nothing can be more touching and expressive than this little colloquy, re¬ corded by the venerable Las Casas, who doubtless had it from the lips of his friend Villejo. The caravels set sail early in October, bearing off Colum¬ bus shackled like the vilest of culprits, amid the scoffs and shouts of a miscreant rabble, who took a brutal joy in heaping * Las Casas, Hist. Incl., lib. i. cap. 180 ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 481 insults on Ms venerable head, and sent curses after him from the shores of the island he had so recently added to the civilized world. Fortunately the voyage was favorable, and of but mod¬ erate duration, and was rendered less disagreeable by the con¬ duct of those to whom he was given in custody. The worthy Villejo, though in the service of Fonseca, felt deeply moved at the treatment of Columbus. The master of the caravel, Andreas Martin, was equally grieved: they both treated the ad¬ miral with profound, respect and assiduous attention. They would have taken off his irons, but to this he would not consent. “No,’’said he proudly, “their majesties commanded me by letter to submit to whatever Bobadilla should order in their name; by their authority he has put upon me 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. ” * “He did so,” adds his son Fernando; “I saw them always hanging in his cabinet, and he requested that when he died they might be buried with him!” f *Las Casas. Hist. Incl., lib. i. cap. 180, ms. + Hist, del Almiranto, cap. 86. BOOK XIV. CHAPTER I. SENSATION IN SPAIN ON THE ARRIVAL OF COLUMBUS IN IRONS— HIS APPEARANCE AT COURT. [ 1500 .] The arrival of Columbus at Cadiz, a prisoner and in chains, produced almost as great a sensation as his triumphant return from his first voyage. It was one of those striking and obvious facts which speak to the feelings of the multitude, and preclude the necessity of reflection. No one stopped to inquire into the case. It was sufficient to be told that Columbus was brought home in irons from the world he had discovered. There was a general burst of indignation in Cadiz, and in the powerful and opulent Seville, which was echoed throughout all Spain. If the ruin of Columbus had been the intention of his enemies, they had defeated their object by their own violence. One of those reactions took place, so frequent in the public mind, when per¬ secution is pushed to an unguarded length. Those of the popu¬ lace who had recently been loud in their clamor against Colum¬ bus were now as loud in their reprobation of his treatment, and a strong sympathy was expressed, against which it would have been odious for the government to contend. The tidings of his arrival, and of the ignominious manner in which he had been brought, reached the court at Granada, and filled the halls of the Alhambra with murmurs of astonishment. Columbus, full of his wrongs, but ignorant how far they had been authorized by the sovereigns, had foreborne to write to them. In the course of his voyage, however, he had penned a long letter to Doha Juana de la Torre, the ay a of Prince Juan, a lady high in favor with Queen Isabella. This letter, on his ar¬ rival at Cadiz, Andreas Martin, the captain of the caravel, per¬ mitted him to send off privately by express. It arrived, there¬ fore, before the protocol of the proceedings instituted by Boba* LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 483 dilla, and from this document the sovereigns derived their first intimation of his treatment.* It contained a statement of the late transactions of the island, and of the wrongs he had suffered, written with his usual artlessness and energy. To specify the contents would be but to recapitulate circum stances already recorded. Some expressions, however, which burst from him in the warmth of his feelings, are worthy of being noted. “The slanders of worthless men,” says he, “havedone me more injury than all my services have profited me.” Speaking of the misrepresentations to which he was subjected, he observes: “Such is the evil name which I have acquired, that if I were to build hospitals and churches, they would be called dens of robbers.” After relating in indignant terms the conduct of Bobadiila, in seeking testimony I respecting his administration from the very men who had rebelled against him, and throwing himself and his brothers in irons, without letting them know the offences with which they were charged, “I have been much aggrieved,” he adds, “in that a person should be sent out to investigate my con¬ duct, who knew that if the evidence which he could send home should appear to be of a serious nature, he would remain in the government.” He complains that, in forming an opinion of his administration, allowances had not been made for the extraordinary difficulties with which he had to contend, and the wild state of the country over which he had to rule. ‘ ‘ I was judged, ” he observes, “ as a governor who had been sent to take charge of a well-regulated city, under the | dominion of well-established laws, where there was no danger of everything running to disorder and ruin; but I ought to be judged as a captain, sent to subdue a numerous and hostile i people, of manners and religion opposite to ours, living not in | regular towns, but in forests and mountains. It ought to be considered that I have brought all these under subjection to their majesties, giving them dominion over another world, by which Spain, heretofore poor, has suddenly become rich. Whatever errors I may have fallen into, they were not with an evil intention; and I believe their majesties will credit what I I say. I have known them to be merciful to those who have wil- i fully done them disservice; I am convinced that they will I have still more indulgence for me who have erred innocently, or by compulsion, as they will hereafter be more fully in- *Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 182. 484 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. formed; and I trust they will consider my great services, the advantages of which are every day more and more apparent. ” When this letter was read to the noble-minded Isabella, and ; she found how grossly Columbus had been wronged and the royal authority abused, her heart was filled with mingled sym¬ pathy and indignation. The tidings were confirmed by a letter from the alcalde or corregidor of Cadiz, into whose hands Columbus and his brothers had been delivered, until the pleas- ure of the sovereigns should be known ;* and by another letter from Alonzo de Yillejo, expressed in terms accordant with his humane and honorable conduct toward his illustrious prisoner. However Ferdinand might have secretly felt disposed against Columbus, the momentary tide of public feeling was not to be resisted. He joined with his generous queen in her reprobation of the treatment of the admiral, and both sovereigns hastened to give evidence to the world that his imprisonment had been without their authority, and contrary to their wishes. With¬ out waiting to receive any documents that might arrive from Bobadilla, they sent orders to Cadiz that the prisoners should be instantly set at liberty, and treated with all distinction. They wrote a letter to Columbus, couched in terms of grati¬ tude and affection, expressing their grief at all that he had suffered, and inviting him to court. They ordered, at the same time, that two thousand ducats should be advanced to defray his expenses.! The loyal heart of Columbus was again cheered by this dec¬ laration of his sovereigns. He felt conscious of his integrity, and anticipated an immediate restitution of all his rights and dignities. He appeared at court in Granada on the 17th of December, not as a man ruined and disgraced, but richly dressed, and attended by an honorable retinue. He was re¬ ceived by the sovereigns with unqualified favor and distinction. When the queen beheld this venerable man approach, and thought on all he had deserved and all he had suffered, she was moved to tears. Columbus had borne up firmly against the rude conflicts of the world—he had endured with lofty scorn the injuries and insults of ignoble men; but he possessed strong and quick sensibility. When he found himself thus kindly received by his sovereigns, and beheld tears in the benign eyes * Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. J. t Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 182. Two thousand ducats, or two thousand eight hundred and forty-six dollars, equivalent to eight thousand five hundred and thirty-eight dollars of the present day. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 485 of Isabella, his long-suppressed feelings burst forth: he threw himself on his knees, and for some time could not utter a word for the violence of his tears and sobbings.** Ferdinand and Isabella raised him from the ground, and endeavored to encourage him by the most gracious expressions. As soon as he regained self-possession he entered into an elo¬ quent and high-minded vindication of his loyalty, and the zeal he had ever felt for the glory and advantage of the Spanish crown, declaring that if at any time he had erred, it had been through inexperience in government, and the extraordinary difficulties by which he had been surrounded. There needed no vindication on his part. The intemperance of his enemies had been his best advocate. He stood in pres¬ ence of his sovereigns a deeply-injured man, and it remained for them to vindicate themselves to the world from the charge of ingratitude toward their most deserving subject. They expressed their indignation at the proceedings of Bobadilla, , which they disavowed, as contrary to their instructions, and declared that he should be immediately dismissed from his command. In fact, no public notice was taken of the charges sent home by Bobadilla, nor of the letters written in support of them. The sovereigns took every occasion to treat Columbus with favor and distinction, assuring him that his grievances should be redressed, his property restored, and he reinstated in all his privileges and dignities. It was on the latter point that Columbus was chiefly solici¬ tous. Mercenary considerations had scarcely any weight in his mind. Glory had been the great object of his ambition, and he felt that, as long as he remained suspended from his em¬ ployments, a tacit censure rested on his name. He expected, | therefore, that the moment the sovereigns should be satisfied | of the rectitude of his conduct, they would be eager to make | him amends; that a restitution of his viceroyalty would | immediately take place, and he should return in triumph to San Domingo. Here, however, he was doomed to experience a disappointment which threw a gloom over the remainder of his days. To account for this flagrant want of justice and grati¬ tude in the crown, it is expedient to notice a variety of events ' which had materially affected the interests of Columbus in the 1 eyes of the politic Ferdinand. X Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 10. 486 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . CHAPTER H. CONTEMPORARY VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. / • The general license granted by the Spanish sovereigns in 1495, to undertake voyages of discovery, had given rise to various expeditions by enterprising individuals, chiefly persons who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyages. The gov¬ ernment, unable to fit out many armaments itself, was pleased to have its territories thus extended, free of cost, and its treas¬ ury at the same time benefited by the share of the proceeds of these voyages, reserved as a kind of duty to the crown. These expeditions had chiefly taken place while Columbus was in partial disgrace with the sovereigns. His own charts and journal served as guides to the adventurers; and his magnifi¬ cent accounts of Paria and the adjacent coasts had chiefly excited their cupidity. Besides the expedition of Ojeda, already noticed, in the course of which he touched at Xaragua, one had been undertaken at the same time by Pedro Alonzo Nino, native of Moguer. an able pilot, who had been with Columbus in the voyages to Cuba and Paria. Having obtained a license, he interested a rich merchant of Seville in the undertaking, who fitted out a cara¬ vel of fifty tons burden, under condition that his brother Cliris- toval Guevra should have the command. They sailed from the bar of Saltes, a few days after Ojeda had sailed from Cadiz, in the spring of 1499, and arriving on the coast of Terra Firma, to the south of Paria, ran along it for some distance, passed through the Gulf, and thence went one hundred and thirty leagues along the shore of the present republic of Colombia, visiting what was afterward called the Pearl Coast. They landed in various places; disposed of their European trifles to immense profit, and returned with a large store or gold and pearls; having made, in their diminutive bark, one of the most extensive and lucrative voyages yet accomplished. About the same time the Pinzons, that family of bold and opulent navigators, fitted out an armament of four caravels at Palos, manned in a great measure by their own relations and friends. Several experienced pilots embarked in it who had been with Columbus to Paria, and it was commanded by LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 487 i Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who had been captain of a caraval in the squadron of the admiral on his first voyage. Pinzon was a hardy and experienced seaman, and did not like the others, follow closely in the track of Columbus. Sail¬ ing in December, 1499, he passed the Canary and Cape de Verde Islands, standing south-west until he lost sight of the .| polar star. Here he encountered a terrible storm, and was ex¬ ceedingly perplexed and confounded by the new aspect of the I heavens. Nothing was yet known of the southern hemisphere, nor of the beautiful constellation of the cross, which in those regions has since supplied to mariners the place of the north star. The voyagers had expected to find at the south pole a star correspondent to that of the north. They were dismayed at beholding no guide of the kind, and thought there must be some prominent swelling of the earth, which hid the pole from their view.* Pinzon continued on, however, with great intrepidity. On the 26th of January, 1500, he saw, at a distance, a great head¬ land, which he called Cape Santa Maria de la Consolacion, but which has since been named Cape St. Augustine. He- landed and took possession of the country in the name of their Catho- I lie majesties; being a part of the territories since called the Brazils. Standing thence westward, he discovered the Marag- non, since called the River of the Amazons; traversed the Gulf of Paria, and continued across the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, until he found himself among the Bahamas, where he lost two of his vessels on the rocks, near the island of I Jumefco. He returned to Palos in September, having added to I his former glory that of being the first European who had I crossed the equinoctial line in the western ocean, and of having i discovered the famous kingdom of Brazil, from its commence- I ment at the River Maragnon to its most eastern point. As a I reward for his achievements, power was granted to him to colonize and govern the lands winch he had discovered, and which extended southward from a little beyond the River of Maragnon to Cape St. Augustine, t The little port of Palos, which had been so slow in furnishmg the first squadron for Columbus, was now continually agitated iy the passion for discovery. Shortly after the saihng of Pin¬ son, another expedition was fitted out there, by Diego Lepe, a * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix. t Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 12. Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished 488 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. native of the place, and manned by his adventurous townsmen. He sailed in the same direction with Pinzon, but discovered more of the southern continent than any other voyager of the day, or for twelve years afterward. He doubled Cape St. Au¬ gustine, and ascertained that the coast beyond ran to the south-west. He landed and performed the usual ceremonies of taking possession in the name of the Spanish sovereigns, and in one place carved their names on a magnificent tree, of such enormous magnitude that seventeen men with their nands joined could not embrace the trunk. What enhanced the merit of his discoveries was, that he had never sailed with Co¬ lumbus. He had with him, however, several skilful pilots who had accompanied the admiral in his voyage.* Another expedition of two vessels sailed from Cadiz, in October, 1500, under the command of Rodrigo Bastides of Seville. He explored the coast of Terra Firma, passing Cape de la Vela, the western limits of the previous discoveries on the main-land, continuing on to a port since called The Retreat, where afterward was founded the seaport of Nombre de Dios. His vessels being nearly destroyed by the teredo, or worm which abounds in those seas, he had great difficulty in reaching Xaragua in Hispaniola, where he lost his two caravels, and proceeded with his crew by land to San Domingo. Here he was seized and imprisoned by Bobadilla, under pretext that he had treated for gold with the natives of Xaragua. t Such was the swarm of Spanish expeditions immediately resulting from the enterprises of Columbus; but others were also undertaken by foreign nations. In the year 1497, Sebastian Cabot, son of a Venetian merchant resident in Bristol, sailing in the service of Henry VII. of England, navigated to the northern seas of the New World. Adopting the idea of Co¬ lumbus, he sailed in quest of the shores of Cathay, and hoped to find a north-west passage to India. In this voyage he dis¬ covered Newfoundland, coasted Labrador to the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude, and then returning, ran down south¬ west to the Floridas, when, his provisions beginning to fail, he returned to England. f But vague and scanty accounts of this voyage exist, which was important, as including the first dis¬ covery of the northern continent of the New World. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 2. Munoz, part unpublished, t Ibid. X Hakluyt’s Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 489 I I, The discoveries of rival nations, however, which most ex¬ cited the attention and jealousy of the Spanish crown, were those of the Portuguese. Yasco de Gama, a man of rank and consummate talent and intrepidity, had, at length, accom¬ plished the great design of the late Prince Henry of Portugal, and by doubling the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1497, had opened the long-sought-for route to India. Immediately after Gama’s return a fleet of thirteen sail was fitted out to visit the magnificent countries of which he brought accounts. This expedition sailed on the 9th of March, 1500, for Calicut, under the command of Pedro Alvarez de Cabral. Having passed the Cape de Verde Islands, he sought to avoid the calms prevalent on the coast of Guinea, by stretching far to the west. Suddenly, on the 25th of April, he came in sight of land unknown to any one in his squadron; for, as yet, they had not heard of the discoveries of Pinzon and Lepe. He at first supposed it to be some great island; but after Roasting it for some time he became persuaded that it must be part of a continent. Having ranged along it somewhat beyond the fifteenth degree of southern latitude, he landed at a harbor which he called Porto Securo, and taking possession of the country for the crown of Portugal, dispatched a ship to Lisbon with the important tidings.* In this way did the Brazils come into the possession of Portugal, being to the eastward of the conventional line settled with Spain as the boundaries of their respective territories. Dr. Robertson, in recording this voyage of Cabral, concludes with one of his just and elegant remarks: “ Columbus’s discovery of the New World was,” he observes, “the effort of an active genius, guided by experience, and act¬ ing upon a regular plan, executed with no less courage than perseverance. But from this adventure of the Portuguese, it appears that chance might have accomplished that great design, which it is now the pride of human reason to have formed and perfected. If the sagacity of Columbus had not conducted mankind to America, Cabral, by a fortunate accident, might have led them, a few years later, to the knowledge of that ex¬ tensive continent.” f * Lafiteau, Conquests des Portugais, lib. ii. t Robertson, Hist. America, book ii. 490 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER in. NICHOLAS DE OYANDO APPOINTED TO SUPERSEDE BOBADILLA. [ 1501 .] The numerous discoveries briefly noticed in the preceding chapter had produced a powerful effect upon the mind of Ferdi¬ nand. His ambition, his avarice, and his jealousy were equally inflamed. He beheld boundless regions, teeming with all kinds of riches, daily opening before the enterprises of his subjects; but he beheld at the same time other nations launching forth into competition, emulous for a share of the golden world which he was eager to monopolize. The expeditions of the English and the accidental discovery of the Brazils by the Portuguese caused him much uneasiness. To secure his possession of the continent, he determined to establish local governments or commands in the most important places, all to be subject to a general government, established at San Domingo, which was to be the metropolis. With these considerations, the government, heretofore granted to Columbus, had risen vastly in importance; and while the restitution of it was the more desirable in his eyes, it became more and more a matter of repugnance to the selfish and jealous monarch. He had long repented having vested such great powers and prerogatives in any subject, particularly in a foreigner. At the time of granting them he had no antici pation of such boundless countries to be placed under his com¬ mand. He appeared almost to consider himself outwitted by Columbus in the arrangement; and every succeeding discovery, instead of increasing his grateful sense of the obligation, only made him repine the more at the growing magnitude of the re¬ ward. At length, however, the affair of Bobadilla had effected a temporary exclusion of Columbus from his high office, and that without any odium to the crown, and the wary monarch secretly determined that the door thus closed between him and his dignities should never again be opened. Perhaps Ferdinand may really have entertained doubts as to the innocence of Columbus with respect to the various charges made against him. He may have doubted also the sincerity of his loyalty, being a stranger, when he should find himselt strong f. 131 If » 1 ( LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 491 in his command, at a great distance from the parent country, with immense and opulent regions under his control. Colum¬ bus himself, in his letters, alludes to reports circulated by his enemies, that he intended either to set up an independent sovereignty, or to deliver his discoveries into the hands of other potentates; and he appears to fear that these slanders might have made some impression on the mind of Ferdinand. But there was one other consideration which had no less force with the monarch in withholding this great act of justice— Columbus was no longer indispensable to him. He had made his great discovery; he had struck out the route to the New World, and now any one could follow it. A number of able navigators had sprung up under his auspices, and acquired ex¬ perience in his voyages. They were daily besieging the throne with offers to fit out expeditions at their own cost, and to yield a share of the profits to the crown. Why should he, therefore, confer princely dignities and prerogatives for that which men were daily offering to perform gratuitously? Such, from his after conduct, appears to have been the jeal¬ ous and selfish policy which actuated Ferdinand in forbearing to reinstate Columbus in those dignities and privileges so solemnly granted to him by treaty, and which it was acknowl¬ edged he had never forfeited by misconduct. This deprivation, however, was declared to be but temporary; and plausible reasons were given for the delay in his reappoint¬ ment. It was observed that the elements of those violent fac¬ tions, recently in arms against him, yet existed in the island; his immediate return might produce fresh exasperation; his personal safety might be endangered, and the island again thrown into confusion. Though Bobadilla, therefore, was to be immediately dismissed from command, it was deemed advisa¬ ble to send out some officer of talent and discretion to supersede him, who might dispassionately investigate the recent disorders, remedy the abuses which had arisen, and expel all dissolute and factious persons from the colony. He should hold the govern¬ ment for two years, by which time it was trusted that all angry passions would be allayed, and turbulent individuals removed; Columbus might then resume the command with comfort to himself and advantage to the crown. With these reasons, and ! the promise which accompanied them, Columbus was obhged to content himself. There can be no doubt that they were sin • cere on the part of Isabella, and that it was her intention to re- instate him in the full enjoyment of his rights and dignities, 492 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . after his apparently necessary suspension. Ferdinand, how¬ ever, by his subsequent conduct, has forfeited all claim to any favorable opinion of the kind. The person chosen to supersede Bobadilla was Don Nicholas de Ovando, commander of Lares, of the order of Alcantara. He is described as of the middle size, fair complexioned, with a red beard, and a modest look, yet a tone of authority. He was fluent in speech, and gracious and courteous in his manners. A man of great prudence, says Las Casas, and capable of govern¬ ing many people, but not of governing the Indians, on whom he inflicted incalculable injuries. He possessed great venera¬ tion for justice, was an enemy to avarice, sober in his mode of living, and of such humility that when he rose afterward to be grand commander of the order of Alcantara, he would never allow himself to be addressed by the title of respect attached to it.* Such is the picture drawn of him by historians; but his conduct in several important instances is in direct contradiction to it. He appears to have been plausible and subtle, as well as fluent and courteous; his humility concealed a great love of command, and in his transactions with Columbus he was cer¬ tainly both ungenerous and unjust. The various arrangements to be made, according to the new plan of colonial government, delayed for some time the departure of Ovando. In the mean time every arrival brought intelligence of the disastrous state of the island under the mal¬ administration of Bobadilla. He had commenced his career by an opposite policy to that of Columbus. Imagining that rigor¬ ous rule had been the rock on which his predecessors had split, he sought to conciliate the public by all kinds of in¬ dulgence. Having at the very outset relaxed the reins of justice and morality, he lost all command over the com¬ munity; and such disorder and licentiousness ensued that many, even of the opponents of Columbus, looked back with regret upon the strict but wholesome rule of himself and the Adelantado. Bobadilla was not so much a bad as an imprudent and a weak man. He had not considered the dangerous excesses to which his policy would lead. Bash in grasping authority, he was feeble and temporizing in the exercise of it; he could not look beyond the present exigency. One dangerous indulgence granted to the colonists called for another; each was ceded in LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 493 its turn, and thus he went on from error to error—showing that in government there is as much danger to be appre¬ hended from a weak as from a bad man. He had sold the farms and estates of the crown at low prices, observing that it was not the wish of the monarchs to enrich themselves by them, but that they should redound to the profit of their subjects. He granted universal permission to work the mines, exacting only an eleventh of the produce for the crown. To prevent any diminution in the revenue, it became necessary, of course, to increase the quantity of gold collected. He obliged the caciques, therefore, to furnish each Spaniard with Indians, to assist him both in the labors of the field and of the mine. To carry this into more complete effect, he made an enumeration of the natives of the island, reduced them into classes, and distributed them, according to his favor or caprice, among the colonists. The latter, at his suggestion, associated themselves in partnerships of two persons each, who were to assist one another with their respective capitals and Indians, one superintending the labors of the field, and the other the search for gold. The only injunction of Boba- dilla was to produce large quantities of ore. He had one say¬ ing continually in his mouth, which shows the pernicious and temporizing principle upon which he acted: ‘ ‘ Make the most of your time, ” he would say; ‘ ‘ there is no knowing how long it will last,” alluding to the possibility of his being speedily re¬ called. The colonists acted up to his advice, and so hard did they drive the poor natives that the eleventh yielded more | revenue to the crown than had ever been produced by the third under the government of Columbus. In the mean time the unhappy natives suffered under all kinds of cruelties from their inhuman taskmasters. Little used to labor, feeble of constitution, and accustomed in their beautiful and luxuriant island to a life of ease and freedom, they sank under the toils imposed upon them, and the severities by winch they were enforced. Las Casas gives an indignant picture of the capri¬ cious tyranny exercised over the Indians by worthless Span¬ iards, many of whom had been transported convicts from the | dungeons of Castile. These wretches, who in their own coun- | tries had been the vilest among the vile, here assumed the | tone of grand cavaliers. They insisted upon being attended by trains of servants. They took the daughters and female | relations of caciques for their domestics, or rather for their concubines, nor did they limit themselves in number. When 494 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. they travelled, instead of using horses and mules with which they were provided, they obliged the natives to transport them upon their shoulders in litters, or hammocks, with others attending to hold umbrellas of palm-leaves over their heads to keep off the sun, and fans of feathers to cool them; and Las Casas affirms that he has seen the backs and shoul¬ ders of the unfortunate Indians who bore these litters, raw and bleeding from the task. When these arrogant upstarts arrived at an Indian village they consumed and lavished away the provisions of the inhabitants, seizing upon whatever pleased their caprice, and obliging the cacique and his sub' jects to dance before them for their amusement. Their very pleasures were attended with cruelty. They never addressed the natives but in the most degrading terms, and on the least offence, or the least freak of ill-humor, inflicted blows and lashes, and even death itself.* Such is but a faint picture of the evils which sprang up under the feeble rule of Bobadilla, and are sorrowfully de¬ scribed by Las Casas, from actual observation, as he visited the island just at the close of his administration. Bobadilla had trusted to the immense amount of gold, wrung from the miseries of the natives, to atone for all errors, and secure favor with the sovereigns; but he had totally mistaken his course. The abuses of his government soon reached the royal ear, and above all, the wrongs of the natives reached the benevolent heart of Isabella. Nothing was more calculated to arouse her indignation, and she urged the speedy departure of Ovando, to put a stop to these enormities. In conformity to the plan already mentioned, the govern* ment of Ovando extended over the islands and Terra Firma, of which Hispaniola was to be the metropolis. He was to en* ter upon the exercise of his powers immediately upon his ar* rival, by procuration, sending home Bobadilla by the return of the fleet. He was instructed to inquire diligently into the late abuses, punishing the delinquents without favor or parti¬ ality, and removing all worthless persons from the island. He was to revoke immediately the license granted by Bobadilla for the general search after gold, it having been given without royal authority. He was to require, for the crown, a third of what was already collected, and one half of all that should be collected in future. He was empowered to build towns. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 1, ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 495 granting them the privileges enjoyed by municipal corpora¬ tions of Spain, and obliging the Spaniards, and particularly the soldiers, to reside in them, instead of scattering them¬ selves over the island. Among many sage provisions there were others injurious and illiberal, characteristic of an age when the principles of commerce were but little understood, ; but which were continued by Spain long after the rest of the world had discarded them as the errors of dark and unenlight¬ ened times. The crown monopolized the trade of the colonies. No one could carry merchandises there on his own account. A royal factor was appointed, through whom alone were to be obtained supplies of European articles. The crown reserved to itself not only exclusive property in the mines, but in pre¬ cious stones, and like objects of extraordinary value, and also in dyewoods. No strangers, and above all no Moors nor Jews, were permitted to establish themselves in the island, nor to go upon voyages of discovery. Such were some of the restrictions upon trade which Spain imposed upon her colonies, and which were followed up by others equally illiberal. Her commercial policy has been the scoff of modern times; but may not the present restrictions on trade, imposed by the most intelligent nations, be equally the wonder and the jest of future ages? Isabella was particularly careful in providing for the kind treatment of the Indians. Ovando was ordered to assemble the caciques, and declare to them that the sovereigns took them and their people under their special protection. They were merely to pay tribute like other subjects of the crown, and it was to be collected with the utmost mildness and gentleness. Great pains were to be taken in their religious instruction; for which purpose twelve Franciscan friars were sent out, with a prelate named Antonio de Espinal, a venerable and pious man. | This was the first formal introduction of the Franciscan order ! into the New World.* All these precautions with respect to the natives were de¬ feated by one unwary provision. It was permitted that the Indians might be compelled to work in the mines, and in other employments; but this was limited to the royal service. They were to be engaged as hired laborers, and punctually paid. This provision led to great abuses and oppressions, and was ultimately as fatal to the natives as could have been the most absolute slavery. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3, ms. m LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. But, with that inconsistency frequent in human conduct, while the sovereigns were making regulations for the relief of the Indians, they encouraged a gross invasion of the rights and welfare of another race of human beings. Among their various decrees on this occasion, we find the first trace of negro slav¬ ery in the New World. It was permitted to carry to the colony negro slaves born among Christians ;* that is to say, slaves born in Seville and other parts of Spain, the children and descendants of natives brought from the Atlantic coast of Africa, where such traffic had for some time been carried or by the Spaniards and Portuguese. There are signal events in the course of history, which sometimes bear the appearance of temporal judgments. It is a fact worthy of observation that Hispaniola, the place where this flagrant sin against nature and humanity was first introduced into the New World, has been the first to exhibit an awful retribution. Amid the various concerns which claimed the attention of the sovereigns, the interests of Columbus were not forgotten. Ovando was ordered to examine into all his accounts, without undertaking to pay them off. He was to ascertain the damages he had sustained by his imprisonment, the interruption of his privileges, and the confiscation of his effects. -All the property confiscated by Bobadilla was to be restored; or if it had been sold, to be made good. If it had been employed in the royal service, Columbus was to be indemnified out of^ the treasury; if Bobadilla had appropriated it to his own use, he was to ac¬ count for it out of his private purse. Equal care was to be taken to indemnify the brothers of the admiral for the losses they had wrongfully suffered by their arrest. Columbus was likewise to receive the arrears of his revenues, and the same were to be punctually paid to him in future. He was permitted to have a factor resident in the island, to be present at the melting and marking of the gold, to collect his dues, and in short to attend to all his affairs. To this office he appointed Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal; and the sovereigns com¬ manded that his agent should be treated with great respect. The fleet appointed to convey Ovando to his government was the largest that had yet sailed to the New World. It consisted of thirty sail, five of them from ninety to one hundred and fifty tons burden, twenty-four caravels from thirty to ninety, and ♦ Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 12. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 497 one bark of twenty-five tons.* The number of souls embarked in this fleet was about twenty-five hundred; many of them persons of rank and distinction, with their fa mili es. That Ovando might appear with dignity in his new office, he was allowed to use silks, brocades, precious stones, and other articles of sumptuous attire, prohibited at that time in Spain, I in consequence of the ruinous ostentation of the nobility. He was permitted to have seventy-two esquires as his body-guard, ten of whom were horsemen. With this expedition sailed Don Alonzo Maldonado, appointed as alguazil mayor, or chief justice, in place of Roldan, who was to be sent to Spain. There were artisans of various kinds: to these were added a physi¬ cian, surgeon, and apothecary; and seventy-three married menf with their families, all of respectable character, destined to be distributed in four towns, and to enjoy peculiar priviliges, that they might form the basis of a sound and useful population. They were to displace an equal number of the idle and dissolute who were to be sent from the island: this excellent measure had been especially urged and entreated by Columbus. There was also live stock, artillery, arms, munitions of all kinds; everything, in short, that was required for the supply of the island. Such was the style in which Ovando, favorite of Ferdinand, and a native subject of rank, was fitted out to enter upon the government withheld from Columbus. The fleet put to sea on the thirteenth of February, 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 passengers; the others were obliged to throw overboard everything on deck, and were completely scattered. The shores of Spain were strewn with articles from the fleet, and a rumor spread that all ;he ships had perished. When this reached the sovereigns, | hey were so overcome with grief that they shut themselves up | or eight days, and admitted no one to their presence. The Timor proved to be incorrect: but one ship was lost. The >thers assembled again at the island of Gomera in the Canaries, nd pursuing their voyage, arrived at San Domingo on the 5tli of April. { * Mufioz, part inedit. Las Casas says the fleet consisted of thirty-two sail. He ; ates from memory, however; Munoz from documents, i + Mufioz, H. N. Mundo, part inedit. % Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3, ms. 498 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER IV. PROPOSITION OF COLUMBUS RELATIVE TO THE RECOVERY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. [1500-1501.] Columbus remained in the city of Granada upward of nine months, endeavoring to extricate his affairs from the confusion into which they had been thrown by the rash conduct of Boba- dilla, and soliciting the restoration of his offices and dignities. During this time he constantly experienced the smiles and at¬ tentions of the sovereigns, and promises were repeatedly made him that he should ultimately be reinstated in all his honors. He had long since, however, ascertained the great interval that may exist between promise and performance in a court. Had he been of a morbid and repining spirit, he had ample food for misanthropy. He beheld the career of glory which he had opened, thronged by favored adventurers; he witnessed prepa¬ rations making to convey with unusual pomp a successor to that government from which he had been so wrongfully and rudely ejected; in the meanwhile his own career was inter¬ rupted, and as far as public employ is a gauge of royal favor, he remained apparently in disgrace. His sanguine temperament was not long to be depressed; if checked in one direction it broke forth in another. His vision¬ ary imagination was an internal light, which, in the darkest times, repelled all outward gloom, and filled his mind with splendid images and glorious speculations. In this time of evil, his vow to furnish, within seven years from the time of his dis¬ covery, fifty thousand foot soldiers, and five thousand horse, for the recovery of the holy sepulchre, recurred to his memory with peculiar force. The time had elapsed, hut the vow re¬ mained unfulfilled, and the means to perform it had failed him. The New World, with all its treasures, had as yet produced ex¬ pense instead or profit; and so far from being in a situation to set armies on foot by his own contributions, he found himself without property, without power, and without employ. Destitute of the means of accomplishing his pious intentions, he considered it his duty to incite the sovereigns to the enter¬ prise ; and he felt emboldened to do so, from having originally proposed it as the great object to which the profits of his dis- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 499 coveries should be dedicated. He set to work, therefore, with Iris accustomed zeal, to prepare arguments for the purpose. During the intervals of business, he sought into the prophecies 3f the holy Scriptures, the writings of the fathers, and all kinds }f sacred and speculative sources, for mystic portents and reve- ations which might be construed to bear upon the discovery of he New World, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the recov- 3ry of the holy sepulchre: three great events which he supposed ;o be predestined to succeed each other. These passages, with he assistance of a Carthusian friar, he arranged in order, illus¬ trated by poetry, and collected into a manuscript volmne, to be lelivered to the sovereigns. He prepared, at the same time, a ong letter, written with Iris usual fervor of spirit and sim¬ plicity of heart. It is one of those singular compositions which ay open the visionary part of his character, and show the nystic and speculative reading with which he was accustomed o nurture his solemn and soaring imagination. In this letter he urged the sovereigns to set on foot a crusade or the deliverance of Jerusalem from the power of the unbe- ievers. He entreated them not to reject his present advice as extravagant and impracticable, nor to heed the discredit that night be cast upon it by others; reminding them that his great cheme of discovery had originally been treated with similar ontempt. He avowed in the fullest manner his persuasion, hat, from his earliest infancy, he had been chosen by Heaven or the accomplishment of those two great designs, the disco v- ry of the New World, and the rescue of the holy sepulchre, "or this purpose, in his tender years, he had been guided by a ivine impulse to embrace the profession of the sea, a mode of fe, he observes, which produces an inclination to inquire into be mysteries of nature; and he had been gifted with a curious pirit, to read all kinds of chronicles, geographical treatises, nd works of philosophy. In meditating upon these, his un- erstanding had been opened by the Deity, “ as with a palpable and,” so as to discover the navigation to the Indies, and he ad been inflamed with ardor to undertake the enterprise. Animated as by a heavenly fire,” he adds, “ I came to your ighnesses: all who heard of my enterprise mocked at it; all ae sciences I had acquired profited me nothing; seven years 1 id I pass in your royal court, disputing the case with persons £ great authority and learned in all the arts, and in the end | ley decided that all was vain. In your highnesses alone re- lained faith and constancy. Who will doubt that this fight 500 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. was from the holy Scriptures, illumining you as well as myself with rays of marvellous brightness?” These ideas, so repeatedly, and solemnly, and artlessly ex¬ pressed, by a man of the fervent piety of Columbus, show how truly his discovery arose from the working of his own mind, and not from information furnished by others. He considered it a divine intimation, a light from Heaven, and the fulfilment of what had been foretold by our Saviour and the prophets. Still he regarded it but as a minor event, preparatory to the great enterprise, the recovery of the holy sepulchre. He pro¬ nounced it a miracle effected by Heaven, to animate himself and others to that holy undertaking; and he assured the sov¬ ereigns that, if they had faith in his present as in his former proposition, they would assuredly be rewarded with equally triumphant success. He conjured them not to heed the sneers of such as might scoff at him as one unlearned, as an ignorant mariner, a worldly man; reminding them that the Holy Spirit works not merely in the learned, but also in the ignorant; nay, that it reveals things to come, not merely by rational beings, but by prodigies in animals, and by mystic signs in the air and in the heavens. The enterprise here suggested by Columbus, however idle and extravagant it may appear in the present day, was in unison with the temper of the times, and of the court to which it was proposed. The vein of mystic erudition by which it was en¬ forced, likewise, was suited to an age when the reveries of the cloister still controlled the operations of the cabinet and the oamp. The spirit of the crusades had not yet passed away. In the cause of the church, and at the instigation of its digni¬ taries, every cavalier was ready to draw his sword; and religion mingled a glowing and devoted enthusiasm with the ordinary excitement of warfare. Ferdinand was a religious bigot; and the devotion of Isabella went as near to bigotry as her liberal mind and magnanimous spirit would permit. Both the sover¬ eigns were under the. influence of ecclesiastical politicians, con¬ stantly guiding their enterprises in a direction to redound to the temporal power and glory of the church. The recent con¬ quest of Granada had been considered a European crusade, and had gained to the sovereigns the epithet of Catholic. It was natural to think of extending their sacred victories still further, and retaliating upon the infidels their domination of Spain, and their long triumphs over the cross. In fact, the Duke of Medina Sidonia had made a recent inroad into Barbary, in the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 501 course of which he had taken the city of Melilla, and his expe¬ dition had been pronounced a renewal of the holy wars against the infidels in Africa.* There was nothing, therefore, in the proposition of Columbus that could be regarded as preposterous, considering the period and circumstances in which it was made, though it strongly illustrates his own enthusiastic and visionary character. It must be recollected that it was meditated in the courts of the Alhambra, among the splendid remains of Moorish grandeur, where, but a few years before, he had beheld the standard of the faith elevated in triumph above the symbols of infidelity. It appears to have been the offspring of one of those moods of high excitement, when, as has been observed, his soul was alevated by the contemplation of his great and glorious office; when he considered himself under divine inspiration, imparti¬ ng the will of Heaven, and fulfilling the high and holy pur¬ poses for which he had been predestined.! * Garibay, Hist. Espana, lib. xix. cap. 6. Among the collections existing in the braiy of the late Prince Sebastian, there is a folio which, among other things, con- ains a paper or letter, in which is a calculation of the probable expenses of an army f twenty thousand men, for the conquest of the Holy Land. It is dated 1509 or 310, and the handwriting appears to be of the same time. t Columbus was not singular in this belief; it was entertained by manj^of his aalous and learned admirers. The erudite lapidary, Jayme Ferrer, in the letter ritten to Columbus in 1495, at the command of the sovereigns, observes: “I see in lis a great mystery: the divine and infallible Providence sent the great St. Thomas om the west into the east, to manifest in India our holy and Catholic faith; and du, Senor, he sent in an opposite direction, from the east into the west, until you ive arrived in the Orient, into the extreme part of Upper India, that the people ay hear that which their ancestors neglected of the preaching of St. Thomas. ius shall be accomplished what was written, in omnem terrain exxbit sonus eo- :m.” . . . And again, “The office which you hold, Sefior, places you ih the ;ht of an apostle and ambassador of God, sent by his divine judgment, to make town his holy name in unknown lands.”—Letra de Mossen Jayme Ferrer, Navar- te Coleccion, tom. ii. decad. 68. See also the opinion expressed by Agostino nstiniani, his contemporary, in his Polyglot Psalter. i i 502 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, CHAPTER V. PREPARATIONS OF COLUMBUS FOR A FOURTH VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. [1501-1502.] The speculation relative to the recovery of the holy sepulchre held but a temporary sway over the mind of Columbus. His thoughts soon returned, with renewed ardor, to their wonted channel. He became impatient of inaction, and soon conceived a leading object for another enterprise of discovery. The achievement of Vasco de Gama, of the long-attempted naviga¬ tion to India by the Cape of Good Hope, was one of the signal events of the day. Pedro Alvarez Cabral, following in his track, had made a most successful voyage, and returned with his vessels laden with the precious commodities of the East. The riches of Calicut were now the theme of every tongue, and the splendid trade now opened in diamonds and precious stones from the mines of Hindostan; in pearls, gold, silver, amber, ivory, and porcelain; in silken stuffs, costly woods, gums, aro¬ matics, and spices of all kinds. The discoveries of the savage regions of the New World, as yet, brought little revenue to Spain; but this route, suddenly opened to the luxurious countries of the East, was pouring immediate wealth into Portugal. Columbus was roused to emulation by these accounts. He now conceived the idea of a voyage, in which, with his usual enthusiasm, he hoped to surpass not merely the discovery of Vasco de Gama, but even those of his own previous expedi¬ tions. According to his own observations in his voyage to Paria, and the reports of other navigators, who had pursued the same route to a greater distance, it appeared that the coast of Terra Firma stretched far to the west. The southern coast of Cuba, which he considered a part of the Asiatic continent, stretched onward toward the same point. The currents of the Caribbean Sea must pass between those lands. He was per¬ suaded, therefore, that there must be a strait existing some¬ where thereabout, opening into the Indian sea. The situation in winch he placed his conjectural strait was somewhere about ! LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 503 what at present is called the Isthmus of Darien.* Could he but discover such a passage, and thus link the New World he had discovered, with the opulent oriental regions of the old, he felt that he should make a magnificent close to his labors, and I consummate this great object of his existence. When he unfolded his plan to the sovereigns, it was listened ] to with great attention. Certain of the royal council, it is said, endeavored to throw difficulties in the way, observing that the various exigencies of the times, and the low state of the royal treasury, rendered any new expedition highly inexpedient. They intimated also that Columbus ought not to be employed until his good conduct in Hispaniola was satisfactorily estab¬ lished by letters from Ovando. These narrow-minded sugges¬ tions failed in their aim; Isabella had implicit confidence in the integrity of Columbus. As to the expense, she felt that while furnishing so powerful a fleet and splendid retinue to Ovando, to take possession of his government, it would be ungenerous and ungrateful to refuse a few ships to the discoverer of the New World, to enable him to prosecute his illustrious enter¬ prises. As to Ferdinand, his cupidity was roused at the idea of being soon put in possession of a more direct and safe route to those oountries with which the crown of Portugal was open¬ ing so lucrative a trade. The project also would occupy the admiral for a considerable time, and, while it diverted him from claims of an inconvenient nature, would employ his talents in a way most beneficial to the crown. However the king might doubt his abilities as a legislator, he had the high¬ est opinion of his skill and judgment as a navigator. If such a strait as the one supposed were really in existence, Columbus was, of all men in the world, the one to discover it. His prop¬ osition, therefore, was promptly acceded to; he was author¬ ized to fit out an armament immediately; and repaired to Seville in the autumn of 1501, to make the necessary prepara¬ tions. Though this substantial enterprise diverted his attention from ! his romantic expedition for the recovery of the holy sepulchre, it still continued to haunt his mind. He left his manuscript collection of researches among the prophecies, in the hands of | a devout friar of the name of Gasper Gorricio, who assisted to complete it. In February, also, he wrote a letter to Pope * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 4. Las Casas specifies the vicinity of Nombre de Dios as I the place. 504 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Alexander VII., in which he apologizes on account of indispen¬ sable occupations, for not having repaired to Rome, according i to his original intention, to give an account of his grand discov¬ eries. After briefly relating them, he adds that his enterprises had been undertaken with intent of dedicating the gains to the recovery of the holy sepulchre. He mentions his vow to fur¬ nish, within seven years, fifty thousand foot and five thousand horse for the purpose, and another of like force within five sue-, ceeding years. This pious intention, he laments, had been im¬ peded by the arts of the devil, and he feared, without divine aid, would be entirely frustrated, as the government which had been granted to him in perpetuity had been taken from him. He informs his Holiness of his being about to embark on an¬ other voyage, and promises solemnly, on his return, to repair to Rome without delay, to relate everything by word of mouth, as well as to present him with an account of his voyages, which he had kept from the commencement to the present time, in the style of the Commentaries of Caesar.* It was about this time, also, that he sent his letter on the subject of the sepulchre to the sovereigns, together with the collection of prophecies, t We have no account of the manner in which the proposition was received. Ferdinand, with all his bigotry, was a shrewd and worldly prince. Instead of a chival¬ rous crusade against Jerusalem, he preferred making a pacific arrangement with the Grand Soldan of Egypt, who had men¬ aced the destruction of the sacred edifice. He dispatched, * Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. ii p. 145. t A manuscript volume containing a copy of this letter and of the collection of prophecies, is in the Columbian Library, in the Cathedral of Seville, where the au¬ thor of this work has seen and examined it, since publishing the first edition. The title and some of the early pages of the work are in the handwriting of Fernando Columbus, the main body of the work is by a strange hand, probably by the Friar Gaspar Gorricio, or some brother of his Convent. There are trifling marginal notes or corrections, and one or two trivial additions in the handwriting of Columbus, especially a passage added after his return from his fourth voyage and shortly before his death, alluding to an eclipse of the moon which took place during his sojourn in the island of Jamaica. The handwriting of this last passage, like most of the manuscript of Columbus which the author has seen, is small and delicate, but wants the firmness and distinctness of his earlier writing, his hand having doubtless become unsteady by age and infirmity. This document is extremely curious as containing all the passages of Scripture and of the works of the fathers which had so powerful an influence on the enthusi¬ astic mind of Columbus, and were construed by him into mysterious prophecies and revelations. The volume is in good preservation, excepting that a few pages have been cut out. The writing, though of the beginning of the fifteenth century, is very distinct and legible. The library mark of the book is Estante Z. Tab. 13& No. 25. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. * 505 therefore, the learned Peter Martyr, so distinguished for his historical writings, as ambassador to the Soldan, by whom all ancient grievances between the two powers were satisfactorily adjusted, and arrangements made for the conservation of the holy sepulchre, and the protection of all Christian pilgrims re¬ sorting to it. In the mean time Columbus went on with the preparations for his contemplated voyage, though but slowly, owing, as Charle¬ voix intimates, to the artifices and delays of Fonseca and his agents. He craved permission to touch at the island of Hispani¬ ola for supplies on his outward voyage. This, however, the sovereigns forbade, knowing that he had many enemies in the island, and that the place would be in great agitation from the arrival of Ovando and the removal of Bobadilla. They con¬ sented, however, that he should touch there briefly on his re¬ turn, by which time they hoped the island would be restored to tranquillity. He was permitted to take with him in this expe¬ dition his brother the Adelantado, and his son Fernando, then in his fourteenth year; also two or three persons learned in Arabic, to serve as interpreters, in case he should arrive at the dominions of the Grand Khan, or of any other eastern prince where that language might be spoken, or partially known. In reply to letters relative to the ultimate restoration of his rights, and to matters concerning his family, the sovereigns wrote him a letter, dated March 14th, 1502, from Valencia de Torre, in which they again solemnly assured him that their capitulations with him should be fulfilled to the letter, and the dignities therein ceded enjoyed by him, and his children after him; and if it should be necessary to confirm them anew, they would do do, and secure them to his son. Besides which, they expressed fheir disposition to bestow further honors and rewards upon rimself, his brothers, and his children. They entreated him, therefore, to depart in peace and confidence, and to leave all liis concerns in Spain to the management of his son Diego.* This was the last letter that Columbus received from the I sovereigns, and the assurances it contained were as ample and ibsolute as he could desire. Recent circumstances, however, lad apparently rendered him dubious of the future. During he time that he passed in Seville, previous to his departure, ie took measures to secure his fame, and preserve the claims >f his family, by placing them under the guardianship of bis * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 4. 506 LIFE OF CHIUS TO PEER COLUMBUS. native country. He had copies of all the letters, grants, and privileges from the sovereigns, appointing him admiral, vice¬ roy, and governor of the Indies, copied and authenticated be¬ fore thoalcaldes of Seville. Two sets of these were transcribed, together with his letter to the nurse of Prince Juan, contain¬ ing a circumstantial and eloquent vindication of his rights; and two letters to the Bank of St. George, at Genoa, assigning to it the tenth of his revenues, to be employed in diminishing the duties on corn and other provisions—a truly benevolent and patriotic donation, intended for the relief of the poor of his native city. These two sets of documents he sent by different individuals to his friend, Doctor Nicolo Oderigo, formerly am¬ bassador from Genoa to the court of Spain, requesting him to preserve them in some safe deposit, and to apprise his son Diego of the same. His dissatisfaction at the conduct of the Spanish court may have been the cause of this precautionary measure, that an appeal to the world, or to posterity, might be in the power of his descendants, in case he should perish in the course of his voyage.* * These documents lay unknown in the Oderigo family until 1670, when Lorenzo Oderigo presented them to the government of Genoa, and they were deposited in the archives. In the disturbances and revolutions of after times, one of these copies was taken to Paris, and the other disappeared. In 1816 the latter was discovered in the library of the deceased Count Michel Angelo Cambiaso, a senator of Genoa. It was procured by the King of Sardinia, then sovereign of Genoa, and given up by him to the city of Genoa in 1821. A custodia, or monument, was erected in that city for its preservation, consisting of a marble column supporting an urn, surmounted by a bust of Columbus. The documents were deposited in the urn. These papers have been published, together with an historical memoir of Columbus, by D. Gio. Battista Spotorno, Professor of Eloquence, etc., in the University of Genoa. BOOK XY CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS ON HIS FOURTH VOYAGE—REFUSED ADMISSION TO THE HARBOR OF SAN DOMINGO—EXPOSED TO A VIOLENT TEMPEST. [1502.] Age was rapidly making its advances upon Columbus when he undertook his fourth and last voyage of discovery. He had already numbered sixty-six years, and they were years filled with care and trouble, in which age outstrips the march of time. His constitution, originally vigorous in the extreme, had been impaired by hardships and exposures in every clime, and silently preyed upon by the sufferings of the mind. His frame, once powerful and commanding, and retaining a semblance of strength and majesty even in its decay, was yet crazed by in¬ firmities and subject to paroxysms of excruciating pain. His intellectual forces alone retained their wonted health and en¬ ergy, prompting him, at a period of life when most men seek | repose, to sally forth with youthful ardor, on the most toilsome ! md adventurous of expeditions. His squadron for the present voyage consisted of four cara¬ mels, the smallest of fifty tons burden, the largest not exceed- ng seventy, and the crews amounting in all to one hundred md fifty men. With this little armament and these slender )arks did the venerable discoverer undertake the search after t strait, which, if found, must conduct him into the most •emote seas, and lead to a complete circumnavigation of the 'lobe. In this arduous voyage, however, he had a faithful counsel¬ or, and an intrepid and vigorous coadjutor, in his brother Don Bartholomew, while his younger son Fernando cheered him - 508 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. with his affectionate sympathy. He had learnt to appreciate such comforts, from being too often an isolated stranger, sur¬ rounded by false friends and perfidious enemies. The squadron sailed from Cadiz on the 9th of May, and passed over to Ercilla, on the coast of Morocco, where it an¬ chored on the 13th. Understanding that the Portuguese garri¬ son was closely besieged in the fortress by the Moors, and ex¬ posed to great peril, Columbus was ordered to touch there, and : render all the assistance in his power. Before his arrival the siege had been raised, but the governor lay ill, having been 1 wounded in an assault. Columbus sent his brother, the Ade- ' lantado, his son Fernando, and the captains of the caravels on ; shore, to wait upon the governor, with expressions cf friend- c ship and civility, and offers of the services of his squadron. 1 Their visit and message gave high satisfaction, and several 1 cavaliers were sent to wait upon the admiral in return, some of 1 whom were relatives of his deceased wife, Dona Felippa Munoz. After this exchange of civilities, the admiral made sail on the same day, and continued his voyage.* * * § On the 25th of May 3 he arrived at the Grand Canary, and remained at that and the adjacent islands for a few days, taking in wood and water, j 1 On the evening of the 25th he took Iris departure for the New "World. The trade winds were so favorable that the little squadron swept gently on its course, without shifting a sail, and arrived on the 15th of June at one of the Caribbe Islands, called by the natives Mantinino. f After stopping here for three days, to take in wood and water, and allow the seamen time to wash their clothes, the squadron passed to the west of the island, and sailed to Dominica, about ten leagues distant.! Columbus continued hence along the inside of the Antilles, to Santa Cruz, then along the south side of Porto Rico, and steered for San Domingo. This was contrary to the original plan of the admiral, who had intended to steer to Jamaica,§ and thence to take a departure for the continent, and explore its coasts in search of the supposed strait. It was contrary to the orders of the sovereigns also, prohibiting him on his outward voyage to touch at Hispaniola. His excuse was that his priii* * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 88. t Senor Navarrete supposes this island to be the same at present called Santa Lu¬ cia. From the distance between it and Dominica, as stated by Fernando Columbus, it was more probably the present Martinica. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 88. § Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i. ' LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 509 cipal vessel sailed extremely ill, could not carry any canvas, and continually embarrassed and delayed the rest of the squadron. * He wished, therefore, to exchange it for one of the fleet which had recently conveyed Ovando to his govern¬ ment, or to purchase some other vessel at San Domingo; and he was persuaded that he would not be blamed for departing from his orders, in a case of such importance to the safety and success of his expedition. It is necessary to state the situation of the island at this mo¬ ment. Ovando had reached San Domingo on the 15th of April. He had been received with the accustomed ceremony on the shore, by Bobadilla, accompanied by the principal inhabitants of the town. He was escorted to the fortress, where his com¬ mission was read in form, in presence of all the authorities. The usual oaths were taken, and ceremonials observed; and the new governor was hailed with great demonstrations of obedi¬ ence and satisfaction. Ovando entered upon the duties of his office with coolness and prudence, and treated Bobadilla with a courtesy totally opposite to the rudeness with which the latter had superseded Columbus. The emptiness of mere official rank, when unsustained by merit, was shown in the case of Bobadilla. The moment his authority was at an end all his im¬ portance vanished. He found himself a solitary and neglected nan, deserted by those whom he had most favored, and he experienced the worthlessness of the popularity gained by eourting the prejudices and passions of the multitude. Still fhere is no record of any suit having been instituted against lim; and Las Casas, who was on the spot, declares that he lever heard any harsh thing spoken of him by the colonists.! The conduct of Roldan and his accomplices, however, under¬ vent a strict investigation, and many were arrested to be sent o Spain for trial. They appeared undismayed, trusting to the nfluence of their friends in Spain to protect them, and many ■elying on the well-known disposition of the Bishop of Fonseca o favor all who had been opposed to Columbus. The fleet which had brought out Ovando was now ready for ea; and was to take out a number of the principal delinquents, nd many of the idlers and profligates of the island. Bobadilla ms to embark in the principal ship, on board of which he put n immense amount of gold, the revenue collected for the * Hist. del. Almirante, cap. 88. Las Casas, lib d. cap. 5. t Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3. 510 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. crown during his government, and which he confidently ex* pected would atone for all his faults. There was one solid mass of virgin gold on board of this ship, which is famous in the old Spanish chronicles. It had been found by a female Indian in a brook, on the estate of Francisco de Garay and Miguel Diaz, and had been taken by Bobadilla to send to the king, making the owners a suitable compensation. It was said to weigh three |B Q 1 \'j\ thousand six hundred Castellanos.* Large quantities of gold were likewise shipped in the fleet, by the followers of Roldan, and other adventurers, the wealth gained by the sufferings of the unhappy natives. Among the various persons who were to sail in the principal ship was the unfortunate Guarionex, the once powerful cacique of the Vega. He had been confined in Fort Conception ever since his capture after the war of Higuey, and was now to be sent a captive in Jr chains to Spain. In one of the ships, Alonzo Sanchez de Ca- 1 ravjal, the agent of Columbus, had put four thousand pieces of : gold, to be remitted to him, being part of his property, either recently collected or recovered from the hands of Bobadilla. f The preparations were all made, and the fleet was ready to put to sea, when, on the 29th of June, the squadron of Colum¬ bus arrived at the mouth of the river. He immediately sent Pedro de Terreros, captain of one of the caravels, on shore to wait on Ovando, and explain to him that the purpose of his coming was to procure a vessel in exchange for one of his cara¬ vels, which was extremely defective. He requested permission also to shelter his squadron in the harbor; as he apprehended, from various indications, an approaching storm. This request was refused by Ovando. Las Casas thinks it probable that he had instructions from the sovereigns not to admit Columbus, and that he was further swayed by prudent considerations, as San Domingo was at that moment crowded with the most virulent enemies of the admiral, many of them in a high state of exasperation, from recent proceedings which had taken place against them. I When the ungracious refusal of Ovando was brought to Col¬ umbus, and he found all shelter denied him, he sought at least to avert the danger of the fleet, which was about to sail. He sent back the officer, therefore, to the governor, entreating him not to permit the fleet to put to sea for several days, assuring him that there were indubitable signs of an impending tempest. * Las Casas. Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 5. t Ibid. $ Las Casas, ubi sup. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 511 This second request was equally fruitless with the first. The weather, to an inexperienced eye, was fair and tranquil; the pilots and seamen were impatient to depart. They scoffed at the prediction of the admiral, ridiculing him as a false prophet, |and they persuaded Ovando not to detain the fleet on so unsub¬ stantial a pretext. It was hard treatment of Columbus, thus to be denied the relief which the state of his ships required, and to be excluded n time of distress from the very harbor he had discovered, tie retired from the river full of grief and indignation. His irew murmured loudly at being shut out from a port of their >wn nation, where even strangers, under similar circumstances, vould be admitted. They repined at having embarked with a commander liable to such treatment, and anticipated nothing )ut evil from a voyage, in which they were exposed to the langers of the sea, and repulsed from the protection of the and. Being confident, from his observations of those natural phe- tomena in which he was deeply skilled, that the anticipated torm could not be distant, and expecting it from the land side, Columbus kept his feeble squadron close to the shore, and ought for secure anchorage in some wild bay or river of the sland. In the mean time the fleet of Bobadilla set sail from San Do- lingo, and stood out confidently to sea. Within two days the redictions of Columbus were verified. One of those tremen- ous hurricanes, which sometimes sweep those latitudes, had radually gathered up. The baleful appearance of the heavens, le wild look of the ocean, the rising murmur of the winds, all ave notice of its approach. The fleet had scarcely reached the astern point of Hispaniola when the tempest burst over it ith awful fury, involving everything in wreck and ruin. The lip on board of which were Bobadilla, Boldan, and a number i the most inveterate enemies of Columbus, was swallowed up ith all its crew, and with the celebrated mass of gold, and the rincipal part of the ill-gotten treasure, gained by the miseries : the Indians. Many of the ships were entirely lost, some re- irned to San Domingo, in shattered condition, and only one as enabled to continue her voyage to Spain. That one, ac- >rding to Fernando Columbus, was the weakest of the fleet, id had on board the four thousand pieces of gold, the property ! the admiral. During the early part of this storm the little squadron of 512 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Columbus remained tolerably well sheltered by the land. Or the second day the tempest increased in violence, and the nighl coming on with unusual darkness, the ships lost sight of eacl other and were separated. The admiral still kept close to thc- shore, and sustained no damage. The others, fearful of the land in such a dark and boisterous night, ran out for sea-room, and encountered the whole fury of the elements. For several days they were driven about at the mercy of the wind and wave, fearful each moment of shipwreck, and giving up eacl other as lost. The Adelantado, who commanded the ship al¬ ready mentioned as being scarcely seaworthy, ran the mosl imminent hazard, and nothing but his consummate seaman¬ ship enabled him to keep her afloat. At length, after various vicissitudes, they all arrived safe at Port Hermoso, to the west of San Domingo. The Adelantado had lost his long-boat; and all the vessels, with the exception of that of the admiral, had sustained more or less injury. When Columbus learnt the signal destruction that had over¬ whelmed his enemies, almost before his eyes, he was deeply impressed with awe, and considered his own preservation as little less than miraculous. Both his son Fernando and the venerable historian Las Casas looked upon the event as one of those awful judgments which seem at times to deal forth tem¬ poral retribution. They notice the circumstance, that while the enemies of the admiral were swallowed up by the raging sea, the only ship of the fleet which was enabled to pursue her voyage, and reach her port of destination, was the frail bark freighted with the property of Columbus. The evil, however, in this, as in most circumstances, overwhelmed the innocent as well as the guilty. In the ship with Bobadilla and Boldan, perished the captive Guarionex, the unfortunate cacique of the Vega.* * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 5, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 88. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 513 CHAPTER II. VOYAGE ALONG THE COAST OF HONDURAS [1502.] For several days Columbus remained ; n Port Hermoso, to repair his vessels and permit his crews to repose and refresh tnemselves after the late tempest. He had scarcely left this harbor when he was obliged to take shelter from another storm in Jacquemel, or as it was called by the Spaniards, Port Brazil. Hence he sailed on the 14th of July, steering for Terra Firma. The weather falling perfectly calm, he was borne away by the currents until he found himself in the vicinity of some little is¬ lands near Jamaica,* destitute of springs, but where the sea¬ men obtained a supply of water by digging holes in the sand on the beach. The calm continuing, he was swept away to the group of small islands, or keys, on the southern coast of Cuba, to which, in 1494, he had given the name of The Gardens. He had scarcely touched there, however, when the wind sprang up from a favorable quarter, and he was enabled to make sail on bis destined course. He now stood to the south-west, and after & few days discovered, on the 30th of July, a small but elevated island, agreeable to the eye from the variety of trees with which t was covered. Among these was a great, number of lofty lines, from which circumstance Columbus named it Isla de Pinos. It has always, however, retained its Indian name of Juanaja,t which has been extended to a number of smaller is- ands surrounding it. Tins group is within a few leagues of he coast of Honduras, to the east of the great bay or gulf of hat name. The Adelantado, with two launches full of people, landed on he principal island, which was extremely verdant and fertile, lie inhabitants resembled those of other islands, excepting hat their foreheads were narrower. While the Adelantado ?as on shore, he beheld a great canoe arriving, as from a dis- ant, and important voyage. He was struck with its magni- ude and contents. It was eight feet wide, and as long as a * Supposed to be the Morant Keys, t Called in some of the English maps Bonacca. 514 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. galley, though formed of the trunk of a single tree. In the cen¬ tre was a kind of awning or cabin of palm-leaves, after the manner of those in the gondolas of Venice, and sufficiently close to exclude both sun and rain. Under this sat a cacique with his wives and children. Twenty-five Indians rowed the canoe, and it was filled with all kinds of articles of the manu¬ facture and natural production of the adjacent countries. It is supposed that this bark had come from the province of Yuca¬ tan, which is about forty leagues distant from this island. The Indians in the canoe appeared to have no fear of the Spaniards, and readily went alongside of the admiral’s caravel. Columbus was overjoyed at thus having brought to him at once, without trouble or danger, a collection of specimens of all the important articles of this part of the New World. He ex¬ amined with great curiosity and interest the contents of the canoe. Among various utensils and weapons similar to those already found among the natives, he perceived others of a much superior kind. There were hatchets for cutting wood, formed not of stone but copper; wooden swords, with channels on each side of the blade, in which sharp flints were firmly fixed by cords made of the intestines of fishes; being the same kind of weapon afterward found among the Mexicans. There were copper bells, and other articles of the same metal, together with a rude kind of crucible in which to melt it; various ves¬ sels and utensils neatly formed of clay, of marble, and of hard wood; sheets and mantles of cotton, worked and dyed with various colors; great quantities of cacao, a fruit as yet unknown to the Spaniards, but which, as they soon found, the natives held in great estimation, using it both as food and money. There was a beverage also extracted from maize or Indian corn, resembling beer. Their provisions consisted of bread made of maize, and roots of various kinds, similar to those of Hispaniola. From among these articles Columbus collected such as were important to send as specimens to Spain, giving the natives European trinkets in exchange, with which they were highly satisfied. They appeared to manifest neither astonishment nor alarm when on board of the vessels, and surrounded by people who must have been so strange and wonderful to them. The women wore mantles, with which they wrapped themselves, like the female Moors of G-ranada, and the men had cloths of cotton round their loins. Both sexes appeared more particular about these coverings, and to have a quicker sense of personal modesty than any Indians Columbus had yet discovered. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 515 These circumstances, together with the superiority of their implements and manufactures, were held by the admiral 51 s indications that he was approaching more civilized nations, tie endeavored to gain particular information from these In¬ dians about the surrounding countries; but as they spoke a different language from that of his interpreters, he could under¬ stand them but imperfectly. They informed him that they had just arrived from a country, rich, cultivated, and industrious, situated to the west. They endeavored to impress him with an idea of the wealth and magnificence of the regions, and the people of that quarter, and urged him to steer in that direction. Well would it have been for Columbus had he followed their advice. Within a day or two he would have arrived at Yuca¬ tan ; the discovery of Mexico and the other opulent countries of New Spain would have necessarily followed; the Southern Ocean would have been disclosed to him, and a succession of splendid discoveries would have shed fresh glory on his declin¬ ing age, instead of its sinking amidst gloom, neglect, and dis¬ appointment. The admiral’s whole mind, however, was at present intent upon discovering the strait. As the countries described by the Indians lay to the west, he supposed that he could easily visit them at some future time, by running with the trade-winds along the coast of Cuba, which he imagined must continue on, so as to join them. At present he was determined to seek the main-land, the mountains of which were visible to the south, and apparently not many leagues distant ;* by keeping along it steadfastly to the east, he must at length arrive to where he supposed it to be severed from the coast of Paria by an inter¬ vening strait; and passing through this, he should soon make his way to the Spice Islands and the richest parts of India, t He was encouraged the more to persist in his eastern course by information from the Indians, that there were many places 11 that direction which abounded with gold. Much of the in¬ formation which he gathered among these people was derived Tom an old man more intelligent than the rest, who appeared t o be an ancient navigator of these seas. Columbus retained ! iim to serve as a guide along the coast, and dismissed his com¬ panions with many presents. Leaving the island of Guanaj a, he stood southwardly for the * Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i. t Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 2U. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. 516 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. main-land, and after sailing a few leagues discovered a cape, to which he gave the name of Caxinas, from its being covered with fruit trees, so called by the natives. It is at present known as Cape Honduras. Here, on Sunday the 14th of Am gust, the Adelantado landed with the captains of the caravels and many of the seamen, to attend mass, which was performed under the trees on the sea-shore, according to the pious custom of the admiral, whenever circumstances would permit. On the 17th the Adelantado again landed at a river about fifteen miles from the point, on the bank of which he displayed the banners of Castile, taking possession of the country in the name of their Catholic Majesties; from which circumstances he named this the River of Possession.* At this place they found upward of a hundred Indians as¬ sembled, laden with bread and maize, fish and fowl, vegetables, and fruits of various kinds. These they laid down as presents before the Adelantado and his party, and drew back to a dis¬ tance without speaking a word. The Adelantado distributed among them various trinkets, with which they were well pleased, and appeared the next day in the same place, in greater numbers, with still more abundant supplies of provisions. The natives of this neighborhood, and for a considerable dis¬ tance eastward, had higher foreheads than those of the islands. They were of different languages, and varied from each other in their decorations. Some were entirely naked; and their bodies were marked by means of fire with the figures of various animals. Some wore coverings about the loins; others short cotton jerkins without sleeves; some wore tresses of hair in front. The chieftains had caps of white or colored cotton. When arrayed for any festival, they painted their faces black, or with stripes of various colors, or with circles round the eyes. The old Indian guide assured the admiral that many of 'them were cannibals. In one part of the coast the natives had their ears bored, and hideously distended; which caused the Spaniards to call that region la Costa de la Oreja, or ‘'The Coast of the Ear.” f From the River of Possession, Columbus proceeded along what is at present called the coast of Honduras, beating against contrary winds, and struggling with currents, which swept from the east like the constant stream of a river. He often * Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. t Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 90. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 517 lost in one tack what he had laboriously gained in two, fre¬ quently making but two leagues in a day, and never more than five. At night he anchored under the’ land, through fear of proceeding along an unknown coast in the dark, but was often forced out to sea by the violence of the currents.* In all this tune he experienced the same kind of weather that had pre¬ vailed on the coast of Hispaniola, and had attended him more or less for upward of sixty days. There was, he says, almost an incessant tempest of the heavens, with heavy rains, and such thunder and lightning that it seemed as if the end of the world was at hand. Those who know anything of the drench¬ ing rains and rending thunder of the tropics will not think his description of the storms exaggerated. His vessels were strained so that their seams opened; the sails and rigging were rent, and the provisions wnre damaged by the rain and by the leakage. The sailors were exhausted with labor and harassed with terror. They many times confessed their sins to each other, and prepared for death. “ I have seen many tempests, ” says Columbus, “but none so violent or of such long duration.” He alludes to the whole series of storms for upward of two months, since he had been refused shelter at San Domingo. During a great part of this time he had suffered extremely from the gout, aggravated by his watchfulness and anxiety. His illness did not prevent his attending to his duties; he had a small cabin or chamber constructed on the stern, whence, even when confined to his bed, he could keep a look-out and regulate the sailing of the ships. Many times he was so ill that he thought his end approaching. His anxious mind was distressed about his brother the Adelantado, whom he had persuaded against his will to come on this expedition, and who was in the worst vessel of the squadron. He lamented also having brought with him his son Fernando, exposing him at so tender an age to such perils and hardships, although the youth bore them with the courage and fortitude of a veteran. Often, too, his thoughts reverted to his son Diego, and the cares and perplexities into which his death might plunge him.f At length, after struggling for upward of forty days since leaving the Cape of Honduras, to make a distance of about seventy leagues, they arrived on the 14th of September at a cape where j the coast, making an angle, turned directly south, so as to give * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 80. t Letter from Jamaica. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 513 them an easy wind and free navigation. Doubling the point, they swept off with flowing sails and hearts filled with joy; and the admiral, to commemorate this sudden relief from toil and peril, gave to the Cape the name of Gracias a Dios, or Thanks to God.* CHAPTER ni. VOYAGE ALONG THE MOSQUITO COAST, AND TRANSACTIONS AT CARIARI. [1503.] After doubling Cape Gracias a Dios, Columbus sailed di¬ rectly south, along what is at present called the Mosquito shore. The land was of varied character, sometimes rugged, with craggy promontories and points stretching into the sea, at other places verdant and fertile, and watered by abundant streams. In the rivers grew immense reeds, sometimes of the thickness of a man’s thigh: they abounded with fish and tor¬ toises and alligators basked on the banks. At one place Colum¬ bus passed a cluster of twelve small islands, on which grew a fruit resembling the lemon, on which account he called them the Limonares.t After sailing about sixty-two leagues along this coast, being greatly in want of wood and water, the squadron anchored on the 16th of September, near a copiods river, up which the boats were sent to procure the requisite supplies. As they were re¬ turning to their ships, a sudden swelling of the sea, rushing in and encountering the rapid current of the river, caused a vio¬ lent commotion, in which one of the boats was swallowed up, and all on board perished. This melancholy event had a gloomy effect upon the crews, already dispirited and careworn from the hardships they had endured, and Columbus, sharing their dejection, gave the stream the sinister name of El rio del Desastre , or the River of Disaster. \ Leaving this unlucky neighborhood, they continued for sev- * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 91. + P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv. These may have been the lime, a small and ex* tremely acid species of the lemon. $ Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 91. Journal of Porras. n LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. eral days along the coast, until finding both his ships and his people nearly disabled by the buffetings of the tempests, Co¬ lumbus, on the 25th of September, cast anchor between a small island and the main-land, in what appeared a commodious and delightful situation. The island was covered with groves of palm-trees, cocoanut-trees, bananas, and a delicate and fragrant fruit, which the admiral continually mistook for the mirabo lane of the East Indies. The fruits and flowers and odoriferous shrubs of the island sent forth grateful perfumes, so that Co¬ lumbus gave it the name of La Huerta, or The Garden. It was called by the natives, Quiribiri. Immediately opposite, at a short league’s distance, was an Indian village, named Cariari, situated' on the bank of a beautiful river. The country around was fresh and verdant, finely diversified by noble hills and forests, with trees of such height that Las Casas says they ap¬ peared to reach the skies. When the inhabitants beheld the ships, they gathered to- I gether on the coast, armed with bows and arrows, war-clubs, 1 and lances, and prepared to defend their shores. The Spaniards, however, made no attempt to land during that or the succeed¬ ing day, but remained quietly on board repairing the ships, airing and drying the damaged provisions, or reposing from the fatigues of the voyage. When the savages perceived that these wonderful beings, who had arrived in this strange man¬ ner on their coast, were perfectly pacific, and made no move¬ ment to molest them, their hostility ceased, and curiosity pre¬ dominated. They made various pacific signals, waving their mantles like banners, and inviting the Spaniards to land. Grow¬ ing still more bold, they swam to the ships, bringing off man¬ tles and tunics of cotton, and ornaments of the inferior sort of gold called guanin, which they wore about their necks. These they offered to the Spaniards. The admiral, however, forbade ] all traffic, making them presents, but taking nothing in :x | change, wishing to impress them with a favorable idea of the liberality and disinterestedness of the white men. The pride of the savages was touched at the refusal of their proffered gifts, and this supposed contempt for their manufactures and productions. They endeavored to retaliate, by pretending like indifference. On returning to shore, they tied together all the European articles which had been given them, without retain¬ ing the least trifle, and left them lying on the strand, where the Spaniards found them on a subsequent day. Finding the strangers still declined to come on shore, the A 20 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. natives tried in every way to gain their confidence, and dispel tne distrust which their hostile demonstrations might have caused. A boat approaching the shore cautiously one day, in quest of some safe place to procure water, an ancient Indian, o venerable demeanor, issued from among the trees, bearing a t hite banner on the end of a staff, and leading two girls, one a >out fourteen years of age, the other about eight, having jf wels of guanin about their necks. These he brought to the boat and delivered to the Spaniards, making signs that they were to be detained as hostages while the strangers should be 011 shore. Upon this the Spaniards sallied forth with confidence and filled their water-casks, the Indians remaining at a distance, and observing the strictest care, neither by word nor move¬ ment to cause any new distrust. When the boats were about to return to the ships, the old Indian made signs that the young girls should be taken on board, nor would he admit of any de¬ nial. On entering the ships the girls showed no signs of grief nor alarm, though surrounded by what to them must have been uncouth and formidable beings. Columbus was careful that the confidence thus placed in him should not be abused. After feasting the young females, and ordering them to be clothed and adorned with various ornaments, he sent them on shore. The night, however, had fallen, and the coast was deserted. They had to return to the ship, where they remained all night under the careful protection of the admiral. The next morning he restored them to their friends. The old Indian received teem with joy, and manifested a grateful sense of the kind treatment they had experienced. In the evening, however, when the boats went on shore, the young girls appeared, ac¬ companied by a multitude of their friends, and returned all the presents they had received, nor could they be prevailed upon to retain any of them, although they must have been precious in their eyes; so greatly was the pride of these savages piqued at having their gifts refused. On the following day, as the Adelantado approached the shore, two of the principal inhabitants, entering the water, took him out of the boat in their arms, and carrying him to land, seated him with great ceremony on a grassy bank. Don .Bartholomew endeavored to collect information from them respecting the country, and ordered the notary of the squadron to write down their replies. The latter immediately prepared pen, ink, and paper, and proceeded to write; but no sooner did the Indians behold this strange and mysterious process, than LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 521 mistaking it for some necromantic spell, intended to be wrought upon them, they fled with terror. After some time they returned, cautiously scattering a fragrant powder in the air, and burning some of it in such a direction that the smoke should be borne toward the Spaniards by the wind. This was apparently intended to counteract any baleful spell, for they regarded the strangers as beings of a mysterious and super¬ natural order. The sailors looked upon these counter-charms of the Indians with equal distrust, and apprehended something of magic; nay, Fernando Columbus, who was present, and records the scene, appears to doubt whether these Indians were not versed in sor¬ cery, and thus led to suspect it in others.* Indeed, not to conceal a foible, which was more characteristic of the superstition of the age than of the man, Columbus him¬ self entertained an idea of the kind, and assures the sovereigns, in his letter from Jamaica, that the people of Cariari and its vicinity are great enchanters, and he intimates that the two Indian girls who had visited his ship had magic powder con¬ cealed about their persons. He adds, that the sailors attributed all the delays and hardships experienced on that coast to their being under the influence of some evil spell, worked by the witchcraft of the natives, and that they still remained in that belief.f For several days the squadron remained at this place, during which time the ships were examined and repaired, and the crews enjoyed repose and the recreation of the land. The Adelantado, with a band of armed men, made excursions on * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 91. t Letter from Jamaica. Note. —We find instances of the same kind of superstition in the work of Marco Polo, and as Columbus considered himself in the vicinity of the countries described by tnat traveller, he may have been influenced in this respect by his narrations. Speaking of the island of Soccotera, (Socotra), Marco Polo observes: “ The inhabb tants deal more in sorcery and witchcraft than any other people, although forbid¬ den by their archbishop, who excommunicates and anathematises them for the sin. Of this, however, they make little accotmt, and if any vessel belonging to a pirate should injure one of theirs, they do r.ot fail to lay him under a spell, so that he cannot proceed on his cruise until he has made satisfaction for the damage; and | even although he should have a fair and leading wind, they have the power of caus- 1 ir.g it to change, and thereby obliging him, in spite of himself, to return to the island. They can in like manner, cause the sea to become calm, and at their will i can raise tempests, occasion shipwrecks, and produce many other extraordinary ! effects that need not be particularized.—Marco Polo, book iii. cap. 35, Eng. transla- tion by W. Marsden. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 522 shore to collect information. There was no pure gold to he met with here, all their ornaments were of guanin; but the natives assured the Adelantado, that, in proceeding along the coast, the ships would soon arrive at a country where gold was in great abundance. In examining one of the villages, the Adelantado found, in a large house, several sepulchres. One contained a human body embalmed: in another, there were two bodies wrapped in cotton, and so preserved as to he free from any disagreeable odor. They were adorned with the ornaments most precious to them when living; and the sepulchres were decorated with rude carvings and paintings representing various animals, and sometimes what appeared to be intended for portraits of the deceased.* Throughout most of the savage tribes there appears to have been great veneration for the dead, and an anxiety to preserve their remains undisturbed. When about to sail, Columbus seized seven of the people, two of whom, apparently the most intelligent, he selected to serve as guides; the rest he suffered to depart. His late guide he had dismissed with presents at Cape Gracias a Dios. The in¬ habitants of Cariari manifested unusual sensibility at this seiz¬ ure of their countrymen. They thronged the shore, and sent off four of their principal men with presents to the ships, im¬ ploring the release of the prisoners. The admiral assured them that he only took their compan¬ ions as guides, for a short distance along the coast, and would restore them soon in safety to their homes. He ordered various presents to be given to the ambassadors; but neither liis promises nor gifts could soothe the grief and apprehension of the natives at beholding their friends carried away by beings of whom they had such mysterious apprehensions.! * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap 21. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 91. t Ibid. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 91. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 523 CHAPTER IV. VOYAGE ALONG COSTA RICA—SPECULATIONS CONCERNING THE ISTHMUS AT VERAGUA. [1502.] On the 5th of October the squadron departed from Cairari, and sailed along what is at present called Costa Rica (or the Rich Coast), from the gold and silver mines found in after years among its mountains. After sailing about twenty-two leagues the ship anchored in a great bay, about six leagues in length and three in breadth, full of islands, with channels opening between them, so as to present three or four en¬ trances. It was called by the natives Caribaro, * and had been pointed out by the natives of Cairari as plentiful in gold. The islands were beautifully verdant, covered with groves, and sent forth the fragrance of fruits and flowers. The chan¬ nels between them were so deep and free from rocks that the ships sailed along them, as if in canals in the streets of a city, the spars and rigging brushing the overhanging branches of the trees. After anchoring, the boats landed on one of the islands, where they found twenty canoes. The people were on shore among the trees. Being encouraged by the Indians of Cariari, who accompanied the Spaniards, they soon advanced with con¬ fidence. Here, for the first time on this coast, the Spaniards met with specimens of pure gold; the natives wearing large plates of it suspended round their necks by cotton cords; they had ornaments likewise of guanin, rudely shaped like eagles. One of them exchanged a plate of gold, equal in value to ten ducats, for three hawks’* bells, t On the following day the boats proceeded to the main-land at the bottom of the bay. The country around was high and rough, and the villages were generally perched on the heights. They met with ten canoes of Indians, their heads decorated with garlands of flowers, and coronets formed of the claws of beasts and the quills of birds; \ most of them had plates of gold about * In some English maps this bay is called Almirante, or Carnabaco Bay. Tho channel by which Columbus entered is still called Boca del Almirante, or the Mouth of the Admiral, t Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i. t P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. v. 524 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. their necks, but refused to part with them. The Spaniards brought two of them to the admiral to serve as guides. One had a plate of pure gold worth fourteen ducats, another an eagle worth twenty-two ducats. Seeing the great value which the strangers set upon this metal, they assured them it was to be had in abundance within the distance of two days’ journey; and mentioned various places along the coast whence it was procured, particularly Yeragua, which was about twenty-five leagues distant.* The cupidity of the Spaniards was greatly excited, and they would gladly have remained to barter, but the admiral discour¬ aged all disposition of the kind. He barely sought to collect specimens and information of the riches of the country, and then pressed forward in quest of the great object of his enter¬ prise, the imaginary strait. Sailing on the l?th of October, from this bay, or rather gulf, he began to coast this region of reputed wealth, since called the coast of Yeragua; and after sailing about twelve leagues ar¬ rived at a large river, which his son Fernando calls the Guaig. Here, on the boats being sent to land, about two hundred In¬ dians appeared on the shore, armed with clubs, lances, and swords of palm-wood. The forests echoed with the sound of wooden drums, and the blasts of conch-shells, their usual war signals. They rushed into the sea up to their waists, brandish¬ ing their weapons, and splashing the water at the Spaniards in token of defiance; but were soon pacified by gentle signs and the intervention of the interpreters, and willingly bartered away their ornaments, giving seventeen plates of gold, worth one hundred and fifty ducats, for a few toys and trifles. When the Spaniards returned the next day to renew their traffic, they found the Indians relapsed into hostility, sounding their drums and shells, and rushing forward to attack the boats. An arrow from a cross-bow, which wounded one of them in the arm, checked their fury, and on the discharge of a cannon they fled with terror. Four of the Spaniards sprang on shore, pur¬ suing and calling after them. They threw down their weapons and came, awe-struck, and gentle as lambs, bringing three plates of gold, and meekly and thankfully receiving whatever was given in exchange. Continuing along the coast, the admiral anchored in the mouth of another river, called the Catiba. Here likewise the * Columbus's Letter from Jamaica. LIFE OF CU1UST0PHER COLUMBUS. 525 sound of drums and conchs from among the forests gave notice that the warriors were assembling. A canoe soon came off with two Indians, who, after exchanging a few words with the in¬ terpreters, entered the admiral’s ship with fearless confidence; and being satisfied of the friendly intentions of the stran gers, returned to their cacique with a favorable report. The boats landed, and the Spaniards were kindly received by the cacique. He was naked like his subjects, nor distinguished in any way from them, except by the great deference with which he was treated, and by a trifling attention paid to his personal comfort, being protected from a shower of rain by an immense leaf of a tree. He had a large plate of gold, which he readily gave in exchange, and permitted his people to do the same. Nineteen plates of pure gold were procured at this place. Here, for the first time in the New World, the Spaniards met with signs of solid architecture; finding a great mass of stucco, formed of stone and lime, a piece of which was retained by the admiral as a specimen,* considering it an indication of his approach to countries where the arts were in a higher state of cultivation. He had intended to visit other rivers along this coast, but the wind coming on to blow freshly, he ran before it, passing in sight of five towns, where his interpreters assured him he might procure great quantities of gold. One they pointed out as Veragua, which has since given its name to the whole province. Here, they said, were the richest mines, and here most of the plates of gold were fabricated. On the following day they ar¬ rived opposite a village called Cubiga, and here Columbus was informed tiiat the country of gold terminated.! He resolved not to return to explore it, considering it as discovered, and its mines secured to the crown, and being anxious to arrive at the supposed strait, which he flattered himself could be at no great distance. In fact, during his whole voyage along the coast, he had been under the influence of one of his frequent delusions. From the Indians met with at the Island of Guanaja, just arrived from Yucatan, he had received accounts of some great, and, as far as he could understand, civilized nation in the interior. This intimation had been corroborated, as he imagined, by the various tribes with which he had since communicated. In a subsequent letter to the sovereigns he informs them that all the Indians of this coast concurred in extolling the magnificence of •—--- - -•, * Hist, del Alinirantc, cap. 98. tlbid. 526 LIFE OF CIIHIS TO PEER COLUMBUS . the country of Ciguare, situated at ten days’ journey, by lan<^ to the west. The people of that region wore crowns, and brace¬ lets, and anklets of gold, and garments embroidered with it. They used it for all their domestic purposes, even to the orna¬ menting and embossing of their seats and tables. On being shown coral, the Indians declared that the women of Ciguare wore bands of it about their heads and necks. Pepper and other spices being shown them, were equally said to abound there. They described it as a country of commerce, with great fairs and seaports, in which ships arrived armed with cannon. The people were warlike, also, armed like the Spaniards with swords, bucklers, cuirasses, and cross-bows, and they were mounted on horses. Above all, Columbus understood from them that the sea continued round to Ciguare, and that ten days beyond it was the Ganges. These may have been vague and wandering rumors concern¬ ing the distant kingdoms of Mexico and Peru, and many of the details may have been filled up by the imagination of Columbus. They made, however, a strong impression on his mind. He supposed that Ciguare must be some province belonging to the Grand Khan, or some other eastern potentate, and as the sea reached it, he concluded it was on the opposite side of a penin¬ sula, bearing the same position with respect to Veragua that Fontarabia does with Tortosa in Spain, or Pisa with Venice in Italy. By proceeding farther eastward, therefore, he must soon arrive at a strait, like that of Gibraltar, through which he could pass into another sea, and visit this country of Ciguare, and, of course, arrive at the banks of the Ganges. He accounted for the circumstance of his having arrived so near to that river, by the idea which he had long entertained, that geographers were mistaken as to the circumference of the globe; that it was smaller than was generally imagined, and that a degree of the equinoctial line was but fifty-six miles and two thirds.* With these ideas Columbus determined to press forward, leaving the rich country of Veragua unexplored. Nothing could evince more clearly his generous ambition, than hurry¬ ing in this brief manner along a coast where wealth was to bo gathered at every step, for the purpose of seeking a strait which, however it might produce vast benefit to mankind, could yield little else to himself than the glory of the discovery. •Letter of Columbus from Jamaica Navarrete Colec., torn. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPH Eli COLUMBUS. 621 CHAPTER V. DISCOVERY OF PUERTO BELLO ANT EL RETRETE—COLUMBUS ABANDONS THE SEARCH AFTER THE STRAIT. [1502.] On the 2d of November the squadron anchored in a spacious and commodious harbor, where the vessels could approach close to the shore without danger. It was surrounded by an elevated country; open and cultivated, with houses within bow¬ shot of each other, surrounded by fruit-trees, groves of palms, and Helds producing maize, vegetables, and the delicious pine¬ apple, so that the whole neighborhood had the mingled appear¬ ance of orchard and garden. Columbus was so pleased with the excellence of the harbor and the sweetness of the surround¬ ing country that he gave it the name of Puerto Bello.* It is one of the few places along this coast which retain the appella¬ tion given by the illustrious discoverer. It is to be regretted that they nave so generally been discontinued, as they were so often records of his feelings, and of circumstances attending the discovery. For seven days they were detained in this port by heavy rain and stormy weather. The natives repaired from all quarters in canoes, bringing fruits and vegetables and balls of cotton, but there was no longer gold offered in traffic. The cacique and seven of his principal chieftains had small plates of gold hanging in their noses, but the rest of the natives appear to have been destitute of all ornaments of the kind. They were generally naked and painted red; the cacique alone was painted black, f Sailing hence, on the 9th of November, they proceeded eight leagues to the eastward, to the poinc since known as Nombre de Dios; but being driven back for some distance, they anchored in a harbor in the vicinity of three small islands. These, with the adjacent country of the main-land, were cultivated with fields of Indian corn, and various fruits and vegetables, whence Columbus called the harbor Puerto de Bastimentos, or Port of Provisions. Here they remained until the 23d, endeavoring to ♦Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 33. Hist, del Almirante. _ + Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv. 528 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. repair their vessels, which leaked excessively. They were pierced in all parts by the toredo or worm which abounds in the tropical seas. It is of the size of a man’s finger, and bores through the stoutest planks and timbers, so as soon to destroy any vessel that is not well coppered. After leaving this port they touched at another called Guiga, where above three hun¬ dred of the natives appeared on the shore, some with provisions, and some with golden ornaments, which they offered in barter. Without making any stay, however, the admiral urged his way forward; but rough and adverse winds again obliged him to take shelter in a small port, with a narrow entrance, not above twenty paces wide, beset on each side with reefs of rocks, the sharp points of which rose above the surface. Within, there was not room for more than five or six ships; yet the port was so deep that they had no good anchorage, unless they approached near enough to the land for a man to leap on shore. From the smallness of the harbor, Columbus gave it the name of El JRetrete , or The Cabinet. He had been betrayed into this inconvenient and dangerous port by the misrepresen¬ tations of the seamen sent to -examine it, who were always eager to come to anchor and have communication with the shore.* The adjacent country was level and verdant, covered with herbage, but with few trees. The port was infested with alligators, which basked in the sunshine on the beach, filling the air with a powerful and musky odor. They were timorous, and fled on being attacked, but the Indians affirmed that if they found a man sleeping on the shore they would seize and drag him into the water. These alligators Columbus pro¬ nounced to be the same as the crocodiles of the Nile. For nine days the squadron was detained in this port by tempestuous weather. The natives of this place were tall, well propor¬ tioned, and graceful; of gentle and friendly manners, and brought whatever they possessed to exchange for European trinkets. As long as the admiral had control over the actions of his people, the Indians were treated with justice and kindness, and everything went on amicably. The vicinity of the ships to land, however, enabled the seamen to get on shore in the night without license. The natives received them in their dwellings * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist, del Almirante, cap 92. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 529 with their accustomed hospitality; but the rough adventurers, instigated by avarice and lust, soon committed excesses that roused their generous hosts to revenge. Every night there were brawls and fights on shore, and blood was shed on both sides. The number of the Indians daily augmented by arrivals from the interior. They became more powerful and daring as they became more exasperated; and seeing that the vessels lay close to the shore, approached in a great multitude to attack them. The admiral thought at first to disperse them by discharging cannon without ball, but they were not intimidated by the sound, regarding it as a kind of harmless thunder. They re¬ plied to it by yells and howlings, beating their lances and clubs against the trees and bushes in furious menace. The situation of the ships so close to the shore exposed them to assaults, and made the hostility of the natives unusually formidable. Colum¬ bus ordered a shot or two, therefore, to be discharged among them. When they saw the havoc made, they fled in terror, and offered no further hostility.* The continuance of stormy winds from the east and the north-east in addition to the constant opposition of the currents, iisheartened the companions of Columbus, and they began to murmur against any further prosecution of the voyage. The :camen thought that some hostile spell was operating, and the commanders remonstrated against attempting to force their way in spite of the elements, with ships crazed and worm-eaten, xnd continually in need of repair. Few of his companions :ould sympathize with Columbus in his zeal for mere discovery. They were actuated by more gainful motives, and looked back with regret on the rich coast they had left behind, to go in search of an imaginary strait. It is probable that Columbus limself began to doubt the object of his enterprise. If he knew he details of the recent voyage of Bastides he must have been iware that he had arrived from an opposite quarter to about he place where that navigator’s exploring voyage from the - last had terminated; consequently that there was but little Probability of the existence of the strait he had imagined, f * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. S3. Hist, del Almiraute, cap. 92. j + It appears doubtful whether Columbus was acquainted with the exact particulars ; 'f that voyage, as they could scarcely have reached Spain previously to his sailing, i >astides had been seized in Hispaniola by Bobadilla, and was on board of that very | leet which was wrecked at the time that Columbus arrived off San Domingo. Ho scaped the fate that attended most of Jus companions and returned to Spain, 530 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. At all events, he determined to relinquish the further prose¬ cution of his voyage eastward for the present, and to return tc the coast of Veragua, to search for those mines of which he had heard so much and seen so many indications. Should they prove equal to his hopes, he would have wherewithal to return to Spain in triumph, and silence the reproaches of his enemies, even though he should fail in the leading object of his expedi¬ tion. Here, then, ended the lofty anticipations which had elevated Columbus above all mercenary interests; which had made him regardless of hardships and perils, and given an heroic charac¬ ter to the early part of this voyage. It is true, he had been in pursuit of a mere chimera, but it was the chimera of a splendid imagination and a penetrating judgment. If he was disap¬ pointed in his expectation of finding a strait through the Isthmus of Darien, it was because nature herself had been disappointed, for she appears to have attempted to make one, but to have attempted it in vain. CHAPTER VI. RETURN TO VERAGUA—THE ADELANTADO EXPLORES THE COUNTRY. [1502.] On the 5th of December Columbus sailed from El Retrete, And relinquishing his course to the east, returned westward, in search of the gold mines of Veragua. On the same evening he anchored in Puerto Bello, about ten leagues distant; whence departing on the succeeding day, the wind suddenly veered to the west, and began to blow directly adverse to the new course he had adopted. For three months he had been longing in ' vain for such a wind, and now it came merely to contradict him. Here was a temptation to resume his route to the east, but he did not dare trust to the continuance of the wind, which, where he was rewarded by the sovereigns for his enterprise. Though some of his seamen had readied Spain previous to the sailing of Columbus, and had given a general idea of the voyage, it is doubtful whether he had transmitted his P a P ers and charts. Porras, in his journal of the voyage of Columbus, states that they arrived at the place where the discoveries of Bastides terminated; but this in forma* tion he may have obtained subsequently at San Domingo. LIFE OF CUBISTOPUEB COLUMBUS. 531 in these parts, appeared but seldom to blow from that quarter. He resolved, therefore, to keep on in the present direction, trusting that the breeze would soon change again to the east- , ward. In a little while the wind began to blow with dreadful i violence, and to shift about in such manner as to baffle all sea- | manship. Unable to reach Veragua, the ships were obliged to j put back to Puerto Bello, and when they would have entered I that harbor, a sudden veering of the gale drove them from the land. For nine days they were blown and tossed about, at the mercy of a furious tempest, in an unknown sea, and often exposed to the awful perils of a lee-shore. It is wonderful that such open vessels, so crazed and decayed, could outlive such a commotion of the elements. Nowhere is a storm so awful as between the tropics. The sea, according to the description of Columbus, boiled at times like a caldron; at other times it ran in mountain waves, covered with Toam. At night the raging billows resembled great surges of flame, owing to those lumi¬ nous particles which cover the surface of the water in these seas, and throughout the whole course of the Gulf Stream. For a day and night the heavens glowed as a furnace with the incessant flashes of lightning; while the loud claps of thunder were often mistaken by the affrighted mariners for signal guns of distress from their foundering companions. During the whole time, says Columbus, it poured down from the skies, not rain, but as it were a second deluge. The seamen were almost drowned in their open vessels. Haggard with toil and affright, some gave themselves over for lost; they confessed their sins to each other, according to the rites of the Catholic religion, and prepared themselves for death; many in their j desperation, called upon death as a welcome relief from such .(overwhelming horrors. In the midst of this wild tumult of the elements, they beheld a new object of alarm. The ocean in one place became strangely agitated. The water was whirled up into a kind of pyramid or cone, while a livid cloud, tapering to a point, bent down to meet it. Joining together, they formed a vast column, which rapidly approached the ships, spinning dong the surface of the deep, and drawing up the waters with ! x rushing sound. The affrighted mariners, when they beheld this water-spout advancing toward them, despaired of all ; human means to avert it, and began to repeat passages from ! ->t. John the Evangelist. The water-spout passed close by the Ships without injuring them, and the trembling mariners 532 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. attributed their escape to the miraculous efficacy of their quo* tations from the Scriptures.* In this same night they lost sight of one of the caravels, and for three dark and stormy days gave it up for lost. At length, to their great relief, it rejoined the squadron, having lost its boat, and been obliged to cut its cable, in an attempt to anchor on a boisterous coast, and having since been driven to and fro j by the storm. For one or two days there was an interval of ; calm, and the tempest-tossed mariners had time to breathe. They looked upon this tranquillity, however, as deceitful, and in their gloomy mood beheld everything with a doubtful and foreboding eye. Great numbers of sharks, so abundant and ravenous in these latitudes, were seen about the ships. This was construed into an evil omen; for among the superstitions t of the seas it is believed that these voracious fish can smell dead bodies at a distance; that they have a kind of presenti¬ ment of their prey, and keep about vessels which have sick persons on board, or which are in danger of being wrecked. Several of these fish they caught, using large hooks fastened to chains, and sometimes baited merely with a piece of colored cloth. From the maw of one they took out a living tortoise, from [that of another the head of a shark, recently thrown from one of the ships; such is the indiscriminate voracity of these terrors of the ocean. Notwithstanding their supersti¬ tious fancies, the seamen were glad to use a part of these sharks for food, being very short of provisions. The length of the voyage had consumed the greater part of their sea-stores the heat and humidity of the climate and the leakage of the ships had damaged the remainder, and their biscuit was so filled with worms that, notwithstanding their hunger, they were obliged to eat it hi the dark, lest their stomachs should revolt at its appearance.! At length, on the 17th, they were enabled to enter a port resembling a great canal, where they enjoyed three days of repose. The natives of this vicinity built their cabins in trees, on stakes or poles laid from one branch to another. The Spaniards supposed this to be through the fear of wild beasts, or of surprisals from neighboring tribes; the different nations of these coasts being extremely hostile to one another. It may have been a precaution against inundations caused by floods * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist, del Almirante, cap, 90. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 94. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 533 ’om the mountains. After leaving this port they were driven ackward and forward by the changeable and tempestuous inds until the day after Christmas, when they sheltered lemselves in another port, where they remained until the 3d C January, 1503, repairing one of the caravels, and procuring r ood, water, and a supply of maize or Indian corn. These Measures being completed, they again put to sea, and on the ay of Epiphany, to their great joy, anchored at the mouth of river called by the natives Yebra, within a league or two of le river Yeragua, and in the country said to be so rich in dues. To this river, from arriving at it on the day of Epiph- ay, Columbus gave the name of Belen or Bethlehem. For nearly a month he had endeavored to accomplish the oyage from Puerto Bello to Veragua, a distance of about lirty leagues, and had encountered so many troubles and Iversities, from changeable winds and currents, and boister- is tempests, that he gave this intermediate line of seaboard le name of La Costa clc los Contrastes, or the Coast of Con- adictions.* Columbus immediately ordered the mouths of the Belen, and ; its neighboring river of Yeragua, to be sounded. The latter •oved too shallow to admit his vessels, but the Belen was •mewhat deeper, and it was thought they might enter it with fety. Seeing a village on the banks of the Belen, the admiral nt the boats on shore to procure information. On their oproach the inhabitants issued forth with weapons in hand to >pose their landing, but were readily pacified. They seemed 1 willing to give any intelligence about the gold mines; but, l being importuned, declared that they lay in the vicinity of e river of Yeragua. To that river the boats were dispatched l the following day. They met with the reception so fre- Lent along this coast, where many of the tribes were fierce h warlike, and are supposed to have been of Carib origin. 5 the boats entered the river, the natives sallied forth in their noes, and others assembled in menacing style on the shores. ie Spaniards, however, had brought with them an Indian of at coast, who put an end to this show of hostility by assur- ? his countrymen that the strangers came only to traffic th them. The various accounts of the riches of these parts appeared 1 be confirmed by what the Spaniards saw and heard among * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 0-1. 534 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. these people. They procured in exchange for the veriest trifle i twenty plates of gold, with several pipes of the same meta' and crude masses of ore. The Indians informed them that th i mines lay among distant mountains; and that when they wen; in quest of it they were obliged to practice rigorous fasting an<. continence.* The favorable report brought by the boats determined th admiral to remain in the neighborhood. The river Belen ha’v ing the greatest depth, two of the caravels entered it on the 9t) of January, and the two others on the following day at higl tide, which on that coast does not rise above half a fathom. The natives came to them in the most friendly manner, bring ing great quantities of fish, with which that river abounded They brought also golden ornaments to traffic, but continue! to affirm that Yeragua was the place whence the ore was pro cured. The Adelantado, with his usual activity and enterprise, se off on the third day, with the boats well armed, to ascend th< Yeragua about a league and a half, to the residence of Quibian the principal cacique. The chieftain, hearing of his intention met him near the entrance of the river, attended by his sub jects in several canoes. He was tall, of powerful frame, anc warlike demeanor; the interview was extremely amicable The cacique presented the Adelantado with the golden orna ments which he wore, and received as magnificent presents z few European trinkets. They parted mutually well pleased, On the following day Quibian visited the ships, where he was hospitably entertained by the admiral. They could only com' municate by signs, and as the chieftain was of a taciturn and cautious character, the interview was not of long duration. Columbus made him several presents; the followers of the cacique exchanged many jewels of gold for the usual trifles, and Quibian returned, without much ceremony, to his home. On the 2’4th of January there was a sudden swelling of the * A superstitious notion with respect to gold appears to have been very prevalent among the natives. The Indians of Hispaniola observed the same privations when they sought for it, abstaining from food and from sexual intercourse. Columbus, who seemed to look upon gold as one of the sacred and'mystic treasures of theeartb, wished to encourage similar observances among the Spaniards; exhorting them to purify themselves for the research of the mines by fasting, prayer, and chastity, ft is scarcely necessary to add, that his advice was but little attended to by his rapfr cious and sensual followers, t Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 535 iver. The waters came rushing from the interior liks a vast orrent; the ships were forced from their anchors, tossed from ide to side, and driven against each other; the foremast of the dmirai’s vessel was carried away, and the whole squadron was 1 imminent danger of shipwreck. While exposed to this E eril in the river, they were prevented from running out to a by a violent storm, and by the breakers which beat upon c bar. This sudden rising of the river Columbus attributed some heavy fall of rain among the range of distant moun- lins, to which he had given the name of the mountains of San hristoval. The highest of these rose to a peak far above the ouds.* The weather continued extremely boisterous for several days, t length, on the 6tli of February, the sea being tolerably dm the Adelantado, attended by sixty-eight men, well [*med, proceeded in the boats to explore the Veragua, and seek s reputed mines. When he ascended the river and drew near > the village of Quibian, situated on the side of a hill, the icique came down to the bank to meet him, with a great train : his subjects, unarmed, and making signs of peace. Quibian as naked, and painted after the fashion of the country. One s attendants drew a great stone out of the river, and washed id rubbed it carefully, upon which the chieftain seated him- lf as upon a throne, t He received the Adelantado with great >urtesy; for the lofty, vigorous, and iron form of the latter, id his look of resolution and command, were calculated to in- are awe and respect in an Indian warrior. The cacique, how- rer, was wary and politic. His jealousy was awakened by e intrusion of these strangers into his territories; but he saw e futility of any open attempt to resist them. Ho acceded to e wishes of the Adelantado, therefore, to visit the interior of s dominions, and furnished him with three guides to conduct m to the mines. Leaving a number of his men to guard the boats, the Adelan- do departed on foot with the remainder. After penetrating to the interior about four leagues and a half, they slept for e first night on the banks of a river, which seemed to water e whole country with its windings, as they had crossed it •ward of forty times. On the second day they proceeded a igue and a half further, and arrived among thick forests, *Lns Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 95. + Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv. 536 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. - m ' iff where their guides informed them the mines were situated. In fact, the whole soil appeared to be impregnated with gold. . They gathered it from among the roots of the trees, which were ,, of an immense height and magnificent foliage. In the space of ( two hours each man had collected a little quantity of gold, gathered from the surface of the earth. Hence the guides took the Adelantado to the summit of a high hill, and showing him an extent of country as far as the eye could reach, assured him that the whole of it, to the distance of twenty days’ journey westward, abounded in gold, naming to him several of the principal places.* The Adelantado gazed with enraptured eye over a vast wilderness of continued forest, where only here and there a bright column of smoke from amid the trees gave sign of some savage hamlet, or solitary wigwam, and the wild, un¬ appropriated aspect of this golden country delighted him more than if he had beheld it covered with towns and cities, and adorned with all the graces of cultivation. He returned with his party, in high spirits, to the ships, and rejoiced the admiral with the favorable report of his expedition. It was soon discovered, however, that the politic Quibian had deceived them. His guides, by his instructions, had taken the Spaniards j to the mines of a neighboring cacique, with whom he was at war, hoping to divert them into the territories of his enemy. The real mines of Yeragua, it was said, were nearer and much more wealthy. The indefatigable Adelantado set forth again on the 16th of February, with an armed band of fifty-nine men, marching along the coast westward, a boat with fourteen men keeping pace with him. In this excursion he explored an extensive tract of country, and visited the dominions of various caciques, by whom he was hospitably entertained. He met continually with proofs of abundance of gold; the natives generally wear¬ ing great plates of it suspended round their necks by cot-ton cords. There were tracts of land, also, cultivated with Indian corn—one of which continued for the extent of six leagues, and the country abounded with excellent fruits. He again heard of a nation in the interior, advanced in arts and arms, wearing clothing, and being armed like the Spaniards. Either these were vague and exaggerated rumors concerning the great empire of Peru, or the Adelantado had misunderstood the signs of his informants. He returned, after an absence of * Letter of the Admiral from Jamaica. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 537 3veral days, with a great quantity of gold, and with animat- ig accounts of the country. He had found no port, however, pial to the river of Belen, and was convinced that gold was o where to be met with in such abundance as in the district of eragua.* CHAPTER VII. 3MMENCEMENT OF A SETTLEMENT ON THE RIVER BELEN—CON¬ SPIRACY OF THE NATIVES—EXPEDITION OF THE ADELANTADO TO SURPRISE QUIBIAN. [1503.] The reports brought to Columbus, from every side, of the ealth of the neighborhood; the golden tract of twenty days’ urney in extent, shown to his brother from the mountain; the imors of a rich and civilized country at no great distance, all nvinced him that he had reached one of the most favored irts of the Asiatic continent. Again his ardent mind kindled ) with glowing anticipations. He fancied himself arrived at fountain-head of riches, at one of the sources of the un- >unded wealth of King Solomon. Josephus in his work on the itiquities of the Jews, had expressed an opinion that the gold r the buikling of the temple of Jerusalem had been procured ^m the mines of the Aurea Chersonesus. Columbus supposed e mines of Veragua to be the same. They lay, as he observed, within the same distance from the pole, and from the line I d if the information which he fancied he had received from | e Indians was to be depended on, they were situated about e same distance from the Ganges, t Here, then, it appeared to him, was a place at which to found J colony, and establish a mart that should become the emporium ' a vast tract of mines. Within the two first days after his 1 rival in the country, as he wrote to the sovereigns, he had f m more signs of gold than in Hispaniola during four years. ' at island, so long the object of his pride and hopes, had been * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 95. t Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. 538 LIFE .OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. taken from him, and. was a scene of confusion; the pearl coast of Paria was ravaged by mere adventurers; all his plans con corning both had been defeated; but here was a far more wealthy region than either, and one calculated to console him for all his wrongs and deprivations. On consulting with his brother, therefore, he resolved imme¬ diately to commence an establishment here, for the purpose oi securing the possession of the country, and exploring and work¬ ing the mines. The Adelantado agreed to remain with the greater part of the people while the admiral should return tc Spain for reinforcements and supplies. The greatest dispatch was employed in carrying this plan into immediate operation. Eighty men were selected to remain. They were separated into parties of about ten each, and commenced building houses on a small eminence, situated on the bank of a creek, about a bow¬ shot within the mouth of the river Belen. The houses were of wood, thatched with the leaves of palm-trees. One larger than the rest was to serve as a magazine, to receive their am¬ munition, artillery, and a part of their provisions. The principal part was stored, for greater security, on board of one of the caravels, which was to be left for the use of the colony. It was true they had but a scanty supply of European stores remain¬ ing, consisting chiefly of biscuit, cheese, pulse, wine, oil and vinegar; but the country produced bananas, plantains, pine¬ apples, cocoanuts, and other fruit. There was also maize in abundance, together with various roots, such as were found in Hispaniola. The rivers and seacoast abounded with fish. The natives, too, made beverages of various kinds. One from the juice of the pineapple, having a vinous flavor; another from maize, resembling beer; and another from the fruit of a species .of palm tree.* There appeared to be no danger, therefore, of suffering from famine. Columbus took pains to conciliate the good-will of the Indians, that they might supply the wants of the colony during his absence, and he made many presents to Quibian, by way of reconciling him to this intrusion into his territories.! The necessary arrangements being made for the colony, and a number of the houses being roofed, and sufficiently finished for occupation, the admiral prepared for his departure, when an unlooked-for obstacle presented itself. The heavy rains * Hist del Almirante. cap. 96. t Letter from Jamaica. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 539 hich had so long distressed him during this expedition had cently ceased. The torrents from the mountains were over, id the river, which had once put him to such peril by its dden swelling, had now become so shallow that there was not . >ove half a fathom water on the bar. Though his vessels were aall, it was impossible to draw them over the sands, which Loked the mouth of the river, for there was a swell rolling and jmbling upon them, enough to dash his worm-eaten barks to eces. He was obliged, therefore, to wait with patience, and ay for the return of those rains which he had lately deplored. In the mean time Quibian beheld with secret jealousy and ] dignat ion, these, strangers erecting habitations and manifest- ig an intention of establishing themselves in his territories. 3 was of a bold and warlike spirit, and had a great force of irriors at his command; and being ignorant of the vast periority of the Europeans in the art of war, thought it easy, 1' a well-concerted- artifice, to overwhelm and destroy them. 3 sent messengers round, and ordered all his fighting men to semble at his residence on the river Yeragua, under pretext making war upon a neighboring province. Numbers of the irriors, in repairing to his head-quarters, passed by the har- Ir. No suspicions of their real design were entertained by (lumbus or his officers; but their movements attracted the mention of the chief notary, Diego Mendez, a man of a shrewd d prying character, and "zealously devoted to the admiral. 1 ubting some treachery, he communicated his surmises to (lumbus, and offered to coast along in an armed boat to the er Veragua, and reconnoitre the Indian camp. His offer was £jjepted, and he sallied from the river accordingly, but had s rcely advanced a league when he descried a large force of 1 lians on the shore. Landing alone, and ordering that the l it should be kept afloat, he entered among them. There re about a thousand, armed and supplied with provisions, if for an expedition. He offered to accompany them with his ned boat; his offer was declined, with evident signs of im- ience. Returning to his boat, he kept watch upon them all lit, until seeing they were vigilantly observed, they returned Veragua. lendez hastened back to the admiral, and gave it as his nion that the Indians had been on their way to surprise the miards. The admiral was very loath to believe in such t rchery, and was desirous of obtaining clearer information, h ore he took any step that might interrupt the apparently good a a I r t o £ 540 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. understanding that existed with the natives. Mendez now undei took, with a single companion, to penetrate by land to the head quarters of Quibian, and endeavor to ascertain his intentions Accompanied by one Rodrigo de Escobar, he proceeded on foo along the seaboard, to avoid the tangled forests, and arrivin: at the mouth of the Yeragua, found two canoes with Indians whom he prevailed on, by presents, to convey him and hi companion to the village of the cacique. It was on the bah of the river; the houses were detached and interspersed amon trees. There was a bustle ef warlike preparation in the place and the arrival of the two Spaniards evidently excited surpris and uneasiness. The residence of the cacique was larger tha the others, and situated on a hill which rose from the water edge. Quibian was confined to the house by indispositior having been wounded in the leg by an arrow. Mendez ga\ 7 himself out as a surgeon come to cure the wound: with gres difficulty and by force of presents he obtained permission t proceed. On the crest of the hill and in front of the cacique dwelling was a broad, level, open place, round which, on posts were the heads of three hundred enemies slain in battle. Ui dismayed by this dismal array, Mendez and his companio crossed the place toward the den of this grim warrior. A nun ber of women and children about the door fied into the hous with piercing cries. A young and powerful Indian, son of tt cacique, sallied forth in a violent rage, and struck Mendez blow which made him recoil several paces. The latter pacifie him by presents and assurances that he came to cure b father’s wound, in proof which he produced a box of ointmen It was impossible, however, to gain access to the cacique, an Mendez returned with all haste to the harbor to report to tb admiral what he had seen and learned. It was evident thei was a dangerous plot impending over the Spaniard, and as fa as Mendez could learn from the Indians who had taken him u the river in their canoe, the body of a thousand warrioi which he had seen on his previous reconnoitering expeditio had actually been on a hostile enterprise against the harboi but had given it up on finding themselves observed. This information was confirmed by an Indian of the neigl borhood, who had become attached to the Spaniards and acte as interpreter. He revealed to the admiral the designs of hi countrymen, which he had overheard. Quibian intended t surprise the harbor at night with a great force, burn the ship and houses, and make a general massacre. Thus forewarned LIFE OF 'CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . , , 541 Columbus immediately set a double watch upon the harbor. (The military spirit of the Adelantado suggested a bolder expe¬ dient. The hostile plan of Quibian was doubtless delayed by his wound, and in the meantime he would maintain the sem¬ blance of friendship. The Adelantado determined to march at ionce to his residence, capture him, his family, and principal i warriors, send them prisoners to Spam, and take possession of his village. With the Adelantado, to conceive a plan was to carry it into (immediate execution, and, in fact, the impending danger ad¬ mitted of no delay. Taking with him seventy-four men, well [armed, among whom was Diego Mendez, and being accompa¬ nied by the Indian interpreter who had revealed the plot, he set off on the 30th of March, in boats, to the mouth of the Ve- ragua, ascended it rapidly, and before the Indians could have notice of his movements, landed at the foot of the hill on which die house of Quibian was situated. Lest the cacique should take alarm and fly at the sight of a .arge force, he ascended the hill, accompanied by only five men, among whom was Diego Mendez; ordering the rest to come on, vith great caution and secrecy, two at a time, and at a distance :rom each other. On the discharge of an arquebuse, they were ;o surround the dwelling and suffer no one to escape. As the Adelantado drew near to the house, Quibian came ‘orth, and seating himself in the portal, desired the Adelantado j o approach singly. Don Bartholomew now ordered Diego Vlendez and his four companions to remain at a little distance, md when they should see him take the cacique by the arm, to rush immediately to his assistance. He then advanced with lis Indian interpreter, through whom a short conversation ook place, relative to the surrounding country. The Adelan- ado then adverted to the wound of the cacique, and pretend- ug to examine it, took him by the arm. At the concerted lignal four of the Spaniards rushed forward, the fifth dis¬ charged the arquebuse. The cacique attempted to get loose, >ut was firmly held in the iron grasp of the Adelantado. Being >oth men of great muscular power, a violent struggle ensued, ton Bartholomew, however, maintained the mastery, and )iego Mendez and his companions coming to his assistance, )uibian was bound hand and foot. At the report of the arque- use, the main body of the Spaniards surrounded the house, and eized most of those who were within, consisting of fifty p§r- ons, old and young. Among these were the wives and children 542 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. of Quibian, and several of his principal subjects. No one was wounded, for there was no resistance, and the Adelantado never permitted wanton bloodshed. When the poor savages saw their prince a captive, they filled the air w T ith lamentations, imploring his release, and offering for his ransom a great treas- ure, which they said lay concealed in a neighboring forest. The Adelantado was deaf to their supplications and their offers. Quibian was too dangerous a foe to be set at liberty; as a prisoner he would be a hostage for the security of the set¬ tlement. Anxious to secure his prize, he determined to send the cacique and other prisoners on board of the boats, while lie remained on shore with a part of his men to pursue the Indians who had escaped. Juan Sanchez, the principal pilot of the squadron, a powerful and spirited man, volunteered to take charge of the captives. On committing the chieftain to his care, the Adelantado warned him to be on his guard against any attempt at rescue or escape. The sturdy pilot replied that if the cacique got out of his hands, he would give them leave to pluck out his beard, hair by hair; with this vaunt he de¬ parted, bearing off Quibian bound hand and foot. On arriving at the boat, he secured him by a strong cord to one of the benches. It was a dark night. As the boat proceeded down the river, the cacique complained piteously of the painfulness of his bonds. The rough heart of the pilot was touched with compassion, and he loosened the cord by which Quibian was tied to the bench, keeping the end of it in his hand. The wily Indian watched his opportunity, and when Sanchez was look¬ ing another way plunged into the water and disappeared. So sudden and violent was his plunge that the pilot had to let go the cord lest he should be drawn in after him. The darkness of the night and the bustle which took place in preventing the escape of the other prisoners rendered it impossible to pursue the cacique, or even to ascertain his fate. Juan Sanchez hast¬ ened to the ships with the residue of the captives, deeply mor¬ tified at being thus outwitted by a savage. The Adelantado remained all night on shore. The following morning, when he beheld the wild, broken, and mountainous nature of the country, and the scattered situation of the habi¬ tations perched on different heights, he gave up the search after the Indians, and returned to the ships with the spoils of the cacique’s mansion. These consisted of bracelets, anklets, and massive plates of gold, such as were worn round the neck, together with two golden coronets. The whole amounted to ft i i (if j ip j ’ll* ; M J i LIFE OF'CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 543 the value of three hundred ducats.* One fifth of the booty was set apart for the crown. The residue was shared among those concerned in the enterprise. To the Adelantado one of the coronets was assigned, as a trophy of his exploit.! CHAPTER VIII. DISASTERS OF THE SETTLEMENT. [1503.] It was hoped by Columbus that the vigorous measure of he Adelantado would strike terror into the Indians of .the leighborhood, and prevent any further designs upon the settlement. Quibian had probably perished. If he survived, le must be disheartened by the captivity of his family, and several of his principal subjects, and fearful of their being nude responsible for any act of violence on his part. The leavy rains, therefore, which fall so frequently among the nuontahis of this isthmus, having again swelled the river, Co- iimbus made his final arrangements for the management of he colony, and having given much wholesome counsel to the Spaniards who were to remain, and taken an affectionate save of his brother, got under weigh with three of the cara* els, leaving the fourth for the use of the settlement. As lie water was still shallow at the bar, the ships were ghtened of a great part of their cargoes, and towed out y the boats* in calm weather, grounding repeatedly. When iirly released from the river, and their cargoes reshipped, ley anchored within a league of the shore, to await a favora- le wind. It was the intention of the admiral to touch at lispaniola, on his way to Spain, and send thence supplies and enforcements. The wind continuing adverse, he sent a boat la shore on the 6th of April, under the command of Diego i ristan, captain of one of the caravels, to procure wood and --- I * Equivalent to one thousand two hundred and eighty-one dollars at the present r II Hist, del Almirante, cap. 98. La.s Casas Jib. ii. cap. 27. Many of the particulars j this chapter are from a short narrative given by Diego Mendez, and inserted in | ■> last will and testament. It is written in a strain of simple egotism, as he repre- 1 uts himself as the principal and almost the sole actor in every atfair. The tacts, ; wever, have all the air of veracity, and being given on such a solemn occasion, i e document is entitled to high credit. He will be found to distinguish himself on other hazardous and important occasion in the course of this history.—Vide Na- rrete, Colec., tom. i. 544 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. * water, and make some communications to the Adelantado. The expedition of this boat proved fatal to its crew, but was providential to the settlement. The cacique Quibian had not perished as some had sup¬ posed. Though both hands and feet were bound, yet in the water he was as in his natural element. Plunging to the bot¬ tom, he swam below the surface until sufficiently distant to be out of view in the darkness of the night, and then emerging made his way to shore. The desolation of his home, and the capture of his wives and children tilled him with anguish; blit when he saw the vessels in which they were confined leaving the river, and bearing them off, he was transported with fury and despair. Determined on a signal vengeance, he assembled a great number of his warriors, and came secretly upon the settlement. The thick woods by which it was surrounded enabled the Indians to approach unseen within ten paces. The Spaniards, thinking the enemy completely discomfited and dispersed, were perfectly off their guard. Some had strayed to the sea-shore to take a farewell look at the ships; some were on board of the caravel in the river; others were scattered about the houses; on a sudden the Indians rushed from their concealment with yells and bowlings, launched their javelins through the roofs of palm-leaves, hurled them in at the windows, or thrust them through the crevices of the logs which composed the walls. As the houses were small several of the inhabitants were wounded. On the first alarm the Adelantado seized a lance and sallied forth with seven or eight of his men. He was joined by Diego Mendez and several of his companions, and they drove the enemy into the forest, killing and wounding several of them. The Indians kept up a brisk fire of darts and arrows from among the trees, and made furious sallies with their war-clubs; but there was no withstanding the keen edge of the Spanish weapons, and a fierce blood-hound being let loose upon them completed their terror. They fled howling through the forest, leaving a. num¬ ber dead on the field, having killed one Spaniard and wounded eight. Among the latter was the Adelantado, who received a slight thrust of a javelm m the breast. Diego Tristan arrived in his boat during the contest, but feared to approach the land, lest the Spaniards should rush on board m such numbers as to sink him. When the Indians had been put to flight he proceeded up the river in quest oi fresh water, disregarding the warnings of those on shore, that he might be cut off by the enemy m their canoes. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 545 TKe river was deep and narrow, shut in by high banks and overhanging trees. The forests on each side were thick and impenetrable, so that there was no landing-place except¬ ing here and there where a footpath wound down to some fishing-ground, or some place where the natives kept their Ccuioes. The boat had ascended about a league above the village, to a part of the river where it was completely overshadowed by lofty banks and spreading trees. Suddenly yells and war whoops and blasts of conch-shells rose on every side. Light canoes darted forth in every direction from dark hollows and overhanging thickets each dextrously managed by a single savage, while others stood up brandishing and hurling their lances. Missiles were launched also from the banks of the river and the branches of the trees. There were eight sailors in the boat, and three soldiers. Galled and wounded by darts and arrows, confounded by the yells and blasts of conchs and the assaults which thickened from every side, they lost all pres¬ ence of mind, neglected to use either oars or firearms, and only sought to shelter themselves with their bucklers. Diego Tristan had received several wounds, but still displayed great intrepidity, and was endeavoring to animate his men when a javelin pierced his right eye and struck him dead. The canoes now closed upon the boat, and a general massacre ensued. But one Spaniard escaped, Juan de Noya, a cooper of Seville. Having fallen overboard in the midst of the action, he dived to the bottom, swam under water, gained the bank of the river unperceived, and made his way down to the settlement, bring¬ ing tidings of the massacre of his captain and comrades. The Spaniards were completely dismayed, were few in num- i ber, several of them were wounded, and they were in the midst I of tribes of exasperated savages, far more fierce and warlike j than those to whom they had been accustomed. The admiral, being ignorant of their misfortunes, would sail away without yielding them assistance, and they would be left to sink beneath the overwhelming force of barbarous foes, or to perish with hunger on tins inhospitable coast. In their despair hey determined to take the caravel which had been left with I diem, and abandon the place altogether. The Adelantado j 'emonstrated with them in vain; nothing would content them j Hit to put to sea immediately. Here a new alarm awaited i hem. The torrents having subsided, the river was again ! hallow, and it was impossible tor the caravel to pass over the 546 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. bar. They now took the boat of the caravel to bear tidings c* their danger to the admiral, and implore him not to abandon them; but the wind was boisterous, a high sea was rolling, and a heavy surf, tumbling and breaking at the mouth of the river, prevented the boat from getting out. Horrors increased upon them. The mangled bodies of Diego Tristan and his men came floating down the stream, and drifting about the harbor, with flights of crows, and other carrion birds feeding on them, and hovering, and screaming, and fighting about their prey. The forlorn Spaniards contemplated this scene with shudder¬ ing ; it appeared ominous of their own fate. * In the mean time the Indians, elated by their triumph over the crew of the boat, renewed their hostilities. Whoops and yells answered each other from various parts of the neighbor¬ hood. The dismal sound of conchs and war-drums in the deep bosom of the woods showed that the number of the enemy was continually augmenting. They would rush forth occasionally upon straggling parties of Spaniards, and make partial attacks upon the houses. It was considered no longer safe to remain in the settlement, the close forest which surrounded it being a covert for the approaches of the enemy. The Adelantado chose, therefore, an open place on the shore, at some distance from the wood. Here he caused a kind of bulwark to be made of the boat of the caravel, and of chests, casks, and simi¬ lar articles. Two places were left open as embrasures, in which were placed a couple of falconets, or small pieces of artillery, in such a manner as to command the neighborhood. In this little fortress the Spaniards shut themselves up; its walls were sufficient to screen them from the darts and arrows of the Indians, but mostly they depended upon their firearms, the sound of which struck dismay into the savages, especially when they saw the effect of the balls, splintering and rending the trees around them, and carrying havoc to such a distance. The Indians were thus kept in check for the present, and deterred from venturing from the forest; but the Spaniards, exhausted by constant watching and incessant alarms, antici¬ pated all kinds of evil when their ammunition should be exhausted, or they should be driven forth by hunger to seek for food.* * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 98. Las Casas, lib. if. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Relation of Diego Mendez, Navarrete, tom. i. Journal of Porras, Mavarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 547 CHAPTER IX. DISTRESS OF THE ADMIRAL ON BOARD OF HIS SHIP—ULTIMATE RELIEF OF THE SETTLEMENT. [ 1503 .] While the Adelantado and his men were exposed to such imminent peril on shore, great anxiety prevailed on board of the ships. Day after day elapsed without the return of Diego Tristan and his party, and it was feared some disaster had befallen them. Columbus would have sent on shore to make inquiries, but there was only one boat remaining for the ser¬ vice of the squadron, and he dared not risk it in the rough sea and heavy surf. A dismal circumstance occurred to increase the gloom and uneasiness of the crews. On board of one of the caravels were confined the family and household of the cacique Quibian. It was the intention of Columbus to carry them to Spain, trusting that as long as they remained in the power of the Spaniards their tribe would be deterred from further hostilities. They were shut up at night in the fore¬ castle of the caravel, the hatchway of which was secured by a strong chain and padlock. As several of the crew slept upon the hatch, and it was so high as to be considered out of reach of the prisoners, they neglected to fasten the chain. The Indians discovered their negligence. Collecting a quantity of stones from the ballast of the vessel, they made a great heap directly under the hatchway. Several of the most powerful warriors mounted upon the top, and bending their backs, by a sudden and simultaneous effort, forced up the hatch, flinging the seamen who slept upon it to the opposite side of the ship. In an instant the greater part of the Indians sprang forth, plunged into the sea, and swam for shore. Several, however, were prevented from sallying forth; others were seized on the deck and forced back into the forecastle; the hatchway was carefully chained down, and a guard was set tor the rest of the 1 night. In the morning, when the Spaniards went to examine the captives, they were all found dead. Some had hanged themselves with the ends of ropes, their knees touching the floor, others had strangled themselves by straining the cords 548 LIFE OF ClllUSTOrilEli COLUMBUS. tight with their feet. Such was the fierce unconquerable spirit of these people, and their horror of the white men.* The escape of the prisoners occasioned great anxiety to the admiral, fearing they would stimulate their countrymen to some violent act of vengeance, and he trembled for the safety of his brother. Still this painful mystery reigned over the land. The boat of Diego Tristan did not return, and the raging surf prevented all communication. At length, one Pedro Ledesma, a pilot of Seville, a man of about forty-five years of age, and of great strength of body and mind, offered, if the boat would take him to the edge of the surf, to swim to shore, and bring off news. He had been -piqued by the achievement of the Indian captives, in swimming to land at a league’s distance, in defiance of sea and surf. “Surely,” he said, ‘ ‘ if they dare venture so much to procure their individual liberties, I ought to brave at least a part of the danger, to save the lives of so many companions.” His offer was gladly accepted by the admiral, and was boldly accomplished. The boat approached with him as near to the surf as safety would permit, where it was to await his return. Here, stripping himself, he plunged into the sea, and after buffeting for some time with the breakers, sometimes rising upon their surges, sometimes buried beneath them and dashed upon the sand, he succeeded in reaching the shore. He found his countrymen shut up in their forlorn fortress, beleaguered by savage foes, and learnt the tragical fate of Diego Tristan and his companions. Many of the Spaniards, in their horror and despair, had thrown off all subordination, refused to assist in any measure that had in view a continu¬ ance in this place, and thought of nothing but escape. When they beheld Ledesma, a messenger from the ships, they sur¬ rounded him with frantic eagerness, urging him to implore the admiral to take them on board, and not abandon them on a coast where their destruction was inevitable. They were pre¬ paring canoes to take them to the ships, when the weather should moderate, the boat of the caravel being too small, and swore that, if the admiral refused to take them on board, they would embark in the caravel, as soon as it could be extricated from the river, and abandon themselves to the mercy of the seas, rather than remain upon that fatal coast. Having heard all that his forlorn countrymen had to say, * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 99. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 549 and communicated with the Adelantado and his officers, Ledes¬ ma set out on his perilous return. He again braved the surf and the breakers, reached the boat which was waiting for him, and was conveyed back to the ships. The disastrous tidings from the land filled the heart of the admiral with grief and alarm. To leave his brother on shore would be to expose him to the mutiny of his own men and the ferocity of the savages. He could spare no reinforcement from his ships, the crews being so much weakened by the loss of Tristan and his companions. Rather than the settlement should be broken up, he would gladly have joined the Adelantado with all his people; but in such case how could intelligence be conveyed to the sovereigns of this important discovery, and how could supplies be ob¬ tained from Spain? There appeared no alternative, therefore, but to embark all the people, abandon the settlement for the present, and return at some future day, with a force competent to take secure possession of the country.* The state of the weather rendered the practicability even of this plan doubtful. The wind continued high, the sea rough, and no boat could pass between the squadron and the land. The situation of the ships was itself a matter of extreme solicitude. Feebly manned, crazed by storms, and ready to fall to pieces from the ravages of the teredo, they were anchored on a lee-shore, with a bois¬ terous wind and sea, in a climate subject to tempests, and where the least augmentation of the weather might drive them among the breakers. Every hour increased the anxiety of Co¬ lumbus for his brother, his people, and his ships, and each hour appeared to render the impending dangers more imminent. Hays of constant perturbation and nights of sleepless anxiety preyed upon a constitution broken by age, by maladies, and hardships, and produced a fever of the mind, in which he was visited by one of those mental hallucinations deemed by him mysterious and supernatural. In a letter to the sovereigns he gives a solemn account of a kind of vision by which he was comforted in a dismal night, when full of despondency and tossing on a couch of pain: “Wearied and sighing,” says he, “I fell into a slumber, when I heard a piteous voice saying to me, ‘ O fool, and slow to‘believe and serve thy God, who is the God of all! What did he more for Moses, or for his servant David, than he has done for thee? From the time of thy birth he has ever had thee * Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. 550 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . under his peculiar care. When he saw thee of a fitting age he made thy name to resound marvellously throughout the earth, and thou wert obeyed in many lands, and didst acquire honor¬ able fame among Christians. Of the gates of the Ocean Sea, shut up with such mighty chains, he delivered thee the keys; the Indies, those wealthy regions of the world, he gave thee for thine own, and empowered thee to dispose of them to others, according to thy pleasure. What did he more for ‘the great people of Israel when he led them forth from Egypt? Or for David, whom, from being a shepherd, he made a king in Judea? Turn to him, tliGn, and acknowledge thine error; his mercy is infinite. He has many and vast inheritances yet in reserve. Fear not to seek them. Thine age shall be no impediment to any great undertaking. Abraham was above an hundred years when he begat Isaac; and was Sarah youthful? Thou urgest despondingly for succor. Answer! who hath afflicted thee so much, and so many times?—God, or the world? The privileges and promises which God hath made thee he hath never broken; neither hath he said, after having received thy services, that his meaning was different, and to be understood in a different sense. He performs to the very letter. He fulfils all that he promises, and with increase. Such is his custom. I have shown thee what thy Creator hath done for thee, and what he doeth for all. The present is the reward of the toils and perils thou hast endured in serving others.’ I heard all this,” adds Columbus, “ as one almost dead, and had no power to reply to words so true, excepting to weep for my errors. Whoever it was that spake to me, finished by saying, ‘ Fear not! Confide! All these tribulations are written in marble, and not without cause.’ ” Such is the singular statement which Columbus gave to the sovereigns of his supposed vision. It has been suggested that this was a mere ingenious fiction, adroitly devised by him to convey a lesson to his prince; but such an idea is inconsistent with his character. He was too deeply imbued with awe -of‘the Deity, and with reverence for his sovereign, to make use of such an artifice. The words here spoken to him by the sup¬ posed voice are truths which dwelt upon his mind and grieved his spirit during his waking hours. It is natural that they should recur vividly and coherently in his feverish dreams; and m recalling and relating a dream one is unconsciously apt to give it a little coherency. Besides, Columbus had a solemn belief that he was a peculiar instrument in the hands of Provi- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 551 dence, which, together with a deep tinge of superstition conn moil to the age, made him prone to mistake every striking dream for a revelation. He is not to be measured by the same standard with ordinary men in ordinary circumstances. It is difficult for the mind to realize his situation, and to conceive the exaltations of spirit to which he must have been subjected. ) The artless manner in which, in his letter to the sovereigns, he mingles up the rhapsodies and dreams of his imagination, with simple facts, and sound practical observations, pouring them forth with a kind of scriptural Solemnity and poetry of lan¬ guage, is one of the most striking illustrations of a character richly compounded of extraordinary and apparently contra¬ dictory elements. Immediately after this supposed vision, and after a duration of nine days, the boisterous weather subsided, the sea became calm, and the communication with the land was restored. It was found impossible to extricate the remaining caravel from the river; but every exertion was made to bring off the people and the property before there should be a return of bad weather. In this, the exertions of the zealous Diego Mendez were emi¬ nently efficient. He had been for some days preparing for such an emergency. Cutting up the sails of the caravel, he made great sacks to receive the biscuit. He lashed two Indian canoes together with spars, so that they could not be over¬ turned by the waves, and made a platform on them capable of sustaining a great burden. This kind of raft was laden re¬ peatedly with the stores, arms, and ammunition, which had been left on shore, and with the furniture of the caravel, which was entirely dismantled. When well freighted, it was towed by the boat to the ships. In this way, by constant and sleep¬ less exertions, in the space of two days, almost every tiling of value was transported on board the squadron, and little else left than the hull of the caravel, stranded, decayed, and rotting in the river. Diego Mendez superintended the whole embarka- | tion with unwearied watchfulness and activity. He and five I companions, were the last to leave the shore, remaining all night at their perilous post, and embarking in the morning with the last cargo of effects. Nothing could equal the transports of the Spaniards, when they found themselves once more on board of the ships, and saw a space of ocean between them and those forests which had lately seemed destined to be their graves. The joy of their comrades seemed little inferior to their own, and the perils and LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. hardships which yet surrounded them were forgotten for a time in mutual congratulations. The admiral was so much impressed with a sense of the high services rendered by Diego Mendez, throughout the late time of danger and disaster, that he gave him the command of the caravel, vacant by the death of the unfortunate Diego Tristan.* CHAPTER X. DEPARTURE FROM THE COAST OF VERAGUA—ARRIVAL AT JAMAICA —STRANDING OF THE SHIPS. [ 1503 .] The wind at length becoming favorable, Columbus set sail, toward the end of April, from the disastrous coast of Veragua. The wretched condition of the ships, the enfeebled state of the crews, and the scarcity of provisions determined him to make the best of his way to Hispaniola, where he might refit his vessels and procure the necessary supplies for the voyage to Europe. To the surprise of his pilot and crews, however, on making sail, he stood again along the coast to the eastward, instead of steering north, which they considered the direct route to Hispaniola. They fancied that he intended to proceed immediately for Spain, and murmured loudly at the madness of attempting so long a voyage, with ships destitute of stores and consumed by the worms. Columbus and his brother, however, had studied the navigation of those seas with a more observant and experienced eye. They considered it advisable to gain a considerable distance to the east, before standing across for Hispaniola, to avoid being swept away, far below their destined port, by the strong currents setting constantly to the west.f The admiral, however, did not impart his rea¬ sons to the pilots, being anxious to keep the knowledge of bis routes as much to himself as possible, seeing that there were so many adventurers crowding into the field, and ready to follow * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 99. 100. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 29. Relaciocpor Diego Mendez. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec.. tom. i. t Hist, del Almirante. Letter from Jamaica LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 553 on his track. He even took from the mariners their charts,* * * § and boasts, in a letter to the sovereigns, that none of his pilots would be able to retrace the route to and from Veragua, nor to describe where it was situated. Disregarding the murmurs of his men, therefore, he con¬ tinued along the coast eastward as far as Puerto Bello. Here he was obliged to leave one of the caravels, being so pierced by worms that it was impossible to keep her afloat. All the crews were now crowded into two caravels, and these were little bet¬ ter than mere wrecks. The utmost exertions were necessary to keep them free from water; while the incessant labor of the pumps bore hard on men enfeebled by scanty diet and dejected by various hardships. Continuing onward, they passed Port Eetrete, and a number of islands to which the admiral gave the name of Las Barbas, now termed the Mulatas, a little beyond Point Bias. Here he supposed that he had arrived at the pro¬ vince of Mangi in the territories of the Grand Khan, described by Marco Polo as adjoining to Cathay.f He continued on about ten leagues farther, until he approached the entrance of what is at present called the Gulf of Darien. Here he had a consultation with his captains and pilots, who remonstrated at his persisting in this struggle against contrary winds and cur¬ rents, representing the lamentable plight of the ships and the infirm state of the crews. \ Bidding farewell, therefore, to the main-land, he stood northward on the 1st of May, in quest of Hispaniola. As the wind was easterly, with a strong current setting to the west, he kept as near the wind as possible. So little did his pilots know of their situation, that they supposed themselves to the east of the Caribbee Islands, whereas the admiral feared that, with all his exertions, he should fall to the westward of Hispaniola. § His apprehensions proved to be well founded; for, on the 10th of the month, he came in sight of two small low islands to the north-west of Hispaniola, to which, from the great quantities of tortoises seen about them, he gave the name of the Tortugas; they are now known as the Cay¬ mans. Passing wide of these, and continuing directly north, he found himself, on the 30 th of May, among the cluster of islands on the south side of Cuba, to which he had formerly * Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. t Letter from Jamaica. t Testimony of Pedro de Ledesma. Ploito de los Colonel § Letter from Jamaica. 554 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. given the name of the Queen’s Gardens; having been earned between eight and nine degrees west of his destined port. Here he cast anchor near one of the keys, about ten leagues from the main island. His crews were suffering excessively through scanty provisions and great fatigue; nothing was left of the sea-stores but a little biscuit, oil, and vinegar; and they were obliged to labor incessantly at the pumps to keep the ves¬ sels afloat. They had scarcely anchored at these islands when there came on, at midnight, a sudden tempest, of such violence that, according to the strong expression of Columbus, it seemed as if the world would dissolve.* They lost three of their an¬ chors almost immediately, and the caravel Bermuda was driven with such violence upon the ship of the admiral that the bow of the one and the stern of the other were greatly shattered. The sea running high, and the wind being boisterous, the ves¬ sels chafed and injured each other dreadfully, and it was with great difficulty that they were separated. One anchor only remained to the admiral’s ship, and this saved him from being driven upon the rocks; but at daylight the cable was found nearly worn asunder. Had the darkness continued an hour longer, he could scarcely have escaped shipwreck, f At the end of six days, the weather having moderated, he resumed his course, standing eastward for Hispaniola; “his people, ” as he says, ‘ ‘ dismayed and down-hearted; almost all his anchors lost, and his vessels bored as full of holes as a honeycomb. ” After struggling against contrary winds and the usual currents from the east, he reached Cape Cruz, and an¬ chored at a village in the province of Macaca, J where he had touched in 1494, in his voyage along the southern coast of Cuba. Here he was detained by head winds for several days, during which he was supplied with cassava bread by the natives. Making sail again, he endeavored to beat up to Hispaniola; but every effort was in vain. The winds and currents continued adverse; the leaks continually gained upon his vessels, though the pumps were kept incessantly going, and the seamen even bailed the water out with buckets and kettles. The admiral now stood, in despair, for the island of Jamaica, to seek some secure port; for there was imminent danger of foundering at sea. On the eve of St. John, the 23d of Juno, they put into * Letter from Jamaica. + Hist, del Almirante, cap. 100. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. X Hist.'del Almirante. Journal of Porras. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 555 Puerto Bueno, now called Dry Harbor, but met with none of the natives from whom they could obtain provisions, nor was there any fresh water to be had in the neighborhood. Suffer¬ ing from hunger and thirst, they sailed eastward, on the fol¬ lowing day, to another harbor, to which the admiral on his first visit to the island had given the name of Port Santa Gloria. Here, at last, Columbus had to give up his long and arduous struggle against the unremitting persecution of the elements, j His ships, reduced to mere wrecks, could no longer keep the sea, and were ready to sink even in port. He ordered them, therefore, to be run aground, within a bowshot of the shore, and fastened together, side by side. They soon filled with water to the decks. Thatched cabins were then erected at the prow and stern for the accommodation of the crews, and the wreck was placed in the best possible state of defence. Thus castled in the sea, he trusted to be able to repel any sudden attack of the natives, and at the same time to keep his men from roving about the neighborhood and indulging in their usual excesses. No one was allowed to go on shore without especial license, and the utmost precaution was taken to pre¬ vent any offence being given to the Indians. Any exasperation of them might be fatal to the Spaniards in their present forlorn situation. A firebrand thrown into their wooden fortress might wrap it in flames, and leave them defenceless amid hostile thousands. I BOOK XVI. CHAPTER I. ARRANGEMENT OF DIEGO MENDEZ WITH THE CACIQUES FOR SUP¬ PLIES OF PROVISIONS—SENT TO SAN DOMINGO BY COLUMBUS IN QUEST OF RELIEF. [1503.] f C The island of Jamaica was extremely populous and fertile, and the harbor soon swarmed with Indians, who brought pro¬ visions to barter with the Spaniards. To prevent any disputes in purchasing or sharing these supplies, two persons were appointed to superintend all bargains, and the provisions thus obtained were divided every evening among the people. This arrangement had a happy effect in promoting a peaceful inter¬ course. The stores thus furnished, however, coming from a limited neighborhood of improvident beings, were not sufficient for the necessities of the Spaniards, and were so irregular as often to leave them in pinching want. They feared, too, that the neighborhood might soon be exhausted, in which case they should be reduced to famine. In this emergency Diego Mendez stepped forward with his accustomed zeal, and volunteered to set off, with three men, on a foraging expedition about the island. His offer being gladly accepted by the admiral, he departed with his comrades well armed. He was everywhere treated with the utmost kindness by the natives. They took him to their houses, set meat and drink before him and Ins companions, and performed all the rites of savage hospitality. Mendez made an arrangement with the cacique of a numerous tribe, that his subjects should hunt and fish, and make cassava bread, and bring a quantity of provisions every day to the harbor. They were to receive in exchange knives, combs, beads, fish-hooks, hawks’ bells, and other articles, from a n e: tl 1 J Q ! 3 kl 1 | Jj ■; ; I! LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 557 Spaniard, who was to reside among them for that purpose. The agreement being made, Llendez dispatched one of his com¬ rades to apprise the admiral. He then pursued his journey three leagues farther, when he made a similar arrangement, and dispatched another of his companions to the admiral. Pro¬ ceeding onward, about thirteen leagues from the ships, he arrived at the residence of another cacique, called Huarco, where he was generously entertained. The cacique ordered his subjects to bring a large quantity of provisions, for which Mendez paid him on the spot, and made arrangements for a like supply at stated intervals. He dispatched his third com¬ panion with this supply to the admiral, requesting, as usual, that an agent might be sent to receive and pay for the regular deliveries of provisions. Mendez was now left alone, but he was fond of any enter¬ prise that gave individual distinction. He requested of the cacique two Indians to accompany him to the end of the island; one to carry his provisions and the other to beau’ the liammac, or cotton net in which he slept. These being granted, he pushed resolutely forward along the coast until he reached the eastern extremity of Jamaica. Here he found a powerful cacique of the name of Ameyro. Mendez had buoyant spirits, great ad¬ dress, and an ingratiating manner with the savages. He and the cacique became great friends, exchanged names, which is a kind of token of brotherhood, and Mendez engaged him to furnish provisions to the ships. He then bought an excellent canoe of the cacique, for which he gave a splendid brass basin, a short frock or cassock, and one of the two shirts which formed his stock of linen. The cacique furnished him with six Indians to navigate his bark, and they parted mutually well pleased. Diego Mendez coasted his way back, touching at the various places where he had made his arrangements. He found the Spanish agents already arrived at them, loaded his canoe with provisions, and returned in triumph to the harbor, where he' was received with acclamations by his comrades, and with open arms by the admiral. The provisions he brought were a most seasonable supply, for the Spaniards were absolutely fast¬ ing ; and thenceforward Indians arrived daily, well laden, from the marts which he had established.* The immediate wants of his people being thus provided for, Columbus revolved, in his anxious mind, the means of getting from this island. His ships I * Relacion por Diego Mendez. Navarrete, tom. i. 558 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. were beyond the possibility of repair, and there was no hope of any chance sail arriving to his relief, on the shores of a savage island, in an unfrequented sea. The most likely measure ap¬ peared to be to send notice of his situation to Ovarido, the gov¬ ernor at San Domingo, entreating him to dispatch a vessel to his relief. But how was this message to be conveyed? The distance between Jamaica and Hispaniola was forty leagues, aoross a gulf swept by contrary currents; there were no means of transporting a messenger, except in the light canoes of the savages; and who would undertake so hazardous a voyage in a frail bark of the kind? Suddenly the idea of Diego Mendez, and the canoe he had recently purchased, presented itself to the mind of Columbus. He knew the ardor and intrepidity of Mendez, and his love of distinction by any hazardous exploit. Taking him aside, therefore, he addressed him in a manner calculated both to stimulate his zeal and flatter his self-love' Mendez himself gives an artless account of this interesting con versation, which is full of character. “Diego Mendez, my son,” said the venerable admiral, “none of those whom I have here understand the great peril in which we are placed, excepting you and myself. We are few in num¬ ber, and these savage Indians are many, and of fickle and irri¬ table natures. On the least provocation they may throw fire¬ brands from the shore, and consume us in our straw-thatched cabins. The arrangement which you have made with them for provisions, and which at present they fulfil so cheerfully, to¬ morrow they may break in their caprice, and may refuse to bring us anything; nor have we the means to compel them by force, but are entirely at their pleasure. I have thought of a remedy, if it meets with your views. In this canoe, which you have purchased, some one may pass over to Hispaniola, and procure a ship, by which we may all be delivered from this great peril into which we have fallen. Tell me your opinion on the matter.” 1 ‘ To this, ” says Diego Mendez, ‘ ‘ I replied: ‘ Senor, the danger in which we are placed, I well know, is far greater than is easily conceived. As to passing from this island to Hispaniola, in so small a vessel as a canoe, I hold it not merely difficult, but impossible; since it is necessary to traverse a gulf of forty leagues, and between islands where the sea is extremely im¬ petuous and seldom in repose. I know not who there is would adventure upon so extreme a peril.’ ” Columbus made no reply, but from his looks and the nature LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 559 of liis silence, Mendez plainly perceived himself to be the person whom the admiral had in view; “Whereupon,” continues he, “I added: ‘Senor, I have many times put my life in peril of death to save you and all those who are here, and God has hitherto preserved me in a miraculous manner. There are, nevertheless, murmurers, who say that your Excellency intrusts to me all affairs wherein honor is to be gained, while there are others in your company who would execute them as well as I do. Therefore I beg that you would summon all the people, and propose this enterprise to them, to see if among them there is any one who will undertake it, which I doubt. If all decline it, I will then come forward and risk my life in your service, as I many times have done.’ ” * The admiral gladly humored the wishes of the worthy Mendez, for never was simple egotism accompanied by more generous and devoted loyalty. On the following morning the crew was assembled, and the proposition publicly made. Every one drew back at the thoughts of it, pronouncing it the height of rashness. Upon this, Diego Mendez stepped forward. “ Senor,” said he, “I have but one life to lose, yet I am willing to venture it for your service and for the good of all here present, and I trust in the protection of God, which I have experienced on so many other occasions.” Columbus embraced this zealous follower, who immediately set about preparing for his expedition. Drawing his canoe on shore, he put on a false keel, nailed weather-boards along the bow and stern, to prevent the sea from breaking over it; payed it with a coat of tar; furnished it with a mast and sail; and | put in provisions for himself, a Spanish comrade, and six Indians. In the mean time Columbus wrote letters to Ovando, request- j ing that a ship might be immediately sent to bring him and his | men to Hispaniola. He wrote a letter likewise to the sovereigns; for, after fulfilling his mission at San Domingo, Diego Mendez was to proceed to Spain on the admiral’s affairs. In the letter to the sovereigns Columbus depicted his deplorable situation, I and entreated that a vessel might be dispatched to Hispaniola, to convey himself and his crew to Spain. He gave a compre¬ hensive account of his voyage, most particulars of which have i already been incorporated in this history, and he insisted ! greatly on the importance of the discovery of Veragua. Ho * Relacion por Die^o Mendez. Nnvarrete. Colec. tom. i. 560 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. gave it as his opinion, that here were the mines of the Aurea Chersonesus, whence Solomon had derived such wealth for the building of the Temple. He entreated that this golden coast might not, like other places which he had discovered, be aban¬ doned to adventurers, or placed under the government of men who felt no interest in the cause. “This is not a child,” he adds, “to be abandoned to a step-mother. I never think of Hispaniola and Paria without weeping. Their case is desperate and past cure; I hope their example may cause this region to be treated in a different manner.” His imagination becomes heated. He magnifies the supposed importance of Veragua, as transcending all his former discoveries; and he alludes to his favorite project for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre: “Jerusalem,” he says, “and Mount Sion are to be rebuilt by the hand of a Christian. Who is he to be?. God, by the mouth of the Prophet, in the fourteenth Psalm, declares it. The abbot Joachim* says that he is to come out of Spain.” His thoughts then revert to the ancient story of the Grand Khan, who had requested that sages might be sent to instruct him in the Chris¬ tian faith. Columbus, thinking that he had been in the very vicinity of Cathay, exclaims, with sudden zeal, “V/ho will offer himself for this task? If our Lord permit me to return to Spain, I engage to take him there, God helping, in safety.” Nothing is more characteristic of Columbus than his earnest, artless, at times eloquent, and at times, almost incoherent let¬ ters. What an instance of soaring enthusiasm and irrepressi¬ ble enterprise is here exhibited! At the time that he was indulging in these visions, and proposing new and romantic enterprises, he was broken down by age and infirmities, racked by pain, confined to his bed, and shut up in a wreck on the coast of a remote and savage island. No stronger picture can be given of his situation, than that which shortly follows this transient glow of excitement; when with one of his sudden * Joachim, native of the burgh of Celico, near Cozenza, travelled In the Holy Land. Returning to Calabria, he took the habit of the Cistercians in the monastery of Corazzo, of which he became prior and abbot, and afterward rose to higher monastic importance. He died in *1202, having attained seventy-two years of age, leaving a great cumber of works; among the most known are commentaries on Isaiah. Jeremiah, and tne Apocalypse. There arc also prophecies by him, “ which" (says the Dictionnajre Historique), "during his lifetime, made him to be admired oy fools and despised by men of sense; at present the latter sentiment prevails. Ho was either very weak or very presumptuous, to flatter himself that he had the key s of things of which God reserves the knowledge to himself.”—Diet. Hist, tom Caen, 1785. LIFE OF 'CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 501 transitions of thought, he awakens, as it were, to his actual condition. “Hitherto,” says he, “I have wept for others; but now, have pity upon me, heaven, and weep for me, O earth! In my tem¬ poral concerns, without a farthing to offer for a mass; cast away here in the Indies; surrounded by cruel and hostile savages; isolated, infirm, expecting each day will be my last; in spiritual concerns, separated from the holy sacraments of the church, so that my soul, if parted here from my body, must be forever lost! Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, md justice! I came not on this voyage to gain honor or es- ;ate, that is most certain, for all hope of the kind was already lead within me. I came to serve your majesties with a sound ntention and an honest zeal, and I speak no falsehood. If it should please God to deliver me hence, I humbly supplicate r our majesties to permit me to repair to Rome, and perform ither pilgrimages.” The • dispatches being ready, and the preparations of the anoe completed, Diego Mendez embarked, with his Spanish omrade and his six Indians*, and departed along the coast to he eastward. The voyage was toilsome and perilous. They ad to make their way against strong currents. Once they 7 ere taken by roving canoes of Indians, but made their escape, nd at length arrived at the end of the island, a distance of lirty-four leagues from the harbor. Here they remained aiting for calm weather to venture upon the broad gulf, when ley were suddenly surrounded and taken prisoners by a nuni- 3r of hostile Indians, who carried them off a distance of three agues, where they determined to kill them. Some dispute •ose about the division of the spoils taken from the Spaniards, hereupon the savages agreed to settle it by a game of chance, mile they were thus engaged Diego Mendez escaped, found | s way to his canoe, embarked in it, and returned alone to the | trbor after fifteen days’ absence. What became of his com- | mions he does not mention, being seldom apt to speak of any rson but himself. This account is taken from the narrative serted in his last will and testament. Columbus, though grieved at the failure of his message, was joiced at the escape of the faithful Mendez. The latter, noth- ? daunted by the perils and hardships he had undergone, ered to depart immediately on a second attempt, provided lie i Md have persons to accompany him to the end of the island, 1 d protect him from the natives. This the Adelantado offered 562 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to undertake, with a large party well armed. Bartholomew Fiesco, a Genoese, who had been captain of one of the caravels, was associated with Mendez in this second expedition. He was a man of great worth, strongly attached to the admiral, and much esteemed by him. Each had a large canoe under his command, in which were six Spaniards and ten Indians—the latter were to serve as oarsmen. The canoes were to keep in company. On reaching Hispaniola, Fiesco was to return im¬ mediately to Jamaica, to relieve the anxiety of the admiral and his crew, by tidings of the safe arrival of their messenger. In the mean time Diego Mendez was to proceed to San Domingo, deliver his letter to Ovando, procure and dispatch a ship, and then depart for Spain with a letter to the sovereigns. All arrangements being made, the Indians placed in the canoes their frugal provision of cassava bread, and each liis calabash of water. The Spaniards, besides their bread, had a supply of the flesh of utias, and each his sword and target. In this way they launched forth upon their long and perilous voy¬ age, followed by the prayers of their countrymen. The Adelantado, with his armed band, kept pace with them along the coast. There was no attempt of the natives to molest them, and they arrived in safety at the end of the island. Here they remained three days before the sea was sufficiently calm for them to venture forth in their feeble barks. At length, the weather being quite serene, they bade farewell to their com¬ rades, and committed themselves to the broad sea. The Ade¬ lantado remained watching them, until they became mere specks on the ocean, and the evening hid them from his view. The next day he set out on his return to the harbor, stopping at various villages on the way, and endeavoring to confirm the will of the natives.* CHAPTER II. MUTINY OF PORRAS. [1503.] It might have been thought that the adverse fortune which had so long persecuted Columbus was now exhausted. The ♦Hist, del Almirante, cap. 101. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ' f)Q3 envy which, had once sickened at his glory and prosperity could scarcely have devised for him a more forlorn heritage in the world he had discovered. The tenant of a wreck on a sav¬ age coast, in an untraversed ocean, at the mercy of barbarous hordes, who, in a moment, from precarious friends, might be transformed into ferocious enemies; afflicted, too, by excruciat¬ ing maladies which confined him to his bed, and by the pains and infirmities which hardship and anxiety had heaped upon his advancing age. But he had not yet exhausted his cup of bitterness. He had yet to experience an evil worse than storm, or shipwreck, or bodily anguish, or the violence of savage hordes—the perfidy of those in whom he confided. Mendez and Fiesco had not long departed when the Span¬ iards in the wreck began to grow sickly, partly from the toils and exposures of the recent voyage, partly from being crowded in narrow quarters in a moist and sultry climate, and partly from want of their accustomed food, for they could not habit¬ uate themselves to the vegetable diet of the Indians. Their maladies were rendered more insupportable by mental suffer¬ ing, by that suspense which frets the spirit, and that hope deferred which corrodes the heart. Accustomed to a life of bustle and variety, they had now nothing to do but loiter about the dreary hulk, look out upon the sea, watch for the canoe of Fiesco, wonder at his protracted absence, and doubt its return. A long time elapsed, much more than sufficient for the voyage, but nothing was seen or heard*of the canoe. Fears were enter¬ tained that their messenger had perished. If so, how long were they to remain here, vainly looking for relief which was never to arrive? Some sank into deep despondency, others became peevish and impatient. Murmurs broke forth, and, as usual with men in distress, murmurs of the most unreasonable kind, jInstead of sympathizing with their aged and infirm comman¬ der, who was involved in the same calamity, who in suffering transcended them all, and yet who was incessantly studious of their welfare, they began to rail against him as the cause of all their misfortunes. The factious feeling of an unreasonable multitude would be little importance if left to itself, and might end in idle ! damor; it is the industry of one or two evil spirits which generally directs it to an object, and makes it mischievous. ; Vmong the officers of Columbus were two brothers, Francisco tnd Diego de Porras. They were related to the royal treasurer Morales, who had married their sister, and had made interest 1 £64 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. with the admiral to give them some employment in the expedi¬ tion.* To gratify the treasurer, he had appointed Francisco de Porras captain of one of the caravels, and had obtained for his ' brother Diego the situation of notary and accountant-general of the squadron. He had treated them, as he declares, with the kindness of relatives, though both proved incompetent to their situations. They were vain and insolent men, and. like many others whom Columbus had benefited, requited his kindness with black ingratitude.! These men, finding the common people in a highly impatient and discontented state, wrought upon them with seditious insin- ; uations, assuring them that all hope of relief through the agency of Mendez was idle; it being a mere delusion of the admiral to keep them quiet, and render them subservient to his purposes. He had no desire nor intention to return to Spain; and in fact was banished thence. Hispaniola was equally closed to him, as had been proved by the exclusion of his ships from its harbor in a time of peril. To him, at present, all places were alike, and he. was content to remain in Jamaica until his friends could mako interest at court, and procure his recall from banishment. As to Mendez and Fiesco, they had been sent to Spain by Columbus on his own private affairs, not to procure a ship for the relief of his followers. If this were not the case, why did not the ships arrive, or why did not Fiesco return, as had been promised? Or if the canoes had really been sent for succor, the long time that had elapsed without tidings of them gave reason to believe they had perished by the way. In such case, their only alter¬ native would be to take the canoes of the Indians and endeavor to reach Hispaniola. There was no hope, however, of persuad¬ ing the admiral to such an undertaking; he was too old, and too helpless from the gout, to expose himself to the hardships of such a voyage. What then? were they to be sacrificed to his interests or his infirmities?—to give up their only chance foi escape, and linger and perish with him in this desolate wreck? If they succeeded in reaching Hispaniola, they would be the better received for having left the admiral behind. Ovando was secretly hostile to him, fearing that he would regain the j government of the island; on their arrival in Spain, the Bishop Fonseca, from his enmity to Columbus, would be sure to take their part; the brothers Porras had powerful friends and rela- * Hist del Almirante. cap 102. t Letter of Columbus to his son Diego. Kavarrete Colec. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 565 lives at court, to counteract any representations that might be made by the admiral; and they cited the case of Roldan’s rebellion, to show that the prejudices of the public and of men in power would always be against him. Nay, they insinuated that the sovereigns, who, on that occasion, had deprived him of part of his dignities and privileges, would rejoice at a pre¬ text for stripping him of the remainder.* Columbus was aware that the minds of his people were embittered against him. He had repeatedly been treated with insolent impatience, and reproached with being the cause ot their disasters. Accustomed, however, to the unreasonable¬ ness of men in adversity, and exercised, by many trials, in the mastery of his passions, he bore with their petulance, soothed their irritation, and endeavored to cheer their spirits by the hopes of speedy succor. A little while longer, and he trusted that Fiesco would arrive with good tidings, when the certainty of relief would put an end to all these clamors. The mischief, however, was deeper than he apprehended: a complete mutiny had been organized. On the 2d of January, 1504, he was in his small cabin, on the stern of his vessel, being confined to his bed by the gout, which had now rendered him a complete cripple. While rumi¬ nating on his disastrous situation, Francisco de Porras suddenly entered. His abrupt and agitated manner betrayed the evil nature of his visit. He had the flurried impudence of a man about to perpetrate an open crime. Breaking forth into bitter complaints, at their being kept, week after week, and month after month, to perish piecemeal in that desolate place, he ac¬ cused the admiral of having no intention to return to Spain. Jolumbus suspected something sinister from his unusual arro ^ance; he maintained, however, his calmness, and, raising limself in his bed, endeavored to reason with Porras. He oointed out the impossibility of departing until those who I lad gone to Hispaniola should send them vessels. He repre¬ sented how much more urgent must be his desire to depart, since he had not merely his own safety to provide for, but was iccountable to God and his sovereigns for the welfare of all .vho had been committed to his charge. He reminded Porras hat he had always consulted with them all, as to the measures |o be taken for the common safety, and that what he had done lad been with the general approbation: still, if any other * Hist del Almirante, cap. 102. 666 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. measure appeared advisable, he recommended that they should assemble together, and consult upon it, and adopt whatever course appeared most judicious. The measures of Porras and his comrades, however, were already concerted, and when men are determined on mutiny they are deaf to reason. He bluntly replied that there was no time for further consultations. ‘ ‘ Embark immediately or re¬ main in God’s name, were the only alternatives.” “For my part,” said he, turning his back upon the admiral, and elevat¬ ing his voice so that it resounded all over the vessel, “lam for Castile! those who choose may follow me!” Shouts arose immediately from all sides, “ I will follow you! and I! and I! ” Numbers of the crew sprang upon the most conspicuous parts of the ship, brandishing weapons, and uttering mingled threats and cries of rebellion. Some called upon Porras for orders what to do; others shouted “To Castile! to Castile!” while, amid the general uproar, the voices of some desperadoes were heard menacing the life of the admiral. * Columbus, hearing the tumult, leaped from his bed, ill and infirm as he was, and tottered out of the cabin, stumbling and falling in the exertion, hoping by his presence to pacify the mutineers. Three or four of his faithful adherents, however, fearing some violence might be offered him, threw themselves between him and the throng, and taking him in their arms com¬ pelled him to return to his cabin. The Adelantado likewise sallied forth, but in a different mood. He planted himself, with lance in hand, in a situation to take the whole brunt of the assault. It was with the greatest diffi¬ culty that several of the loyal part of the crew could appease his fury, and prevail upon him to relinquish his weapon, and retire to the cabin of his brother. They now entreated Porras and his companions to depart peaceably, since no one sought to oppose them. No advantage could be gained by violence; but should they cause the death of the admiral, they would draw upon themselves the severest punishment from the sovereigns.* These representations moderated the turbulence of the mu¬ tineers, and they now proceeded to carry their plans into execution. Taking ten canoes, which the admiral had pur¬ chased of the Indians, they embarked in them with as much exultation as if certain of immediately landing on the shores of * Las Casas, Hist, lud., lib. ii. cap. 32. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 567 )ain. Others, who had not been concerned in the mutiny, eing so large a force departing, and fearing to remain behind, ben so reduced in number, hastily collected, their effects and Ltered likewise into the canoes. In this way forty-eight >andoned the admiral. Many of those who remained were ily detained by sickness, for had they been well, most of them Duld have accompanied the deserters.* The few who re¬ gained faithful to the admiral, and the sick, who crawled irth from their cabins, saw the departure of the mutineers ith tears and lamentations, giving themselves up for lost, ^withstanding his malady, Columbus left his bed, mingling aong those who were loyal, and visiting those who were ill, deavoring in every way to cheer and comfort them. He treated them to put their trust in God, who would yet re- ve them; and he promised, on his return to Spain, to throw 1 rnself at the feet of the queen, represent their loyalty and nstancy, and obtain for them rewards that should compen- fce for all their sufferings.! In the mean time Francisco de Porras and his followers, in sir squadron of canoes, coasted the island to the eastward, lowing the route taken by Mendez and Fiesco. Wherever 37 landed they committed outrages upon the Indians, rob- lg them of their provisions, and of whatever they coveted of sir effects. They endeavored to make their own crimes lound to the prejudice of Columbus, pretending to act under ; authority, and affirming that he would pay for everything sy took. If he refused, they told the natives to kill him. ey represented him as an implacable foe to the Indians; as 3 who had tyrannized over other islands, causing the misery cl death of the natives, and who only sought to gain a sway re for the purpose of inflicting like calamities, laving reached, the eastern extremity of the island, they ited until the weather should be perfectly calm before they ntured to cross the gulf. Being unskilled in the management canoes, they procured several Indians to accompany them, e sea being at length quite smooth, they set forth upon their 1 yage. Scarcely had they proceeded four leagues from land len a contrary wind arose, and the waves began to swell, ey turned immediately for shore. The canoes, from their bt structure, and being nearly round and without keels, j re easily overturned, and required to be carefully balanced. 1 * Hist, del AJroirante, cap. 108. $ Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 38, 50S LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. They were now deeply freighted by men unaccustomed ti them, and as the sea rose they frequently let in the wate] The Spaniards were alarmed, and endeavored to lighten ther i by throwing overboard everything that could be spared; n ■ . tabling only their arms and a part of their provisions. Thi danger augmented with the wind. They now compelled thi Indians to leap into the sea, excepting such as were absolute! ■ necessary to navigate the canoes. If they hesitated, they drov \ them overboard with the edge of the sword. The Indians wer! skilful swimmers, but the distance to land was too great fo 1; their strength. They kept about the canoes, therefore, takin ; hold of them occasionally to rest themselves and recove' breath. As their weight disturbed the balance of the canoes - and endangered their overturning, the Spaniards cut off tliei 1 hands and stabbed them with their swords. Some died by th i jf weapons of these cruel men, others were exhausted and sanl: ! beneath the waves; thus eighteen perished miserably, and non i survived but such as had been retained to manage the canoes When the Spaniards got back to land, different opinions aros i as to what course they should next pursue. Some were fo 1 crossing to Cuba, for which island the wind was favorable. I >: was thought they might easily cross thence to the end of His ■ paniola. Others advised that they should return and* mak > their peace with the admiral, or take from him what remained j of arms and stores, having thrown almost everything overbear during their late danger. Others counselled another attemp '• to cross over to Hispaniola, as soon as the sea should becom > ♦ tranquil. __ This last advice was adopted. They remained for a month a > an Indian village near the eastern point of the island, living o: 1 the substance of the natives, and treating them in the most ai bitrary and capricious manner. When at length the weathe 1 became serene, they made a second attempt, but were agaii driven back by adverse winds. Losing all patience, therefore and despairing of the enterprise, they abandoned their canoes and returned westward, wandering from village to village, t dissolute and lawless gang, supporting themselves by fai means or foul, according as they met with kindness or hos tility, and passing like a pestilence through the island.* * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap 32. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 569 IP ■ ■. I CHAPTER III. IARCITY OF PROVISIONS— STRATAGEM OF COLUMBUS TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES FROM THE NATIVES. T( j [1504.] While Porras and his crew were raging about with that des- erate and joyless licentiousness which attends the abandon- lent of principle, Columbus presented the opposite picture of man true to others and to himseli, and supported, amid hard- lips and difficulties, by conscious rectitude. Deserted by the ealthful and vigorous portion of his garrison, he exerted liim- 3lf to soothe and encourage the infirm and desponding remnant kick remained. Regardless of his own painful maladies, he j ns only attentive to relieve their sufferings. The few who ere fit for service were required to mount guard on the wreck r attend upon the sick; there were none to forage for provi- ons. The scrupulous good faith and amicable conduct main¬ lined by Columbus toward the natives had now their effect, onsiderable supplies of provisions were brought by them from me to time, which he purchased at a reasonable rate. The most datable and nourishing of these, together with the small stock : European biscuit that remained, he ordered to be appropri- ;ed to the sustenance of the infirm. Knowing how much the )dy is affected by the operations of the mind, he endeavored • j • rouse the spirits and animate the hopes of the drooping suf- rers. Concealing his own anxiety, he maintained a serene id even cheerful countenance, encouraging his men by kind ords, and holding forth confident anticipations of speedy re- 3i. By his friendly and careful treatment, he soon recruited >th the health and spirits of his people, and brought them to a condition to contribute to the common safety. Judicious gulations, calmly but firmly enforced, maintained everything order. The men became sensible of the advantages of whole- rne discipline, and perceived that the restraints imposed upon em by their commander were for their own good, and ulti- ately productive of their own comfort. Columbus had thus succeeded in guarding against internal j 3, when alarming evils began to menace from without. The ! dians, unused to lay up any stock of provisions, and unwilling | subject themselves to extra labor, found it difficult to furnish i 570 LIFE OF CURISTOFIIER COLUMBUS . the quantity of food daily required for so many hungry men. The European trinkets, once so precious, lost their value in pro¬ portion as they became more common. The importance of the admiral had been greatly diminished by the desertion of so many of his followers, and the malignant instigations of the rebels had awakened jealousy and enmity in several of the villages, which had been accustomed to furnish provisions. By degrees, therefore, the supplies fell off. The arrangements for the daily delivery of certain quantities, made by Diegc Mendez, were irregularly attended to, and at length ceased entirely. The Indians no longer thronged to the harbor with provisions, and often refused them when applied for. The Spaniards were obliged to forage about the neighborhood f'oi their daily food, but found more and more difficulty in procur¬ ing it; thus, in addition to their other causes for despondency, they began to entertain horrible apprehensions of famine. The admiral heard their melancholy forebodings, and behelc the growing evil, but was at a loss for a remedy. To resort tc force was an alternative full of danger, and of but temporary efficacy. It would require all those who were well enough t( bear arms to sally forth^ while he and the rest of the infirn would be left defenceless on board of the wreck, exposed to tlx vengeance of the natives. In the mean time the scarcity daily increased. The Indian! perceived the wants of the white men, and had learnt fron them the art of making bargains. They asked ten times tb former quantity of European articles for any amount of pro visions, and brought their supplies in scanty quantities, to er ■ hance the eagerness of the hungry Spaniards. At length evei. this relief ceased, and there was an absolute distress for food The jealousy of the natives had been universally roused b;' Porras and his followers, and they withheld all provisions, i 1 1 hopes either of starving the admiral and his people, or of dri\ • ing them from the island. In this extremity a fortunate idea presented itself to Coluix • bus. From his knowledge of astronomy, he ascertained that within three days, there would be a total eclipse of the moon f J the early part of the night. He sent, therefore, an Indian c - Hispaniola, who served as his interpreter, to summon the prn • cipal caciques to a grand conference, appointing for it the da; of the eclipse. When all were assembled he told them by hi 5 interpreter, that he and his followers were worshippers of • 1 Deity who dwelt in the skies; who favored such as did wel LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 571 but punished all transgressors. That, as they must all have noticed, he had protected Diego Mendez and his companions in tlieir voyage, because they went in obedience to the orders of .their commanders, but bad visited Porras and his companions iwith all kinds of afflictions, in consequence of tlieir rebellion. (This great Deity, he added, was incensed against the Indians 'who refused to furnish his faithful worshippers with provisions, (and intended to chastise them with famine and pestilence. I Lest they should disbelieve this warning, a signal would be given that night. They would behold the moon change its color and gradually lose its light; a token of the fearful pum ishment which awaited them. Many of the Indians were alarmed at the prediction, others treated it with derision—all, however, awaited with solicitude the coming of the night. When they beheld a dark shadow stealing over the moon they began to tremble; with the prog¬ ress of the eclipse their fears increased, and when they saw a mysterious darkness covering the whole face of nature, there were no bounds to their terror. Seizing upon whatever provi¬ sions were at hand, they hurried to the ships, threw themselves it the feet of Columbus, and implored him to intercede with lis God to withhold the threatened calamities, assuring him hey would thenceforth bring him whatever he required. Co- umbus shut himself up in his cabin, as if to commune with the Deity, and remained there during the increase of the eclipse, he forests and shores all the while resounding with the howl- ngs and supplications of the savages. When the eclipse was ibout to diminish he came forth and informed the natives that iis God had deigned to pardon them, on condition of their ful- illing their promises; in sign of which he would withdraw the | larkness from the moon. When the Indians saw that planet restored to its brightness, tnd rolling in all its beauty through the firmament, they over¬ whelmed the admiral with thanks for his intercession, and re¬ tired to their homes, joyful at having escaped such great dis¬ asters. Regarding Columbus with awe and reverence, as a man n the peculiar favor and confidence of the Deity, since he mew upon earth what was passing in the heavens, they hastened 1 o propitiate him with gifts; supplies again arrived daily at iie harbor, and from that time forward there was no want of ! 'i‘Ovisions.* * Ilist. del Almirante, cap. 103. Las Casas, Hist. Ind , lib. ii. cap. 33. 572 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS' CHAPTER IV. MISSION OF DIEGO DE ESCOBAR TO THE ADMIRAL. [ 1504 .] Eight months had now elapsed since the departure of Men dez and Fiesco, without any tidings of their fate. For a lon^ time the Spaniards had kept a wistful look-out upon the ocean flattering themselves that every Indian canoe, gliding at a dis tance, might be the harbinger of deliverance. The hopes o: the most sanguine were now fast sinking into despondency What thousand perils awaited such frail barks, and so weak i party, on an expedition of the kind! Either the canoes ha( » been swallowed up by boisterous waves and adverse currents or their crews had perished among the rugged mountains an( savage tribes of Hispaniola. To increase their despondency they were informed that a vessel had been seen, bottom upward drifting with the currents along the coasts of Jamaica. Thi might be the vessel sent to their relief; and if so, all their hope. were shipwrecked with it. This rumor, it is affirmed, was in vented and circulated in the island by the rebels, that it migh ■ reach the ears of those who remained faithful to the admiral and reduce them to despair.* It no doubt had its effect Losing all hope of aid from a distance, and considering their ■ selves abandoned and forgotten by the world, many grew wit. and desperate in their plans. Another conspiracy was forme'. by one Bernardo, an apothecary of Valencia, with two confer • erates, Alonzo de Zamora and Pedro de Villatoro. They de¬ signed to seize upon the remaining canoes, and seek their wa;' to Hispaniola, f The mutiny was on the very point of breaking out, when on s evening, toward dusk, a sail was seen standing toward the harbor. The transports of the poor Spaniards may be mor > easily conceived than described. The vessel was of small size; i it kept out to sea, but sent its boat to visit the ships. Ever; eye was eagerly bent to hail the countenances of Christian * i and deliverers. As the boat approached, they descried in i > Diego de Escobar, a man who had been one of the most activ > j confederates of Roldan in his rebellion, who* had been cor • * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 104. + Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 573 iemned to death under the administration of Columbus, and pardoned by his successor Bobadilla. There was bad omen in such a messenger. Coming alongside of the ships, Escobar put a letter on board From Ovando, governor of Hispaniola, together with a barrel of svine and a side of bacon, sent as presents to the admiral. He dien drew off, and talked with Columbus from a distance. He 3old him that he was sent by the governor to express his great concern at his misfortunes, and his regret at not having in port i vessel of sufficient size to bring off himself and his people, Dut that he would send one as soon as possible. Escobar gave die admiral assurances likewise that his concerns in Hispaniola lad been faithfully attended to. He requested him, if he had my letter to write to the governor in reply, to give it to him as xion as possible, as he wished to return immediately. There was something extremely singular in this mission, but here was no time for comments, Escobar was urgent to depart. Columbus hastened, therefore, to write a reply to Ovando, de¬ leting the dangers and distresses of his situation, increased as hey were by the rebellion of Porras, but expressing his reli- | mce on his promise to send him relief, confiding in which he I hould remain patiently on board of his wreck. He recom- aended Diego Mendez and Bartholomew Fiesco to his favor, ssuring him that they were not sent to San Domingo with any rtful design, but simply to represent his perilous situation, nd to apply for succor.* When Escobar received this letter, e returned immediately on board of his vessel, which made 11 sail, and soon disappeared in the gathering gloom of the ight. If the Spaniards had hailed the arrival of this vessel with transport, its sudden departure and the mysterious conduct of hscobar inspired no less wonder and consternation. He had ept aloof from all communication with them, as if he felt no iterest in their welfare, or sympathy in their misfortunes, blumbus saw the gloom that had gathered in their counte- ances, and feared the consequences. He eagerly sought, lerefore, to dispel their suspicions, professing himself satis- ed with the communications received from Ovando, and assur- ig them that vessels would soon arrive to take them all away. 1 1 confidence of this, he said, he had declined to depart with | scobar, because his vessel was too small to take the whole, * JLas Casas, Hist. lud., lib. ii. cap. 34, 574 LIVE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. preferring to remain with them and share their lot, and had dispatched the caravel in such haste that no time might be lost in expediting the necessary ships. These assurances, and the certainty that their situation was known in San Domingo, cheered the hearts of the people. Their liopc-s agai® revived, and the conspiracy, which had been on the point of bre a king forth, was completely disconcerted. In secret, however, Columbus was exceedingly indignant at the conduct of Ovando. He had left him for many months in a state of the utmost danger, and most distressing uncertainty, exposed to the hostilities of the natives, the seditions of his men, and the suggestions of his' own despair. He had, at length, sent a mere tantalizing message, by a man known tc be one of his bitterest enemies, with a present of food, which, from its scantiness, seemed intended to mock their necessities. Columbus believed that Ovando had purposely neglected him, hoping that he might perish on the island, being ap prehensive that, should he return in safety, he would b( reinstated in the government of Hispaniola; and he considerec Escobar merely as a spy sent to ascertain the state of himsel and his crew, and whether they were yet in existence. Lai Casas,, who was then at San Domingo, expresses similar suspi cions. He says that Escobar was chosen because Ovando was certain that, from ancient enmity, he would have no sympathy for the admiral. That he was ordered not to go on board o the vessels, nor to land, neither was he to hold conversatioi with any of the crew, nor to receive any letters, except thos* of the admiral. In a word, that he was a mere scout to collec information.* Others have ascribed the long neglect of Ovando to extrem ! caution. There was a rumor prevalent that Columbus, irri¬ tated at the suspension of his dignities by the court of Spain intended to transfer his newly-discovered countries into th > hands of his native republic Genoa, or of some other power Such rumors had long been current, and to their recent cii culation Columbus himself alludes in his letter sent to th ! sovereigns by Diego Mendez. The most plausible apolog; given is, that Ovando was absent for several months in th ! interior, occupied in wars with the natives, and that ther> were no ships at San Domingo of sufficient burden to tak> Columbus and his crew to Spain. He may have feared thal * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33. Hist, del Almiraute, cap. 103. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 575 should they come to reside for any length of time on the island, either the admiral would interfere in public affairs, or en¬ deavor to make a party in his favor; or.that, in consequence ! of the number of his old enemies still resident there, former | scenes of faction and turbulence might be revived.* In the mean time the situation of Columbus in Jamaica, while it dis¬ posed of him quietly until vessels should arrive from Spain, could not, he may have thought, be hazardous. He had suffi¬ cient force and arms for defence, and he had made amicable j arrangements with the natives for the supply of provisions, as Diego Mendez, who had made those arrangements, had no doubt informed him. Such may have been the reasoning by which Ovando, under the real influence of his interest, may have reconciled his conscience to a measure which excited the strong reprobation of his contemporaries, and has continued to draw upon him the suspicions of mankind. CHAPTER V. VOYAGE OF DIEGO MENDEZ AND BARTHOLOMEW FIESCO IN A CANOE TO HISPANIOLA. [1504.] It is proper to give here some account of the mission of Diego jVIendez and Bartholomew Fiesco, and of the circumstances vhich prevented the latter from returning to Jamaica. Hav- ng taken leave of the Adelantado at the east end of the island, j hey continued all day in a direct course, animating the Indians j vho navigated their canoes, and who frequently paused at their | abor. There was no wind, the sky was without a cloud, and he sea perfectly calm; the heat was intolerable, and the rays f the sun reflected from the surface of the ocean seemed to corch their very eyes. The Indians, exhausted by heat and oil, would often leap into the water to coql and refresh them- elves, and, after remaining there a short time, would return nth new vigor to their labors. At the going down of the sun dey lost sight of land. During the night the Indians took urns, one half to row while the others slept. The Spaniards, * Las Casas, ubi sup. Hist, del Almirante, ubi sup. 576 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. in like manner, divided their forces: while one half took repose the others kept guard with their weapons in hand, ready to defend themselves in case of any perfidy on the part of their savage companions. Watching and toiling in this way through the night, they | were exceedingly fatigued at the return of day. Nothing was 1 to be seen but sea and sky. Their frail canoes, heaving up 1 and down with the swelling and sinking of the ocean, seemed I * scarcely capable of sustaining the broad undulations of a calm; ! I how would they be able to live amid waves and surges, should P the wind arise? The commanders did all they could to keep up the flagging spirits of the men. Sometimes they permitted them a respite; at other times they took the paddles and shared their toils. But labor and fatigue were soon forgotten in a new source of suffering. During the preceding sultry day and night, the Indians, parched and fatigued, had drunk up all the water. They now began to experience the torments of thirst. In proportion as the day advanced, their thirst in- J -.11 -s in ... 0,1 Hi creased; the calm, which favored the navigation of the canoes, rendered this misery the more intense. There was not a breeze to fan the air, nor counteract the ardent rays of a tropical sun. Their sufferings were irritated by the prospect around them—nothing but water, while they were perishing with thirst. At mid-day their strength failed them, and the} could work no longer. Fortunately, at this time the com manders of the canoes found, or pretended to find, two smal kegs of water, which they had perhaps secretly reserved fo] such an extremity. Administering the precious contents fron time to time, in sparing mouthfuls to their companions, anc particularly to the laboring Indians, they enabled them t( resume their toils. They cheered them with the hopes of sooi arriving at a. small island called Navasa, which lay directly h their way, and was only eight leagues from Hispaniola. Hen they would be able to procure water, and might take repose. For the rest of the day they continued faintly and wearib laboring forward, and keeping an anxious look-out for th< island. The day passed away, the sun went down, yet then was no sign of land, not even a cloud on the horizon that migh deceive them into a hope. According to their calculations they had certainly come the distance from Jamaica at whicl Navasa lay. They began to fear that they had deviated fron their course. If so, they should miss the island entirely, an< perish with thirst before they could reach Hispaniola. 4 ! I LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 577 The night closed upon them without any sight of the island. They now despaired of touching at it, for it was so small and low that, even if they were to pass near, they would scarce! v be able to perceive it in the dark. One of the Indians sank and died, under the accumulated sufferings of labor, heat, and raging- thirst. His body was thrown into the sea. Others lay panting and gasping at the bottom of the canoes. Their companions, troubled in spirit, and exhausted in strength, feebly continued their toils. Sometimes they endeavored to cool their parched, palates by taking sea-water in their mouths, but its briny acri¬ mony rather increased their thirst. Now and then, but very sparingly, they were allowed a drop of water from the kegs; but this was only in cases of the utmost extremity, and princi¬ pally to those who were employed in rowing. The night had far advanced, but those whose turn it was to take repose were unable to sleep, from the intensity of their thirst; or if they slept, it was but to be tantalized by dreams of cool fountains and running brooks, and to awaken in redoubled torment. The last drop of water had been dealt out to the Indian rowers, but It only served to irritate their sufferings. They scarce could aiove their paddies; one after another gave up, and it seemed mpossible they should live to reach Hispaniola. The commanders, by admirable management, had hitherto cept up this weary struggle with suffering and despair: they iow, too, began to despond. Diego Mendez sat watching the lorizon, which was gradually lighting up with those faint rays vhich precede the rising of the moon. As that planet rose, he terceived it to emerge from behind some dark mass elevated hove the level of the ocean. He immediately gave the ani- aating cry of “land!” His almost expiring companions were oused by it to new life. It proved to be the island of Navasa, 'Ut so small, and low, and distant, that had it not been thus evealed by the rising of the moon, they would never have dis- overed it. The error in their reckoning with respect to the >land had arisen from miscalculating the rate of sailing of the I anoes, and from not making sufficient allowance for the fatigue | £ the rowers and the opposition of the current. New vigor was now diffused throughout the crews. They xerted themselves with feverish impatience; by the dawn of j ay they reached the land, and, springing on shore, returned lanks to God for such signal deliverance. The island was a I tere mass of rocks half a league in circuit. There was neither j ‘ee, nor shrub, nor herbage, nor stream, nor fountain. Hurry- 578 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ing about, however, with anxious search, they found to their joy abundance of rain-water in the hollows of the rocks. Eagerly scooping it up, with their calabashes, they quenched their burning thirst by immoderate draughts. In vain the more prudent warned the others of their danger. The Span¬ iards were in some degree restrained; but the poor Indians, whose toils had increased the fever of their thirst, gave way to a kind of frantic indulgence. Several died upon the spot, and others fell dangerously ill.* Having allayed their thirst, they now looked about in search of food. A few shell-fish were found along the shore, and Diegc Mendez, striking a light, and gathering drift-wood, they were enabled to boil them, and to make a delicious banquet. All clay they remained reposing in the shade of the rocks, refreshing themselves after their intolerable sufferings, and gazing upor Hispaniola, whose mountains rose above the horizon, at eighl leagues’ distance. In the cool of the evening they once more embarked, invig orated by repose, and arrived safely at Cape Tiburon on the following day, the fourth since their departure from Jamaica, Here they landed on the banks of a beautiful river, where the} were kindly received and treated by the natives. Such are th( particulars, collected from different sources, of this adventurous and interesting voyage, on the precarious success of whicl depended the deliverance of Columbus and his crews, f Th( voyagers remained for two days among the hospitable native on the banks of the river to refresh themselves. Fiesco woulc have returned to Jamaica, according to promise, to give assur ance to the admiral and his companions of the safe arrival o: their messenger; but both Spaniards and Indians had sufferec so much during the voyage, that nothing could induce them t( encounter the perils of a return in the canoes. Parting with his companions, Diego Mendez took six Indian* of the island, and set off resolutely to coast in his canoe on( hundred and thirty leagues to San Domingo. After proceed ing for eighty leagues, with infinite toil, always against th( currents, and subject to perils from the native tribes, he wai informed that the governor had departed for Xaragua, fiftj * Not far from the island of Navasa there gushes up in the sea a pure fountain o fresh water that sweetens the surface for some distance; this circumstance was o course unknown to the Spaniards at the time. (Oviedo, Cronica, lib. vi. cap. 12.) t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 105, Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 31. Testament of Diegc Mendez. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 579 a M tel nil ivf leagues distant. Still undaunted by fatigues and difficulties, he abandoned his canoe, and proceeded alone and on foot through forests and over mountains, until he arrived at Xara- gua, achieving one of the most perilous expeditions ever under¬ taken by a devoted follower for the safety of his commander. Ovando received him with great kindness, expressing the utmost concern at the unfortunate situation of Columbus. He made many promises of sending immediate relief, but suffered, day, week after week, and even month after month to elapse, without carrying his promises into effect. He was at that time completely engrossed by wars with the natives, and had a ready plea that there were no ships of sufficient burden at San Do¬ mingo. Had he felt a proper zeal, however, for the safety of a man like Columbus, it would have been easy, within eight months, to have devised some means, if not of delivering him from his situation, at least of conveying to him ample reinforce¬ ments and supplies. The faithful Mendez remained for seven months in Xaragua, detained there under various pretexts by Ovando, who was unwilling that he should proceed to San Domingo; partly, as is intimated, from his having some jealousy of his being employed in secret agency for the admiral, and partly from a desire to throw impediments in the way of his obtaining the required relief. At length, by daily importunity, he obtained permission to go to San Domingo and await the arrival of certain ships which were expected, of which he proposed to purchase one on the account of the admiral. He immediately set out on foot a distance of seventy leagues, part of his toil¬ some journey lying through forests and among mountains infested by hostile and exasperated Indians. It was after his departure that Ovando dispatched the caravel commanded by I the pardoned rebel Escobar, on that singular and equivocal visit, which, in the eyes of Columbus, had the air of a mere scouting expedition to spy into the camp of an enemy. 580 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . CHAPTER VI. OVERTURES OF COLUMBUS TO THE MUTINEERS—BATTLE OF THE ADELANTADO WITH PORRAS AND HIS FOLLOWERS. [1503.] When Columbus had soothed the disappointment of his men at the brief and unsatisfactory visit and sudden departure of Escobar, he endeavored to turn the event to some advantage with the rebels. He knew them to be disheartened by the inevitable miseries attending a lawless and dissolute life; that many longed to return to the safe and quiet path of duty; and that the most malignant, seeing how he had foiled all their intrigues among the natives to produce a famine, began to fear 1 his ultimate triumph and consequent vengeance. A favorable opportunity, he thought, now presented to take advantage of these feelings, and by gentle means to bring them back to their allegiance. He sent two of his people, therefore, who were most intimate with the rebels, to inform them of the recent arrival of Escobar with letters from the Governor of Hispan- iola, promising him a speedy deliverance from the island. He now offered a free pardon, kind treatment, and a passage with ,, him in the expected ships, on condition of their immediate return to obedience. To convince them of the arrival of the vessel, he sent them a part of the bacon which had been brought by Escobar. On the approach of these ambassadors, Francisco de Porras came forth to meet them, accompanied solely by a few of the ringleaders of j his party. He imagined that there might bo some propositions from the admiral, and he was fearful of their being heard by the mass of his people, who, in their dissatisfied and repentant mood, would be likely to desert him on the least prospect of pardon. Having listened to the tidings and over¬ tures brought by the messengers, he and his confidential con¬ federates consulted for some time together. Perfidious in their own nature, they suspected the sincerity of the admiral; and conscious of the extent of their offences, doubted his having the magnanimity to pardon them. Determined, therefore, not to confide in his proffered amnesty, they replied to the messen¬ gers that they had no wish to return to the ships, but preferred LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 581 S * living at largo about the island. They offered to engage, how¬ ever, to conduct themselves peaceably and amicably, on re¬ ceiving a solemn promise from the admiral, that should two vessels arrive, they should have one to depart in; should bur, one arrive, that half of it should be granted to them; and that, moreover, the admiral should share with them the stores and articles of Indian traffic remaining in the ships; having lost all that they had, in the sea. These demands were pronounced extravagant and inadmissible, upon which they replied inso¬ lently that, if they were not peaceably conceded, they would take them by force; and with this menace they dismissed the ambassadors.* This conference was not conducted so privately but that the rest of the rebels learnt the purport of the mission; and the offer of pardon and deliverance occasioned great tumult and agitation. Porras, fearful of their desertion, assured them that these offers of the admiral were all deceitful; that he was naturally cruel and vindictive, and only sought to get them into his power to wreak on them his vengeance. He exhorted them to persist in their opposition to his tyranny; reminding them that those who had formerly done so in Hispaniola had eventually triumphed, and sent him home in irons; he assured them that they might do the same, and again made vaunting promises of protection in Spain, through the influence of his relatives. But the boldest of his assertions was with respect to the caravel of Escobar. It shows the ignorance of the ago, and the superstitious awe which the common people-entertained with respect to Columbus and his astronomical knowledge. Porras assured them that no real caravel had arrived, but a mere phantasm conjured up by the admiral, who was deeply versed in necromancy. In proof of this he adverted to its arriving in the dusk of the evening; its holding communication with no one but the admiral, and its sudden disappearance in the night. Had it been a real caravel, the crew would have sought to talk with their countrymen; the admiral, his son, and brother, would have eagerly embarked on board, and it would at any rate have remained a little while in port, and not have vanished so suddenly and mysteriously.! i By these and similar delusions Porras succeeded in working upon the feelings and credulity of his followers. Fearful, * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35. Hist, del Almirante, ^ap. 106. + Hist, del Almirante, cap. 106. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35. 582 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. however, that they might yield to after reflection, and to further offers from the admiral, he determined to involve them in some act of violence which would commit them beyond all hopes of forgiveness. He marched them, therefore, to an Indian village called Maima,* about a quarter of a league from the ships, intending to plunder the stores remaining on board the wreck, and to take the admiral prisoner.! Columbus had notice of the designs of the rebels, and of their approach. Being confined by his infirmities, he sent his brother to endeavor with mild words to persuade them from their purpose, and win them to obedience; but with sufficient force to resist any violence. The Adelantado, who was a man rather of deeds than of words, took with him fifty followers, men of tried resolution, and ready to fight in any cause. They were well armed and full of courage, though many were pale and debilitated from recent sickness, and from long confinement to the ships. Arriving on the side of a hill, within a bow-shot of the village, the Adelantado discovered the rebels, and dispatched the same two messengers to treat with them, who had already carried them the offer of pardon. Porras and his fellow-leaders, however, would not permit them to approach. They confided in the superiority of their numbers, and in their men being, for the most part, hardy sailors, rendered robust and vigorous - by the roving life they had been leading in the forests and the open air. They knew that many of those who were with the Adelantado were men brought up in a softer mode of life. They pointed to their pale countenances, and persuaded their followers that they were mere household men, fair-weather troops, who could never stand before them. They did not reflect that, with such men, pride and lofty spirit often more than supply the place of bodily force, and they forgot that their adversaries had the incalculable advantage of justice and law upon their side. Deluded by their words, their followers were excited to a transient glow of courage, and brandishing their weapons, refused to listen to the messengers. Six of the stoutest rebels made a league to stand by one an¬ other and attack the Adelantado; for, he being killed, the rest would be easily defeated. The main body formed themselves into a squadron, drawing their swords and shaking their lances. They did not wait to be assailed, but, uttering shouts and men¬ aces, rushed upon the enemy. They were so well received, * At present Mamrnee Bay.' t Hist, del Almirante, ubi sup. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 583 however, that at the first shock four or five were killed, most of them the confederates who had leagued to attack the Ade- lantado. The latter, with his own hand, killed Juan Sanchez, the same powerful mariner who had carried off the cacique i Quibian; and Juan Barber also, who had first drawn a sword i against the admiral in this rebellion. The Adelantado with his ! usual vigor and courage was dealing his blows about him in | the thickest of the affray, where several lay killed and wound - I ed, when he was assailed by Francisco de Porras. The rebel with a blow of his sword cleft the buckler of Don Bartholomew, and wounded the hand which grasped it. The sword remained wedged in the shield, and before Porras could withdraw it the Adelantado closed upon him, grappled him, and, being assisted by others, after a severe struggle took him prisoner.* When the rebels beheld their leader a captive, their transient courage was at an end, and they fled in confusion. The Ade¬ lantado would have pursued them, but was persuaded to let them escape with the punishment they had received; especially as it was necessary to guard against the possibility of an attack from the Indians. The latter had taken arms and drawn up in battle array, gazing with astonishment at this fight between' white men, but without taking part on either side. When the battle was over, they approached the field, gazing upon the dead bodies of the beings they had once fancied immortal. They were curious in examining the wounds made by the Christian weapons. Among the wounded insurgents was Pedro Ledesma, the same pilot who so bravely swam ashore at Yeragua, to procure tidings of the colony. He was a man of prodigious muscular force and a hoarse, deep voice. As the Indians, who thought him dead, jwere inspecting the wounds with which he was literally cov- jered, he suddenly uttered an ejaculation in his tremendous jvoice, at the sound of which the savages fled in dismay. This man, having fallen into a cleft or ravine, was not discovered by the white men until the dawning of the following day, having remained all that time without a drop of water. The number ind severity of the wounds he is said to have received would seem incredible, but they are mentioned by Fernando Columbus, jvho was an eye-witness, and by Las Casas, who had the account pom Ledesma himself. For want of proper remedies his vounds were treated in the roughest manner, yet, through the * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 107. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 35. 584 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. aid of a vigorous constitution, he completely recovered. Las Casas conversed with him several years afterward at Seville, when he obtained from him various particulars concerning this voyage of Columbus. Some few days after this conversation, however, he heard that Ledesma had fallen under the knife of an assassin.* The Adelantado returned in triumph to the ships, where he was received by the admiral in the most affectionate manner; thanking him as his deliverer. He brought Porras and several of his followers prisoners. Of his own party only two had been wounded; himself in the hand, and the admiral’s steward, who had received an apparently slight wound with a lance, equal to one of the most insignificant of those with which Le¬ desma was covered; yet, in spite of careful treatment, he died. On the next day, the 20th of May, the fugitives sent a petition to the admiral, signed with all their names, in which, says Las Casas, they confessed all their misdeeds and cruelties, and evil intentions, supplicating the admiral to have pity on them and pardon them for their rebellion, for which God had already punished them. They offered to return to their obedience, and to serve him faithfully in future, making an oath to that effect upon a cross and a missal, accompanied by an imprecation worthy of being recorded: “They hoped, should they break their oath, that no priest nor other Christian might ever con¬ fess them; that repentance might be of no avail; that they might be deprived of the holy sacraments of the church; that at their death they might receive no benefit from bulls nor in¬ dulgences ; that their bodies might be cast out into the fields, like those of heretics and renegadoes, instead of being buried in holy ground; and that they might not receive absolution from the pope, nor from cardinals, nor archbishops, nor bishops, nor any other Christian priests.”! Such were the awful ini' precations by which these men endeavored to add validity to an oath. The worthlessness of a man’s word may always be known by the extravagant means he uses to enforce it. The admiral saw, by the abject nature of this petition, how completely the spirit of these misguided men was broken; with his wonted magnanimity, he readily granted their prayer, and pardoned their offences; but on one condition, that their ring¬ leader, Francisco Porras, should remain a prisoner. As it was difficult to maintain so many persons on board of * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 35. t Ibid., cap. 32. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 585 the ships, and as quarrels might take place between persons who had so recently been at blows, Columbus put the late fol¬ lowers of Porras under the command of a discreet and faithful man; and giving in his charge a quantity of European articles for the purpose of purchasing food of the natives, directed him to forage about the island until the expected vessels should arrive. At length, after a long year of alternate hope and despon¬ dency, the doubts of the Spaniards were joyfully dispelled by the sight of two vessels standing into the harbor. One proved to he a, ship hired and well victualled, at the expense of the admiral, by the faithful and indefatigable Diego Mendez; the other had been subsequently fitted out by Ovando, and put under the command of Diego de Salcedo, the admiral’s agent employed to collect his rents in San Domingo. The long neglect of Ovando to attend to the relief of Colum¬ bus had, it seems, roused the public indignation, insomuch that animadversions had been made upon his conduct even in the pulpits. This is affirmed by Las Casas, who was at San Do¬ mingo at the time. If the governor had really entertained hopes that, during the delqy of relief, Columbus might perish in the island, the report brought back by Escobar must have completely disappointed him. No time was to be lost if he wished to claim any merit in his deliverance, or to avoid the disgrace of having totally neglected him. He exerted himself, therefore, at the eleventh hour, and dispatched a caravel at the same time with the ship sent by Diego Mendez. The latter having faithfully discharged this part of his mission, and seen the ships depart, proceeded to Spain on the further concerns of the admiral.* * Some brief notice of the further fortunes of Diego Mendez may be interesting to g the reader. When King Ferdinand heard of his faithful services, says Oviedo, he bestowed rewards upon Mendez, and permitted him to bear a canoe in his coat of arms, as a memento of his loyalty. He continued devotedly attached to the admiral, serving him zealously after his return to Spain, and during his last illness. Colum- bus retained the most grateful and affectionate sense of his fidelity. On his death¬ bed he promised Mendez that, in reward for his services, he should be appointed principal alguazil of the island of Hispaniola, an engagement which the admiral’s son, Don Diego, who was present, cheerfully undertook to perform. A few years afterward, when the latter succeeded to the office of his father, Mendez reminded him of the promise, but Don Diego informed him that he had given the office to his uncle, Don Bartholomew; he assured him, however, that he should receive some, thing equivalent. Mendez shrewdly replied, that the.equivalent t ad better be given to Don Bartholomew, and the office to himself, according to agreement. The promise, however, remained unperformed, and Diego Mendee unrewarded. He was BOOK XVII CHAPTER I. ADMINISTRATION OF OVANDO IN HISPANIOLA—OPPRESSION OF THE NATIVES. [1503.] Before relating the return of Columbus to Hispaniola, it is proper to notice some of the principal occurrences which took place in that island under the government of Ovando. A great crowd of adventurers of various ranks had thronged his fleet— eager speculators, credulous dreamers, and broken-down gentle¬ men of desperate fortunes; all expecting to enrich themselves afterward engaged on voyages of discovery in vessels of his own but met with many vicissitudes, and appears to have died in impoverished circumstances. His last will, from which these particulars are pi incipally gathered, was dated in Valladolid, the 19th of June, 1536, by which it is evident he must have been in the prime of life at the time of his voyage with the admiral. In this will he requested that the re¬ ward which had been promised to him should be paid to his children, by making his eldest son principal alguazil for life of the city of San Domingo, and his other son lieutenant to the admiral for the same city. It does not appear whether this request was complied with under the successors of Don Diego. In another clause of his will he desired that a large stone should be placed upon his sepulchre, on which should be engraved, “ Here lies the honorable Cavalier Diego Mendez, who served greatly the royal crown of Spain, in the conquest of the Indies, with the admiral Don Christopher Columbus of glorious memory, who made the discovery; and afterward by himself, with ships at his own cost. He died, etc., etc. Bestow‘in charity a Paternoster, and an Ave Maria.” He ordered that in the midst of this stone there should be carved an Indian canoe, as given him by the king for armorial bearings in memorial of his voyage from Jamaica to Hispaniola, and above it should be engraved, in large letters, the word “ CANOA.” He enjoined upon his heirs to be loyal to the admiral (Don Diego Co¬ lumbus), and his lady, and gave them much ghostly counsel, mingled with pious benedictions. As an heir-loom in his family, he bequeathed his library, consisting of a few volumes, which accompanied him in hte wanderings—viz: “The Art of Holy Dying, by Erasmus; A Sermon of the same author, in Spanish; The Lingua and the Colloquies of the same; The History of Josephus; The Moral Philosophy of Aristotle; The Book of the Holy Land; A Book called the Contemplation of the Passion of our Saviour; A Tract on the Vengeance of the Death of Agamemnon, and several other short treatises.” This curious and characteristic testament is in the archives of the Duke of Veragua in Madrid. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 587 suddenly in an island where gold was to he picked up from the surface of the soil or gathered from the mountain brooks. They had scarcely landed, says Las Casas, who accompanied the expedition, when they all hurried off to the mines, about eight leagues’ distance. The roads swarmed like ant-hills, with adventurers of all classes. Every one had his knapsack stored with biscuit or flour, and his mining implements on his shoul¬ ders. Those hidalgos, or gentlemen, who had no servants to carry their burdens, bore them on their own backs, and lucky was he who had a horse for the journey; he would be able to bring back the greater load of treasure. They all set out in high spirits, eager who should first Teach the golden land; thinking they had but to arrive at the mines and collect riches; “for they fancied,” says Las Casas, “ that gold was to be gath¬ ered as easily and readily as fruit from the trees. ” When they arrived, however, they discovered, to their dismay, that it was necessary to dig painfully into the bowels of the earth—a labor to which most of them had never been accustomed; that it required experience and sagacity to detect the veins of ore; that, in fact, the whole process of mining was exceedingly toil¬ some, demanded vast patience and much experience, and, after all, was full of uncertainty. They digged eagerly for a time, but found no ore. They grew hungry, threw by their imple¬ ments, sat down to eat, and then returned to work. It was all in vain. “Their labor,” says Las Casas, “gave them a keen appetite and quick digestion, but no gold.” They soon con¬ sumed their provisions, exhausted their patience, cursed their infatuation, and in eight days set off drearily on their return along the roads they had lately trod so exultingly. They ar¬ rived at San Domingo without an ounce of gold, half-famished, downcast, and despairing.* Such is too often the case of those | who ignorantly engage in mining—of all speculations the most | brilliant, promising, and fallacious. i Poverty soon fell upon these misguided men. They cx- lausted the little property brought from Spain. Many suffered extremely from hunger, and were obliged to exchange even heir apparel for bread. Some formed connections with the )ld settlers of the island; but the greater part were like men 1 ost and bewildered, and just awakened from a dream. The niseries of the mind, as usual, heightened the sufferings of the body. Some wasted away and died broken-hearted; others j —- ~ - ■- - - -—--— --- • * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 6. 588 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. were hurried off by raging fevers, so that there soon perished upward of a thousand men. Ovando was reputed a man of great prudence and sagacity, and he certainly took several judicious measures for the regu¬ lation of the island and the relief of the colonists. He made arrangements fior distributing the married persons and the families which had come out in his fleet, in four towns in the interior, granting them important privileges. He revived the drooping zeal for mining, by reducing the royal share of the pro¬ duct from one half to a third, and shortly after to a fifth; but he empowered the Spaniards to avail themselves, in the most oppressive manner, of the labor of the unhappy natives in working the mines. The charge of treating the natives with severity had been one of those chiefly urged against Columbus. It is proper, therefore, to notice in this respect the conduct of his successor, a man chosen for his prudence and his supposed capacity to govern. It will be recollected that when Columbus was in a manner compelled to assign lands to the rebellious fol’owers of Fran¬ cisco Roldan, in 1499, he had made an arrangement that the caciques in their vicinity should, in lieu of tribute, furnish a number of their subjects to assist them in cultivating their estates. This, as has been observed, was the commencement of the disastrous system of repartimientos, or distributions of Indians. When Bobadilla administered the government, he constrained the»caciques to furnish a certain number of Indians to each Spaniard, for the purpose of working the mines, where they were employed like beasts of burden. He made an enu¬ meration of the natives, to prevent evasion; reduced tliem into classes, and distributed them among the Spanish inhabi¬ tants. The enormous oppressions which ensued have been noticed. They roused the indignation of Isabella; and when Ovando was sent out to supersede Bobadilla, in 1502, the natives were pronounced free; they immediately refused to labor in the mines. Ovando represented to the Spanish sovereigns, in 1503, that ruinous consequences resulted to the colony from this entire liberty granted to the Indians. He stated that the tribute could not be collected, for the Indians were lazy and improvi¬ dent ; that they could only be kept from vices and irregularities by occupation; that they now kept aloof from the Spaniards, and from all instruction in the Christian faith. The last representation had an influence with Isabella, and LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 589 n drew a letter from the sovereigns to Ovando, in 1503, in which he was ordered to spare no pains to attach the natives to the Spanish nation and the Catholic religion. To make them labor moderately, if absolutely essential to their own good; but to temper authority with persuasion and kindness. To pay them regularly and fairly for their labor, and to have them instructed in religion on certain days. Ovando availed himself of the powers given him by this let¬ ter to their fullest extent. He assigned to each Castilian a cer¬ tain number of Indians, according to the quality of the appli¬ cant, the nature of the application, or his own pleasure. It ■was arranged in the form of an order on a cacique for a cer¬ tain number of Indians, who were to be paid by their employer, and instructed in the Catholic faith. The pay was so small as to be little better than nominal; the instruction was little more than the mere ceremony of baptism; and the term of labor was at first six months, and then eight months in the year. Under cover of this hired labor, intended for the good both of their bodies and their souis, more intolerable toil was exacted from them, and more horrible cruelties were inflicted, than in the worst days of Bobadilla. They were separated often the distance of several days’ journey from their wives and children, and doomed to intolerable labor of all kinds, extorted by the cruel infliction of the lash. For food they had the cassava bread, an unsubstantial support for men obliged to labor; sometimes a scanty portion of pork was distributed among a great number of them, scarce a mouthful to each. When the Spaniards who superintended the mines were at their repast, says Las Casas, the famished Indians scrambled under the table, like dogs, for any bone thrown to them. After they had gnawed and sucked it, they pounded it between stones and mixed it with their cassava bread, that nothing of so precious a morsel might bo lost. As to those who labored in the fields, they never tasted either flesh or fish; a little cassava bread and a few roots were their support. While the Spaniards thus withheld the nour¬ ishment necessary to sustain their health and strength, they exacted a degree of labor sufficient to break down the most vigorous man. If the Indians fled from this incessant toil and barbarous coercion, and took refuge in the mountains, they were hunted out like wild beasts, scourged in the most inhuman manner, and laden with chains to prevent a second escape. Many perished long before their term of labor had espired. Those who survived their term of six or eight months were 590 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. permitted to return to their homes until the next term com¬ menced. But their homes were often forty, sixty, and eighty leagues distant. They had nothing to sustain them through the journey but a few roots or agi peppers, or a little cassava bread. Worn down by long toil and cruel hardships, which their feeble constitutions were incapable of sustaining, many had not strength to perform the journey, but sank down and died by the way; some by the side of a brook, others under the shade of a tree, where they had crawled for shelter from the sun. “ I have found many dead in the road,” says Las Casas, “ others gasping under the trees, and others in the pangs of death, faintly crying Hunger! hunger!”* Those who reached their homes most commonly found them desolate. Luring the eight months they had been absent, their wives and children had either perished or wandered away; the fields on which rhey depended for food were overrun with weeds, and nothing was left them but to he down, exhausted and despairing, and die at the threshold of their habitations.! It is impossible to pursue any farther the picture drawn by the venerable Las Casas, not of what he had heard, but of what he had seen; nature and humanity revolt at the details. Suffice it to say, that, so intolerable were the toils and suffer¬ ings inflicted upon this weak and unoffending race, that they sank undet* them, dissolving, as it were, from the face of the earth. Many killed themselves in despair, and even mothers overcame the powerful instinct of nature, and destroyed the infants at their breasts, to spare them a life of wretchedness. Twelve years had not elapsed since the discovery of the island, and several hundred thousand of its native inhabitants had perished, miserable victims to the grasping avarice of the white men. *Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 14, ms. tlbid., ubi sup. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 591 CHAPTER II. MASSACRE AT XARAGUA—FATE OF ANACAONA. [1503.] The sufferings of the natives under the civil policy of Ovando have been briefly shown; it remains to give a concise view of the military operations of this commander, so lauded by cer¬ tain of the early historians for his prudence. By this notice a portion of the eventful history of this island will be recounted which is connected with the fortunes of Columbus, and which comprises the thorough subjugation, and, it may almost be said, extermination of the native inhabitants. And first, we must treat of the disasters of the beautiful province of Xara- gua, the seat of hospitality, the refuge of the suffering Spaniards; and of the fate of the female cacique, Anacaona, once the pride of the island, and the generous friend of white men. Behechio, the ancient cacique of this province, being dead, Anacaona, his sister, had succeeded to the government. The marked partiality which she once manifested for the Spaniards had been greatly weakened by the general misery they had produced in her country, and by the brutal profligacy exhibited in her immediate dominions by the followers of Roldan. The unhappy story of the loves of her beautiful daughter Higuena- mota, with the young Spaniard Hernando de Guevara, had also caused her great affliction; and, finally, the various and endur¬ ing hardships inflicted on her once happy subjects by the grinding systems of labor enforced by Bobadilla and Ovando, had at length, it is said, converted her friendship into absolute detestation. This disgust was kept alive and aggravated by the Spaniards who lived in her immediate neighborhood, and had obtained grants of land there; a remnant of the rebel faction of Roldan, who retained the gross licentiousness and open profligacy in which they had been indulged under the loose misrule of that commander, and who made themselves odious to the inferior caciques, by exacting services tyrannically and capriciously under the baneful system of repartimientos. The Indians of this province were uniformly represented as a more intelligent, polite, and generous-spirited race than any others of the islands. They were the more prone to feel and • Hk SI' ' 592 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. resent the overbearing treatment to which they were subjected. Quarrels sometimes took place between the caciques and their oppressors. These were immediately reported to the governor as dangerous mutinies, and a resistance to any capricious and extortionate exaction was magnified into a rebellious resistance to the authority of government. Complaints of this kind were continually pouring in upon Ovando, until he was persuaded by some alarmists, or some designing mischief-maker, that there was a deep-laid conspiracy among the Indians of this province to rise upon the Spaniards. Ovando immediately set out for Xaragua at the head of three hundred foot-soldiers, armed with swords, arquebuses, and cross-bows, and seventy horsemen, with cuirasses, bucklers, and lances. He pretended that he was going on a mere visit of friendship to Anacaona, and to make arrangements about the payment of tribute. When Anacaona heard of the intended visit, she summoned all her tributary caciques and principal subjects, to assemble at her chief town, that they might receive the commander of the Spaniards with becoming homage and distinction. As Ovando, at the head of his little army, approached, she went forth to meet him, according to the custom of her nation, attended by a great train of her most distinguished subjects, male and female; who, as has been before observed, were noted for superior grace and beauty. They received the Spam iards with their popular areytos, their national songs; the young women waving palm branches and dancing before them, in the way that had so much charmed the followers of the Adelantado, on his first visit to the province. Anacaona treated the governor with that natural gracious¬ ness and dignity for which she was celebrated. She gave him the largest house in the place for his residence, and his people were quartered in the houses adjoining. For several days the Spaniards were entertained with all the natural luxuries that the province afforded. National songs and dances and games were performed for their amusement, and there was every out¬ ward demonstration of the same hospitality, the same amity, that Anacaona had uniformly shown to white men. Notwithstanding all this kindness, and notwithstanding her uniform integrity of conduct and open generosity of character, Ovando was persuaded that Anacaona was secretly meditating a massacre of himself and his followers. Historians tell us nothing of the grounds for such a belief. It was too probably LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. rm produced by tbe misrepresentations of the unprincipled adven¬ turers who infested the province. Ovando should have paused and reflected before he acted upon it. He should have consid¬ ered the improbability of such an attempt by naked Indians against so large a force of steel-clad troops, armed with European weapons; and he should have reflected upon the general character and conduct of Anacaona. At any rate, the example set repeatedly by Columbus and his brother the Ade- lantado should have convinced him that it was a sufficient safe¬ guard against the machinations of the natives, to seize upon their caciques and detain them as hostages. The policy of Ovando, nowever, was of a more rash and sanguinary nature; he acted upon suspicion as upon conviction. He determined to anticipate the alleged plot by a counter artifice, and to over¬ whelm this defenceless people in an indiscriminate and bloody vengeance. As the Indians had entertained their guests with various | national games, Ovando invited them in return to witness certain games of his country. Among these was a tilting match or joust with reeds; a chivalrous game which the Span¬ iards had learnt from the Moors of Granada. The Spanish cavalry, in those days, were as remarkable for the skilful management as for the ostentatious caparison of their horses. Among the troops brought out from Spain by Ovando, one horseman had disciplined his horse to prance and curvet in time to the music of a viol.* The joust was appointed to take place of a Sunday after dinner, in the public square, before the house where Ovando was quartered. The cavalry and foot- soldiers had their secret instructions. The former were to parade, not merely with reeds or blunted tilting-lanees, but j with weapons of a more deadly character. The foot-soldiers | were to come apparently as mere spectators, but likewise armed and ready for action at a concerted signal. At the appointed time the square was crowded with the Indians, waiting to see this military spectacle. The caciques were assembled in the house of Ovando, which looked upon the square. None were armed; an unreserved confidence prevailed among them, totally incompatible with the dark treachery of which they were accused. To prevent all sus¬ picion, and take off all appearance of sinister design, Ovando, after dinner, was playing at quoits with some of his principal * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9. 594 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. officers, when the cavalry having arrived in the square, the caciques begged the governor to order the joust to commence.* Anacaona, and her beautiful daughter Higuenamota, with several of her female attendants, were present and joined in the request. Ovando left his game and came forward to a conspicuous place. When he saw that everything was disposed according to his orders, he gave the fatal signal. Some say it was by taking hold of a piece of gold which was suspended about his neck; f others by laying his hand on the cross of Alcantara, . which was embroidered on his habit. { A trumpet was imme- f diately sounded. The house in which Anacaona, and all the principal caciques were assembled was surrounded by soldiery, commanded by Diego Velasquez and Rodrigo Mexiatrillo, and no one was permitted to escape. They entered, and seizing upon the caciques, bound them to the posts which supported the roof. Anacaona was led forth a prisoner. The unhappy caciques were then put to horrible tortures, until some of them, in the extremity of anguish, were made to accuse their queen and themselves of the plot with which they were charged. When this cruel mockery of judicial form had been executed, instead of preserving them for after-examination, fire was set to the house, and all the caciques perished miser¬ ably in the flames. While these barbarities were practised upon the chieftains, a horrible massacre took place among the populace. At the signal of Ovando, the horsemen rushed into the midst of the naked and defenceless throng, trampling them under the hoofs of their steeds, cutting them down with their swords, and transfixing them with their spears. No mercy was shown to age or sex; it was a savage and indiscriminate butchery. Now and then a Spanish horseman, either through an emotion of pity or an impulse of avarice, caught up a child, to bear it off in safety; but it was barbarously pierced by the lances of his companions. Humanity turns with horror from such atroci¬ ties, and would fain discredit them; but they are circumstan¬ tially and still more minutely recorded by the venerable bishop Las Casas, who was resident in the island at the time, and conversant with the principal actors in this tragedy. He * Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12. t Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9 X Charlevoix, Hist. San Domingo, lib. xxiv. p. 235. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 595 may have colored the picture strongly, m his usual indig- nation when the wrongs of the Indians are in question; yet, from all concurring accounts, and from many precise facts which speak for themselves, the scene must have been most sanguinary and atrocious. Oviedo, who is loud in extolling the justice, and devotion, and charity, and meekness of Ovando, and his kind treatment of the Indians, and who visited the province of Xaragua a few years afterward, records several of the preceding circumstances; especially the cold-blooded game of quoits played by the governor on the verge of such a horrible scene, and the burning of the caciques, to the number, he says, of more than forty. Diego Mendez, who was at Xaragua at the time, and doubtless present on such an important occasion, says incidentally, in his last will and testament, that there were eighty-four caciques either burnt or hanged.* Las Casas says that there were eighty who entered the house with Anacaona. The slaughter of the mul¬ titude must have been great; and this was inflicted on an unarmed and unresisting throng. Several who escaped from the massacre fled in their canoes to an island about eight leagues distant, called Guanabo. They were pursued and taken, and condemned to slavery. As to the princess Anacaona, she was carried in chains to San Domingo. The mockery of a trial was given her, in which she was found guilty on the confessions wrung by tortures from her subjects, and on the testimony of their butchers; and she was ignominiously hanged in the presence of the peo¬ ple whom she had so long and so signally befriended, f Oviedo has sought to throw a stigma on the character of this unfortu¬ nate princess, accusing her of great licentiousness; but he was prone to criminate the character of the native princes, who fell victims to the ingratitude and injustice of his countrymen. Contemporary writers of great authority have concurred in representing Anacaona as remarkable for her native propriety and dignity. She was adored by her subjects, so as to hold a kind of dominion over them even during the lifetime of her ibrother; she is said to have been skilled in composing the iareytos, or legendary ballads of her nation, and may have conduced much toward producing that superior degree of * Relacion hechapor Don Diego Mendez. Navarrete, Col., tom. i. p. 314. + Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. iap. 9. 596 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. refinement remarked among her people. Her grace and beauty had made her renowned throughout the island, and had - excited the admiration both of the savage and the Spaniard. I Her magnanimous spirit was evinced in her amicable treat¬ ment of the white men, although her husband, the brave Caonabo, had perished a prisoner in their hands; and defence¬ less parties of them had been repeatedly in her power, and lived at large in her dominions. After having for several years neglected all safe opportunities of vengeance, she fell a victim to the absurd charge of having conspired against an armed body of nearly four hundred men, seventy of them horsemen; a force sufficient to have subjugated large armies of naked Indians. After the massacre of Xaragua the destruction of its inhabi¬ tants still continued. The favorite nephew of Anacaona, the cacique Guaora, who had fled to the mountains, was hunted like a wild beast, until he was taken, and likewise hanged. For six months the Spaniards continued ravaging the country with horse and foot, under pretext of quelling insurrections; for, wherever the affrighted natives took refuge in their despair, herding in dismal caverns and in the fastnesses of the mountains, they were represented as assembling in arms to make a head of rebellion. Having at length hunted them out of their retreats, destroyed many, and reduced the survivors to the most deplorable misery and abject submission, the whole of that part of the island was considered as restored to good order; and in commemoration of this great triumph Ovando founded a town near to the lake, which he called Santa Maria de la Verdadera Paz (St. Mary of the True Peace).* Such is the tragical history of the delightful region of Xara¬ gua, and of its amiable and hospitable people. A place which the Europeans, by their own account, found a perfect paradise, but which, by their vile passions, they filled with horror and desolation. * Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 697 CHAPTER III. WAR WITH THE NATIVES OF HIGUEY. [ 1504 .] The subjugation of four of the Indian sovereignties of His¬ paniola, and the disastrous fate of their caciques, have been already related. Under the administration of Ovando was also accomplished the downfall of Higuey, the last of those inde¬ pendent districts; a fertile province which comprised the east¬ ern extremity of the island. The people of Higuey were of a more warlike spirit than those of the other provinces, having learned the effectual use of their weapons, from frequent contests with their Carib in¬ vaders. They were governed by a cacique named Cotabana- ma. Las Casas describes this chieftain from actual observa¬ tion, and draws the picture of a native hero. He was, he says, the strongest of his tribe, and more perfectly formed than one man in a thousand, of any nation whatever. He was taller in stature than the tallest of his countrymen, a yard in breadth from shoulder to shoulder, and the rest of his body in admira¬ ble proportion. His aspect was not handsome, but grave and courageous. His bow was not easily bent by a common man; his arrows were three pronged, tipped with the bones of fishes, and his weapons appeared to be intended for a giant. In a word, he was so nobly proportioned as to be the admiration even of the Spaniards. "While Columbus was engaged in his fourth voyage, and shortly after the accession of Ovando to office, there was an insurrection of this cacique and his people. A shallop, with eight Spaniards, was surprised at the small island of Saona, adjacent to Higuey, and all the crew slaughtered. This was in revenge for the death of a cacique, torn to pieces by a dog wantonly set upon him by a Spaniard, and for which the natives had in vain sued for redress. Ovando immediately dispatched Juan de Esquibel, a cour¬ ageous officer, at the head of four hundred men, to quell the insurrection and punish the massacre. Cotabanama assembled his warriors, and prepared for vigorous resistance. Distrust/ ful of the mercy of the Spaniards, the chieftain rejected all 598 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. overtures of peace, and the war was prosecuted with somg advantage to the natives. The Indians had now overcome their superstitious awe of the white men as supernatural beings, and though they could ill withstand the superiority of European arms, they manifested a courage and dexterity that rendered them enemies not to be despised. Las Casas and other his¬ torians relate a hold and romantic encounter between a single Indian and two mounted cavaliers named Valtenebro and Porte- vedra, in which the Indian, though pierced through the body by the lances and swords of both his assailants, retained his fierceness, and continued the combat until he fell dead in the possession of all their weapons.* This gallant action, says Las Casas, was public and notorious. The Indians were soon defeated and driven to their mountain retreats. The Spaniards pursued them into their recesses, dis¬ covered their wives and children, wreaked on them the most indiscriminate slaughter, and committed their chieftains to the flames. An aged female cacique of great distinction, named Higuanama, being taken prisoner, was hanged. A detachment was sent in a caravel to the island of Saona, to take particular vengeance for the destruction of the shallop and its crew. The natives made a desperate defence and fled. The island was mountainous and full of caverns, in which the Indians vainly sought for refuge. Six or seven hundred were imprisoned in a dwelling, and all put to the sword or poniarded. Those of the inhabitants who were spared were carried off as slaves, and the island was left desolate and deserted. The natives of Higuey were driven to despair, seeing that there was no escape for them even in the bowels of the earth ;f they sued for peace, which was granted them, and protection promised on condition of their cultivating a large tract of land, and paying a great quantity of bread in tribute. The peace being concluded, Cotabanama visited the Spanish camp, where his gigantic proportions and martial demeanor made him an object of curiosity and admiration. He was received with great distinction by Esquibel, and they exchanged names, an Indian league of fraternity and perpetual friendship. The natives thenceforward called the cacique Juan de Esquibel, and the Spanish commander Cotabanama. Esquibel then built a wooden fortress in an Indian village near the sea, and left in it nine men, with a captain, named Martin de Villaman. After * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 8. t Ibid., ubi sup. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 599 this the troops dispersed, every man returning home, with his proportion of slaves gained in this expedition. The pacification was not of long continuance. About the time that succors were sent to Columbus, to rescue him from the wrecks of his vessels at Jamaica, a new revolt broke out in Higuey, in consequence of the oppressions of the Spaniards, and a violation of the treaty made by Esquibel. Martin de Villa- man demanded that the natives should not only raise the grain stipulated for by the treaty, but convey it to San Do¬ mingo, and he treated them with the greatest severity on their refusal. He connived also at the licentious conduct of his men toward the Indian women; the Spaniards often taking from the natives their daughters and sisters, and even their wives.* The Indians, roused at last to fury, rose on their tyrants, slaughtered them, and burnt their wooden fortress to the ground. Only one of the Spaniards escaped, and bore the tidings of this catastrophe to the city of San Domingo. Ovando gave immediate orders to carry fire and sword into the province of Higuey. The Spanish troops mustered from various quarters on the confines of that province, when Juan de Esquibel took the command, and had a great number of Indians with him as allies. The towns of Higuey wer& generally built among the mountains. Those mountains rose in terraces from ten to fifteen leagues in length and breadth; rough and rocky, interspersed with glens of a red soil, remark¬ ably fertile, where they raised their cassava bread. The ascent from terrace to terrace was about fifty feet; steep and precipi¬ tous, formed of the living rock, and resembling a wall wrought with tools into rough diamond points. Each village had four wide streets, a stone’s throw in length, forming a cross, the trees being cleared away from them, and from a public square in the centre. When the Spanish troops arrived on the frontiers, alarm fires along the mountains and columns of smoke spread the intelli¬ gence by night and day. The old men, the women, and children, were sent off to the forests and caverns, and the warriors pre¬ pared for battle. The Castilians paused in one of the plains clear of forests, where their horses could be of use. They made prisoners of several of the natives, and tried to learn from them the plans and forces of the enemy. They applied tortures for the purpose, but in vain, so devoted was the * Las Casas, ubi sup. 600 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. loyalty of these people to their caciques. The Spaniards pen- etrated into the interior. They found the warriors of several towns assembled in one, and drawn up in the streets with their bows and arrows, but perfectly naked, and without defensive armor. They uttered tremendous yells, and discharged a shower of arrows; but from such a distance that they fell short of their foe. The Spaniards replied with their cross-bows, and with two or three arquebuses, for at this time they had but few firearms. When the Indians saw several of their com¬ rades fall dead, they took to flight, rarely waiting for the attack with swords; some of the wounded, in whose bodies the arrows from the cross-bows had penetrated to the very feather, drew them out with their hands, broke them with their teeth, and hurling them at the Spaniards with impotent fury, fell dead upon the spot. The whole force of the Indians was routed and dispersed; each family, or band of neighbors, fled in its own direction, and concealed itself in the fastness of the mountains. The Spaniards pursued them, hut found the chase difficult amid the close forests, and the broken and stony heights. They took several prisoners as guides, and inflicted incredible tor¬ ments on them, to compel them to betray their countrymen. They drove them before them, secured by cords fastened round their necks; and some of them, as they passed along the blinks of precipices, suddenly threw themselves headlong down, in hopes of dragging after them the Spaniards. When at length the pursuers came upon the unhappy Indians in their concealments, they spared neither age nor sex; even pregnant women, and mothers with infants in their arms, fell beneath their merciless swords. The cold-blooded acts of cruelty which followed this first slaughter would be shocking to relate. Hence Esquibel marched to attack the town where Cota- banama resided, and where that cacique had collected a great force to resist him. He proceeded direct for the place along the seacoast, and came to where two roads led up the mountain to the town. One of the roads was open and inviting; the branches of the trees being lopped, and all the underwood cleared away. Here the Indians had stationed an ambuscade to take the Spaniards in the rear. The other road was almost closed up by trees and bushes cut down and thrown across each other. Esquibel was wary and distrustful; he suspected tho stratagem, and chose the encumbered road. The town was about a league and a half from the sea. The Spaniards made LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP VS. C01 their way with great difficulty for the first half league. The rest of the road was free from all embarrassment, which con¬ firmed their suspicion of a stratagem. They now advanced with great rapidity, and, having arrived near the village, sud¬ denly turned into the other road, took the party in ambush by surprise, and made great havoc among them with their cross¬ bows. The warriors now sallied from their concealment, others rushed out of the houses into the streets, and discharged flights of arrows, but from such a distance as generally to fall harmless. They then approached nearer, and hurled stones with their hands, being unacquainted with the use of slings. Instead of being dismayed at seeing their companions fall, it rather increased their fury. An irregular battle, probably little else than wild skirmishing and bush-fighting, was kept up from two o’clock in the afternoon until night. Las Casas was present on the occasion, and, from his account, the Indians must have shown instances of great personal bravery, though the inferiority of their weapons, and the want of all defensive armor, rendered their valor totally ineffectual. As the even¬ ing shut in, their hostilities gradually ceased, and they disap¬ peared in the profound gloom and closed thickets of the sur¬ rounding forest. A deep silence succeeded to their yells and war-whoops, and throughout the night the Spaniards remained in undisturbed possession of the village. CHAPTER IV. CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH HIGUEY—FATE OF COTABANAMA. [ 1504 .] On the morning after the battle not an Indian was to be seen. Finding that even their great chief, Cotabanama, was | incapable of vying with the prowess of the white men, they had I given up the contest in despair, and fled to the mountains. The Spaniards, separating into small parties, hunted them with the utmost diligence; their object was to seize the caciques, and, above all, Cotabanama. They explored all the glens and concealed paths leading into the wild recesses where the fugitives had taken refuge. The Indians were cautious and 602 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. stealthy in their mode of retreating, treading in each other’s footprints, so that twenty would make no more track than one, and stepping so lightly as scarce to disturb the herbage; yet • there were Spaniards so skilled in hunting Indians that they could trace them even by the turn of a withered leaf, and among the confused tracks of a thousand animals. They could scent afar off also the smoke of the fires which the Indians made whenever they halted, and thus they would come upon them in their most secret haunts. Sometimes they would hunt down a straggling Indian, and compel him, by tor¬ ments, to betray the hiding-place of his companions, binding him, and driving him before them as a guide. Wherever they discovered one of these places of refuge, filled with the aged and the infirm, with feeble women and helpless children, they massacred them without mercy. They wished to inspire terror throughout the land, and to frighten the whole tribe into sub¬ mission. They cut off the hands of those whom they took roving at large, and sent them, as they said, to deliver them as letters to their friends, demanding their surrender. Number¬ less were those, says Las Casas, whose hands were amputated in this manner, and many of them sank down and died by the way, through anguish and loss of blood. The conquerors delighted in exercising strange and ingenious cruelties. They mingled horrible levity with their blood¬ thirstiness. They erected gibbets long and low, so that the feet of the sufferers might reach the ground, and their death be lingering. They hanged thirteen together, in reverence, says the indignant Las Casas, of our blessed Saviour and the twelve apostles. While their victims were suspended, and still living, they hacked them with their swords, to prove the strength of their arms and the edge of their weapons. They wrapped them in dry straw, and setting fire to it terminated their existence by the fiercest agony. These are horrible details, yet a veil is drawn over others still more detestable. They are related circumstantially by Las Casas, who was an eye-witness. He was young at the time, but records them in his advanced years. “All these things,” said the venerable bishop, “and others revolting to human nature, did my own eyes behold; and now I almost fear to repeat them, scarce believing myself, or whether I have not dreamt them.” * * Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 17, ms. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 603 These details would have been withheld from the present work as disgraceful to human nature, and from an unwilling¬ ness to advance anything which might convey a stigma upon a brave and generous nation. But it would be a departure from historical veracity, having the documents before my eyes, to pass silently over transactions so atrocious, and vouched for by witnesses beyond all suspicion of falsehood. Such occur¬ rences show the extremity to which human cruelty may extend, when stimulated by avidity of gain, by a thirst of vengeance, or even by a perverted zeal in the holy cause of religion. Every nation has in turn furnished proofs of this disgraceful truth. As in the present instance, they are com¬ monly the crimes of individuals rather than of the nation. Yet it behooves governments to keep a vigilant eye upon those to whom they delegate power in remote and helpless colonies. It is the imperious duty of the historian to place these matters upon record, that they may serve as warning beacons to future generations. Juan de Esquibel found that, with ail his severities, it would be impossible to subjugate the tribe of Higuey as long as the cacique Cotabanama was at large. That chieftain had retired to the little island of Saona, about two leagues from the coast of Higuey, in the centre of which, amid a labyrinth of rocks and forests, he had taken shelter, with his wife and children, in a vast cavern. A caravel, recently arrived from the city of San Domingo with supplies for the camp, was employed by Esquibel to entrap the cacique. He knew that the latter kept a vigilant look-out, stationings couts upon the lofty rocks of his island to watch the movements of the caravel. Esquibel departed by night, therefore, in the vessel, with fifty followers, and keeping ! under the deep shadows cast by the land, arrived at Saona i unperceived, at the dawn of morning. Here he anchored close I in with the shore, hid by its cliffs and forests, and landed forty I men, before the spies of Cotabanama had taken their station. Two of these were surprised and brought to Esquibel, who, having learnt from them that the cacique was at hand, poniarded one of the spies, and bound the other, making him serve as guide. A number of Spaniards ran in advance, each anxious to sig¬ nalize himself by the capture of the cacique. They came to two roads, and the whole party pursued that to the right, excepting one Juan Lopez, a powerful man, skilful in Indian 604 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS warfare. He proceeded in a footpath to the left, winding among little hills, so thickly wooded that it was impossible to see any one at the distance of half a bow-shot. Suddenly, in a narrow pass, overshadowed by rocks and trees, he encountered twelve Indian warriors, armed with bows and arrows, and fol¬ lowing each other in single file according to their custom. The Indians were confounded at the sight of Lopez, imagining that there must be a • party of soldiers behind him. They might readily have transfixed him with their arrows, but they had lost all presence of mind. He demanded their chieftain. They replied that he was behind, and opening to let him pass, Lopez beheld the cacique in the rear. At sight of the Spaniard Cotabanama bent his gigantic bow, and was on the point of launching one of his three-pronged arrows, but Lopez rushed upon him and wounded him with his sword. The other Indians, struck with panic, had already fled. Cotabanama, dismayed at the keenness of the sword, cried out that he was Juan de Esquibel, claiming respect as having exchanged names with the Spanish commander. Lopez seized .him with one hand by the hair, and with the other aimed a thrust at his body; but the cacique struck down the sword with his hand, and, grappling with his antagonist, threw him with his back upon the rocks. As they were both men of great power, the struggle was long and violent. The sword was beneath them, but Cotabanama, seizing the Spaniard by the throat with his mighty hand, attempted to strangle him. The sound of the contest brought the other Spaniards to the spot. They found their companion writhing and gasping, and almost dead, in the gripe of the gigantic Indian. They seized the cacique, bound him, and carried him captive to a deserted Indian village in the vicinity. They found the way to his secret cave, but his wife and children having received notice of his capture by the fugitive Indians, had taken refuge in another part of the island. In the cavern was found the chain with which a num¬ ber of Indian captives had been bound, who had risen upon and slain three Spaniards who had them in charge, and had made their escape to this island. There were also the swords of the same Spaniards, which they had brought off as tro¬ phies to their cacique. The chain was now employed to manacle Cotabanama. The Spaniards prepared to execute the chieftain on the spot, in the centre of the deserted village. For this purpose a pyre was built of logs of wood laid crossways, in form of a gridiron- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 605 on which he was to be slowly broiled to death. On further consultation, however, they were induced to forego the pleasure of this horrible sacrifice. Perhaps they thought the cacique too important a personage to be executed thus obscurely. Granting him, therefore, a transient reprieve, they conveyed him to the caravel and sent him, bound with heavy chains, to San Domingo. Ovando saw him in his power, and incapable of doing further harm ; but he had not the magnanimity to forgive a fallen enemy, whose only crime was the defence of his native soil and lawful territory. He ordered him to be publicly hanged like a common culprit.* In this ignominious manner was the cacique Cotabanama executed, the last of the five sovereign princes of Hayti. His death was followed by the complete subjugation of his people, and sealed the last struggle of the natives against their oppressors. The island was almost un¬ peopled of its original inhabitants, and meek and mournful submission and mute despair settled upon the scanty remnant that survived. Such was the ruthless system which had been pursued, dur¬ ing the absence of the admiral, by the commander Ovando; this man of boasted prudence and moderation, who was sent to re¬ form the abuses of the island, and above all, to redress the wrongs of the natives. The system of Columbus may have borne hard upon the Indians, born and brought up in untasked freedom, but it was never cruel nor sanguinary. He inflicted no wanton massacres nor vindictive punishments; his desire was to cherish and civilize the Indians, and to render them useful subjects; not to oppress, and persecute, and destroy them. When he beheld the desolation that had swept them from the land during his suspension from authority, he could not restrain the strong expression of his feelings. In a letter written to the king after his return to Spain, he thus expresses himself on the subject: “ The Indians of Hispaniola were and are the riches of the island; for it is they who cultivate and make the bread and the provisions for the Christians; who dig the gold from the mines, and perform all the offices and labors both of men and beasts. I am informed that, since I left this island, six parts out of seven of the natives are dead; all through ill treatment and inhumanity; some by the sword, others by blows and cruel usage, others through hunger. The greater part have perished in the mountains and glens, whither * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 18 - 606 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. they have fled, from not being able to support the labor Im¬ posed upon them.” For bis own part, be added, although he bad sent many Indians to Spain to be sold, it was always with a view to their being instructed in the Christian faith, and in civilized arts and usages, and afterward sent back to L their island to assist in civilizing their countrymen.* The brief view that has been given of the policy of Ovando on certain points on which Columbus was censured, may enable the reader to judge more correctly of the conduct of the latter. It is not to be measured by the standard of j right and wrong established in the present more enlightened age. We must con¬ sider him in connection with fee era in which he lived. By comparing his measures with those men of his own times praised for their virtues and abilities, placed in precisely his own situa¬ tion, and placed there expressly to correct his faults, we shall be the better able to judge how virtuously and wisely, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, he may be considered to have governed. * Las Casas, Hist. lad., lib. ii. cap. 38. /. IV ; ' BOOK XVIII. 11 | CHAPTER L l DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS FOR SAN DOMINGO—HIS RETURN TO SPAIN. The arrival at Jamaica of the two vessels under the com¬ mand of Salcedo had caused a joyful reverse in the situation of Columbus. He hastened to leave the wreck in which he had been so long immured, and hoisting his flag on board of one of the ships, felt as if the career of enterprise and glory were once more open to him. The late partisans of Porras, when they heard of the arrival of the ships, came wistful and abject to the harbor, doubting how far they might trust to the magnanimity of a man whom they had so greatly injured, and who had now am opportunity of vengeance. The generous mind, however, never harbors revenge in the hour of returning prosperity; but feels noble satisfaction in sharing its happiness even with ! its enemies. Columbus forgot, in his present felicity, all that he had suffered from these men; he ceased to consider them enemies, now that they had lost the power to injure; and he i not only fulfilled all that he had promised them, by taking ! them on board the ships, but relieved their necessities from his j own purse, until their return to Spain; and afterward took I unwearied pains to recommend them to the bounty of the sov- | ereigns. Francisco Porras alone continued a prisoner, to be ! fried by the tribunals of his country. Oviedo assures us that the Indians wept when they beheld ! the departure of the Spaniards; still considering them as beings from the skies. From the admiral, it is true, they had experi¬ enced nothing but just and gentle treatment, and continual benefits; and the idea of his immediate influence with the Deity, manifested on the memorable occasion of the eclipse, feiay have made them consider him as more than human, 608 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . and his presence as propitious to their island; but it is not easy to believe that a lawless gang like that of Porras could have been ranging for months among their villages, without giving cause for the greatest joy at their departure. On the 28th of June the vessels set sail for San Domingo. The adverse winds and currents which had opposed Columbus throughout this ill-starred expedition still continued to harass him. After a weary struggle of several weeks he reached, on the 3d of August, the little island of Beata, on the coast of Hispaniola. Between this place and San Domingo the currents are so violent that vessels are often detained months, waiting for sufficient wind to enable them to stem the stream. Hence Columbus dispatched a letter by land to Ovando, to inform him of his approach, and to remove certain absurd suspicions of his views, which he had learnt from Salcedo were still en¬ tertained by the governor; who feared his arrival in the island might produce factions and disturbances. In this letter he expresses, with his usual warmth and simplicity, the joy he felt at his deliverance, which was so great, he says, that, since the arrival of Diego de Salcedo with succor, he had scarcely been able to sleep. The letter had barely time to precede the writer, for, a favorable wind springing up, the vessels again made sail, and, on the 13th of August, anchored in the harbor of San Domingo. If it is the lot of prosperity to awaken envy and excite de¬ traction, it is certainly the lot of misfortune to atone for a multitude of faults. San Domingo had been the very hot-bed of sedition against Columbus in the day of his power; he had been hurried from it in ignominious chains, amid the shouts and taunts of the triumphant rabble; he had been excluded from its harbor when, as commander of a squadron, he craved shelter from an impending tempest; but now that he arrived in its waters, a broken down and shipwrecked man, all past hostility was overpowered by the popular sense of his late dis¬ asters. There was a momentary burst of enthusiasm in his favor; what had been denied to his merit was granted to his misfortune; and e:en the envious, appeased by his present reverses, seemed to forgive him for having once been so trium¬ phant. The governor and principal inhabitants came forth to meet him, and received him with signal distinction. He was lodged as a guest in the house of Ovando, who treated him with the utmost courtesy and attention. The governor was a shrewd LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 6Q9 and discreet man, and much of a courtier; but there were causes of jealousy and distrust between him and Columbus too deep to permit of cordial intercourse. The admiral and his son Fernando always pronounced the civility of Ovando over¬ strained and hypocritical; intended to obliterate the remem¬ brance of past neglect, and to conceal lurking enmity. While he professed the utmost friendship and sympathy for the ad¬ miral, he set at liberty the traitor Porras, who was still a prisoner, to be taken to Spain for trial. He also talked of pun¬ ishing those of the admiral’s people who had taken arms in his defence, and in the affray at Jamaica had killed several of the mutineers. These circumstances were loudly complained of by Columbus; but, in fact, they rose out of a question of jurisdic¬ tion between him and the governor. Their powers were so undefined as to clash with each other, and they were both disposed to be extremely punctilious. Ovando assumed a right to take cognizance of all transactions at Jamaica; as happening within the limits of his government, which included all the islands and Terra Firma. Columbus, on the other hand, asserted the absolute command, and the jurisdiction both civil and criminal given to him by the sovereigns, over all persons who sailed in his expedition, from the time of departure until they returned to Spain. To prove this he produced his letter of instructions. The governor heard him with great courtesy and a smiling countenance; but observed that the letter of in¬ structions gave him no authority within the bounds of his government.* He relinquished the idea, however, of investi¬ gating the conduct of the followers of Columbus, and sent Por¬ ras to Spain, to be examined by the board which had charge of the affairs of the Indies. The sojourn of Columbus at San Domingo was but little cal¬ culated to yield him satisfaction. He was grieved at the deso¬ lation of the island by the oppressive treatment of the natives, and the horrible massacre which had been perpetrated by Ovando and his agents. He had fondly hoped, at one time, to render the natives civilized, industrious, and tributary subjects to the crown, and to derive from their well-regulated labor a great and steady revenue. How different had been the event! The five great tribes which peopled the mountains and the valleys at the time of the discovery, and rendered, by their * Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, Seville, Nov. 21, 1504. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. 610 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. mingled towns and villages and tracts of cultivation, the rich levels of the vegas so many “painted gardens,” had almost all passed away, and the native princes had perished chiefly by violent or ignominious deaths. Columbus regarded the affairs of the island with a different eye from Ovando. He had a paternal feeling for its prosperity, and his fortunes were impli cated in its judicious management. He complained, in subse¬ quent letters to the sovereigns, that all the public affairs were ill conducted; that the ore collected lay unguarded in large quantities in houses slightly built and thatched, inviting depre¬ dation ; that Ovando was unpopular, the people were dissolute, and the property of the crown and the security of the island in continual risk from mutiny and sedition.* While he saw all this, he had no power to interfere, and any observation or remonstrance on his part was ill received by the governor. He found his own immediate concerns in great confusion. His rents and dues w r ere either uncollected, or he could not obtain a clear account and a full liquidation of them. What¬ ever he could collect was appropriated to the fitting out of the vessels which were to convey himself and his crews to Spain. He accuses Ovando, in his subsequent letters, of having neglected, if not sacrificed, his interests during his long absence, and of having impeded those who were appointed to attend to his concerns. That he had some grounds for these complaints would appear from two letters still extant, t writter by Queen Isabella to Ovando, on the 27th of November, 1503, in which she informs him of the complaint of Alonzo Sanches de Carvajal, that he was impeded in collecting the rents of the admiral; and expressly commands Ovando to observe the capitulations granted to Columbus; to respect his agents, anc to facilitate, instead of obstructing his concerns. These letters while they imply ungenerous conduct on the part of the gover nor toward his illustrious predecessor, evince likewise the per sonal interest taken by Isabella in the affairs of Columbus during his absence. She had, in fact, signified her displeasure at his being excluded from the port of San Domingo, when h< applied there for succor for his squadron, and for shelter fron a storm, and had censured Ovando for not taking his advice and detaining the fleet of Bobadilla, by which it would have * Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, dated Seville, 3d Dec., 1504. Navarrete tom. i. p. 311. t Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii., decad. 151, 152. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 611 escaped its disastrous fate.* And here it may be observed that the sanguinary acts of Ovando toward the natives, in particu¬ lar the massacre at Xaragua and the execution of the unfortu¬ nate Anacaona, awakened equal horror and indignation in Isabella; she was languishing on her death-bed when she re¬ ceived the intelligence, and with her dying breath she exacted a promise from King Ferdinand that Ovando should immedi¬ ately be recalled from his government. The promise was tardily and reluctantly fulfilled, after an interval of about four years, and not until induced by other circumstances; for Ovando contrived to propitiate the monarch, by forcing a revenue from the island. The continual misunderstandings between the admiral and the governor, though always qualified on the part of the latter with great complaisance, induced Columbus to hasten as much as possible his departure from the island. The ship in which he had returned from Jamaica was repaired and fitted out, and put under the command of the Adelantado; another vessel was freighted, in which Columbus embarked with his son and his domestics. The greater part of his late crews remained at San Domingo; as they were in great poverty, he relieved their necessities from his own purse, and advanced the funds neces¬ sary for the voyage home of those who chose to return. Many thus relieved by his generosity had been among the most violent of the rebels. On the 12th of September he set sail; but had scarcely left the harbor when, in a sudden squall, the mast of his ship was carried away. He immediately went with his family on board of the vessel commanded by the Adelantado, and, sending back the damaged ship to port, continued on his course. Through¬ out the voyage he experienced the most tempestuous weather. In one storm the mainmast was sprung in four places. He was confined to his bed at the time by the gout; by his advice, however, and the activity of the Adelantado, the damage was skilfully repaired; the mast was shortened; the weak parts were fortified, by wood taken from the castles or cabins, which the vessels in those days carried on the prow and stern; and the whole was well secured by cords. They were still more damaged in a succeeding tempest, in which the ship sprung her foremast. In this crippled state they had to traverse seven hundred leagues of a stormy ocean. Fortune continued * Herrera, Hist. Ind., deead. i. lib. v. cap. 12. 612 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to persecute Columbus to the end of this, his last and most disastrous expedition. For several weeks he was tempest- tossed—suffering at the same time the most excruciating pains from his malady—until, on the seventh day of November, his crazy and shattered bark anchored in the harbor of San Lucas. Hence he had himself conveyed to Seville, where he hoped to enjoy repose of mind and body, and to recruit his health after such a'long series of fatigues, anxieties, and hardships.* CHAPTER II. ILLNESS OF COLUMBUS AT SEVILLE—APPLICATION TO THE CROWN FOR A RESTITUTION OF IIIS HONORS—DEATH OF ISABELLA. [1504.] ' I Broken by age and infirmities, and worn down by the toils and hardships of his recent expedition, Columbus had looked forward to Seville as to a haven of rest, where he might repose awhile from his troubles. Care and sorrow, however, followed him by sea and land. In varying the scene he but varied the nature of his distress. “ Wearisome days and nights” were appointed to him for the remainder of his life; and the very margin of his grave was destined to be strewed with thorns. On arriving at Seville, he found all his affairs in confusion. Ever since he had been sent home in chains from San Domingo, when his house and effects had been taken possession of by Bobadilla, his rents and dues had never been properly col¬ lected; and such as had been gathered had been retained in the hands of the governor Ovando. ‘ ‘ I have much vexation from the governor,” says he in a letter to his son Diego.t “All tell me that I have there eleven or twelve thousand Castellanos; and I have not received a quarto. * * * I know well that, since my departure he must have received upward of five thousand Castellanos.” He entreated that a letter might be written by the king, commanding the payment of these arrears without delay; for his agents would not venture * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 108. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii cap. 36. t Let. Seville, 13 Dec., 1504. Navarrete, v. i. p. 343. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 618 even to speak to Ovando on the subject, unless empowered by a letter from the sovereign. Columbus was not of a mercenary spirit; but his rank and situation required large expenditure. The world thought him in the possession of sources of inexhaustible wealth; but as yet those sources had furnished him but precarious and scanty streams. His last voyage had exhausted his finances, and in¬ volved him in perplexities. All that he had been able to collect of the money due to him in Hispaniola, to the amount of twelve hundred Castellanos, had been expended in bringing home many of his late crew, who were in distress; and for the greater part of the sum the crown remained his debtor. While struggling to obtain his mere pecuniary dues, he was absolutely suffering a degree of penury. He repeatedly urges the necessity of economy to his son Diego, until he can obtain a restitution of his property, and the payment of his arrears. “ I receive nothing of the revenue due to me,” says he, in one letter; “I live by borrowing.” “Little have I profited,” he adds, in another, ‘ ‘ by twenty years of service, with such toils and perils; since, at present, I do not own a roof in Spain. If I desire to eat or sleep, I have no resort but an inn; and, for the most times, have not wherewithal to pay my bill.” Yet in the midst of these personal distresses he was more solicitous for the payment of his seamen than of himself. He wrote strongly and repeatedly to the sovereigns, entreating the discharge of their arrears, and urged his son Diego, who was at court, to exert himself in their behalf. “They are poor,” said he, “and it is now nearly three years since they left their homes. They have endured infinite toils and perils, and they bring invaluable tidings, for which their majesties ought to give thanks to God and rejoice.” Notwithstanding his generous solicitude for these men, he knew several of them to have been his enemies; nay, that some of them were at this very time disposed to do him harm rather than good; such was | the magnanimity of his spirit and his forgiving disposition. The same zeal, also, for the interests of his sovereigns, which had ever actuated his loyal mind, mingied with his other causes of solicitude. He represented, in his letter to the king, the mismanagement of the royal rents in Hispaniola, under the administration of Ovando. Immense quantities of ore lay un¬ protected in slightly built houses, and liable to depredations. It required a person of vigor, and one who had an individual interest in the property of the island, to restore its affairs to 614 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. order, and draw from it the immense revenues which it was capable of yielding; and Columbus plainly intimated that he was the proper person. In fact, as to himself, it was not so much pecuniary indemni¬ fication that he sought, as the restoration of his offices and dignities. He regarded them as the trophies of his illustrious achievements; he had received the royal promise that he should he reinstated in them; and he felt that as long as they were withheld, a tacit censure rested upon his name. Had he not been proudly impatient on this subject he would have belied the loftiest part of his character; for he who can be indifferent to the wreath of triumph is deficient in the noble ambition which incites to glorious deeds. The unsatisfactory replies received to his letters disquieted his mind. He knew that he had active enemies at court ready to turn all things to his disadvantage, and felt the importance of being there in person to defeat their machinations; but his infirmities detained him at Seville. He made an attempt to set forth on the rney, but the severity of the winter and the virulence of his malady obliged him to relinquish it in des¬ pair. All that he could do was to reiterate his letters to the sovereigns, and to entreat the intervention of his few but faithful friends. He feared the disastrous occurrences of the last voyage might be represented to his prejudice. The great object of the expedition, the discovery of a strait opening from the Caribbean to a southern sea, had failed. The secondary object, the acquisition of gold, had not been completed. He had discovered the gold mines of Veragua, it is true; but he had brought home no treasure; because, as he said, in one of his letters, “I would not rob nor outrage the country; since reason requires that it should be settled, and then the gold may be procured without violence.” He was especially apprehensive that the violent scenes in the island of Jamaica might, by the perversity of his enemies and the effrontery of the delinquents, be wrested into matters of accusation against him, as had been the case with the rebellion of Roldan. Porras, the ringleader of the late faction, had been sent home by Ovando, to appear before the board of the Indies, but without any written process, setting forth the offences charged against him. While at Jamaica Columbus had ordered an inquest of the affair to be taken; but the notary of the squadron who took it, and the papers which he drew up, were on board of the ship in which the admiral had sailed from LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 615 Hispaniola, but which had put back dismasted. No cognizance of the case, therefore, was taken by the Council of the Indies; and Porras went at large, armed with the power and the dis¬ position to do mischief. Being related to Morales, the royal treasurer, he had access to people in pla.ce, and an opportunity of enlisting their opinions and prejudices on his side. Colum¬ bus wrote to Morales, inclosing a copy of the petition which the rebels had sent to him when in Jamaica, in which they acknowledged their culpability, and implored his forgive¬ ness; and he entreated the treasurer not to be swayed by the representations of his relative, nor to pronounce an opinion unfavorable to him, until he had an opportunity of being heard. I . The faithful and indefatigable Diego Mendez was at this time at the court, as well as Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, and an active friend of Columbus named Geronimo. They^ could bear the most important testimony as to his conduct, and he wrote to his son Diego to call upon them for their good offices. ‘ ‘ I trust,” said he, “that the truth and diligence of Diego Mendez will be of as much avail as the lies of Porras.” Nothing can surpass the affecting earnestness and simplicity of the general declaration of loyalty, contained in one of his letters. “I have served their majesties,” says he, “with as much zeal and dili¬ gence as if it had been to gain Paradise; and if I have failed in anything, it has been because my knowledge and powers went no further.” While reading these touching appeals we can scarcely realize the fact that the dejected individual thus wearily and vainly applying for unquestionable rights, and pleading almost like a culprit, in cases wherein he had been flagrantly injured, was the same who but a few years previously had been received at this very court with almost regal honors, and idolized as a na¬ tional benefactor; that this, in a word, was Columbus, the discoverer of the New World; broken in health, and impover¬ ished in his old days by his very discoveries. At length the caravel bringing the official procedings relative to the brothers Porras arrived at the Algarves, in Portugal, and Columbus looked forward with hope that all matters would soon be placed in a proper light. His anxiety to get to court became every day more intense. A litter was provided to convey him thither, and was actually at the door, but the inclemency of the weather and his increasing infirmities obliged 616 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . him again to abandon the journey. His resource of letter-wri* ting began to fail him: he could only write at night, for in the daytime the severity of his malady deprived him of the use of his hands. The tidings from the court were every day more and more adverse to his hopes; the intrigues of his enemies were prevailing; the cold-hearted Ferdinand treated all his applications with indifference; the generous Isabella lay dan¬ gerously ill. On her justice and magnanimity he still relied for the full restoration of his rights, and the redress of all his grievances. “May it please the Holy Trinity,” says he, “to restore our sovereign queen to health; for by her will every¬ thing be adjusted which is now in confusion.” Alas! while writing that letter, his noble benefactress was a corpse! The health of Isabella bad long been * undermined by the shocks of repeated domestic calamities. The death of her only son, the Prince Juan; of her beloved daughter and bosom f riend, the Princess Isabella; and of her grandson and prospec¬ tive heir, the Prince Miguel, had been three cruel wounds to a heart full of the tenderest sensibility. To these was added the constant grief caused by the evident infirmity of intellect of her daughter Juana, and the domestic unhappiness of that princess with her husband, the archduke Philip. The desola¬ tion which walks through palaces admits not the familiar sympa¬ thies and sweet consolations which alleviate the sorrows of common life. Isabella pined in state, amidst the obsequious homages of a court, surrounded by the trophies of a glorious and successful reign, and placed at the summit of earthy gran¬ deur. A deep and incurable melancholy settled upon her, which undermined her constitution, and gave a fatal acuteness to her bodily maladies. After four months of illness she died, on the 26th of November, 1504, at Medina del Campo, in the fifty-fourth year of her age; but long before her eyes closed upon the world, her heart had closed on all its pomps and vanities. “Let my body,” said she in her will, ‘‘be interred in the monastery of San Francisco, which is in the Alhambra of the city of Granada, in a low sepulchre, without any monument except a plain stone, with the inscription cut on it. But I desire and command, that if the king, my lord, should choose a sepulchre in any church or monastery in any other part or place of these my kingdoms, my body be transported thither, and buried beside the body of his highness; so that the union we have enjoyed while living, and which, through the mercy LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 61 ? I I I of God, we hope our souls will experience in heaven, may be represented by our bodies in the earth.”* Such was one of several passages in the will of this admirable women, which bespoke the chastened humility of her heart; and m which, as has been well observed, the affections of conjugal love were delicately entwined with piety, and. with the most tender melancholy, t She was one of the purest spirits that ever ruled over the destinies of a nation. Had she been spared, her benignant vigilance would have prevented many a scene of horror in the colonization of the New World, and might have softened the lot of its native inhabitants. As it is, her fair name will ever shine with celestial radiance in the dawning of its history. The news of the death of Isabella reached Columbus when he was writing a letter to his son Diego. He notices it in a post¬ script or memorandum, written in ihe haste and brevity of the moment, but in beautifully touching and mournful terms. “ A memorial,” he writes, “for thee, my dear son Diego, of what is at present to be done. The principal thing is to commend affectionately, and with great devotion, the soul of the queen our sovereign to God. Her life was always catholic and holy, and prompt to all things in his holy service; for this reason we may rest assured that she is received into his glory, and beyond the cares of this rough and weary world. The next thing is to watch and labor in all matters for the service of our sovereign the king, and to endeavor to alleviate his grief. His majesty is the head of Christendom. Remember the proverb which says, when the head suffers all the members suffer. There¬ fore, all good Christians should pray for his health and long life; and we who are in his employ ought more than others to do this with all study and diligence. ”} It is impossible to read this mournful letter without being moved by the simply eloquent yet artless language in which Columbus expresses his tenderness for the memory of his bene¬ factress, his weariness under the gathering cares and ills of life, and his persevering and enduring loyalty toward the sov- * The dying command of Isabella has been obeyed. The author of this work lias seen her tomb in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Granada, in which her re- | mains are interred with those of Ferdinand. Their effigies, sculptured in white marble, lie side by side on a magnificent sepulchre. The altar of the chapel is adorned with bas-reliefs representing the conquest and surrender of Granada, t Elogio de la Reina uatoliea por D. Diego Ciemencid. Illustration 19. X Letter to his son Diego, Dec. 3, 1504. 61S LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ereign who was so ungratefully neglecting him. It is in these unstudied and confidential letters that we read the heart of Columbus. CHAPTER III. COLUMBUS ARRIVES AT COURT—FRUITLESS APPLICATION TO THE KING FOR REDRESS. [1505.J The death of Isabella was a fatal blow to the fortunes of Co¬ lumbus. While she lived he had everything to anticipate from her high sense of justice, her regard for her royal word, her gratitude for his services, and her admiration of his character. With her illness, however, his interests had languished, and when she died he was left to the justice and generosity of Fer¬ dinand ! During the remainder of the winter and a part of the spring he continued at Seville, detained by painful illness, and endeav¬ oring to obtain redress from the government by ineffectual let¬ ters. His brother the Adelantado, who supported him with his accustomed fondness and devotion through all his trials, pro¬ ceeded to court to attend to his interests, taking with him the admiral’s younger son Fernando, then aged about seventeen. The latter, the affectionate father repeatedly represents to his son Diego as a man in understanding and conduct, though but a stripling in years; and inculcates the strongest fraternal at¬ tachment, alluding to his own brethren with one of those sim¬ ply eloquent and affecting expressions winch stamp his heart upon his letters. “ To thy brother conduct thyself as the elder brother should unto the younger. Thou hast no other, and I praise God that this is such a one as thou dost need. Ten brothers would not be too many for thee. Never have I found a better friend to right or left, than my brothers.” Among the persons whom Columbus employed at this time in his missions to the court was Amerigo Vespucci. He des¬ cribes him as a worthy but unfortunate man, who had not profited as much as he deserved by his undertakings, and who had always been disposed to render him service. His object in employing him appears to have been to prove the value of bis LIFE OF CHRIST OUTER COLUMBUS. 619 last voyage, and that he had been in the most opulent parts of the New World; Vespucci having since touched upon the same coast, in a voyage with Alonso de Ojeda. One circumstance occurred at this time which shed a gleam of hope and consolation over his gloomy prospects. Diego de Deza, who had been for some time Bishop of Palencia, was ex¬ pected at court. This was the same worthy friar who had | aided him to advocate his theory before the board of learned men at Salamanca, and had assisted him with his purse when | making his proposals to the Spanish court. He had just been promoted and made Archbishop of Seville, but had not yet been installed in office. Columbus directs his son Diego to intrust i his interests to this worthy prelate. “Two things,” says he, ‘ ‘ require particular attention. Ascertain whether the queen, l who is now with God, has said anything concerning me in her testament, and stimulate the Bishop of Palencia, lie who was the cause that their highnesses obtained possession of the In¬ dies, who induced me to remain in Castile when I was on the road to leave it.”* In another letter he says: “If the Bishop of Palencia has arrived, or should arrive, tell him how much I* have been gratified by his prosperity, and that if I come, I shall lodge with his grace, even though he should not invite me, for we must return to our ancient fraternal affection.” The incessant applications of Columbus, both by letter and by the intervention of friends, appear to have been listened to with cool indifference. No compliance was yielded to his re¬ quests, and no deference was paid to his opinions, on various points, concerning which he interested himself. New instruc¬ tions were sent out to Ovando, but not a word of their purport was mentioned to the admiral. It was proposed to send out j three bishops, and he entreated in vain to be heard previous to i their election. In short, he was not in any way consulted in | the affairs of the New World. He felt deeply this neglect, and became every day more impatient of his absence from court. To enable himself to perform the journey with more ease, ho applied for permission to use a mule, a royal ordinance having prohibited the employment of those animals undfrr the saddle, | in consequence of their universal use having occasioned a de¬ cline in the breed of horses. A royal permission was accord¬ ingly granted to Columbus, in consideration that his age and infirmities incapacitated him from riding on horseback; but it * Letter of December 21 , 1504. Navarrete, torn. i. p. 346. 620 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. was a considerable time before the state of his health would permit him to avail himself of that privilege. The foregoing particulars, gleaned from letters of Columbus recently discovered, show the real state of his affairs, and the mental and bodily affliction sustained by him during his win¬ ter’s residence at Seville, on his return from his last disastrous voyage. He has generally been represented as reposing there from his toils and troubles. Never was honorable repose more merited, more desired, and less enjoyed. It was not until the month of May that he was able, in com¬ pany with his brother the Adelantado, to accomplish his jour¬ ney to court, at that time held at Segovia. He who but a few years before had entered the city of Barcelona in triumph, at¬ tended by the nobility and chivalry of Spain, and hailed with rapture by the multitude, now arrived within the gates of Se¬ govia, a wayworn, melancholy, and neglected man; oppressed more by sorrow than even by his years and infirmities. When he presented himself at court he met wdth none of that distin¬ guished attention, that cordial kindness, that cherishing sym¬ pathy, which his unparalleled services and his recent sufferings had merited.* The selfish Ferdinand had lost sight of his past services, in what appeared to him the inconvenience of his present de¬ mands. He received him with many professions of kindness; but with those cold, ineffectual smiles which pass like wintry sunshine over the countenance, and convey no warmth to the heart. The admiral now gave a particular account of his late voy¬ age, describing the great tract of Terra Firma, which he had explored, and the riches of the province of Yeragua. He re¬ lated also the disaster sustained in the island of Jamaica; the insurrection of the Porras and their band; and all the other griefs and troubles of this unfortunate expedition. He had but a cold-hearted auditor in the king; and the benignant Isabella was no more at hand to soothe him with a smile of kindness or a tear of sympathy. ‘ ‘ I know not, ” says the venerable Las Casas, 11 what could cause this dislike and this want of princely countenance in the king toward one who had rendered him such pre-eminent benefits; unless it was that his mind was swayed by the false testimonies which had been brought against #fche * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 37. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. vi LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 621 admiral; of which I have been enabled to learn something from persons much in favor with the sovereigns. ” * After a few days had elapsed Columbus urged his suit in form, reminding the king of all that he had done, and all that had beOn promised him under the royal word and seal, and supplicating that the restitutions and indemnifications which had been so frequently solicited, might be awarded to him; offering in return to serve his majesty devotedly for the short time he had yet to live; and trusting, from what he felt within him, and from what he thought he knew with certainty, to render services which should surpass all that he had yet per¬ formed a hundred-fold. The king, in reply, acknowledged the greatness of his merits, and the importance of his services, but observed that, for the more satisfactory adjustment of his claims, it would be advisable to refer all points in dispute to the decision of some discreet and able person. The admiral immediately proposed as arbiter his friend the archbishop of Seville, Don Diego de Deza, one of the most able and upright men about the court, devotedly loyal, high in the confidence of the king, and one who had always taken great interest in the affairs of the New World. The king consented to the arbitra¬ tion, but artfully extended it to questions which he knew would never be put at issue by Columbus; among these was his claim to the restoration of his office of viceroy. To this Colum¬ bus objected with becoming spirit, as compromising a right which was too clearly defined and solemnly established, to be put for a moment in dispute. It was the question of rents and revenues alone, he observed, which he was willing to submit to the decision of a learned man, not that of the government of the Indies. As the monarch persisted, however, in embracing! both questions in the arbitration, the proposed measure was never carried into effect. It was, in fact, on the subject of his dignities alone that Columbus was tenacious; all other matters he considered of minor importance. In a conversation with the ^ king, he absolutely disavowed all wish of entering into any suit or pleading as to his pecuniary dues; on the contrary, he offered to put all his privileges and writings into the hands of his sov¬ ereign, and to receive out of the dues arising from them, what¬ ever his majesty might think proper to award. All that he claimed without qualification or reserve, were his official * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 37, ms. 623 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. dignities, assured to him under the royal seal with all the solemnity of a treaty. He entreated, at all events, that these matters might speedily be decided, so that he might be released from a state of miserable suspense, and enabled to retire to some quiet corner, in search of that tranquillity and repose necessary to his fatigues and his infirmities. To this frank appeal to his justice and generosity, Ferdinand replied with many courteous expressions, and with those gene¬ ral evasive promises, which beguile the ear of the court appli¬ cant, but convey no comfort to his heart. ‘ ‘ As far as actions went,” observes Las Casas, “ the king not merely showed him no signs of favor, but, on the contrary, discountenanced him as much as possible; yet he was never wanting in compliment¬ ary expressions.” Many months were passed by Columbus in unavailing solici¬ tation, during which he continued to receive outward demon¬ strations of respect from the king, and due attention from Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, and other principal personages; but he had learned to appreciate and distrust the hollow civilities of a court. His claims were referred to a tribunal, called, “ The council of the discharges of the con¬ science of the deceased queen, and of the king. ” This is a kind of tribunal commonly known by the name of the Junta do Hescargos, composed of persons nominated by the sovereign, to superintend the accomplishment of the last will of his prede¬ cessor, and the discharge of his debts. Two consultations were held by this body, but nothing was determined. The wishes of the king werq too well known to be thwarted. “It was believed,” says Las Casas, “that if the king could have done so with a safe conscience, and without detriment to his fame, he would have respected few or none of the privileges which he and the queen had conceded to the admiral, and which had been so justly merited.”* Columbus still flattered himself that, his claims being of such importance, and touching a question of sovereignty, the adjust¬ ment of them might be only postponed by the king until he could consult with his daughter Juana, who had succeeded to her mother as Queen of Castile, and who was daily expected from Flanders with her husband, King Philip. He endeavored, therefore, to bear his delays with patience; but he had no longer the physical strength and glorious anticipations which * Las Casas, Ilist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 37. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 023 once sustained him through his long application at this court. Life itself was drawing to a close. He was once more confined to his bed by a tormenting attack of the gout, aggravated by the sorrows and disappointments which preyed upon his heart. From this couch of anguish he addressed one more appeal to the justice of the king. He no longer petitioned for himself; it was for his son Diego. Nor did he dwell upon his pecuniary dues; it was the honorable trophies of his services which he wished to secure and perpetu¬ ate in his family. He entreated that his son Diego might be appointed, in his place, to the government of which he had been so wrongfully deprived. “ This,” he said, “ is a matter which concerns my honor; as to all the rest, do as your majesty may think proper; give or withhold, as may be most for your interest, and I shall be content. I believe the anxiety caused by the delay of this affair is the principal cause of my ill health.” A petition to the same purpose was presented at the same time by his son Diego, offering to take with him such persons for counsellors as the king should appoint, and to be guided by their advice. These petitions were treated by Ferdinand with his usual professions and evasions. “ The more applications were made to him, ” observes Las Casas, ‘ ‘ the more favorably did he reply; but still he delayed, hoping, by exhausting their patience, to induce them to wave their privileges, and accept in place thereof titles and estates in Castile.” Columbus rejected all propositions of the kind with indignation, as calculated to com¬ promise those titles which were the trophies of his achievements. He saw, however, that all further hope of redress from Fer¬ dinand was vain. From the bed to which he was confined he addressed a letter to his constant friend Diego de Deza, expres¬ sive ol his despair. “It appears that his majesty does no think fit to fulfil that which he, with the queen, who is now in glory, promised me by word and seal. For me to contend for the contrary would be to contend with the wind. I have done all that I could do. I leave the rest to God, whom I have ever found propitious to me in my necessities.”* The cold and calculating Ferdinand beheld this illustrious man sinking under infirmity of body, heightened by that deferred hone which “maketh the heart sick.” A little more Jl delay, a little more disappointment, and a little longer infliction * Navarrette Colec., tom. i. 624 LIVE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. % I of ingratitude, and this loyal and generous heart would cease to beat: he should then be delivered from the just claims of a well- tried servant, who, in ceasing to be useful, was considered by him to have become importunate. CHAPTER IV. DEATH OF COLUMBUS. In the midst of illness and despondency, when both life and hope were expiring in the bosom of Columbus, a new gleam was awakened and blazed up for the moment with characteris¬ tic fervor. He heard with joy of the landing of King Philip and Queen Juana, who had just arrived from Flanders to take possession of their throne of Castile. In the daughter of Isa¬ bella he trusted once more to find a patroness and a friend. King Ferdinand and all the court repaired to Laredo to receive the youthful sovereigns. Columbus would gladly have done the same, but he was confined to his bed by a severe return of his malady; neither in his painful and helpless situation could he dispense with the aid and ministry of his son Diego. His brother, the Adelantado, therefore, his main dependence in all emergencies, was sent to represent him, and to present Ids homage and congratulations. Columbus wrote by him to the' new king and queen expressing his grief at being prevented by illness from coming in person to manifest his devotion, but begging to be considered among the most faithful of their sub¬ jects. He expressed a hope that he should receive at their hands the restitution of his honors and estates, and assured them that, though cruelly tortured at present by disease, he would yet be able to render them services, the like of which had never been witnessed. Such was the last sally of his sanguine and unconquerable spirit; which, disregarding age and infirmities, and all past sorrows and disappointments, spoke from his dying bed with all the confidence of youthful hope; and talked of still greater enterprises, as if he had a long and,vigorous life before him. The Adelantado took leave of his brother, whom he was never to behold again, and set out on his mission to the new sover¬ eigns. He experienced the most gracious reception. The claims of the admiral were treated with great attention by the young LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 625 king and queen, and flattering hopes were given of a speedy and prosperous termination to his suit. In the mean time the cares and troubles of Columbus were drawing to a close. The momentary fire which had reanimated him was soon quenched by accumulating infirmities. Immedi¬ ately after the departure of the Adelantado, his illness increased in violence. His last voyage had shattered beyond repair a frame already worn and wasted by a life of hardship; and con¬ tinual anxieties robbed him of that sweet repose so necessary to recruit the weariness and debility of age. The cold ingrati¬ tude of his sovereign chilled his heart. The continued suspen¬ sion of his honors, and the enmity and defamation experienced at every turn, seemed to throw- a shadow over that glory which had been the great object of his ambition. This shadow, it is true, could be but of transient duration; but it is difficult for the most illustrious man to look beyond the present cloud which may obscure his fame, and anticipate its permanent lustre in the admiration of posterity. Being admonished by failing strength and increasing suffer¬ ings that his end was approaching, he prepared to leave his affairs in order for the benefit of his successors. It is said that on the 4th of May he wrote an informal testa¬ mentary codicil on the blank page of a little breviary, given him by Pope Alexander VI. In this he bequeathed that book to the Republic of Genoa, which he also appointed successor to his privileges and dignities, on the extinction of his male line. He directed likewise the erection of an hospital in that city with the produce of his possessions in Italy. The authenticity of this document is questioned, and has become a point of warm contest among commentators. It is not, however, of much importance. Tha paper is such as might readily have been written by a person like Columbus in the paroxysm ol disease, when he imagined his end suddenly approaching, and shows the affection with which his thoughts were bent on his native city. It is termed among commentators a military codicil, because testamentary dispositions of this kind are executed by the soldier at the point of death, without the usual formalities required by the civil law. About two weeks after¬ ward, on the eve of his death, he executed a final and regularly authenticated codicil, in which he bequeathed his dignities and estates with better judgment. In these last and awful moments, wdien the soul has but a brief space in which to make up its accounts between heaven 6:26 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. and earth, all dissimulation is at an end, and we read un¬ equivocal evidences of character. The last codicil of Columbus, made at the very verge of the grave, is stamped with his rul¬ ing passion and his begnignant virtues. He repeats and en¬ forces several clauses of his original testament, constituting his son Diego his universal heir. The entailed inheritance, or mayorazgo, in case he died without male issue, was to go to his brother Don Fernando, and from him, in like case, to pass to his uncle Don Bartholomew, descending always to the near¬ est male heir; in failure of which it was to pass to the female nearest in lineage to the admiral. He enjoined upon whoever should inherit his estate never to alienate or diminish it, but to endeavor by all means to augment its prosperity and import¬ ance. He likewise enjoined upon his heirs to be prompt and devoted at all times, with person and estate, to serve their sovereign and promote the Christian faith. He ordered that Don Diego should devote one tenth of the revenues which might arise from his estate, when it came to be productive, to the relief of indigent relatives, and of other persons in ne¬ cessity; that, out of the remainder he should yield certain yearly proportions to his brother Don Fernando, and his uncles Don Bartholomew and Don Diego; and that the part allotted to Don Fernando should be settled upon him and his male heirs in an entailed and unalienable inheritance. Having thus, provided for the maintenance and perpetuity of his family and dignities, he ordered that Don Diego, when his estates should be sufficiently productive, should erect a chapel in the island of Hispaniola, which God had given to him so marvellously, at the town of Conception, in the Vega, where masses should be daily performed for the repose of the souls of himself, his father, his mother, his wife, and of all who died in the faith. Another clause recommends to the care of Don Diego, Beatrix Enriquez, the mother of his natural son Fernando. His con¬ nection with her had never been sanctioned by matrimony, and either this circumstance, or some neglect of her, seems to have awakened deep compunction in his dying moments. He orders Don Diego to provide for her respectable maintenance ; “and let this be done,” he adds, “for the discharge of my con¬ science, for it weighs heavy on my soul.”* Finally he noted * Diego, the son of the admiral, notes in his own testament this bequest of his father, and says, that he was charged by him to pay Beatrix Enriquez 10.000 inaravedisa year, which for some time he had faithfully performed; but as he be- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 627 with his own hand several minute sums, to be paid to persons at different and distant places, without their being told whence they received them. These appear to have been trivial debts of conscience, or rewards for petty services received in times long past. Among them is one of half a mark of silver to a poor Jew, who lived at the gate of the Jewry, in the city of Lis¬ bon. These minute provisions evince the scrupulous attention to justice in all his dealings, and that love of punctuality in the fulfilment of duties, for which he was remarked. In the same spirit he gave much advice to his son Diego, as to the conduct of his affairs, enjoining upon him to take every month an account with his own hand of the expenses of his household, and to sign it with his name; for a want of regularity in this, he observed, lost both property and servants, and turned the last into enemies.* * His dying bequests were made in presence of a few faithful followers and servants, and among them we find the name of Bartholomeo Fiesco, who had accompanied Diego Mendez in the perilous voyage in a canoe from Jamaica to Hispaniola. Having thus scrupulously attended to all the claims of affec¬ tion, loyalty, and justice upon earth, Columbus turned his thoughts to heaven; and having received the holy sacrament, and performed all the pious offices of a devout Christian, he expired with great resignation on the day of Ascension, the 20th of May, 1506, being about seventy years of age.f His last words were, ‘ 1 In manus tuas Domine, commendo spiritum menm Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, f His body was deposited in the convent of St. Francisco, and his obsequies were celebrated with funereal pomp at Vallado¬ lid, in the parochial church of Santa Maria de la Antigua. Eis remains were transported afterward, in 1513, to the Carthusian monastery of Las Cuevas of Seville, to the chapel of St. Ann or of Santo Christo, in which chapel were likewise deposited those of his son Don Diego, who died in the village of Montalban, on the 23d of February, 1526. In the year 1538 the bodies of Co¬ lumbus and his son Diego were removed to Hispaniola, and interred in the principal chapel of the cathedral of the city of lieves that for three or four years previous to her death he had neglected to do so. he orders that the deficiency shall be ascertained and paid to her heirs. Memorial ajustado sobre la jjropriedad del mayorazgo que fondo D. Christ. Colon. § 245. * Memorial ajustado, § 248. t Cura de los Palacios, cap. 121. i Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 38. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 108. 628 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. San Domingo; but even here they did not rest in quiet, having since been again disinterred and conyeyed to the Havana, in the island of Cuba. We are told that Ferdinand, after the death of Columbus, showed a sense of his merits by ordering a monument to be erected to his memory, on which was inscribed the motto j already cited, which had formerly been granted to him by the sovereigns: A Castilla y a Leon nuevo mundo dio Colon (To C astile and Leon Columbus gave a new world). However great an honor a monument may be for a subject to receive, it is certainly but a cheap reward for a sovereign to bestow. As | to the motto inscribed upon it, it remains engraved in the memory of mankind, more indelibly than in brass or marble; li a record of the great debt of gratitude due to the discoverer, which the monarch had so faithlessly neglected to discharge. Attempts have been made in recent days, by loyal Spanish writers, to vindicate the conduct of Ferdinand toward Colum¬ bus. They were doubtless well intended, but they have been futile, nor is their failure to be regretted. To screen such in¬ justice in so eminent a character from the reprobation of man¬ kind is to deprive history of one of its most important uses. Let the ingratitude of Ferdinand stand recorded in its full extent, and endure throughout all time. The dark shadow which it casts upon his brilliant renown will be a lesson to all rulers, teaching them what is important to their own fame in their treatment of illustrious men. CHAPTER V. OBSERVATIONS on the CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. In narrating the story of Columbus, it has been the endeavor of the author to place him in a clear and familiar point of view; for this purpose he has rejected no circumstance, however trivial, which appeared to evolve some point of character; and he has sought all kinds of collateral facts which might throw light upon his views and motives. With this view also he has detailed many facts hitherto passed over in silence, or vaguely noticed by historians, probably because they might be deemed instances of error or misconduct on the part of Columbus; but I LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 629 he who paints a great man merely in great and heroic traits, though he may produce a fine picture, will never present a faith¬ ful portrait. Great men are compounds of great and little quali¬ ties. Indeed, much of their greatness arises from their mastery over the imperfections of their nature, and their noblest actions are sometimes struck forth by the collision of their merits and their defects. In Columbus were singularly combined the practical and the poetical. His mind had grasped all kinds of knowledge, whether procured by study or observation, which bore upon his theories; impatient of the scanty aliment of the day, ‘ ‘ his impetuous ardor,” as has well been observed, “threw him into the study of the fathers of the church; the Arabian Jews, and the ancient geographerswhile his daring but irregular genius, bursting from the limits of imperfect science, bore him to conclusions far beyond the intellectual vision of his contemporaries. 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 con¬ jecture to certainty, and dispelled that 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 varia¬ tions, for instance, of terrestrial magnetism, the direction of currents, the groupings of marine plants, fixing one of the grand climacteric divisions of the ocean, the temperatures changing not solely with the distance to the equator, but also with the difference of meridians: these and similar phenomena, j is they broke upon him were discerned with wonderful quick- less of perception, and made to contribute important principles ;o the stock of general knowledge. This lucidity of spirit, this luick convertibility of facts to principles, distinguish him from he dawn to the close of his sublime enterprise, insomuch that, •vith all the sallying ardor of his imagination, his ultimate success has been admirably characterized as a “conquest of ■eflection.” * It has been said that mercenary views mingled with the imbition of Columbus, and that his stipulations with the Spanish court were selfish and avaricious. The charge is * D. Humboldt. Examen Critique. 630 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. inconsiderate and unjust. He aimed at dignity and wealth in the same lofty spirit in which he sought renown; they were to he part and parcel of his achievement, and palpable evidence of his success; they were to arise from the territories he should discover, and be commensurate in importance. No condition could be more just. He asked nothing of the sovereigns but a command of the countries he hoped to give them, and a share of the profits to support the dignity of his command. If there should be no country discovered, his stipulated viceroyalty would be of no avail; and if no revenues should be produced, his labor and peril would produce no gain. If his command and revenues ultimately proved magnificent, it was from the magnificence of the regions he had attached to the Castilian crown. What monarch would not rejoice to gain empire on such conditions? But he did not risk merely a loss of labor, and a disappointment of ambition, in the enterprise;—on his motives being questioned, he voluntarily undertook, and, with the assistance of his coadjutors, actually defrayed one eighth of the whole charge of the first expedition. It was, in fact, this rare union already noticed, of the practi¬ cal man of business with the poetical projector, which enabled him to carry his grand enterprises into effect through so many difficulties; but the pecuniary calculations and cares, which gave feasibility to his schemes, were never suffered to chill the glowing aspirations of his soul. The gains that promised to arise from his discoveries he intended to appropriate in the same princely and pious spirit in which they were demanded. He contemplated works and achievements of benevolence and religion; vast contributions for the relief of the poor of his native city; the foundations of churches, where masses should bo said for the souls of the departed; and armies for the recovery of the holy sepulchre in Palestine. Thus his ambition was truly noble and lofty; instinct with high thought and prone to generous deed. In the discharge of his office he maintained the state and ceremonial of a viceroy, and was tenacious of his rank and privileges; not from a mere vulgar love of titles, but because he prized them as testimonials and trophies of his achieve¬ ments: these he jealously cherished as his great rewards. Ia his repeated applications to the king, he insisted merely on the restitution of his dignities. As to his pecuniary dues and all questions relative to mere revenue, he offered to leave them to arbitration or even to the absolute disposition of the monarch; LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 631 but not so his official dignities: “these things,” said he nobly, “ affect my honor.” In his testament, he enjoined on his son Diego, and whoever after him should inherit his estates, what- | ever dignities and titles might afterward be granted by the j king, always to sign himself simply “the admiral,” by way of | perpetuating in the family its real source of greatness. His conduct was characterized by the grandeur of his views I and the magnanimity of his spirit. Instead of -scouring the newly-found countries, like a grasping adventurer eager only for immediate gain, as was too generally the case with contem¬ porary discoverers, he sought to ascertain their soil and produc¬ tions, their rivers and harbors; he was desirous of colonizing and cultivating them; of conciliating and civilizing the natives ; of building cities; introducing the useful arts; sub¬ jecting everything to the control of law, order, and religion; and thus of founding regular and prosperous empires. In this glorious plan he was constantly defeated by the disso¬ lute rabble which it was his misfortune to command; with whom all'law was tyranny, and all order restraint. They interrupted all useful works by their seditions; provoked the peaceful Indians to hostility; and after they had thus drawn down misery and warfare upon their own heads, and over¬ whelmed Columbus with the sums of the edifice he was build¬ ing, they charged him with being the cause of the confusion. Well would it have been for Spain had those who followed in the track of Columbus possessed his sound policy and liberal views. The New World, in such cases, would have been settled by pacific colonists, and civilized by enlightened legis¬ lators ; instead of being overrun by desperate adventurers, and j desolated by avaricious conquerors. j 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 sensible to injury and injustice; yet the quickness of his temper was counteracted by the benevolence and generosity of his heart. The magnanimity of his nature shone forth through all the troubles of his stormy career. Though continually out- 1 raged in his dignity, and braved in the exercise of his com¬ mand; though foiled in his plans, and endangered in his person by the seditions of turbulent and worthless men, and that too | at times when suffering under anxiety of mind and anguish of body sufficient to exasperate the most patient, yet he restrained his valiant and indignant spirit, by the strong powers of his 632 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLTJHBUS. mind, and brought himself to forbear, and reason, and even to supplicate; nor should we fail to notice how free he was from all feeling of revenge, how ready to forgive and forget, on the least signs of repentance and atonement. He has been extolled for his skill in controlling others; but far greater praise is due to him for his firmness in governing himself. His natural benignity made him accessible to all kinds of pleasurable sensations from external objects. 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. As he coasts the shores of the New World, the reader participates in the enjoyment with which he describes in his imperfect but picturesque Spanish, the varied objects around him; the bland¬ ness of the temperature, the purity of the atmosphere,. tne fragrance of the air, “full of dew and sweetness,” the verdure of the forests, the magnificence of the trees, the grandeur of the mountains, and the limpidity and freshness of the running streams. New delight springs up for him in every scene. He extols each new discovery as more beautiful than the last, and each as the most beautiful in the world; until, with his sim¬ ple earnestness, he tells the sovereigns that, having spoken so highly of the preceding islands, he fears that they will not credit him, when he declares that the one he is actually describing surpasses them all in excellence. In the same ardent and unstudied way he expresses his emotions on various occasions, readily affected by impulses of joy or grief, of pleasure or indignation. When surrounded and overwhelmed by the ingratitude and violence of worthless men, he often, in the retirement of his cabin, gave way to bursts of sorrow, and relieved his overladen heart by sighs and groans. When he returned in chains to Spain, and came into the presence of Isabella, instead of continuing the lofty pride with which he had hitherto sustained his injuries, he was touched with grief and tenderness at her sympathy, and burst forth into sobs and tears. He was devoutly pious: religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts and actions, and shone forth in his most private and unstudied writings. Whenever he made any great discovery, he celebrated it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and melody of praise rose from his ships when they first beheld the New World, and his first action on land- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 633 mg was to prostrate himself upon the earth and return thanks¬ givings. Every evening the Salve Regina and other vesper hymns were chanted by his crew, and masses were performed in the beautiful groves bordering the wild shores of this heathen land. All his great enterprises were undertaken in the name of the Holy Trinity, and he partook of the communion previous to embarkation. He was a firm believer in the efficacy of vows and penances and pilgrimages, and resorted to them in times of I difficulty and danger. The religion thus deeply seated in his i soul diffused a sober dignity and benign composure over his | whole demeanor. His language was pure and guarded, and free from all imprecations, oaths and other irreverent expressions. It cannot be denied, however, that his piety was mingled with superstition, and darkened by the bigotry of the age. He evidently concurred in the opinion, that all nations which did not acknowledge the Christian faith were destitute of natural rights; that the sternest measures might be used for their conversion, and the severest punishments inflicted upon their obstinacy in unbelief. In this spirit of bigotry he consid¬ ered himself justified in making captives of the Indians, and transporting them to Spain to have them taught the doctrines of Christianity, and in selling them for slaves if they pretended to resist his invasions. In so doing he sinned against the natural goodness of his character, and against the feelings which he had originally entertained and expressed toward this gentle and hospitable people; but he was goaded on by the mercenary impatience of the crown, and by the sneers of his enemies at t the unprofitable result of his enterprises. It is but justice to his character to observe, that the enslavement of the Indians thus taken in battle was at first openly countenanced by the brown, and that, when the question of right came to be dis- mssed at the entreaty of the queen, several of the most distin- | ?uished jurists and theologians advocated the practice; so that | lie question v T as finally settled in favor of the Indians solely iy the humanity of Isabella. As the venerable Bishop Las Jasas observes, where the most learned men have doubted, it s not surprising that an unlearned mariner should err. These remarks, in palliation of the conduct of Columbus, are i ’equired by candor. It is proper to show him in connection vith the age in which he lived, lest the errors of the times should [ >e considered as his individual faults. It is not the intention >f the author, however, to justify Columbus on a point where 634 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. it is inexcusable to err. Let it remain a blot on his illustrious name, and let others derive a lesson from it. We have already hinted at a peculiar trait in his rich and varied character; that ardent and enthusiastic imagination which threw a magnificence over his whole course of thought. Herrera intimates that he had a talent for poetry, and some slight traces of it are on record in the book of prophecies which he presented to the Catholic sovereigns. But his poetical temperament is discernable throughout all his writings and in all his actions. It spread a golden and glorious world around him, and tinged everything with its own gorgeous colors. It betrayed him into visionary speculations, which subjected him to the sneers and cavillings of men of cooler and safer, but more grovelling minds. Such were the conjectures formed on the coast of Paria about the form of the earth, and the situation of the terrestrial paradise; about the mines of Ophir in Hispaniola, and the Aurea Chersonesus in Veragua; and such was the heroic scheme of a crusade for the recovery of the holy sepul¬ chre. It mingled with his religion, and filled his mind with solemn and visionary meditations on mystic passages of the Scriptures, and the shadowy portents of the prophecies. It exalted his office in his eyes, and made him conceive himself an agent sent forth upon a sublime and awful mission, subject to impulses and supernatural intimations from the Deity; such as the voice which he imagined spoke to him in comfort amidst the troubles of Hispaniola and in the silence of the night on the disastrous coast of Veragua. He was decidedly 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 power¬ ful judgment, and directed by am acute sagacity, is the most extraordinary feature in his character. Thus 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. To his intellectual vision it was given to read the signs of the times, and to trace, in the conjectures and reveries of past ages, the indications of an unknown world; as soothsayers were said to read predictions in the stars, and to foretell events from the visions of the night. “His soul,” observes a Spanish writer, 4 ‘was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved the great enterprise of traversing that sea which LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . had given rise to so many fables, and of deciphering the mys¬ tery 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 enter¬ tained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent 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 magnanimous spirit have been consoled, amidst the afflictions of age and the cares of penury, the neglect of a fickle public and the injustice of an ungrateful king, could he have anticipated the splendid empires which were to spread over the beautiful world he had liscovered; and the nations, and tongues, and languages which vere to fill its lands with his renown, and revere and bless his lame to the latest posterity! * Cladera. Investigaciones historias, p. 43. APPENDIX. No. I. TRANSPORTATION OF THE REMAINS OF COLUMBUS FROM ST. DOMINGO TO THE HAVANA. At the termination of a war betw een France and Spain, in 1795, all the Spanish possessions in the island of Hispaniola were ceded to Fiance, by the 9th article of the treaty of peace. To assist in the accomplishment of this cession, a Spanish squadron was dispatched to the island at the appointed time, commanded by Don Gabriel de Aristizabal, lieutenant-general of the royal armada. On the 11th of December, 1795, that commander wrote to the field-marshal and governor, Don Joaquin Garcia, resident at St. Domingo, that, being informed that the remains of the celebrated admiral Don Christopher Columbus lay in the cathedral of that city, he felt it incumbent on him as a Spaniard, and as commander-in-chief of his majesty’s squadron of operations, to solicit the translation of the ashes of that hero to the island of Cuba, which had likewise been discovered by him, and where he had first planted the standard of the cross. He expressed a desire that this should be done officially, and with great care and formality, that it might not remain in the power of any one, by a careless transportation of these honored remains, to lose a relic connected with an event which formed the most glorious epoch of Spanish history, and that it might be manifested to all nations that Spaniards, not¬ withstanding the lapse of ages, never ceased to pay all honors to the remains of that ’‘worthy and adventurous general of the seas;” nor abandoned them, when the various public bodies, representing the Spanish dominion, emigrated from the island. As he had not time, without great inconvenience, to consult the sovereign on this subject, he had recourse to the governor, as royal vice-patron of the island, hoping that his solicitation might be granted, and the remains of the admiral ex- i burned and conveyed to the island of Cuba, in the ship San Lorenzo. The generous wishes of this high-minded Spaniard met with warm concurrence i on the part of the governor. He informed him, in reply, that the Duke of Veraguas, I lineal successor of Columbus, had manifested the same solicitude, and had sent directions that the necessary measures should be taken at his expense; and had at the same time expressed a wish that the bones of the Adelantado, Don Bartholomew Columbus, should likewise be exhumed; transmitting inscriptions to be put upon the sepulchres of both. He added, that although the king had given no orders on the subject, yet the proposition being so accordant with the grateful feelings of the Spanish nation, and meeting with the concurrence of all the authorities of the island, he was ready on his part to carry it into execution. The commandant-general Aristizabal then made a similar communication to the archbishop of Cuba, Don Fernando Portillo y Torres, whose metropolis was then the city of St. Domingo, hoping to receive his countenance and aid in this pious undertaking. The reply of the archbishop was couched In terms of high courtesy tow r ard the gallant commander, and deep reverence for the memory of Columbus, and expressed a zeal in rendering this tribute of gratitude and respect to the remains of one who had done so much for the glory of the nation. ess APPENDIX. The persons empowered to act for the Duke of Veraguas, the venerable dean and chapter of the cathedral, and all the other persons and authorities to whom Don Gabriel de Aristizabal made similar communications, manifested the same eager¬ ness to assist in the performance of this solemn and affecting rite. The worthy commander Aristizabal, having taken all these preparatory steps with great form and punctilio, so that the ceremony should be performed in a public and striking manner, suitable to the fame of Columbus, the whole was carried into effect with becoming pomp and solemnity. On the ‘20th of December, 1795, the most distinguished persons of the place, the dignitaries of the church, and civil and military officers, assembled in the metro¬ politan cathedral. In the presence of this august assemblage, a small vault was opened above the chancel, in the principal wall on the right side of the high altar. Within were found the fragments of a leaden coffin, a number of bones, and a quantity of mould, evidently the remains of a human body. These were carefully collected and put into a case of gilded lead, about half an ell in length and breadth, and a third in height, secured by an iron lock, the key of which was delivered to the archbishop. The case was inclosed in a coffin covered with black velvet, and ornamented with lace and fringe of gold. The whole was then placed in a tem¬ porary tomb or mausoleum. On the following day there was another grand convocation at the cathedral, when the vigils and masses for the dead were solemnly chanted by the archbishop, ac¬ companied by the commandant-general of the armada, the Dominican and Fran¬ ciscan friars, and the friars of the Order of Mercy, together with the rest of the distinguished assemblage. After this a funeral sermon was preached by the arch¬ bishop. On the same day, at four o’clock in the afternoon, the coffin was transported to the ship with the utmost state and ceremony, with a civil, religious, and military procession, banners wrapped in mourning, chants and responses and discharges of artillery. The most distinguished persons of the several orders took turn to sup¬ port the coffin. The key was taken with great formality from the hands of the archbishop by the governor, and given into the hands of the commander of the armada, to be delivered by him to the governor of the Havana, to be held in deposit until the pleasure of the king should be known. The coffin was received on board of a brigantine called the Discoverer, which, with all the other shipping, displayed mourning signals, and saluted the remains with the honors paid to an admiral. From the port of St. Domingo the coffin was conveyed to the bay of Ocoa and there transferred to the ship San Lorenzo. It was accompanied by a portrait of Columbus, sent from Spain by the Duke of Veraguas, to be suspended close by the place where the remains of his illustrious ancestor should be deposited. The ship immediately made sail, and arrived at Havana, in Cuba, on the 15th of January, 1796. Here the same deep feeling of reverence to the memory of the dis¬ coverer was evinced. The principal authorities repaired on board of the ship, ac¬ companied by the superior naval and military officers. Everything was conducted with the same circumstantial and solemn ceremonial. The remains were removed with great reverence, and placed in a felucca, in which they were conveyed to land in the midst of a procession of three columns of feluccas and boats in the royal service, all properly decorated, containing distinguished military and ministerial officers. Two feluccas followed, in one of which was a marine guard of honor, with mourning banners and muffled drums; and in the other were the commandant- general, the principal minister of marine, and the military staff. In passing the vessels of war in the harbor, they all paid the honors dueto an admiral and captain- general of the navy. On arriving at the mole the remains were met by the governor of the island, accompanied by the generals and the military staff. The coffin was then conveyed, between files of soldiery which b'ned the streets, to the obelisk, in the place of arms, where it was received in a hearse prepared for the purpose. Here the remains were formally delivered to the governor and captain-general of the island, the key given up to him, the coffin opened and examined, and the safe APPENDIX. 639 transportation of its contents authenticated. This ceremony being concluded, it was conveyed in grand procession and with the utmost pomp to the cathedral. Masses and the solemn ceremonies of the dead were performed by the bishop, and the mortal remains of Columbus deposited with great reverence in the wall on the right side of the grand altar. “All these honors and ceremonies,” says the docu¬ ment, from wheace this notice is digested,* “were attended by the ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries, the public bodies and all the nobility and gentry of Havana, in proof of the high estimation and respectful remembrance in which they held the hero who had discovered the New World, and had been the first to plant the stand¬ ard of the cross on that island.” This is the last occasion that the Spanish nation has had to testify its feelings to¬ ward the memory of Columbus, and it is with deep satisfaction that the author of this work has been able to cite at large a ceremonial so solemn, affecting, and noble in its details, and so honorable to the national character. When we read of the remains of Columbus, thus conveyed from the port of St. Domingo, after an interval of nearly three hundred years, as sacred national relics, with civic and military pomp, and high religious ceremonial; the most dignified and illustrious men striving who most should pay them reverence, we cannot but reflect that it was from this very port he was carried off loaded with ignominous chains, blasted apparently in fame and fortune, and followed by the revilings of the rabble. Such honors, it is true, are nothing to the dead, nor can they atone to the heart, now dust and ashes, for all the wrongs and sorrows it may have suffered; but they speak volumes of comfort to the illustrious, yet slandered and persecuted living, encouraging them bravely to bear with present injuries, by showing them how true merit outlives all calumny, and receives its glorious reward in the admiration of after ages. No. II. NOTICE OF THE DESCENDANTS OF COLUMBUS. On the death of Columbus his son Diego succeeded to his rights, as viceroy and governor of the New World, according to the express capitulations between the sovereigns and his father. He appears by the general consent of historians to have been a man of great integrity, of respectable talents, and of a frank and generous nature. Herrera speaks repeatedly of the gentleness and urbanity of his manners, and pronounces him of a noble disposition, and without deceit. This absence of all guile frequently laid him open to the stratagems of crafty men, grown old in deception, who rendered his life a continued series of embarrassments; but the probity of his character, with the irresistible power or truth, bore him through dif¬ ficulties in which more politic and subtle men would have been entangled and completely lost. Immediately after the death of the admiral, Don Diego came forward as lineal successor, and urged the restitution of the family offices and privileges, which had been suspended during the latter years of his father's life. If the cold and wary Ferdinand, however, could forget his obligations of gratitude and justice to Colum¬ bus, he had less difficulty in turning a deaf ear to the solicitations of his son. For two years Don Diego pressed his suit with fruitless diligence. He felt the apparent distrust of the monarch the more sensibly,from having been brought up under his eye, as a page in the royal household, where his character ought to be well known and appreciated. At length, on the return of Ferdinand from Naples in 1508, he put to him a direct question, with the frankness attributed to his character. He demanded “ why his majesty would not grant to him as a favor, that which was his right, and why he hesitated to confide in the fidelity of one who had been reared in his house.” Ferdinand replied that he could fully confide in him, but could not repose so great * Navarrete, Colec. tom. ii. p. 305. 640 APPENDIX . a trust at a venture in his children and successors. To this Don Diego rejoined, that it was contrary to all justice and reason to make him suffer for the sins of his children, who might never be born.* Still, though he had reason and justice on his side, the young admiral found it im¬ possible to bring the wary monarch to a compliance. Finding all appeal to all his ideas of equity or sentiments of generosity in vain, he solicited permission to pursue his claim in the ordinary course of law. The king could not refuse so reasonable a request, and Don Diego commenced a process against King Ferdinand before the council of the Indies, founded on the repeated capitulations between the crown and his father, and embracing all the dignities and immunities ceded by them. One ground of opposition to these claims was, that if the capitulation, made by the sovereigns in 1492, had granted a perpetual viceroyalty to the admiral and bis heirs, such grant could not stand; being contrary to the interest of the state, and to an express law promulgated in Toledo in 1480; wherein it was ordained that no office, involving the administration of justice, should be given in perpetuity; that therefore, the viceroyalty granted to the admiral could only have been for his life; and that even, during that term, it had justly been taken from him for his miscon¬ duct. That such concessions were contrary to the inherent prerogatives of the crown, of which the government could not divest itself. To this Don Diego re¬ plied, that as to the validity of the capitulation, it was a binding contract, and none of its privileges ought to be restricted. That as by royal schedules dated in Villa Franca, June 2d, 1506, and Almazan, August 28th, 1507, it had been ordered that he, Don Diego, should receive the tenths, so equally ought the other privileges to be accorded to him. As to the allegation that his father had been deprived of his vice¬ royalty for his demerits, it was contrary to all truth. It had been audacity on the part of Bobadilla to send him a prisoner to Spain in 1500, and contrary to the will and command of the sovereigns, as was proved by their letter, dated from Valencia de la Torre in 1502, in which they expressed grief at his arrest, and assured him that it should be redressed, and his privileges guarded entire to himself and his children, t This memorable suit was commenced in 1508, and continued for several years. In the course of it the claims of Don Diego were disputed, likewise, on the plea that his father was not the original discoverer of Terra Firma, but only subsequently of certain portions of it. This, however, was completely controverted by overwhelm¬ ing testimony. The claims of Don Diego were minutely discussed and rigidly ex¬ amined, and the unanimous decision of the Council of the Indies in his favor, while it reflected honor on the justice and independence of that body, silenced many petty cavilers at the fair fame of Columbus .t Notwithstanding this decision, the wily monarch wanted neither means nor pretexts to delay the ceding of such vast powers, so repugnant to his cautious policy. The young admiral was finally in¬ debted for his success in this suit to previous success attained in a suit of a differ- ( ent nature. He had become enamored of Dona Maria de Toledo, daughter of Fer¬ nando de Toledo, grand commander of Leon, and niece to Don Fadrique Toledo, the celebrated Duke of Alva, chief favorite of the king. This was aspiring to a high con¬ nection. The father and uncle of the lady were the most powerful grandees of the proud kingdom of Spain, and cousins German to Ferdinand. The glory, however, which Columbus had left behind, rested upon his children, and the claims of Don Diego, recently confirmed by the council, involved dignities and wealth sufficient to raise him to a level with the loftiest alliance. He found no difficulty in obtaining the hand of the lady, and thus was the foreign family of Columbus ingrafted on one of the proudest races of Spain. The natural consequences followed. Diego had * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. ii. lib vii. cap. 4. t Extracts from the minutes of the process taken by the historian Mufioz, ms. i Further mention will be found of this lawsuit in the article relative to Amerigo Vespucci APPENDIX. 641 secured that magical power called “connections;” and tlie favor of Ferdinand, which had been so long withheld from him, as the son of Columbus, shone upon him, though coldly, as the nephew of the Duke of Alva. The father and uncle of his bride succeeded, though with great difficulty, in conquering the repugnance of the monarch, and after all he but granted in part the justice they required. He ceded to Don Diego merely the dignities and powers enjoyed by Nicholas de Ovan- do, who was recalled, and he cautiously withheld the title of viceroy. The recall of Ovando was not merely a measure to make room for Don Diego; it was the tardy performance of a promise made to Isabella on her death-bed. The expiring queen had demanded it as a punishment for the massacre of her poor In¬ dian subjects at Xaragua, and the cruel and ignominious execution of the female cacique Anacaona. Thus retribution was continually going its rounds in the checkered destinies of this island, which has ever presented a little epitome of human history, its errors and crimes, and consequent disasters. In complying with the request of the queen, however, Ferdinand was favorable toward Ovando. He did not feel the same generous sympathies with his late con¬ sort, and, however Ovando had sinned against humanity in his treatment of the Indians, he had been a vigilant officer, and his very oppressions had in general proved profitable to the crown. Ferdinand directed that the fleet which took out the new governor should return under the command of Ovando, and that he should retain undisturbed enjoyment of any property or Indian slaves that might be found in his possession. Some have represented Ovando as a man far from mercenary; that the wealth wrung from the miseries of the natives was for his sovereign, not for himself; and it is intimated that one secret cause of his disgrace was his having made an enemy of the all-powerful and unforgiving Fonseca.* The new admiral embarked at St. Lucar, June 9th, 1509, with his wife, his brother Don Fernando, who was now grown to man’s estate, and had been well educated, and his two uncles, Don Bartholomew and Don Diego. They w T ere accompanied by a numerous retinue of cavaliers, with their wives, and of young ladies of rank and family, more distinguished, it is hinted, for high blood than large fortune, and who | were sent out to find wealthy husbands in the New World.t Though the king had not granted Don Diego the dignity of viceroy, the title was generally given to him by courtesy, and his wife was universally addressed by that of vice-queen. Don Diego commenced his rule wdth a degree of splendor hitherto unknown in the colony. The vice-queen, who was a lady of great desert, surrounded by the noble cavaliers and the young ladies of family who had come in her retinue, estab¬ lished a sort of court, which threw a degree of lustre over the half-savage island. The young ladies were soon married to the wealthiest colonists, and contributed } greatly to soften those rude manners which had grown up in a state of society; hitherto destitute of the salutary restraint and pleasing decorum produced by( ! female influence. ( Don Diego had considered his appointment in the light of a viceroyalty, but the king soon took measures which showed that he admitted of no such pretension. Without any reference to Don Diego, he divided the coast of Darien into twx> great piovinces, separated by an imaginary line running through the Gulf of Uraba. ap- 1 pointing Alonso de Ojeda governor of the eastern province, w Inch he called New Andalusia, and Diego de Nicuessa, governor of the western province, which included the rich coast of Veagua, and which he called Castilla del Oro, or Golden Castile. Had the monarch been swayed by principles of justice and gratitude, the settle¬ ment of this coast would have been given to the Adelantado, Don Bartholomew 1 | Columbus, who had assisted in the discovery of the country, and, together with his brother the admiral, had suffered so greatly in the enterprise. Even his superior * Charlevoix, ut supra, v. i. p. 271, id. 274. t Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 49, ms 642 APPENDIX. abilities for the task should have pointed him out to the policy of the monarch: but the cautious and calculating Ferdinand knew the lofty spirit of the Adelantado, and that he would be disposed to demand high and dignified terms. He passed him by, therefore, and preferred more eager and accommodating adventurers. Don Diego was greatly aggrieved at this measure, thus adopted without his par¬ ticipation or knowledge. He justly considered it an infringement of the capitula¬ tions granted and repeatedly confirmed to his father and his heirs. He had fuither vexations and difficulties with respect to the government of the island of St. Juan, or Porto Rico, which was conquered and settled about this time; but after a variety of cross purposes, the officers whom he appointed were ultimately recognized by the crown. Like his father, he had to contend with malignant factions in his government; for the enemies of the father transferred their enmity to the son. There was one Miguel Pasamonte, the king’s treasurer, who became his avowed enemy, under the support and chiefly at the instigation of the Bishop Fonseca, who continued to the son the implacable hostility which he had manifested to the father. A variety of trivial circumstances contributed to embroil him with some of the petty officers of the colony, and there was a remnant of the followers of Roldan who arrayed themselves against him.* Two factions soon arose in the island; one of the admiral, the other of the treas¬ urer Pasamonte. The latter affected to call themselves the party of the king. They gave all possible molestation to Don Diego, and sent home the most virulent and absurd misrepresentations of his conduct. Among others, they represented a lat go house with many windows which he was building, as intended for a fortress, and asserted that he had a design to make himself sovereign of the island. King Ferd¬ inand, who was now advancing in years, had devolved the affairs of the Indies in a great measure on Fonseca,t who had superintended them from the first, and he was greatly guided by the advice of that prelate, which was not likely to be favor¬ able to the descendants of Columbus. The complaints from the colonies were so artfully enforced, therefore, that he established in 1510 a soverign court at St. Dom¬ ingo, called the royal audience, to which an appeal might be made from all sen¬ tences of the admiral, even in cases reserved hitherto exclusively for the crown. Don Diego considered this a suspicious and injurious measure intended to demolish his authority. Frank, open, and unsuspicious, the young admiral was not formed for a contest with the crafty politicians arrayed against him, who were ready and adroit in seiz¬ ing upon his slightest errors, and magnifying them into crimes. Difficulties were multiplied in his path which it was out of his power to overcome. He had entered upon office full of magnanimous intentions, determined to put an end to oppression, and correct all abuses; all good men therefore had rejoiced at his appointment; but he soon found that he had overrated his strength, and undervalued the diffi¬ culties awaiting him. He calculated from his own good heart, but he had no idea of the wicked hearts of others. He was opposed to the repartimientos of Indians, that source of all kinds of inhumanity; but he found all the men of wealth in the colony, and most of the important persons of the court, interested in maintaining them. He perceived that the attempt to abolish them would be dangerous, and the result questionable; at the same time this abuse was the source of immense profit to himself. Self-interest, therefore, combined with other considerations, and what at first appeared difficult, seemed presently impracticable. The repartimientos continued in the state in which he found them, excepting that he removed such of the superintendents as had been cruel and oppressive, and substituted men of his own appointment, who probably proved equally worthless. His friends were disap¬ pointed, his enemies encouraged; a hue and cry was raised against him by tho * Herrera, decad. i. lib. vii. cap. 1?- t Ibid. APPENDIX. 643 friends of those he had displaced; and it was even said that if Ovando had not died about this time, he would have been sent out to supplant Don Diego. The subjugation and settlement of the Island of Cuba, in 1510, was a fortunate event in the administration of the present admiral. He congratulated King Ferdi¬ nand on having acquired the largest and most beautiful island in the world without losing a single man. The intelligence was highly acceptable to the king; but it was accompanied by a great number of complaints against the admiral. Little affec¬ tion as Ferdinand felt for Don Diego, he was still aware that most of these repre¬ sentations were false, and had their origin in the jealousy and envy of his enemies. He judged it expedient, however, in 1512, to send out Don Bartholomew Columbus with minute instructions to his nephew the admiral. Don Bartholomew still retained the office of Adelantado of the Indies; although Ferdinand, through selfish motives, detained him in Spain, while he employed in¬ ferior men in voyages of discovery. He now added to his appointments the prop¬ erty and government of the Kttle island of Mona during life, and assigned him a repartimiento of two hundred Indians, with the superintendence of the mines which might be discovered in Cuba; an office which proved very lucrative.* Among the instructions given by the king to Don Diego, he directed that, in con¬ sequence of the representations of the Dominican friars, the labor of the natives should be reduced to one third; that negro slaves should be procured from Guinea as a relief to the Indians,+ and that Carib slaves should be branded on the leg, to prevent other Indians from being confounded with them and subjected to harsh treatment.$ The two governors, Ojeda and Nicuessa, whom the king had appointed to colon¬ ize and command at the Isthmus of Darien, in Terra Firma, having failed in their undertaking, the soverign, in 1514, wrote to Hispaniola, permitting the Adelantado, Don Bartholomew, if so inclined, to take charge of settling the coast of Veragua, and to govern that country under the admiral Don Diego comformably to his priv¬ ileges. Had the king consulted his own interest, and the deference due to the tal¬ ents and services of the Adelantado, this measure would have been taken at an earlier date. Itw'as now too late: illness prevented Don Bartholomew from ex¬ ecuting the enterprise, and his active and toilsome life was drawing to a close. Many calumnies having been sent home to Spain by Pasamonte and other enemies of Don Diego, and various measures being taken by government, which he con¬ ceived derogatory to his dignity, and injurious to his privileges, he requested and obtained permission to repair to coui’t, that he might explain and vindicate his con¬ duct. He departed, accordingly, on April 9th, 1515, leaving the Adelantado with the vice-queen Dona Maria. He was received with great honor by the king, and he merited such a reception. He had succeeded in every enterprise he had under¬ taken or directed. The pearl fishery had been successfully established on the coast of Cubagua; the isiands of Cuba and of Jamaica had been subjected and brought under cultivation without bloodshed; his conduct as governor had been upright; and he had only excited the representations made against him. by endeavoring to lessen the oppression of the natives. The king ordered that all processes against him in the court of appeal and elsewhere, for damages done to individuals in regu¬ lating the repartimientos, should be discontinued, and the cases sent to himself for consideration. But wdth all these favors, as the admiral claimed a share of the profits of the provinces of Castilla del Oro, saying that it w r as discovered by his father, as the names of its places, such as Nombre de Dios. Porto Bello, and el Betrete. plainly proved, the king ordered that interrogatories should be made among the mariners who had sailed with Christopher Columbus, in the hope of proving that he had not discovered the coast of Darien nor the Gulf of Uraba. *__ * Charlevoix. Hist. St. Domingo, p. 321. + nerrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ix. cap. 5. tlbid. 644 APPENDIX, “Thus,” adds Herrera, “Don piego was always involved in litigations with the fiscal, so that he might truly say that he was heir to the troubles of his father.”* * * § Not long after the departure of Don Diego from St. Domingo, his uncle, Don Bar¬ tholomew, ended his active and laborious life. No particulars are given of his death, nor is there mention made of his age, which must have been advanced. King Ferdinand is said to have expressed great concern at the event, for he had a high opinion of the character and talents of the Adelantado: “a man,” says Her¬ rera, “ of not less wortii than his brother the admiral, and who if he had been em¬ ployed, would have given great proofs of it; for he was an excellent seaman, valiant and of great heart. ”+ Charlevoix attributes the inaction in which Don Bartholomew had been suffered to remain for several years, to the jealousy and parsimony of the king. He found the house already too powerful; and the Adelan¬ tado, had he discovered Mexioo, was a man to make as good conditions as had been made by the admiral his brother.}: It was said, observed Herrera, that the king rather preferred to employ him in his European affairs, though it could only have been to divert him from other objects. On his death the king resumed to himself the island of Mona, which he had given to him for life, and transferred his reparti- miento of two hundred Indians to the vice-queen Dona Maria. While the admiral Don Diego was pressing for an audience in his vindication at court, King Ferdinand died, on the 23d of January, 1516. His grandson and suc¬ cessor, Prince Charles, afterward the Emperor Charles V., was in Flanders. The government rested for a time with Cardinal Ximenes, who would not undertake to decide on the representations and claims of the admiral. It was not until 1520 that he obtained from the Emperor Charles V. a recognition of his innocence of all the charges against him. The emperor finding that what Pasamonte and his party had written were notorious calumnies, ordered Don Diego to resume his charge, although the process with the fiscal was still pending, and that Pasamonte should be written to, requesting him to forget all past passions and differences, and to enter into amicable relations with Don Diego. Among other acts of indemnifica¬ tion he acknowledged his right to exercise his office of viceroy and governor in the island of Hispaniola, and in all parts discovered by his father.§ His authority was, however, much diminished by new regulations, and a supervisor appointed over him with the right to give information to the council against him, but with no other powers. Don Diego sailed in the beginning of September, 1520, and on his arrival at St. Domingo, finding that several of the governors, presuming on his long absence, had arrogated to themselves independence, and had abused their powers, he immediately sent persons to supersede them, and demanded an account of their administration. This made him a host of active and powerful enemies both in the colonies and in Spain. Considerable changes had taken place in the island of Hispaniola during the absence of the admiral. The mines had fallen into neglect, the cultivation of the sugar-cane having been found a more certain source of wealth. It became a by¬ word in Spain that the magnificent palaces erected by Charles V. at Madrid and Toledo were built of the sugar of Hispaniola. Slaves had been imported in great numbers from Africa, being found more serviceable in the culture of the cane than the feeble Indians. The treatment of the poor negroes was cruel in the extreme; and they seem to have had no advocates even among the humane. The slavery of the Indians had been founded on the right of the strong; but it was thought that the negroes, from their color, were born to slavery; and that from being bought and sold in their own country., it was Iheir natural condition. Though a patient and enduring race, the barbarities inflicted on them at length roused them to * Herrera, Hist. Ind. decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 7. t Ibid., decad. i. lib. x. cap. 16. X Charlevoix. Hist. St. Domingo, lib. 5. § Herrera, Hist. Ind. decad. ii. lib. ix. cap. 7. APPENDIX. 645 revenge, and on the 27th of December, 1522, there was the first African revolt in Hispaniola. It began in a sugar plantation of the Admiral Don Diego, where about twenty slaves, joined by an equal number from a neignborkig plantation, got pos¬ session of arms, rose on their superintendents, massacred inem, and sallied forth upon the country. It was their intention to pillage certain plantations, to kill the whites, reinforce themselves by freeing their countrymen, and either to possess themselves of the town of Agua, or to escape to the mountains. Don Diego set out from St. Domingo in search of the rebels, followed by several of the principal inhabitants. On the second day he stopped on the banks of the River Nizao to rest his party and suffer reinforcements to overtake him. Here one Melcher de Castro, who accompanied the admiral, learned that the negroes had ravaged his plantation, sacked his house, killed one of his men, and carried off his Indian slaves. Without asking leave of the admiral, he departed in the night with two companions, visited his plantation, found all in confusion, and pursuing the negroes, sent to the admiral for aid. Eight horsemen were hastily dispatched to his assistance, armed with bucklers and lances, and having six of the infantry mounted behind them. De Castro had three horsemen beside this reinforcement, and at the head of this little band overtook the negroes at break of day. The in¬ surgents put themselves in battle array, armed with stones and Indian spears, and uttering loud shouts and outcries. The Spanish horsemen braced their bucklers, couched their lances, and charged them at full speed. The negroes were soon couted, and fled to the rocks, leaving six dead and several wounded. De Castro also was wounded in the arm. The admiral coming up, assisted in the pursuit of the fugitives. As fast as they were taken they were hanged on the nearest trees, and remained suspended as spectacles of terror to their countrymen. This prompt sevei’ity checked all further attempts at revolt among the African slaves.* In the meantime the various enemies whom Don Diego had created, both in the colonies and in Spain, were actively and successfully employed. His old antagonist, the treasurer Passamonte, had charged him with usurping almost all the powers of the royal audience, and with having given to the royal declaration, re-establishing him in his office of viceroy, an extent never intended by the sovereign. These rep¬ resentations had weight at court, and in 1523 Don Diego received a most severe letter from the Council of the Indies, charging him with the various abuses and ex¬ cesses alleged against him, and commanding him, on pain of forfeiting all his privileges and titles, to revoke the innovations he had made, and restore things to their former state. To prevent any plea of ignorance of this mandate, the royal audience was enjoined to promulgate it and to call upon all persons to conform to it, and to see that it was properly obeyed. The admiral received also a letter from the council, informing him that his presence was necessary in Spain, to give infor¬ mation of the foregoing matters, and advice relative to the reformation of various abuses, and to the treatment and preservation of the Indians; he was requested, therefore, to repair to court without waiting for further orders.! Don Diego understood this to be a peremptory recall, and obeyed accordingly. On his arrival in Spain, he immediately presented himself before the court at Vic¬ toria, with the frank and fearless spirit of an upright man, and pleaded his cause so well that the sovereign and council acknowledged his innocence on all the points <>f accusation. He convinced them, moreover, of the exactitude with which he had discharged his duties; of his zeal for the public good, and the glory of the crown; and that all the representations against him rose from the jealousy and enmity of Passamonte and other royal officers in the colonies, who were impatient of any superior authority in the island to restrain them. Having completely established his innocence, and exposed the calumnies of his enemies, Don Diego trusted that he would soon obtain justice as to all his claims. * Ibid., decad. iii. lib. iv. cap. 0. t Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. lib v. cap. 4. 646 APPENDIX. As these however, involved a pai'ticipation in the profits of vast and richly produc, tive provinces, he experienced the delays and difficulties usual with such demands, for it is only when justice costs nothing that it is readily rendered. His earnest solicitations at length obtained an order from the emperor, that a commission should be formed, composed of the grand chancellor, the Friar Loyasa, confessor to the emperor, and president of the royal Council of the Indies, and a number of other distinguished personages. They were to inquire into the various points in dispute between the admiral and the fiscal, and into the proceedings which had taken place in the Council of the Indies, with the power of determining what justice required in the case. The affair, however, was protracted to such a length, and accompanied by so many toils, vexations, and disappointments, that the unfortunate Diego, like his father, died in the pursuit. For two years he had followed the court from city to city, during its migrations from Victoria to Burgos, Valladolid, Madrid and Toledo. In the winter of 1525, the emperor set out from Toledo for Seville. The admiral undertook to follow him, though his constitution was broken by fatigue and vexa¬ tion, and he was wasting under the attack of a slow fever. Oviedo, the historian, saw him at Toledo two days before his departure, and joined with his friends in endeavoring to dissuade him from a journey in such a state of health, and at such a season. Their persuasions were in vain. Don Diego was not aware of the extent of his malady: he told them that he should repair to Seville by the Church of our Lady of Guadaloupe, to offer up his devotions at that shrine; and he trusted, through the intercession of the mother of God. soon to be restored to health.* He accordingly left Toledo in a litter on the 21st of February, 1526, having previously confessed and taken the communion, and arrived the same day at Montalvan, distant about six leagues. There his illness increased to such a degree that he saw his end approaching. He employed the following day in arranging the affairs of his conscience, and expired on February 23d, being little more than fifty years of age, his premature death having been hastened by the griefs 'and troubles he had ex¬ perienced. “ He was worn out,” says Herrera, u by following up his claims, and defending himself from the calumnies of his competitors, who, with many strata¬ gems and devices, sought to obscure the glory of the father and the virtue of the son.” + We have seen how the discovery of the New World rendered the residue of the life of Columbus a tissue of wrongs, hardships and afflictions, and how the jealousy and enmity he had awakened were inherited by his son. It remains to show briefly in what degree the anticipations of perpetuity, wealth, and honor to his family were fulfilled. When Don Diego Columbus died, his wife and family were at St. Domingo. He left two sons, Luis and Christopher, and three daughters—Maria, who afterwards married Don Sancho de Cardono; Juana, who married Don Luis de Cueva; and Isabella, who married Don George of Portugal, Count of Gelves. He had also a natural son named Christopher .X Charlevoix mentions another son called Diego, and calls one of the daughters Phillipine. Spotorno says that the daughter Maria took the veil; confounding her with a niece. These are trivial errors, merely noticed to avoid the imputation of inaccuracy. The account of the descendants of Columbus here given, accords with a genealogical tree of the family, produced before the Council of the Indies in a great lawsuit for the estates. After the death of Don Diego, his noble-spirited vice-queen, left with a number of young children, endeavored to assert and maintain the rights of the family. Under¬ standing that-, according to the privileges accorded to Christopher Columbus, they * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. ?i + Herrera, decad. iii. lib. viii. cap. 15. $ Memorial adjustado sobre el estndo de Veragua APPENDIX. 647 had a just claim to the viceroyalty of the province of Veragua, as having been dis¬ covered by him, she demanded a l'icense from the royal audience of Hispaniola, to recruit men and fit out an armada to colonize that country. This the audience re¬ fused, and sent information of the demand to the emperor. He replied that the vice-queen should be kept in suspense % until the justice of her claim could be ascer¬ tained; as, although he had at various times given commissions to different persons to examine the doubts and objections-which had been opposed by the fiscal, no de¬ cision had ever been made.* * * § The enterprise thus contemplated by the vice-queen was never carried into effect. Shortly afterwards she sailed for Spain, to protect the claim of her eldest son, Don Luis, then six years of age. Charles V. was absent, but she was most grac¬ iously received by the empress. The title of admiral of the Indies was immediate¬ ly conferred on her son, Don Luis, and the emperor augmented his revenues, and conferred other favors on the family. Charles V., however, could never be pre¬ vailed on to give Don Luis the title of viceroy, although that dignity had been de¬ creed to his father, a few years previous to his death, as an hereditary right.t In 1538 the young admiral, Don Luis, then about eighteen years of age, was at court, having instituted proceedings before the proper tribunals for the recovery of the viceroyalty. Two years afterward the suit was settled by arbitration, his uncle Don Fernando and Cardinal Loyasa, president of the Council of the Indies, being umpires. By a compromise Don Luis was declared captain-general of Hispan.v-x*,, but with such limitations that it was little better than a bare title. Don Luis sailed for Hispaniola, but did not remain there long. He found his dignities and privileges mere sources of vexation, and finally entered into a compromise, which relieved himself and gratified the emperor. He gave up all pretensions to the viceroyalty of the New World, receiving in its stead the titles of Duke of Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica.£ He Commuted also the claim to the tenth of the produce of the Indies for a pension of one thousand doubloons of gold.§ Don Luis did not long enjoy the substitution of a certain, though moderate, rev¬ enue for a magnificent but unproductive claim. He died shortly afterward, leav¬ ing no other male issue than an illegitimate son, named Christopher. He left two daughters by his wife. Dona Maria de Mosquera, one named Phillippa, and the other Maria, which last became a nun in the convent of St. Quirce, at Valladolid. Don Luis having no legitimate son, was succeeded by his nephew Diego, son to to his brother Christopher. A litigation took place between this young heir and his cousin Phillippa, daughter of the late Don Luis. The convent of St. Quirce also put in a claim, on behalf of its inmate, Dona Maria, who had taken the veil. Chris¬ topher, natural son to Don Luis, likewise became a prosecutor in the suit, but was set aside on account of his illegitimacy. Don Diego and his cousin Phillippa soon thought it better to join claims and persons in wedlock, than to pursue a tedious contest. They were married, and their union was happy, though not fruitful. Diego died without issue in 1578, and with him the legitimate male line of Columbus became extinct. One of the most important lawsuits that the w r orkl has ever witnessed now arose for the estates and dignities descended from the great discoverer. Don Diego had two sisters, Francisca and Maria, the former of whom, and the children of the lat¬ ter, advanced their several claims. To these parties was added Bernard Colombo of Cogoleto, who claimed as lineal descendant from Bartholomew Columbus, the Adelantado, brother to the discoverer. He was, however, pronounced ineligible, as the Adelantado had no acknowledged, and certainly no legitimate offspring. Baldassa, or Balthazar Colombo, of the house of Cucearo and Conzano, in the * Herrera, decad. iv. lib. ii. cap. 6. t Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. vi. p. 443 t Ibid., tom. i. lib. vi. p. 446. § Spotorno, Hist. Colom., p. 123 648 APPENDIX. dukedom of Montferrat, in Piedmont, was an active and persevering claimant. TTe came from Italy into Spain, where he devoted himself for many years to the prose¬ cution of this suit. He produced a genealogical tree of his family, in which was contained one Domenico Colombo, Lord of Cuccaro, whom he maintained to be the identical father of Christopher Columbus, tli£ admiral. He proved that this Dom¬ enico was living at the requisite era, and produced many witnesses who had heard that the navigator was born in the castle of Cuccaro; whence, it was added, ho and his two brothers had eloped at an early age, and had never returned.* * * § A monk is also mentioned among the witnesses, who made oath that Christopher and his brothers were born in that castle of Cuccaro. This testimony was afterward with¬ drawn by the prosecutor; as it was found that the monk’s recollection must have extended back considerably upward of a century.t The claim of Balthazar was negatived. His proofs that Christopher Columbus was a native of Cuccaro were rejected, as only hearsay, or traditionary evidence. Ilis ancestor Domenico, it ap¬ peared from his own showing, died in 1456; whereas it was established that Domen¬ ico, the father of the admiral, was living upward of thirty years after that date. The cause was finally decided bj r the Council of the Indies, on the second of De-. cember, 1608. The male line w r as declared to be extinct. Don Nuiio or Nugno Gelves de Portugallo was put in possession, and became Duke of Veragua. He was grandson to Isabella, third daughter of Don Diego (son of the discoverer) by his vice-queen, Dona Maria de Toledo. The descendants of the two elder sisters of Isa¬ bella had a prior claim, but their lines became extinct previous to this decision of the suit. The Isabella just named had married Don George of Portugal, Count of Gelves. “Thus,” says Charlevoix, “the dignities and wealth of Columbus passed into a branch of the Portuguese house of Braganza, established in Spain, of which the heirs are entitied De Portugallo , Colon, Duke de Veragua , Marques de la Ja¬ maica, y Almirante de las Indies."X The suit of Balthazar Colombo of Cuccaro was rejected under three different forms, by the Council of the Indies; and his application for an allowance of support, under the legacy of Columbus, in favor of poor relations, was also refused: although the other parties had assented to the demand.§ He died in Spain, where he had resided many years in prosecution of this suit. His son returned to Italy persisting in the validity of his claim: he said that it w r as in vain to seek justice in Spain; they were too much interested to keep those dignities and estates among themselves; but he gave out that he had received twelve thousand doubloons in gold in compromise from the other parties. Spotorno, under sanction of Ignazio de Giovanni, a learned canon, treats this assertion as a bravado, to cover his defeat, being contradicted by his evident poverty. || The family of Cuccaro, however, still maintain their right, and express great veneration for the memory of their illustrious ancestor, the ad- jniral; and travellers occasionally visit their old castle in Piedmont with great reverence, as the birthplace of the discoverer of the New World. No. III. FERNANDO COLUMBUS. Fernando Columbus (or Colon, as he is called in Spain), the natural son and his¬ torian of the admiral, was born in Cordova. There is an uncertainty about the exact time of his birth. According to his epitaph, it must have been on the 28th September, 1488; but according to his original papers preserved in the library of the cathedral of Seville, and which were examined by Don Diego Ortiz de Zufiiga, * Bossi. Hist. Colomb. Dissert., p. 67. t Ibid., Dissert, on the Country of Columbus, p. 63. X Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, tom. i. lib. vi. p. 447. § Bossi, Dissertation on the Country of Columbus. 2 Spotorno, p. 127. APPEXDIX. 649 historian of that city, it would appear to have been on the 29th of August, 1487. His mother. Dona Beatrix Enriquez, was of a respectable family, but was never married to the admiral, as has been stated by some of his biographers. Early in 1494 Fernando was carried to court, together with his elder brother Diego, by his uncle Don Bartholomew, to enter the royal household in quality of page to the Prince Don Juan, son and heir to Ferdinand and Isabella. He and his brother remained in this situation until the death of the prince, when they were taken by Queen Isabella as pages into her own service. Their education, of course, was well attended to, and Fernando in after-life gave proofs of being a learned man. In the year 150-2, at the tender age of thirteen or fourteen ye irs, Fernando ac¬ companied his father in his fourth voyage of discovery, and encountered all its singular and varied hardships with a fortitude that is mentioned v,»Hi praise and admiration by the admiral. After the death of his father it would appear that Fernando made two voyages to the New World. He accompanied the Emperor Charles V. also to Italy, Flanders, and Germany; and according to Zuniga (Anales de Seville de 1539, No. 3; travelled over all Europe and a part of Africa and Asia. Possessing talents, judgment, and industry, these opportunities were not lost upon him, and he acquirer: much infor¬ mation in geography, navigation, and natural history. Being of a studious habit, and fond of books, he formed a select, yet copious library, of more than twenty thousand volumes, In print and in manuscript. With the sanction of the Emperor Charles V. he undertook to establish an academy and college of mathematics at Seville; and for this purpose commenced the construction of a sumptuous edifice, without the walls or the city, facing the Guadalquiver, in the place where the monastery of San Laureano is now situated. Hi& constitution, however, had been broken by the sufferings he had experienced in his travels and voyages, and a premature death prevented the completion of his plan of the academy, and broke off other useful- labors. He died in Seville on the 12th of July, 1539, at the age, ac¬ cording to his epitaph, of fifty years, nine months and fourteen days. He left no issue, and was never married/ His body was interred according to his request, in the cathedral of Seville. lie bequeathed his valuable library to the same estab¬ lishment. Don Fernando devoted himself much to letters. According to the inscription on his tomb, he composed a work in four books, or volumes, the title of which is de¬ faced on the monument, and the work itself is lost. This is much to be regretted, as, according to Zuniga, the fragments of the inscription specify it to have con¬ tained, among a variety of matter, historical, moral, and geographical notices of the countries he had visited, but especially of the New World, and of the voyages and discoveries of his father. His most important and permanent work, however, was a history of the admiral, composed in Spanisn. It was translated into Italian by Alonzo de Ulloa, and from this Italian translation have proceeded the editions which have since appeared in various languages. It is singular that the work only exists in Spanish, in the form of a re-translation from that of Ulloa, and full of errors in the orthography of proper names, and in dates and distances. Don Fernando was an eye-witness of some of the facts which he relates, par¬ ticularly of the fourth voyage wherein he accompanied his father. He had also the papers and charts of his father, and recent documents of all kinds to extract from, as well as familiar acquaintance with the principal personages who were concerned in the events which he records. He was a man of probity and discernment, and writes more dispassionately than could be expected, when treating of the matters which affected the honor, the interests, and happiness of his father. It is to be regretted, however, that he should have suffered the whole of his father’s life, previous to his discoveries (a period of about fifty-six years), to remain in obscurity- He appears to have wished to cast a cloud over it, and only to have presented his father to the reader after he had rendered himself illustrious by his actions, and his history had become in a manner identified with the history of the world. His work, APPENDIX. C-jO however, is an invaluable document, entitled to great faith, and is the corner-stone of the history of the American Continent. Galley, from the tomb of Fernando Columbus, at Seville. No. IV. AGE OF COLUMBUS. As the date I have assigned for the birth of Columbus makes him about ten years older than he is generally represented, at the time of his discoveries, it is proper to state precisely my authority. In the valuable manuscript chronicle of the reign of the Catholic sovereigns, written by Andres Bernaldes, the curate of Los Palacios, there is a long tract on the subject of the discoveries of Columbus; it concludes with these words: Murid en Valladolid, el arlo de 1506, en el vies de Mayo, in senec- tute bona, de edad 70 aiios, poco mas 6 menos. (He died in Valladolid in the year 1506, in the month of May, in a good old age, being seventy years old, a little more or less.) The curate of Los Palacios was a contemporary, and an intimate friend of Columbus, who was occasionally a guest in his house; no one was more competent, therefore, to form a correct idea of his age. It is singular that, while the bio¬ graphers of Columbus have been seeking to establish the epoch of his birth by various calculations and conjectures, this direct testimony of honest Andre Ber¬ naldes has entirely escaped their notice, though some of them had his manuscript in their hands. It was first observed by my accurate friend Don Antonio Uguiua in the course of his exact investigations, and has been pointed out and ably sup¬ ported by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarette, in the introduction to his valuable collection of voyages. Various circumstances in the life of Columbus will be found to corroborate the statement of the curate; such, for example, as the increasing infirmities with which he struggled during his voyages, and which at last rendered him a cripple and con¬ fined him to his bed. The allusion to his advanced age in one of his letters to the sovereigns, wherein he relates the consolation he had received from a secret voice in the night season: Tu vejez no impedira a, toda cosa grande. Abraham pasaba den aiios cuando engendro a Isaac, etc. (Thy old age shall be no impediment to any great undertaking. Abraham was above a hundred years old when he begat Isaac, etc.) The permission granted him by the king the year previous to his death to travel on a mule, instead of a horse, on account of his age and, infirmities; and the assertion of Oviedo, that at the time of his death he was quite old ( era ya Virgo) This fact of the advanced age of Columbus throws quite a new coloring over his character and history. How much more extraordinary is the ardent enthusiasm which sustained him through his long career of solicitation, and the noble pride with which he refused to descend from his dignified demands, and to bargain about Ins APPENDIX. 651 proposition, though life was rapidly wasting in delays. How much more extraor¬ dinary is the hai'dihood with which he undertook repeated voyages into unknown seas, amid all lands of perils and hardships; the fortitude with which he bore up against an accumulation of mental and bodily afflictions, enough to have dis¬ heartened and destroyed the most youthful and robust, and the irrepressible buoy¬ ancy of spirit with which to the last he still rose from under the ruined concerns and disappointed hopes and blasted projects of one enterprise, to launch into an¬ other, still more difficult and perilous. We have been accustomed to admire all these things in Columbus when we con¬ sidered him in the full vigor of his life; how much more are they entitled to our wonder as the achievements of a man whom the weight of years and infirmities was pressing into the grave. No. V. LINEAGE OF COLUMBUS. The ancestry of Christopher Columbus has formed a point of zealous controversy which is not yet satisfactorily settled. Several honorable families, possessing do¬ mains in Placentia, Montferrat, and the different parts of the Genoese territories, claim him as belonging to their houses; and to these has recently been added the noble family of Colombo in Modena.* The natural desire to prove consanguinity with a man of distinguished renown has excited this rivalry; but it has been heightened, in particular instances, by the hope of succeeding to titles and situa¬ tions of wealth and honor, when his male line of descendants became extinct. The investigation is involved in particular obscurity, as even his immediate relatives appear to have been in ignorance on the subject. Fernando Columbus in his biography of the admiral, after a pompous prelude, in which he attempts to throw a vague and cloudy magnificence about the origin of his father, notices slightly the attempts of some to obscure his fame, by making him a native of various small and insignificant villages; and dwells with more complacency upon others who make him a native of places in which there were per¬ sons of much honor of the name, and many sepulchral monuments with arms and epitaphs of the Colombos. He relates his having himself gone to the castle of Cucureo, to visit his two brothers of the family of Colombo, who were rich and noble, the youngest of whom was above one hundred years of age, and who he had heard were relatives of his father; but they could give him no information upon the subject; whereupon he breaks forth into his professed contempt for these ad¬ ventitious claims, declaring, that he thinks it better to content himself with dating from the glory of the admiral, than to go about inquiring whether his father “ were a merchant, or one who kept his hawks;”t since, adds he, of persons of similar pursuits, there are thousands who die every day, whose memory, even among their own neighbors and relatives, perishes immediately, without its being possible after¬ ward to ascertain even whether they existed. After this, and a few more expressions of similar disdain for these empty distinc¬ tions, he indulges in vehement abuse of Agostino Guistiniani, whom he calls a false historian, an inconsiderate, partial, or malignant compatriot, for having, in his psalter, traduced his father, by saying, that in his youth he had been employed in mechanical occupations. As. after all this discussion, Fernando leaves the question of his father's parentage in all its original obscurity, yet appears irritably sensitive to any derogatory sug- * Spotorno, Hist. Mem., p. 5. t Literally, in the original, Cazador de Volateria , a falconer. Hawking w T as in those days an amusement of the highest classes; and to keep hawks w r as almost a sign of nobility. 652 APPENDIX. gestions of others, his whole evidence tends to the conviction that he really knew nothing to boast of in his ancestry. Of the nobility and antiquity of the Colombo family, of which the admiral prob¬ ably was a remote descendant, we have some account in Herrera. “ We learn,” he says, “ that the Emperor Otto the Second, in 940, confirmed to the counts Pietro, Giovanni, and Alexandra Colombo, brothers, the feudatory possessions which they held within the jurisdiction of the cities of Ayqui, Savona, Aste, Montferrato, Turin, Viceli, Parma, Cremona, and Bergamo, and all others which they held in Italy. It appears that the Colombos of Cuccaro, Cucureo, and Placentia were the same, and that the Emperor in the same year, 940, made donation to the said three brothers of the castles of Cuccaro, Conzano, Rosignano, and others, and of the fourth part of Bistanio, which appertained to the empire.* One of the boldest attempts of those biographers bent on ennobling Columbus, has been to make him son of the Lord of Cuccaro, a burgh of Montferrat, in Pied¬ mont, and to prove that he was born in his father’s castle at that place; whence he and his brothers eloped at an early age, and never returned. This was asserted in the course of a process brought by a certain Baldasser or Balthazar Colombo, resident in Genoa, but originally of Cuccaro, claiming the title and estates, on tlio death of Diego Colon, Duke of Veragua, in 1578, the great-grandson and last legiti¬ mate male descendant of the admiral. The council of the Indies decided against this claim to relationship. Some account of the lawsuit will be found in another part of the work. This romantic story, like all others of the nobility of his parentage, is at utter variance with the subsequent events of his life, his long struggles with indigence and obscurity, and the difficulties he endured from the want of family connections. How can it be believed, says Bossi, that this same man, who, in his most cruel adversities, was incessantly taunted by his enemies with the obscurity of his birth, should not reply to this reproach, by declaring his origin, if he were really descend¬ ed from the Lords of Cuccaro, Conzano, and Rosignano? a circumstance which would have obtained him the highest credit with the Spanish nobility. + The different families of Colombo w r hich lay claim to the great navigator seem to be various branches of one tree, and there is' little doubt of his appertaining re¬ motely to the same respectable stock. It appears evident, however, that Columbus sprang immediately from a line of humble but industrious citizens, which had existed in Genoa, even from the time of Giacomo Colombo, the wool-carder, in 1311, mentioned by Spotorno; nor is this in any wise incompatible with the intimation of Fernando Columbus, that the family had been reduced from high estate to great poverty, by the wars of Lom¬ bardy. The feuds of Italy, in those ages, had broken down and scattered many of the noblest families; and while some branches remained in the lordly heritage of castles and domains, others were confounded with the humblest population of the cities. No. VI. BIRTHPLACE OP COLUMBUS. There has been much controversy about the birthplace of Columbus. The great ness of his renown has induced various places to lay claim to him as a native, and from motives of lauda,ble pride, for nothing reflects greater lustre upon a city than „o have given birth to distinguished men. The original and long-established opinion was in favor of Genoa; but such strenuous claims were asserted by the states of Placentia, and in particular of Piedmont, that the Academy of Sciences and Letters of Genoa was induced, in 1812, to nominate three of its members, Signors Serra, Carrega, and Piaggio, commissioners to examine into these pretensions. * Herrera, decad. i. lib. i. cap. 7. + Dissertation, etc. APPENDIX. 65 3 The claims of Placentia had been first advanced in 1662, by Pietro Maria Campi, in the ecclesiastical history of that place, who maintained that Columbus was a native of the village of Pradello, in that vicinity. It appeared probable, on investi¬ gation, that Bertolino Colombo, great-grandfather to the admiral, had owned a small property in Pradello, the rent of which had been received by Domenico Colombo of Genoa, and after his death by his sons Christopher and Bartholomew. Admitting this assertion to be correct, there was no proof that either the admiral, his father, or grandfather had ever resided on that estate. The very circumstances of the case indicated, on the contrary, that their home was in Genoa. The claim of Piedmont was maintained with more plausibility. It was shown that a Domenico Colombo was lord of the castle of Cuccaro in Montferrat, at the time of the birth of Christopher Columbus, w r ho, it was asserted, was his son, and born in his castle. Balthazar Colombo, a descendant of this person, instituted a lawsuit before the Council of tiie Indies for the inheritance of the admiral, when his male line became extinct. The Council of the Indies decided against him, as is shown in an account of that process given among the illustrations of this history. It was proved that Domenico Colombo, father of the admiral, was resident in Genoa both before and many years after the death of this lord of Cuccaro, who bore the same name. The three commissioners appointed by the Academy of Science and Letters of Genoa to examine into these pretensions, after a long and diligent investigation, gave a voluminous and circumstantial report in favor of Genoa. An ample digest of their inquest may be found in the History of Columbus b} r Signor Bossi, who, in an able dissertation on the question, confirms their opinion. It may be added, in further corroboration, that Peter Martyr and Bartholomew Las Casas, who were contemporaries and acquaintances of Columbus, and Juan de Barros, the Portu¬ guese historian, all make Columbus a native of the Genoese territories. There has been a question fruitful of discussion among the-Genoese themselves, whether Columbus was born in the city of Genoa, or in some other part of the territory. Finale, and Oneglia, and Savona, towns on the Ligurian coast to the west, Boggiasco, Cogoleto, and several other towns and villages, claim him as their own. His family possessed a small property at a village or hamlet between Quin to and Nervi, called Terra Rossa; in Latin, Terra Rubra; which has induced some writers to assign his birth to one of those places. Bossi says that there is still a tower between Quinto and Nervi which bears the title of Torre del Colombia Bartholomew Columbus, brother to the admiral, styled himself of Terra Rubra, in a Latin inscription on a map which he presented to Henry VII. of England, and Fernando Columbus states, in his history of the admiral, that he was accustomed to subscribe himself in the same manner before he attained to his dignities. | Cogoleto at one time bore away the palm. The families there claim the dis¬ coverer, and preserve a portrait of him. One or both of the admirals named Colombo, with whom he sailed, are stated to have come from that place, and to have been confounded with him so as to have given support to this idea.t Savona, a city in the Genoese territories, has claimed the same honor, and this claim has recently been very strongly brought forward. Signor Giovanni Battista Belloro. an advocate of Savona, has strenuously maintained this claim in an inge¬ nious disputation, dated May 12t,h, 1826, in form of a letter to the Baron du Zach, editor of a valuable astronomical and geographical journal, published monthly at Genoa.$ Signor Belloro claims it as an admitted fact, that Domenico Colombo was for * Bossi. French Translation, Paris, 1824, p. 69. + Ibid. * Correspondence Astronom. Geograph, etc., de Baron du Zach, vol. 14, cahier 6, lattera 2 J. 1826. 654 APPENDIX. many years a resident and citizen of Savona, in which place one Christopher Colum¬ bus is shown to have signed a document in 1472. He states that a public square in that city bore the name of Platea Columbi, toward the end of the 14th century; that the Ligurian government gave the name of Jurisdizione di Colombi to that district of the republic, under the persuasion that the great navigator was a native of Savona, and that Columbus gave the name of Saona to a little island adjacent to Hispaniola, among his earliest discoveries. He quotes many Saronese writers, principally poets, and various historians and poets of other countries, and thus establishes the point that Columbus was held to be a native of Savona by persons of respectable authority. He lays particular stress on the testimony of the Ivlagnifico Francisco Spinola, as related by the learned prelate Felippo Alberto Poilero, stating that he had seen the sepulchre of Christo¬ pher Columbus in the cathedral at Seville, and that the epitaph states him expressly to be a native of .Savona: “ Hie jacet Christophorus Columbus Savonensis.”* The proofs advanced by Signor Belloro show his zeal for the honor of his native city, but do not authenticate the fact he undertakes to establish. He shows clearly that many respectable writers believed Columbus to be a native of Savona; but a far greater number can be adduced, and many of them contemporary with the admiral, some of them his intimate friends, others his fellow-citizens, who state him to have been born in the city of Genoa. Among the Savonese writers, Giulio Sali- norio, who investigated the subject, comes expressly to the same conclusion: “ Genova , cittd nobilissima , era lapatria de Colombo .” Signor Belloro appears to be correct in stating that Domenico, the father of the admiral, was several years resident in Savona. But it appears from his own dis¬ sertation, that the Christopher who witnessed the testament in 1472, styled himself of Genoa: “ Christophorus Columbus lanerius de Janua .” This incident is stated by other writers, who presume this Christopher to have been the navigator on a visit to his father, in the interval of his early voyages. In as far as the circum¬ stance bears on the point, it supports the idea that he was born at Genoa. The epitaph, on which Signor Belloro places his principal reliance, entirely fails. Christopher Columbus was not interred in the cathedral of Seville, nor was any monument erected to him in that edifice. The tomb to which the learned pi’elate Felippo Alberto Poilero alludes may have been that of Fernando Columbus, son to the admiral, who, as has been already observed, was buried in the cathedral of Seville, to which he bequeathed his noble library. The place of his sepulture is designated by a broad slab of white marble, inserted in the pavement, with an in¬ scription, partly in Spanish, partly in Latin, recording the merits of Fernando and the achievements of his father. On either side of the epitaph is engraved an ancient Spanish Galley. The inscription quoted by Signor Belloro may have been erro¬ neously written from memory by the Magnifico Francisco Spino’n, under the mistaken idea that he had beheld the sepulchre of the great discoverer. As Fer¬ nando was born at Cordova, the term Savonensis must have been another error of memory in the Magnifico; no such word is to be found in the inscription. This question of birthplace has also been investigated with considerable minute¬ ness, and a decision given in favor of Genoa, by D. Gio Battista Spotorno, of the royal university in that city, in his historical memoir of Columbus. He shows that the family of the Columbi had long been resident in Genoa. By an extract from the notarial register, it appeared that one Giacomo Colombo, a wool-carder, resided without the gate of St. Andria, in the year 1311. An agreement, also, published by the academy of Genoa, proved, that in 1489, Domenico Colombo possessed a house and shop, and a garden with a well, in the street of St. Andrew’s gate, anciently without the -walls, presumed to have been the same residence with that of Giacomo * Felippo Alberto Poilero, Epicherema. cio6 breve discorso per difesa di sua per- soua e carrattere. Torino, er Gio Battista Zappata. I&CDXUVI. (read 1690) in pag. 47. APPENDIX. 655 Colombo. He rented also another house from the monks of St, Stephen, in the Via Mulcento, leading from the street of St. Andrew to the Strada Giulia.* * * § Signor Bossi states, that documents latelj'' found in the archives of the monastery of St. Stephen, present the name of Domenico Colombo several times, from 1456 t-> 1459, and designate him as son of Giovanni Colombo, husband of Susanna Fontana- rossa, and father of Christopher, Bartholomew, and Giacomo, + (or Diego). He states also that the receipts of the canons show that the last payment of rent was made by Domenico Colombo for his dwelling in 1489. He surmises that the admiral was born in the before-mentioned house belongingto those monks, in Via Mulcento, and that he was baptized in the church of St. Stephen. He adds that an ancient manuscript was submitted to the commissioners of the Genoese academy, in the margin of which the notary had stated that the name of Christopher was on the register of the parish as having been baptized in that church .% Andres Bernaldez, the curate of los Palacios, who was an intimate friend of of Columbus, says that he was of Genoa.§ Agostino Giustiniani, a contemporary of Columbus, likewise asserts it in his Polyglot Psalter, published in Genoa, in 1516. Antonio de Herrera, an author of great accuracy, who, though not a contemporary, had access to the best documents, asserts decidedly that he was born in the city of Genoa. To these names nay be added that of Alexander Geraldini, brother to the nuncio, and instructor to the children of Ferdinand and Isabella, a most intimate friend of Columbus.H Also Antonio Gallo,5 Bartolomeo Senarega,** and Uberto Foglieta,++ all contemporaries with the admiral, and natives of Genoa, together with an anony¬ mous writer, who published an account of his voyage of discovery at Venice in 1569. XX It is unnecessary to mention historians of later date agreeing in the same fact, as they must have derived their information from some of these authorities. The question in regard to the birthplace of Columbus has been treated thus minutely, because it has been, and still continues to be, a point of warm contro¬ versy. It may be considered, however, as conclusively decided by the highest authority, the evidence of Columbus himself. In a testament executed in 1498, which has been admitted in evidence before the Spanish tribunals in certain law¬ suits among his descendants, he twice declares that he was a native of the city of •Genoa: “ Sicndo yo navido en Genova .” “ I being born in Genoa.” And again, he repeats the assertion, as a reason for enjoining certain conditions on his heirs, which manifest the interest he takes in his native place. “I command the said Diego, my son, or the person who inherits the said mayoraago (or entailed estate!, that he maintain always in the city of Genoa a person of our lineage, who shall have a house and a wife there, and to furnish him with an income on which he can live decently, as a person connected with our family, and hold footing and root in that city as a native of it, so that he may have aid and favor in that city in case of need, for from thence I came and there was &om.”§§ * Spotorno, Eng. trans. p. xi. xii. t Bossi, French trans. p. 76. X Ibid., p. 88. § Cura de los Palacios, ms. cap. 118. D Alex. Geraldini, Itin. ad. Reg. sub. Aquinor. 1 Antonio Gallo, Anales of Genoa, Muratori, tom. 23. ** Senaregi, Muratori, tom. 24. t+ Foglieta, Elog. Clar. Ligur. tt Grineus, Nov. Orb. §§ “ Item. Mando el dicho Don Diego mi hijo, & la persona que heredare ei dicho mayorazgo. que tenga y sostenga siempre en la ciudad de Genova una persona de nuestro linage que tenga alii casa e le ordene renta con que pueda vivir honesta- mente. como persona tan llegada 4 nuestro linage, y haga pie y raiz en la uicna ciudad como natural della, porque podrd haber de la dicha ciudad ayuda e favor ** bis eosas del menester suyo .pues que della sali y en ella naeiP 656 APPENDIX. In another part of his testament he expresses himself with a filial fondness in respect to Genoa. I command the said Don Diego, or whoever shall possess the said mayorazgo, that he labor and strive always for the honor, and welfare, and increase of the city of Genoa, and employ all his abilities and means in defending and augmenting the welfare and honor of her republic, in all matters which are not contrary to the service of the church of God, and the state of the king and queen our sovereigns, and their successors.” An informal codicil, executed by Columbus at Valladolid, May 4th, 1506, sixteen days before his death, was discovered about 1785, in the Corsini library at Rome. •It is termed a military codicil, from being made in the manner which the civil law allows to the soldier who executes such an instrument on the eve of battle, or in expectation of death. It was written on the blank page of a little breviary pre¬ sented to Columbus by Pope Alexander VII. Columbus leaves the book “ to his beloved country, the Republic of Genoa.” He directs the erection of a hospital in that city for the poor, with provision for its support; and he declares that republic his successor in the admiralty of the Indies, in the event of his male line becoming extinct. The authenticity of this paper has been questioned. It has been said, that there was no probability of Columbus having resort to a usage with which he was most likely unacquainted. The objections are not cogent. Columbus was accustomed to the peculiarities of a military life, and he repeatedly wrote letters in critical moments as a precaution against some fatal occurrence that seemed to impend. The present codicil, from its date, must have been written a few days previous to his death, perhaps at a moment when he imagined himself at extremity. This may account for any difference in the handwriting, espccialty as he was, at times, so affected by the gout in his hands not to be able to write except at night. Particular stress has been laid on the signature; but it does not appear that he was uniform i;\ regard to that, and it is a point to which any one who attempted a forgery woulu be attentive. It does not appear, likewise, that any advantage could have been obtained oy forging the paper, or that any such was attempted. In 1502, when Columbus was about to depart on his fourth and last voyage, he wrote to nis friend, Doctor Nicolo Oderigo, formerly ambassador from Genoa to Spain, and fonvarded to him copies of all his grants and commis ions from the* Spanisl sovereigns, authenticated before the alcaldes of Seville. He, at the same time, w’ofce to the bank of San Giorgio, at Genoa, assigning a tenth of his revenues to be paid to that city, in diminution of the duties on corn, wine, and other pro¬ visions. Why should Columbus feel this strong interest in Genoa, had he been born in any of the other Italian states which have laid claim to him? He was under-no obliga¬ tion to Genoa. He had resided there but a brief portion of his early life; and his proposition for discovery, according to some writers, had been scornfully rejected by that republic. There is nothing to warrant so strong an interest in Genoa but the filial tie which links the heart of man to his native place, however he may bo separated from it by time or distance, and however little he may be indebted to it for favors. Again, had Columbus been born in any of the towns and villages of the Genoese coast which have claimed him for a native, why should he have made these be¬ quests in favor of the city of Genoa, and not of his native town or village? These bequests were evidently dictated by a mingled sentiment of pride and effection, which would be without all object if not directed to his native place. He was at this time elevated above all petty pride on the subject. His renown was so brilliant, that it would have shed a lustre on any hamlet, however obscure; and the strong love of country here manifested would never have felt satisfied, until it had singled out the spot, and nestled down in the very cradle of his infancy. These ap¬ pear to be powerful reasons, drawn from natural feeling, for deciding in favor of Genoa. APPENDIX No. VII. THE COLOMBOS * During the early part of the life of Columbus there were two other navigators, I bearing the same name, of some rank and celebrity, with whom he occasionally sailed; their names occurring vaguely from time to time, during the obscure part of his career, have caused much perplexity to some of his biographers, who have supposed that they designated the discoverer. Fernando Columbus affirms them to have been family connections,* and his father says, in one of his letters, “I am not the first admiral of our family.” These two were uncle and nephew: the latter being termed by historians Colom¬ bo the younger (by the Spanish historians Colombo el mozo). They were in the Genoese service, but are mentioned, occasionally, in old chronicles as French com¬ manders, because Genoa, during a great part of their time, was under the protec¬ tion, or rather the sovereignity of France, and her ships and captains, being en¬ gaged in the expeditions of that power, were identified with the French marine. Mention is made of the elder Colombo in Zurita’s Annals of Arragon (L. xix. p. 261). in the war between Spain and Portugal, on the subject of the claim of the Princess Juana to the crown of Castile. In 1476, the King of Portugal determined to go to the Mediterranean coast of France, to incite his ally, Louis XL, to prosecute the war in the province of Guipuzcoa. The king left Toro, says Zurita, on the 13th of June, and went by the river to the city of Porto, in order to await the armada of the king of France, the captain of which was Colon (Colombo), who was to navigate by the Straits of Gibraltar to pass to Marseilles. After some delays Colombo arrived in the latter part of July with the French armada at Bermeo, on the coast of Biscay, where he encountered a violent storm, lost his principal ship, and ran to the coast of Galicia, with an intention of attack¬ ing Ribaldo, and lost a great many of his men. Thence he went to Lisbon to re¬ ceive the King of Portugal, who embarked in the fleet in August, with a number of his noblemen, and took two thousand two hundred foot soldiers, and four hundred and seventy horse, to strengthen the Portugese garrisons along the Barbary coast. There were in the squadron twelve ships and five caravels. After touching at Ceuta the fleet proceeded to Colibre, where the king disembarked in the middle of Sep¬ tember, the weather not permitting them to proceed to Marseilles. (Zurita, L. xix. Ch 51.) This Colombo is evidently the naval commander of whom the following mention is made by Jacques George de Chaufepie, in his supplement to Bayle (vol. 2, p. 126 of letter C). I do not know what dependence,” says Chaufepie, “ is to be placed on a fact im¬ ported in the Ducatinna (Part 1, p. 143), that Columbus was in 1474 captain of sev¬ eral ships for Louis XI., and that, as the Spaniards had made at that time an irrup¬ tion into Roussillon, he thought that, for reprisal, and without contravening the peace between the two crowns, he could run down Spanish vessels. He attacked, | therefore, and took two galleys of that nation, freighted on the account of various individuals. On complaints of this action beirPg made to King Ferdinand, he wrote on the subject to Louis XI.; his letter is dated the 9th of December, 1474. Ferdi¬ nand terms Christopher Columbus a subject of Louis; it was because, as is known, Columbus was a Genoese, and Louis was soverign of Genoa: although that city and Savona were held of him in fief by the Duke of Milan.” It is highly probable that it was the squadron of this same Colombo of whom the circumstance is related by Bossi, and after him by Spotorno on the authority of a * Hist, del Almirante, cap. I. 658 APPEND >X. ■*. letter found in the archives of Milan, and written in 1476 by two illustrious Milanese gentlemen, on their return from Jerusalem. The ieiit-r states that in the previous year, 1475, as the Venetian fleet was stationed off Cyprus to guard the island, a Gen¬ oese squadron, commanded by one Colombo, sailed by them with an air of defiance, shouting “ Viva San Giorgia!” As the republics were then at peace they were per¬ mitted to pass unmolested. Bossi supposes that the Colombo here mentioned was Christopher Columbus the discoverer; but it appears rather to have been the end Genoese admiral of ihat name, who according to Zurita was about that time cruising in the Mediterranean; and who, in all probability, was the hero of both the preceeding occurrences. The nephew of this Colombo, called by the Spanish Colomoo el mozo, command¬ ed a few years afterward a squadron in the French service, as will appeal in a sub¬ sequent illustration, and Columbus may at various times have held an inferior command under both uncle and nephew, and been piesent on the above cited occasions. No. VIII. EXPEDITION OF JOHN OF ANJOU. About the time that Columbus attained his twenty-fourth year, his native city was in a state of greart alarm and peril from the threatened invasion of Alphonse V. of Aragon, King of Naples. Finding itself too weak to contend singly with such a foe, and having in vain looked for assistance from Italy, it placed itself under the protection of Charles the Vllth of France. That monarch sent to its assistance John of Anjou, son of Ren6 or Renato, King ot Naples, wdio had been dispossessed of his crowm by Alphonso. John of Anjou, otherwise called the Duke of Calabria,* immediately took upon himself the command of the place, repaired its fortifica¬ tions, and defended the entrance of the harbor with strong chains. In the mean¬ time, Alphonso had prepared a large land force, and assembled an armament of twenty ships and ten galleys at Ancona, on the frontiers of Genoa. The situation of the latter was considered eminently perilous, when Alphonso suddenly Tell ill of a calenture and died, leaving the kingdoms of Anjou and bicily to h'is brother John, and the kingdom of Naples to his son Ferdinand. The death of Alphonso, and the subsequent division of his dominions, wdiile they relieved the fears of the Genoese, gave rise to new hopes on the part of the house of Anjou; and the Duke John, encouraged by emissaries from various powerful partisans among the Neapolitan nobility, determined to make a bold attempt upon Naples for the recovery of the crown. The Genoese entered into his cause with spirit, furnishing him with ships, galleys, and money. His father Rene or Renato, fitted out twelve galleys for the expedition in the harbor of Marseilles, and sent him assurance of an abundant supply of money, and of the ’assistance of the king of France. The brilliant nature of the enterprise attracted the attention of the daring and restless spirits of the times. The chivalrous nobleman, the soldier of fortune, the hardy corsair, the bold adventurer or the military partisan, enlisted under the banners of the Duke of Calabria. It is stated by historians that Columbus served in the armament from Genoa, in a squadron commanded by one of the Colombos, his relations. The expedition sailed in October, 1459, and arrived at Sessa between the mouths of the Garigliano and the Volturno. The news of its arrival w r as the signal of uni¬ versal revolt; the factious barons, and their vassals, hastened to join the standard of Anjou, and the duke soon saw the finest provinces of the Neapolitan dominions at his command, and w ith his army and squadron menaced the city of Naples itself. • Duke of Calabria was a title of the heir apparent to the crown of Naples. APPENDIX . 65 9 In the history of this expedition we meet with one hazardous action of the fleet in which Columbus had embarked. The army of John of Anjou being closely invested by a superior force, was in a perilous predicament at the mouth of the Sarno. In this conjuncture, the captain of the armada landed with his men, and scoured the neighborhood, hoping to ' awaken in the populace their former enthusiasm for the banner of Anjou, and perhaps to take Naples by surprise. A chosen company of Neapolitan infantry was sent against them. The troops from the fleet having little of the discipline of regular soldiery, and much of the freebooting disposition of maritime rovers, had scattered themselves about the country, intent chiefly upon spoil. They were at¬ tacked by the infantry and put to rout, with the loss of many killed and wounded. Endeavoring to make their way back to the ships, they found the passes seized and blocked up by the people of Sorento, who assailed them with dreadful havoc. Their flight now became desperate and headlong, many threw themselves from rocks and precipices into the sea, and but a small portion regained the ships. The contest of John of Anjou for the crown of Naples lasted four years. For a time fortune favored him, and the prize seemed almost within his grasp, but re¬ verses succeeded; he was defeated at various points; the factious nobles, one by one, deserted him, and returned to their allegiance to Alphonso, and the duke was finally compelled to retire to the island of Ischia. Here he remained for some time, guarded by eight galleys, which likewise harassed the bay of Naples.* In this squadron, which loyally adhered to him, until he ultimately abandoned this unfor¬ tunate enterprise, Columbus is stated to have served. No IX. CAPTURE OP THE VENETIAN GALLEYS BY COLOMBO THE YOUNGER. As the account of the sea-fight -/ which Fernando Columbus asserts that his father was first thrown upon the shores of Portugal has been adopted by various respectable historians, it is proper to give particular reasons for discrediting it. Fernando expressly says that it was in an action mentioned by Marco Antonio Sabelico, in the eighth book of his tenth Decade; that the squadron in which Col¬ umbus served was commanded by a famous corsair, called Columbus the younger (Colombo el mozo), and that an embassy was sent from Venice to thank the King of Portugal for the succor he afforded to the Venetian captains and crews. All this is certainly recorded in Sabellicus, but the battle took place in 1485, after Colum¬ bus had left Portugal. Zurita in his annals of Aragon, under the date of 1085, men¬ tions this same action. He says, “ At this time four Venetian galleys sailed from the island of Cadiz, and took the route for Flanders; they were laden with mer- j chandise from the Levant, especially from the island of Sicily, and passing by Cape St. Vincent, they were attacked by a French corsair, son of captain Colon (Colom¬ bo), who had seven vessels in his armada; and the galleys were captured the twen- I ty-first of August.”+ A much fuller accout is given in the life of King John IT. of Portugal, by Garcia de Resende, who likewise records it as happening in 1485. He says the Venetian galleys were taken and robbed by the French and the captains and crews, wounded, plundered, and maltreated, tvere turned on shore at Cascoes. Here they were suc- j cored by Doha Maria de Meneses, Countess of Monsanto. When King John II. heard of the circumstance, being much grieved that such an j event should have happened on his coast, and being disposed to show his friendship for the Republic of Venice, he ordered that the Venetian captains should oe fur- * Golenuccio. Hist. Nap., lib. viii. cap. 17. t Zurita, Anales d© Aragon, lib. xx. cap. 64. 660 APPENDIX. nished with rich raiment of silks and costly cloths, and provided with horses and mules, that they might make their appearance before him in a style befitting them¬ selves and their country. He received them with great kindness and distinction, expressing himself with princely courtesy, both as to themselves and the Republic of Venice; and having heard their account of the battle, and of their destitute sit¬ uation, he assisted them with a large sum of money to ransom their galleys from the French cruisers. The latter took all the merchandise on board of their ships, but King John prohibited any of the spoil from being purchased within his domin¬ ions. Having thus generously relieved and assisted the captains, and administered to the necessities of their crews, he enabled them all to return in their own galleys to Venice. The dignitaries of the republic were so highly sensible of this munificence on the part of King John, that they sent a stately embassy to that monarch, with rich presents and warm expressions of gratitude. Geronimo Donate was charged with this mission, a man eminent for learning and eloquence; he was honorably received and entertained by King John and dismissed with royal presents, among which were genets, and mules with sumptuous trappings and caparisons, and many negro slaves richly clad.* The following is the account of this action as given by Sabellicus, in his history of Venice:! Erano andate quattro Galee delle quali Bartolommeo Minio era capitano. Queste navigando per l’Jberico mare, Colombo il plh giovane, nipote di quel Colombo famoso corsale, fecesi incontro a’ Veniziani di notte, appresso il sacro Promontorio, che chiamasi ora capo di san Vincenzo, con sette navi guernite da combattere. Egli quantunque nel primo incontro avesse seco disposto d’ opprimere le navi Veni- ziane, si ritenne perd dal combattere sin al giorno: tuttavia per esser alia battaglia pint acconcio cosi le seguia, che le prode del corsale toccavano le poppe de Veni¬ ziani. Venuto il giorno incontanente i Barbari diedero P assalto. Sostennero i Veniziani allora 1’ empito del nemico, per numero di navi e di combattenti supe- riore, e durd il conftkto atroce per molte ore. Rare fiate fu combattuto coutrc simili nemici con tanta uccisione, perche a pena si costuma d’ attaccarsi contro di loro, se non per occasione. Affermano alcuni, che vi furono present!, esser morte delle ciurme Veniziane da trecento uomini. Altri dicono che fu meno: mori in quella zuffa Lorenzo Michele capitano d’ una galera e Giovanni Delfino, d’ altro capitano fratello. Era dural,a lat zuffa dal fare del giorno fin’ ad ore venti, e ?ranc le genti Veneziane mal trattate. Era gia la nave Delfina in potere de’ nemlC quando le altre ad una ad una si renderono. Narrano alcuni, che furono di quel aspro conflitto partecipi, aver numerato nelle loro navi da prode a poppe ottante valorosi uomini estinti, i quali dal nemico veduti lo mossero a gemere e dire cor sdegno, che cosi avevano voluto, i Veniziani. I corpi morti furono get.tati nel marc, e i feriti posti nel lido. Quei che rimasero vivi seguirono con e navi il capitanc vittorioso sin’a Lisbona e ivi furono tutti licenziati. . . . Quivi furono i Vene ziani benignamente ricevuti dal Re, gli infermi furono medicau. gli altri ebberc abiti e denari secondo la loro condizione. . . . Oltre cid vietd in tutto il Regno che alcuno non comprasse della preda Veniziana, portata dai corsali La nuo.va dell’ avuta rovina non poco afflisse la citta. erano perdnti in quella. mercatanzia de ducento mila ducati; ma il danno particolare degli uomini uccisi diede maggioi afflizioue.— Marc. Ant. Sabelico, Hist. Venet ., decad. iv. lib. iii. * Obras de Garcia de Resende, cap. 58, Avora, 1554. t Marco Antonio Coccio, better known under the name of Sabellicus, a cognomen which he adopted on being crowned poet in the pedantic academy of Pomponius Leetus. He was a contemporary of Columbus, and makes brief mention of his dis coveries in the eighth book of the tenth Ennead of his universal history. By somt writers he is called the Livy of his time; others accuse him of being full of misrep resentations in favor of Venice. The older Scaliger charges him with venality, and with being swayed by Venetian gold. APPENDIX. 661 No. X. AMERIGO VESPUCCI. Among the earliest and most intelligent of the voyagers who followed tho track of Columbus, was Amerigo Vespucci. He has been considered by many as the first discoverer of the southern continent, and by a singular caprice of fortune, his name has been given to the whole of the New World. It has been strenuously insisted, however, that he had no claim to the title of a discoverer; that he merely sailed in a subordinate capacity in a squadron commanded by others; that the account of his first voyage is a fabrication; and that he did not visit the mainland until after it had been discovered and coasted by Columbus. As this question has been made a i matter of warm and voluminous controversy, it is proper to take a summary view of it in the present work. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, March 8th, 1451, of a noble, but not at that time wealthy family; his father’s name was Anastatio; his mother’s was Eliza- betta Mini. He was the third of their sons, and received an excellent education under his uncle, Georgio Antonio Vespucci, a learned friar of the fraternity of San 'Marco, who was instructor to several illustrious personages of that period. Amerigo Vespucci visited Spain, and took up his residence in Seville, to attend to some commercial transactions on account of the family of the Medici of Florence, and to repair, by his ingenuity, the losses and misfortunes of an unskilful brother.* The date of his arrival in Spain is uncertain, but from comparing dates and cir¬ cumstances mentioned in his letters, he must have been at Seville when Columbus returned from his first voyage. Padre Stanislaus Canovai, Professor of Mathematics at Florence, who has pub- isfied the life and voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, says that he was commissioned lyKing Ferdinand, and sent with Columbus in his second voyageiu 1493. He states -his on the authority of a passage in the Cosmography of Sebastian Munster, pub- ished at Basle in 1550;+ but Munster mentions Vespucci as having accompanied Columbus in his first voyage; the reference of Canovai is therefore incorrect; and he suggestion of Munster is disproved by the letters of Vespucci, in which he •tates his having been stimulated by the accounts brought of the newly discovered •egions. He never mentions such a voyage in any of his letters; which he most >robably would have done, or rather would have made it the subject of a copious etter, had he actually performed it. The first notice of a positive form which we have of Vespucci, as resident in ipain, is early in 1496. He appears, from documents in the royal archives at Seville, to have acted as agent or factor for the house of Juanoto Berardi, a rich Florentine merchant, resident in Seville, who had contracted to furnish the Span- ?h sovereigns with (hree several armaments, of four vessels each, for the service of i he newly discovered countries. He may have been one of the principals in this } ft'air, which was transacted in the name of this established house. Berardi died in >ecember, 1495, and in the following January ^ find Amerigo Vespucci attending o the concerns of the expeditions and settling with the masters of the ships for heir pay and maintenance, according to the agreements made between them and he late Juanoto Berardi. On the 12th January, 1496, lie received on this account 0,000 maravedis from Bernardo Pinelo the royal treasurer. He went on preparing H f H things for the dispatch of four caravels to sail under the same contract between | he sovereigns and the house of Berardi and sent them to sea on the 3d February, J196: but on the 8th they met with a storm and were wrecked; the crews were laved with the loss of only three men.+ While thus employed, Amerigo Vespucci, ,f course, had occasional opportunity of conversing with Columbus, with whom. — - - - ' * Baudini vita d’Amerigo Vespucci, j + Cosm. Munst., p. 1108. t These particulars are from manuscript memoranda, extracted from the royal rchives, by the late accurate historian Munoz. : 662 APPENDIX. according to the expression of the admiral himself, in one of his letters to his son Diego, he appears to have been always on friendly terms. From these conversa¬ tions, and fiom his agency in these expeditions, he soon became excited to visit the newly discovered countries, and to participate in enterprises which were the theme of every tongue. Having made himself well acquainted Avith geographical and nautical science, he prepared to launch into the career of discovery. It Avas not very long before he carried this design into execution. In 1498 Columbus, in his third voyage, discovered the coast of Paria on Terra Firma; AA r hich he at that time imagined to be a great island, but that a vast conti¬ nent lay immediately adjacent. He sent to Spain specimens of pearls found on this coast, and gave the most sanguine accounts of the supposed riches of the country. In 1499 an expedition of four vessels, under command of Alonzo de Ojeda, Avas fitted out from Spain, and sailed for Paria, guided by charts and letters sent to the government by Columbus. These were commuicated to Ojeda, by his patron, the Bishop Fonseca, Avho had the superintendence India affairs, and Avho furnished him also with a Avar rant to undertake the voyage. It is presumed that Vespucci aided in fitting out the armament, and sailed in a vessel belonging to the house of Berardi, and in this way Avas enabled to take a share in the gains and losses of the expedition; for Isabella, as Queen of Castile, had rigorously forbidden all strangers to trade Avith her transatlantic possessions, 1 not even excepting the natives of the kingdom of Aragon. This squadron visited Paria and several hundred miles of the coast, Avhich they t ascertained to be Terra Firma. They returned in June, 1500; and on the 18th of f July, in that year, Amerigo Vespucci Avrote an account of his voyage to Lorenzo de < Pier Francisco de Medici of Florence, which remained concealed in manuscript until l brought to light and published by Bandini in 1745. In his account of this voyage, and in every other narrative of his different expe < ditions, Vespucci never mentions any other person concerned in the enterprise. He gives the time of his sailing, and states that he went with tAvo caravels, Avhich were probably his share of the expedition, or rather vessels sent bj r the house of Berardi. He gives an interesting narrative of the voyage, and of the various transactions t Avith the natives, which corresponds, in many substantial points, Avith the accounts ; furnished by Ojeda and his mariners of their voyage, in a laAA r suit hereafter men¬ tioned. In May, 1501, Vespucci, having suddenly left Spain, sailed in the sendee of Eman uel, King of Portugal; in the course of Avhich expedition he visited the coast o 1 1 Brazil. He gives an account of this voyage in a second letter to Lorenzo de Piei Francisco de Medici, which also remained in manuscript until published by Barto lozziin 1789.* No record nor notice of any such voyage undertaken by Amerigo Vespucci, at the command of Emanuel, is to be found in the archives of the To.-re do Tombo. the general archives of Portugal, Avhich have been repeatedly and diligently searchec for the purpose. It is singular also that his name is not to be found in any of ti>< Portugese historians, Avho in general Avere A-ery particular in naming all navigators who held any important station among them, or rendered any distinguished ser¬ vices. That Vespucci did sail along the coasts, however, is not questioned. Hit nephew, after his death, in the course of evidence on some points in dispute, gav< the correct latitude of Cape St. Augustine, which he said he had extracted from hi; uncle's journal. In 1504 Vespucci wrote a third letter to the same Lorenzo de Medici, containing t more extended account of the voyage just alluded to in the service of Portugal This was the first of his narratives that appeared in print. It appears to have Aei published in Latin, at Strasburgh, as early as 1505, under the title “ Americus Ves putius de Orbe Antarctica per Begem Portugalliae pridem inventa.”t * Bartoloszi, Recherche Historico. Firenze, 1789. 4 Panzer, tom. vi. p. 33, apud Esame Critico, p. 88, Anotazione 1. APPENDIX. 663 An edition of this letter was printed in Vicenza in 1507, in an anony ious collec¬ tion of voyages edited by Francanzio di Monte Alboddo, an inhabitant of Vicenza. It was reprinted in Italian in 1508, at Milan, and also in Latin, in a book entitled “Itinerarium Portugalensium.” In making the present illustration, the Miian edition in Italian* has been consulted, and also a Latin translation of it by Simon Grinoeus, in his “Novus Orbis,” published at Basle in 1532. It relates entirely the first voyage of Vespucci from Lisbon to the Brazils in 1501. It is from this voyage to the Brazils that Amerigo Vespucci was first considered the discoverer of Terra Firma; and his name was at first applied to these southern regions, though afterward extended to the whole continent. The merits of his voy¬ age were, however, greatly exaggerated. The Brazils had been previously discov- j ered, and formally taken possession of for Spain in 1500, by Vincente Yailez Pin- zon; and also in the same year, by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on the part of Portugal; circumstances unknown, however, to Vespucci and his associates. The country re¬ mained in possession of Portugal, in conformity to the line of demarcation agreed on between the two nations. Vespucci made a second voyage in the service of Portugal. He says that he com¬ manded a caravel in a squadron of six vessels destined for the discovery of Malacca, which they had heard to be the great depot and magazine of all the trade between the Ganges and the Indian sea. Such an expedition did sail about this time, under the command of Gonzalo Coelho. The squadron sailed, according to Vespucci, on ) the 10th of May, 1503. It stopped at the Cape de Verd islands for refreshments, and afterward sailed by the coast of Sierra Leone, but was prevented from landing by contrary winds and a turbulent sea. Standing to the southwest, they ran three hundred leagues until they were three degrees to the southward of the equinoctial line, where they discovered an uninhabited island about two leagues in length and one in breadth. Here, on the 10th of August, by mismanagement, the commander of the squadron ran his vessel on a rock and lost her. While the other vessels were assisting to save the crew and property from the wreck, Amerigo Vespucci was dispatched in his caravel to search for a safe harbor in the island. He departed in his vessel without his long boat, and with less than half of his crew, the rest having gone in the boat to the assistance of the wreck. Vespucci found a harbor, but waited in vain for several days for the arrival of the ships. Standing out to sea he met with a solitary vessel, aud learned that the ship of the commander had sunk, and the rest had proceeded onward. In company with this vessel he stood for the j Brazils, according to a command of the king, in case that any vessel should be part¬ ed from the fleet. Arriving on the'coast he discovered the famous bay of All Saints, where he remained upward of two months, in hopes of being joined by the rest of the fleet. He at length ran two hundred and sixty leagues farther south, where he i remained five months building a fort and taking in a cargo of Brazil wood. Then, leaving in the fortress a garrison of twenty r -four men w r ith arms and ammunition, * This rare book, in the possession of O. Rich, Esq., is believed to be the oldest printed collection of voyages extant. It has not the pages numbered, the sheets are merely marked with a letter of the alphabet at the foot of each eighth page. It ! contains the earliest account of the voy'ages of Columbus, from his first departure until his arrival at Cadiz in chains. The letter of Vespucci to Lorenzo de Medici occupies the fifth book of this little volume. It is stated to have been originally written in Spanish, and translated into Italian by a person of the name of Jocondo. An earlier edition is stated to have been printed in Venice by Alberto Vercellese, in 1504. The author is said to have been Angelo Trivigiani, secretary to the Venetian ambassador in Spain. This Trivigiani appears to have collected many of the pan ticulars of the voyages of Columbus from the manuscript decades of Peter Marty’r, who erroneously' lays the charge of the plagiarism to Aloysius Cadamosto, whoso voyages are inserted in the same collection. The book was entitled “ Librelio d\ tutta la navigazione del Re de Espagna, della hole e terreni nuovamente trovati 664 APPENDIX. he set sail for Lisbon, where he arrived in June, 1504.* The commander of the squadron and the other four ships were never heard of afterward. Vespucci does not appear to have received the reward from the King of Portugal that his services merited, for we find him at Seville early in 1505, on his way to the Spanish court, in quest of employment; and he was bearer of a letter from Colum¬ bus to his son Diego, dated February 5th, which, while it speaks warmly of him as a friend, intimates his having been unfortunate. The following is the letter: * “ My dear Son : Diego Mendez departed hence on Monday, the third of this month. After his departure I conversed with Amerigo Vespucci, the bearer of this, who goes there (to court) summoned on affairs of navigation. Fortune has been adverse to him as to many others. His labors have not profited him as much as they reasonably should have done. He goes on my account, and with much de¬ sire to do something that may result to my advantage, if within his power. I cannot ascertain here in what I can employ him, that will be serviceable to me, for I do not know what may be there required, He goes with the determination to do all that is possible for me; see in what he may be of advantage and co-operate with him, that he may say and do everything, and put his plans in operation; and let all be done secretly, that he may not be suspected. I have said everything to him that I can say touching the business, and have informed him of the pay 1 have received, and what is due, etc.”+ About this time Amerigo Vespucci received letters of naturalization from King Ferdinand, and shortly afterward he and Vincente Yanez Pinzon were named cap¬ tains of an armada about to be sent out in the spice trade and to make discoveries. There is a royal order, dated Toro, 11th of April, 1507, for 12,000 maravedis for an outfit for“Americo de Vespuche, resident of Seville.” Preparations were made for this voyage, and vessels procured and fitted out, but it was eventually aban¬ doned. There are memoranda existing concerning it, dated in 1506, 1507, and 1508, from which it appears that Amerigo Vespucci remained at Seville, attending to the fluctuating concerns of this squadron, until the destination of the vessels was changed, their equipments were sold, and the accounts settled. During this time he had a salary of 30,000 maravedis. On the 22d of March, 1508, he received the appointment of principal pilot, with a salary of 70,000 maravedis. His chief duties were to prepare charts, examine pilots, superintend the fitting out of expeditions, aud prescribe the route that vessels were to pursue in their voyages to the New World. He appears to have remained at Seville, and to have retained this office until his death, on the 22d of February, 1512. His widow, Maria Corezo, enjoyed a pension of 10,000 maravedis. After his death, his nephew, Juan Vespucci, was nominated pilot with a salary of 20.000 maravedis, commencing on the 22d of May, 1512. Peter Martyr speaks with high commendation of this young man. “Young Vesputius is one to whom Americus Vesputius his uncle left the exact knowledge of the mariner's faculties, as it were by inheritance, after his death; for he was a very expert master in the knowledge of his carde, his compasse, and the elevation of the pole starre by the quadrant. . . . Vesputius is my very familiar friend, and a wittie young man, in whose company I take great pleasure, and therefore use him oftentymes for my guest. He hath also made many voyages into these coasts, and diligently noted such things as he hath seen.”j: Vespucci, the nephew, continued in this situation during the lifetime of Fonseca, who had been the patron of his uncle and his family. He was divested of his pay and his employ by a letter of the council, dated the 18th of March, 1525, shortly after the death of the bishop. No further notice of Vespucci is to be found in the archives of the Indies. i i i I t ii It in as ki JC i iii to 1 in itt fe SCI aii le H ie He; A is t Krs *8 k !s| &■ * Letter of Vespucci to Soderini or Renato—Edit, of Canovai. t Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. i. p. 351. t Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. v. Eden's English trans. APPENDIX. 605 Such is a brief view of the career of Amerigo Vespucci; it remains to notice the points of controversy. Shorty after his return from his last expedition to the Brazils, he wrote a letter dated Lisbon, 4th September, 1504, containing a summary account of all his voyages. This letter is of special importance to the matters under investigation, as it is the only one known that relates to the disputed voyage, which would establish him as the discoverer of Terra Firma. It is presumed to have been written in Latin, and was addressed to Rene, Duke of Lorraine, who assumed the title of King of Sicily and Jerusalem. The earliest known edition of this letter was published in Latin, in 1507, at St. Diez in Lorraine. A copy of it has been found in the library of the Vatican (No. 9688) by the Abbe Cancellieri. In preparing the present illustration, a reprint of this letter in Latin has been consulted, inserted in the Novus Orbis of Grinaeus, published at Bath in 1532. The letter contains a spirited narrative of four voyages which he asserts to have made to the New World. In the prologue he excuses the liberty of addressing King Rene by' calling to his recollection the ancient intimacy of their youth, when studying the rudiments of science together, under the paternal uncle of the voyager; and adds that if the present narrative should not altogether please his majesty, he must plead to him as Pliny said to Mecsenus, that he used formerly to be amused with his triflings. In the prologue to this letter, he informs King Ren6 that affairs of commerce had brought him to Spain, where he had experienced the various changes of fortune Attendant on such transactions, and was induced to abandon that pursuit and direct i his labors to objects of a more elevated and stable nature. He therefore proposed to contemplate various parts of the world, and to behold the marvels which it con¬ tains. To this object both time and place were favorable; for King Ferdinand was then preparing four vessels for the discovery of new lands in the -west, and appoint- } ed him among the number of those who went in the expedition. “ We departed,’’ he adds, “from the port of Cadiz, May 20th, 1497, taking our course on the great gulf of ocean; in which voyage we employed eighteen months, discovering many lands and innumerable islands, chiefly inhabited, of which our ancestors make no mention.” A duplicate of this letter appears to have been sent at the same time (written, it is said, in Italian) to Piere Soderini, afterward Gonfalonier of Florence, which was some years subsequently published in Italy not earlier than 1510, and entitled “Let- I tera de Amerigo Vespucci delle Isole nuovamente trovate in quatro suoi viaggi.” ; We have consulted the edition of this letter in Italian, inserted in the publication of Padre Stanislaus Canovai, already referred to. It has been suggested by an Italian writer, that this letter was written by Vespucci to Soderini only, and the address altered to King Ren6 through the flattery or j mistake of the Lorraine editor, without perceiving how unsuitable the reference to I former intimacy, intended for Soderini, was, when applied to a sovereign. The I person making this remark can hardly have read the prologue to the Latin edition, j in which the title of “your majesty” is frequently repeated, and the term “ illus¬ trious king” employed. It was first published also in Lorraine, the domains of [ Rene, and the publisher would not probably have presumed to take such a liberty j with his sovereign’s name. It becomes a question, whether Vespucci addressed the | same letter to King Rene and to Piere Soderini, both of them having been educated 1 with him, or whether he sent a copy of this letter to Soderini, which subsequently I found its way into print. The address to Soderini may have been substituted, I through mistake, by the Italian publisher. Neither of the publications could have ! been made under the supervision of Vespucci. The voyage specified in this letter as having taken place in 1497, is the great point in controversy. It is strenuously asserted that no such voyage took place; and that the first expedition of Vespucci to the coast of Paria was in the enterprise com¬ manded by Ojeda, in 1499. The books of the armadas existing in the archives of 1 the Indies at Seville have been diligently examined, but no record of such voyage has been found, nor any official documents relating to it. Those most experienced 666 APPENDIX. in Spanish colonial regulations insist that no command like that pretended by Ves¬ pucci could have been given to a stranger, till he had first received letters of naturalization from the sovereigns for the kingdom of Castile, and he did not ob¬ tain such till 1505, when they were granted to him as preparatory to giving him the command in conjunction with Pinzon. His account of a voyage made by him in 1497, therefore, is alleged to be a fabrica¬ tion for the purpose of claiming the discovery of Paria; or rather it is affirmed that he has divided the voyage which he actually made with Ojeda, in 1499, into two; taking a number of incidents from his real voyage, altering them a little, and em larging them with descriptions of the countries and people, so as to make a plausible narrative, which he gives as a distinct voyage; and antedating his departure to 1497, so as to make himself appear the first discoverer of Paria. In support of this charge various coincidences have been pointed-out between his voyage said to have taken place in 1497, and that described in his first letter to Lorenzo de Medici in 1499. These coincidences are with respect to places visited, transactions and battles with the natives, and the number of Indians carried to Spain and sold as slaves. But the credibility of this voyage has been put to a stronger test. About 1508 a suit was instituted against the crown of Spain by Don Diego, son and heir of Colum¬ bus. for the government of certain parts of Terra Firma, and for a share in the revenue arising from them, conformably to the capitulations made between the sovereign and his father. It was the object of the crown to disprove the discovery o f the coast of Paria and the pearl islands by Columbus, as it was maintained that unless he had discovered them, the claim of his heir with respect to them would be of no validity. In the course of this suit, a particular examination of witnesses took place in 1512-13 in the fiscal court. Alonzo de Ojeda, and nearly a hundred other persons, were interrogated on oath; that voyager having been the first to visit the coast of Paria after Columbus had left it, and that within a very few months. The inter¬ rogatories of these witnesses, and their replies, are still extant, in the archives of the Indies at Seville, in a packet of papers entitled “ Papers belonging to the Admiral Don Luis Colon, about the conservation of his privileges, from aim. 1515 to 15G4.” The author of the present work has two several copies of these interroga¬ tories lying before him. One made by the late historian Munoz, and the other made in 1820, and signed by John Jose de la Higuera y Lara, keeper of the general archives of the Indies in Seville. In the course of this testimony, the faet tliat Amerigo Vespucci accompanied Ojeda in this voyage of 1499, appears manifest, first from the deposition of Ojeda himself. The following are the words of the record: “ In this voyage which this said witness made, he took with him Juan dela Cosa and Morego Vespuche [Amerigo Vespucci] and other pilots.”* Secondly, from the coincidence of many parts of the narrative of Vespucci with events in this voyage of Ojeda. Among these coincidences, one is particularly striking. Ves¬ pucci, in his letter to Lorenzo de Medici, and also in that to Ren6 or Soderini. says that his ships, after leaving the coast of ^erra Firma, stopped at Hispaniola, w here they remained about two months and a half, procuring provisions, during which time, he adds, “we had many perils and troubles with the very Christians tvho were in that island with Columbus, and I believe through envy.”+ Now it is well known that Ojeda passed some time on the western end of the * En este viage que este dicho testigo hizo trujo consigo a Juan de la Cosa, piloto, e Morego Vespuche, e otros pilotos. t Per la necessity del mantenimento fummo all’ Isola d’Antiglia (Hispaniola) che 6 questa che descoperse Christoval Colombo pid anni fa, dove facemino molto mantenimento, e stemmo due mesi e 17 giorni; dove passammo moti pericoli e travagli con li medesimi christiani que in questa isola stavanno col Colombo (credo per invidia). Letter of Vespucci—Edit, of Canovai. APPENDIX. 667 island victualing his ships; and that serious dissensions took place between him and the Spaniards in those parts, and the party sent by Columbus under Roldan to keep a watch upon his movements. If then Vespucci, as is stated upon oath, really accompanied Ojeda in this voyage, the inference appears almost irresistible, that he had not made the previous voyage of 1497, for the fact would have been well known to Ojeda; he would have considered Vespucci as the original discoverer and would have had no motive for depriving him of the merit of it, to give it to Columbus, with whom Ojeda was not upon friendly terms. Ojeda, however, expressly declares that the coast had been discovered by Colum¬ bus. On being asked how he knew the fact, he replied, because he saw the chart of the country discovered, which Columbus sent at the time to the king and queen, \ and that he came off "immediately on a voyage of discovery, and found what was I therein set down as discovered by the admiral was correct.* * * § Another witness, Bernaldo de Haro, states that he had been with the admiral, and had written (or rather copied) a letter for the admiral to the king and queen desig¬ nating, in an accompanying sea-chart, the courses and steerings and winds by which he had arrived at Paria: and that this witness had heard that from this chart others had been made, and that Pedro Alonzo Nino and Ojeda, and others, who had since visited these countries, had been guided by the same.t Francisco de Molares, one of the best and credible of all the pilots, testified that he saw a sea-chart which Columbus had made of the coast of Paria, and he be¬ lieved that all governed themselves by it.% Numerous witnesses in this process testify to the fact that Paria was first discov¬ ered by Columbus. Las Casas, who has been at the pains of counting them, says that the fact was established by twenty-five eye-witnesses and sixty ear-witnesses. Many of them testify also that the coast south of Paria, and that extending west of the island of Margarita, away to Venezuela, which Vespucci states to have been dis¬ covered by himself in 1497, was now first discovered by Ojeda, and had never before been visited either by the admiral “ or any other Christian whatever.” Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal says that all the voyages of discovery which were made to the Terra Firma, were made by persons who had sailed with the admiral, or been benefitted by his instructions and directions, following the course he had laid down;§ and the same is testified by many other pilots and mariners of reputa¬ tion and experience. It would be a singular circumstance, if none of these witnesses, many of whom must have sailed in the same squadron with Vespucci along this coast in 1499, should have known that he had discovered and explored it two years previously. If that had really been the case, what motive could he have for concealing the fact? * Preguntado como lo sabe; dijo—que lo sabe porque vi6 este testigolafigura que el dicho Almirante al dieho tiempo embid 4 Castilla al Rey e Reyna, nuestros Senores, de lo que habia descubierto, y porque este testigo luego vino 4 descubrir y hallo que era verdad lo que dicho tiene que el dicho Almirante descubrid. ms. Pro¬ cess of D. Diego Colon, pregunta 2. t Este testigo escrivid tina carta que el Almirante escriviera al Rey a Reyna N. N. I S. S. haciendo les saber las perlas e cosas que habia hallado, y le embid senaldo con la dieha carta, en una carta de marear, los rumbos y vientos por donde habia llega- do 4 la Paria, e que este testigo oyo decir como pr. aquella carte se habian hecho otras e por ellas habian venido Pedro Alonzo Merino [Nino] e Ojeda e otros que despues han ido 4 aquellas partes. Idem, pregunta 9. i Process of D. Diego-Colon, pregunta 10. § Que en todos los viages que algunos liicieron descubriendo en la diclia tierra, ivan personas que ovieron navegado con el dicho Almirante. y a ellos mostrd muchas cosas de marear, y ellos por imitacion 6 industria del dicho Almirante las aprendian y aprendieron, e seguendo ag°. que el dicho Almirante les habia mostra- do, hicieron los viages que descubrieron en la Tierra Firma. Process, pregunta 10. 668 APPENDIX. and why, if they knew it, shotild they not proclaim it? Vespucci states his voyag( in 1497 to have been made with four caravels; that they returned in October, 1498 and that he sailed again with two caravels in May, 1499 (the date of Ojeda’s de¬ parture). Many of the mariners would therefore have been present in both voyages Why, too, should Ojeda and the other pilots guide themselves by the charts ol Columbus, wheD they had a man on board so learned in nautical science, and who from his own recent observations, was practically acquainted with the coast? Not a woi’d, however, is mentioned of the voyage and discovery of Vespucci by any ot the pilots, though every other voyage and discovery is cited; nor does there even a seaman appear who has accompanied him in his asserted voyage. Another strong circumstance against the reality of this voyage is, that it was not Drought forward in this trial to defeat the claims of the heirs of Columbus. Ves¬ pucci states the voyage to have been undertaken Avith the knowledge and counten ance of King Ferdinand; it must, therefore, have been avowed and notorious. Vespucci was living at Seville in 1508, at the time of the commencement of this suit, and for four years afterward, a salaried servant of the crown. Many of the pilots and mariners must have been at hand, who sailed with him in his pretended enterprise. If this voyage had once been proved, it would completely have settled the question, as far as concerned the coast of Faria, in favor of the crown. Yet no testimony appears ever to have been taken from Vespucci while living; and when the interrogatories were made in the fiscal court in 1512-13, not one of his seamen is brought up to give evidence. A voyage so important in its nature, and so essential to the question in dispute, is not even alluded to, while useless pains are taken to wrest evidence from the voyage of Ojeda, undertaken at a subsequent period. It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that Vespucci commences his first letters to Lorenzo de Medici in 1500, within a month after his return from the voyage he had actually made to Paria, and apologies for his long silence, by saying that nothing had occurred worthy of mention (“e gran tempo che non ho scritto 4 vostro mag- nifizensa, e non lo ha causato altra cosa ne nessuna salvo non mi essere occorso cosa degna di memoria”), and proceeds eagerly to tell him the wonders he had witnessed in the expedition from which he had but just returned. It would be a singular for¬ getfulness to say that nothing had occurred of importance, if he had made a previous voyage of eighteen months in 1497-8 to this newly discovered world; and it would be almost equally strange that he should not make the slightest allusion to it in this letter. It has been the endeavor of the author to examine this question dispassionately; and after considering the statements and arguments advanced on either side, he cannot resist a conviction, that the voyage stated to have been made in 1497 did not take place, and that Vespucci has no title to the first discovery of the coast of Paria. The question is extremely perplexing from the difficulty of assigning sufficient motives for so gross a deception. When Vespucci wrote his letters there was no doubt entertained but that Columbus had discovered the main-land in his first voyage; Cuba being always considered the extremity of Asia, until circumnavigated in 1508. Vespucci may have supposed Brazil, Paria, and the rest of that coast, part of a distinct continent, and have been anxious to arrogate to himself the fame of its discovery. It has been asserted that, on his return from his voyage to the Brazils, he prepared a maritime chart, in which he gave his name to that part of the main-land; but this assertion does not appear to be well substantiated. It would rather seem that his name was given to that part of the continent by others, as a tribute paid to his supposed merit, in consequence of having read his own account of his voyages.* * The first suggestion of the name appears to have been in the Latin work already cited, published in St. Diez, in Lorraine, in 1507, in which was inserted the letter of Vespucci to king Ren6. The author, after speaking of the other three parts of the world, Asia, Africa, and Europe, recommends that the fourth shall be called A nr erigo, or America, after Vespucci, whom he imagined its discoverer. sh th lii sei Bi ft K *1 it ih wl ev us fc hi es to of C( li in tc ol IB fa : cl ’■ !oi jii ill Ifi APPENDIX. 669 It is singular that Fernando, the son of Columbus, in his biography of his father, should bring no chai’ge against Vespucci of endeavoring to supplant the admiral in this discovery. Herrera has been cited as the first to bring the accusation, in his : history of the Indies, first published in 1601, and has been much criticised in con- ;j sequence, by the advocates of Vespucci, as making the charge on his mere assertion. J But, in fact, Herrera did but copy what he found written by Las Casas, who had * the proceedings of the fiscal court lying before him, and was moved to indignation | against Vespucci, by what he considered proofs of great imposture. It has been suggested that Vespucci was instigated to this deception at the time | when he was seeking employment in the colonial service of Spain; and that he did I ir, to conciliate the Bishop Fonseca, who was desirous of anything that might injure ihe interests of Columbus. In corroboration of this opinion, the patronage is cited, ; which was ever shown by Fonseca to Vespucci and his family. This is not, how- | ever, a satisfactory reason, since it does not appear that the bishop ever made any * use of the fabrication. Perhaps some other means might be found of accounting for this spurious narration, without implicating the veracity of Vespucci. It may :• have been the blunder of some editor, or the interpolation of some book-maker, ~ eager, as in the case of Trivigiani with the manuscripts of Peter Martyr, to gather I together disjointed materials, and fabricate a work to gratify the prevalent passion 1 of the day. In the various editions of the letters of Vespucci, the grossest variations and in- I consistencies in dates will be found, evidently the errors of hasty and careless pub- I lishers. Several of these have been corrected by the modern authors who have i inserted these letters in their works.* * The same disregard to exactness which led s' to these blunders may have produced the interpolation of this voyage, garbled out i of the letters of Vespucci and the accounts of other voyagers. This is merely sug- i gested as a possible mode of accounting for what appears so decidedly to be a fabrication, yet which we are loath to attribute to a man of the good sense, the character, and the reputed merit of Vespucci. After all, this is a question move of curiosity than of real moment, although it is ) one of those perplexing points about which grave men will continue to write weary Note to the Revised Edition , 1848.—Humboldt, in bis Examkn Critique, published in Paris, in 1837, says: k ‘I have been so happy as to discover, very recently, the lameand the literary relations of the mysterious personage who (in 1507) was the irst to propose the name of America to designate the new continent, and who con¬ cealed himself under the Grecianized name of Hylacomylas.” He then, by a long ind ingenious investigation, shows that the real name of this personage was Martin Valdseemiiller, of Fribourg, an eminent cosmograjiher, patronized by Ren6, Duke of Lorraine; who, no doubt, put in his hands the letter received by him from Amerigo Vespucci. The geographical works of Waldseemiiller, under the assumed name of lylacomylas, had a wide circulation, went through repeated editions, and propa- qited the use of the name. America through the world. There is no reason to sup- )ose that this application of the name was in anywise suggested by Amerigo /espucci. It appears to have been entirely gratuitous on the part of Waldsee- niiller. * An instance of these errors may be cited in the edition of the letter of Amerigo /espucci to king Ren6, inserted by Grincsus in his Novus Orbis, in 1532. In this /espucci is made to state that he sailed from Cadiz, May 20, MCCCCXCVII. (1497) I hat he was eighteen months absent, and returned to Cadiz October 15, MCCCCXCIX. 1499), which would constitute an absence of twenty-nine months. He states his [j.eparture from Cadiz, on his second voyage, Sunday, May 11, MCCCCLXXX1X. 1489), which would have made his second voyage precede his first by eight years, f we substitute 1499 for 1489, the departure on his second voyage would still precede is return from his first by five months. Canovai, in his edition, has altered the j ate of the first return to 1498, to limit the voyage to eighteen months. 670 APPENDIX ; volumes, until the subject acquires a factitious importance from the mountain of controversy heaped upon it. It has become a question of local pride with the literati of Florence: and they emulate each other with patriotic zeal, to vindicate the fame of their distinguished countryman. This zeal is laudable when kept within proper limits; but it is to be regretted that some of them have so far been heated by con¬ troversy as to become irascible against the very memory of Columbus, and to seek to disparage his general fame, as if the ruin of it would add anything to the reputa¬ tion of Vespucci. This is discreditable to their discernment and their liberality; if injures their cause, and shocks the feelings of mankind, who will not willingly see » name like that of Columbus, lightly or petulantly assailed in the course of these literary contests. It is a name consecrated in history, and is no longer the property of a city, or a state, or a nation, but of the whole world. Neither should those who have a proper sense of the merit of Columbus put any paid of his great renown at issue upon this minor dispute. Whether or not he was the discoverer of Paria, was a question of interest to his heirs, as a share of the government and revenues of that country depended upon it; but it is of no im¬ portance to his fame. In fact, the European who first reached the main-land of the New World was most probably Sebastian Cabot, a native of Venice, sailing in the employ of England. In 1497 he coasted its shores from Labrador to Florida, yet the English have never set up any pretensions on his account. The glory of Columbus does net elepend upon the parts of the country he visitec or the extent of coast along which he sailed; it embraces the discovery of the whole western world. With respect to him, Vespucci is as Yanez Pinzon, Bastides, Ojeda Cabot, and the crowd of secondary discoverers who followed in his track, and ex plored the realms to which he had led the way. When Columbus first touchec a shore of the New World, even though a frontier island, he had achieved his enter prises; he had accomplished all that was necessary to his fame: the great problen of the ocean was solved, the world which lay beyond its western waters was dis covered. a a ic m No. XI. k S; MARTIN ALONZO PINZON. 4 In the course of the trial in the fiscal court, between Don Diego and the crown an attempt was made to depreciate the merit of Columbus, and to ascribe the sue L cess of the great enterprise of discovery to the intelligence and spirit of Martii i ' < Alonzo Pinzon. It was the interest of the crown to do so, to justify itself in with j holding from the heirs of Columbus the extent of his stipulated reward. Th< examinations of witnesses in this trial were made at various times and places, ant upon a set of interrogatories formally drawn up by order of the fiscal. The.’ ! took place upward of twenty years after the first voyage of Columbus, and tb witnesses testified from recollection. In reply to one of the interrogatories. Arias Perez Pinzon, son of Martin Alonzo | declared, that, being once in Rome with his father on commercial affairs, befor the time of the discovery, they had frequent conversations with a person learne< in cosmography who was in the service of Pope Innocent VIII., and that being ii the library of the pope, this person showed them many manuscripts, from one o which his father gathered intimation of these new lands; for there was a passag by an historian as old as the time of Solomon, which said, “ Navigate the Mediterra nean Sea to the end of Spain and thence towards the setting sun, in a directioi between north and south, until ninety-five degrees of longitude, and you will fin< the land of Cipango. fertile and abundant, and equal in greatness to Africa am Europe.” A copy of this writing, he added, his father brought from Rome with at intention of going in search of that land, and frequently expressed such determina tion; and that, when Columbus came to Palos with his project of discovery, Marti) Alonzo Pinzon showed him the manuscript, and ultimately gave it to him just befor. they sailed. APPENDIX. 671 ; ;t It, is extremely probable that this manuscript, or which Arias Perez gives so vasme an account from recollection, but which ne appeal s to think the mam thing that prompted Columbus to his undertaking, was no other than the work of Marco Polo, which, at that time, existed in manuscript in most of the Italian libraries. Martin Alonzo was evidently acquainted with the work of the Venetian, and it would ap¬ pear, from various circumstances, that Columbus had a copy of it with him in his voyages, which may have been the manuscript above mentioned. Columbus had long before, however, had a knowledge of the work, if not by actual inspection, at least through his correspondence with Toscanelli in 1474, and had derived from it all the light it was capable of furnishing, before he ever came to Palos. It is question¬ able, also, whether the visit of Martin Alonzo to Rome was not after his mind had been heated by conversations with Columbus in the convent of La Rabida. The testimony of Arias Perez is so worded as to leave it in doubt whether the visit was not in the very year prior to the discovery: “fue el diclio su padre 4 Roma aquel dicho ano antes que fuese a descubrir.” Arias Perez always mentions the manu¬ script as having been imparted to Columbus, after he had come to Palos with an intention of proceeding on the discovery. Certain witnesses who were examined on behalf of the crown, and to whom specific interrogatories were put, asserted, as has already been mentioned in a note to this work, that had it not been for Martin Alonzo Pinzon and his brothers, Col¬ umbus would have turned back for Spain, after having run seven or eight hundred leagues; being disheartened at not finding land, and dismayed by the mutiny and menaces of his crew. This is stated by tw r o or three as from personal knowledge, and by others from hearsay. It is said especially to have occurred on the 6th of October. On this day, according to the journal of Columbus, he had some conver¬ sation with Martin Alonzo, who w r as anxious that they should stand more to the south-w-est. The admiral refused to do so, and it is very probable that some angry words may have passed between them. Various disputes appear to have taken I place between Columbus and his colleagues respecting their route, previous to the | discovery of land; in one or two instances he acceded to their wishes and altered 1 his course, but in general he was inflexible in standing to the w r est. The Pinzons I also, in all probability, exerted their influence in quelling the murmurs of their I townsmen and encouraging them to[proeeed, when ready to rebel against Columbus. These circumstances may have become mixed up in the vague recollections of tho seamen w r ho gave the foregoing extravagant testimony, and who w r ere evidently disposed to exalt the merits of the Pinzons at the expense of Columbus. They were ! in some measure prompted also in their replies by the written interrogatories put by order of the fiscal, which specified the conversations said to have passed between Columbus and the Pinzons, and notwithstanding these guides they differed widely | in their statements, and ran into many absurdities. In a manuscript record in pos- j session of the Pinzon family, I have even read the assertion of an old seaman, that i Columbus, in his eagerness to compel the Pinzons to turn back to Spain, fired upon their ships, but. they continuing on. he was obliged to follow, and within two days I afterward discovered the island of Hispanolia. j It is evident the old sailor, if he really spoke conscientiously, mingled in his cloudy remembrance the disputes in the early part of the voyage, about altering their course to the south-west, and the desertion of Martin Alonzo, subsequent to the discovery of the Lucayos and Cuba, when, after parting company with the admiral, he made the island of Hispaniola. The witness most to be depended upon as to these points of inquiry, is the physician I of Palos, Garcia Fernandez, a man of education, who sailed with Martin Alonzo : Pinzon as steward of his ship, and of course was present at all the conversations which passed between the commanders. He testifies that Martin Alonzo urged i Columbus to stand more to the south-west, and that the admiral at length complied, i but, finding no land in that direction, they turned again to the west; a statement I which completely coincides with the journal of Columbus. He adds that the ad¬ mire.' continually comforted and animated Martin Alonzo, and all others in his APPENDIX. company. (Sierapre los eonsolaba el dicho Almirante esforzandolos al dicho Martin Alonzo e a todos los que en su compania iban.) When the physician was specific¬ ally questioned as to the conversations pretended to have passed between the coin, manders, in which Columbus expressed a desire to turn back to Spain, he referred, to the preceding statement as the only answer he had to make to these interrog¬ atories. The extravagant testimony before mentioned appears never to have had any- weight with the fiscal; and the accurate historian Munoz, who extracted all these points of evidence from the papers of the lawsuit, has not deemed them worthy of mention in his work. As these matters, however, remain on record in the archives of the Indies, and in the archives of the Pinzon family, in both of which I have had a full opportunity of inspecting them, I have thought it advisable to make these few observations on the subject; lest, in the rage for research, they might hereafter be drawn forth as a new discovery, on the strength of which to impugn the merits of Columbus. No. XII. RUMOR OF THE PILOT SAID TO HAVE DIED IN THE HOUSE OF COLUMBUS. Among the -various attempts to injure Columbus by those who were envious of his fame, was one intended to destroy all his merit as an original discoverer. It was said that he had received information of the existence of land in the western parts of the ocean from a tempest-tossed pilot, who had been driven there by violent easterly winds, and who, on his return to Europe, had died in the house of Colum¬ bus, leaving in his possession the chart and journal of his voyage, by which he was guided to his discovery. This story was first noticed by Oviedo, a contemporary of Columbus, in his history of the Indies, published in 1535. He mentions it as a rumor circulating among the vulgar, without foundation in truth. Fernando Lopez de Gomara first brought it forward against Columbus. In his history of the Indies, published in 1552, he repeats the rumor in the vaguest terms, manifestly from Oviedo, but without the contradiction given to it by that author. He says that the name and country of the pilot were unknown, some terming him an Andalusian, sailing between the Canaries and Madeira; others a Biscayan, trad ing to England and France; and others a Portuguese, voyaging between Lisbon anc Mina, on the coast of Guinea. He expresses equal uncertainty whether the pilot brought the caravel to Portugal, to Madeira, or to one of the Azores. The only point on which the circulators of the rumor are agreed was, that he died in th( house of Columbus. Gomara adds that by this event Columbus was led to under take his voyage to the new countries * The other early historians who mention Columbus and his voyages, and were hi: contemporaries, viz., Sabellicus, Peter Martyr, Gustiniani, Bernaldez, commonly called the curate of los Palacios, Las Casas, Fernando, the son of the admiral, am , the anonymous author of a voyage of Columbus, translated from the Italian int< Latin by Madrignano,+ are all silent in regard to this report. Benzoni, whose history- of the New World was published in 1565, repeats the stofy from Gomara, with whom he was contemporary: but decidedly expresses his opinioi that Gomara had mingled up much falsehood with some truth, for the purpose o detracting from the fame of Columbus, through jealousy that any one but ; Spaniard should enjoy the honor of the discovery.:}: * Gomara, Hist. Ind., cap. 14. t Navigatio Christophori Columbi. Madrignano Internrete. It is contained in t collection of voyages called Novus Orbis Regionum, edition of 1555. but was origin ally published in Italian as written bv Monta.lbodo Francanzano lor Francanan de Montaldo), in a collection of voyages entitled Nuevo Mundo, in Vicenza, 1507. t Girolamo Benzoni, Hist. Del Nuevo Mundo, lib. i. fo. 12. In Venetia, 1572. 1 APPENDIX. 673 i i » ii jf '! •i A his ;as its ent it Til H Off I tif; his us hot hi® rai as)' # a" Acosta notices the circumstance slightly in his Natural and Moral History of the Indies, published in 1591, and takes it evidently from Gomara.* Mariana, in his history of Spain, published in 1592, also mentions it, but expresses a doubt of its truth, and derives his information manlfestiy from Gomara.t Herrera, who published his history of the Indies in 1601, takes no notice of the story. In not noticing it, he maybe considered as rejecting it; for he is distin¬ guished for his minuteness, and was well acquainted with Gomara's history, which he expressly contradicts on a point of considerable interest .X Garcilaso de la Vega, a native of Cusco in Peru, revived the tale with very minute particulars, in his Commentaries of the Incas, published in 1609. He tells it smooth¬ ly and circumstantially; fixes the date of the occurrence 1484, “one year more or less;” states the name of the unfortunate pilot, Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva; the destination of his vessel, from the Canaries to Madeira; and the unknown land to which they were driven, the island of Hispaniola. The pilot, he says, landed, took an altitude, and wrote an account of all he saw, and all that had occurred in the voyage. He then took in wood and water, and set out to seek his way home. He succeeded in returning, but the voyage was long and tempestuous, and twelve died of hunger and fatigue, out of seventeen, the original number of the crew. The five survivors arrived at Tercera, where they were hospitably entertained by Columbus, but all died in his house in consequence of the hardships they had sustained; the pilot was the last that died, leaving his host heir to his papers. Columbus kept them profoundly secret, and by pursuing the route therein prescribed, obtained the credit of discovering the New World. § Such are the material points of the circumstantial relation furnished by Gar- ciiaso de la Vega, one hundred and twenty years after the event. In regard to authority, he recollects to have heard the story when he was a child, as a subject of conversation between his father and the neighbors, and he refers to the histories of the Indies, by Acosta and Gomara, for confirmation. As the conversations to/which he listened must have taken place sixty or seventy years after the date of the re¬ port, there had been sufficient time for the vague rumors to become arranged into a regular narrative, and thus we have not only the name, country, and destination of the pilot, but also the name of the unknown land to which his vessel was driven. This account given by Garcilaso de la Vega, has been adopted by many old his¬ torians, who have felt a confidence in the peremptory manner in which he relates it and in the authorities to whom he refers.|| These have been echoed by others of more recent date; and thus a weighty charge of fraud and imposture has been ac¬ cumulated against Columbus, apparently supported by a crowd of respectable accusers. The whole charge is to be traced to Gomara, who loosely repeated a vague rumor, without noticing the pointed contradiction given to it seventeen jears * Padre Joseph de Acosta, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 19. t Juan de Mariana. Hist. Espana, lib. xxvi. cap. 3. X Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. ii. lib. iii. cap. 1. § Commentarios de los Incas, lib. i. cap. 3. . H Names of historians who either adopted this story in detail or the charge again Columbus, drawn from it Bernardo Aldrete, Antiguedad de Espana, lib. iv. cap. 1<, p. 567. Roderigo Caro Antiguedad. lib. iii. cap. 76. Juan de Solorzano, Ind. Jure, tom. i. lib. i. cap. 5. Fernando Pizarro, Varones Illust. del Nuevo Mundo, cap. 2. Agostino Torniel, Annal. Sacr., tom. i. ann. Mund., 1931, No. 48. Pet. Damarez or De Mariz, Dial. iv. de Var. Hist., cap. 4. Gregoria Garcia, Orig. delos Indios, lib. i. cap. 4, § 1. Juan de Torquemanda, Monarch. Ind., lib. xviii. cap. 1. John Baptiste Riccioli, Geograf. Reform., lib. iii. To this list of old authors may be added many others of more recent date. 674 APPENDIX. before, by Oviedo, an ear-witness, from whose book he appears to have actually gathered the report. It is to be remarked that Gomara bears the character, among historians, of in¬ accuracy, and of great credulity in adopting unfounded stories.* It is unnecessary to give further refutation to this charge, especially as it is clear that Columbus communicated his idea of discovery to Paulo Toscanelli of Florence, in 1474, ten years previous to the date assigned by Garcilaso de la Vega for this occurrence. No. XIH. MARTIN BEHEM. This able geographer was born in Nuremburg, in Germany, about the commence¬ ment of the year 1430. Flis ancestors were from the circle of Pilsner, in Bohemia, hence he is called by some writers Martin of Bohemia, and the resemblance of his own name to that of the country of his ancestors frequently occasions a confusion in the appellation. It has been said by some that he studied under Philip Bervalde the elder, and by Others under John Muller, otherwise called Regiomontanus, though De Murr, who has made diligent inquiry into his history, discredits both assertions. According to a correspondence between Beliem and his uncle, discovered of late years by De Murr, it appears that the early part of his life was devoted to commerce. Some have given him the credit of discovering the island of Fayal, but this is an error, arising probably from the circumstance that Job de Huertar, father-in-law of Behem, colonized that island in 1466. He is supposed to have arrived at Portugal in 1481, while Alphonso V. was still on the throne; it is certain that shortly afterward he was in high repute for his science in the court of Lisbon, insomuch that he was one of the council appointed by King John II. to improve the art of navigation, and by some he has received the whole credit of the memorable service rendered to commerce by that council, in the in¬ troduction of the astrolabe into nautical use. In 1484 King John sent an expedition under Diego Cam, as Barros calls him, Cano according to others, to prosecute discoveries along the coast of Africa. In this ex¬ pedition Behem sailed as cosmographer. They crossed the equinoctial line, dis¬ covered the coast of Congo, advanced to twenty-two degrees forty-five minutes of south latitude,t and erected two columns, on which were engraved the arms of Portugal, in the mouth of the River Zagra, in Africa, which thence, for some time, took the name of the River of Columns, f For the services rendered on this and on previous occasions, it it said that Behem was knighted by King John in 1485, though no mention is made of such a circum¬ stance in any of the contemporary historians. The principal proof of his having received this mark of distinction, is his having given himself the title on his owe globe of Eques Lusitanus. * Francisco Lopes de Gomara, Presbitero. Sevillano, escribio con elegante estile acerca de la cosas de las Indies, pero dexandose llevar de falsas narraciones.’ Hijos de Sevilla, Num ro ii. p. 42, Let. F. The same is stated in Bibliotheca His pnna Nova, lib. i. p. 437. “ El Francisco Lopez de Gomara escrivio tantos borrones 6 cosas que no son ver daderas, de que '. .a, hecho r ucho dana a mnehos escritores e coronistas, que despues del Gomara han escrito en las cosas de la Nueva Espafia . . . es porque les ha hecho errar el Gomara.” Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Hist, de la Conquest de la Nueva Espafia, Fir. de c,*p. 18. “ Tenia Goir ,ra doctrina y estilo . . . ^ero empieose en ordinar sin diseerni miento 1 > que hallo escrito por sus ante^esores, ydi6 credito & petrafias no sole falsas sino inverisimiles.” Juan Bautista Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo, Prologo, p. 18. 4 Vasconcelos, lib. 4. t Murr, Notice sur M. Behaim. APPENDIX. 675 In 1486 he married at Fayal the daughter of Job de Huertar, and is supposed to have remained there for some years, where he had a son named Martin, bom in 1489. During his residence at Lisbon and Fayal, it is probable the acquaintance took place between him and Columbus, to which Herrera and others allude; and the admiral may have heard from him some of the rumors circulating in the islands, of indications of western lands floating to their shores. In 1491 he returned to Nuremburg to see his family, and while there, in 1492, he finished a terrestrial globe, considered a masterpiece in those days, which he had undertaken at the request of the principal magistrates of his native city. In 1493 he returned to Portugal, and from thence proceeded to Fayal. In 1494 King John II., who had a high opinion of him, sent him to Flanders to his natural son Prince George, the intended heir of his crown. In the course of his voyage Behem was captured and carried to England, where he remained for three months detained by illness. Having recovered, he again put to sea, but was cap¬ tured by a corsair and carried to France. Having ransomed himself, he proceeded to Antwerp and Bruges, but returned almost immediately to Portugal. Nothing more is known of him for several years, during which time it is supposed he remained with his family in Fayal, too old to make further voyages. In 1500 he went forth from Fayal to Lisbon, where he died. The assertion that Behem had discovered the western world previous to Colum¬ bus, in the course of the voyage with Cam, was founded on a misinterpretation of a passage interpolated in the chronicle of Hartmann Schedel, a contemporary writer. This passage mentions, that when the voyagers were in the Southern Ocean not far from the coast, and had passed the line, they came into another hemisphere, where, when they looked toward the east, their shadows fell toward the south, on their right hand; that here they discovered a new world, unknown until then, and which for many years had never been sought except by the Genoese, and by them unsuc¬ cessfully. “ Hii duo, bono deorum auspicio, mare meridionale sulcantes, a littore non longe evagantes, superato circulo equinoctiali, in alterum orbem excepti sunt. Ubi ipsis stantibus orientem versus, umbra ad meridiem et dextram projiciebatur. Aperuere igitur sua industria, alium orbem liactenus nobis incognitum et multis annis, a nullis quam Januensibus, licet frustra temptatum.” These lines are part of a passage which it is said is interpolated by a different hand, in the original manuscript of the chronicle of Schedel. De Murr assures us ! that they are not to be found in the German translation of the book by George Alt, which was finished the 5tli October, 1493. But even if they were, they relate merely to the discovery which Diego Cam made of the southern hemisphere, previously unknown, and of the coast of Africa beyond the equator, all which appeared like a i new world, and as such was talked of at the time. The Genoese alluded to, who had make an unsuccessful attempt, were Antonio I de Nolle with Bartholomeo his brother, and Raphael de Nolle his nephew. Antonio j was of a noble family, and, for some disgust, left his country and went to Lisbon with his before-mentioned relatives in two caravels; sailing whence in the employ | of Portugal, they discovered the island of St. Jago.* This interpolated passage of Schedel was likewise inserted into the work De i Europa sub Frederico III. of iEneas Silvius, afterward Pope Pius II., who died in 14G4, long before the voyage in question. The misinterpretation of the passage first gave rise to the incorrect assertion that Behem had discovered the New World prior to Columbus; as if it were possible such a circumstance could have happened 1 without Behem’s laying claim to the glory of the discovery, and without the world immediately resounding with so important an event. This error had been adopted by various authors without due examination; some of whom had likewise taken from Magellan the credit of having discovered the strait which goes by his name, * Barros, decad. i. lib ii. cap. 1. Lisbon, 1552. 676 APPENDIX. and had given it to Eeliem. The error was too palpable to be generally prevalent, but was suddenly revived in the year 1786 by a French gentleman of highly respect¬ able character of the name of Otto, then resident in New York, who addressed a letter to Dr. Franklin to be submitted to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, in which he undertook to establish the title of Beliem to the discovery of the New World. His memoir was published in the Transactions of the American Philo-- sophical Society, vol. ii., for 1786, article No. 35, and has been copied into the jour¬ nals of most of the nations of Europe. The authorities cited by M. Otto in support of his assertion are generally falla¬ cious, and for the most part given without particular specification. His assertion has been diligently and satisfactorily refuted by Don Christoval Cladera.* The grand proof of M. Otto is a globe which Behem made during his residence in Nuremburg, in 1492, the very year that Columbus set out on his first voyage of dis¬ covery. This globe, according to M. Otto, is still preserved in the library of Nuremburg, and on it are painted all the discoveries of Behem, which are so situat¬ ed that they can be no other than the coast of Brazil and the straits of Magellan. This authority staggered many, and, if supported, would demolish the claims of Columbus. Unluckily for M. Otto, in his description of the globe, he depended on the inspec¬ tion of a correspondent. The globe in the library of Nuremburg was made in 1520, by John Schoener, professor of mathematics, t long after the discoveries and death of Columbus and Behem. The real globe of Behem, made in 1492, does not contain any of the islands or shores of the New World, and thus proves that he was totally unacquainted with them. A copy, or planisphere, of Behem’s globe is given by Cladera in his Investigations. No. XIV. VOYAGES OP THE SCANDINAVIANS. Many elaborate dissertations have been written to prove that discoveries were made by the Scandinavians on the northern coast of America long before the era of Columbus; but the subject appears still to be wrapped in much doubt and ob¬ scurity. It has been asserted that the Norwegians, as early as the ninth century, discovered a great tract of land to the west of Iceland, which they called Grand Iceland; but this has been pronounced a fabulous tradition. The most plausible account is one given by Snorro Sturleson, in his Saga or Chronicle of King Olaus. According to this writer, one Biorn of Iceland, sailing to Greenland in search of his father, from whom he had been separated by a storm, was driven by tempestuous weather far to the south-west, until he came in sight of a low country, covered with wood, with an island in its vicinity. The weather becoming favorable, he turned to the north-east without landing, and arrived safe at Greenland. His account of the country he had beheld, it is said, excited the enterprise of Leif, son of Eric Rauda (or Redhead), the first settler of Greenland. A vessel was fitted out, and Leif and Biorn departed alone in quest of this unknown land. They found a rocky and sterile island, to which they gave the name of Helleland; also a low sandy country covered with wood, to which they gave the name of Markland; and, two days afterward, they observed a continuance of the coast, with an island to the north of it. This last they described as fertile, well wooded, producing agreeable fruits, and particularly grapes, a fruit with which they were unacquainted. On being informed by one of their com¬ panions, a German, of its qualities and name, they called the country, from it, Vinland. They ascended a river, well stored with fish, particularly salmon, and came to a lake from which the river took its origin, where they passed the winter. * Investigaciones Historicas. Madrid, 1794. t Cladera, Investig. Hist., p. 115. APPENDIX. 677 The climate appeared to them mild and pleasant; being accustomed to the rigorous climates of the north. On the shortest day the sun was eight hours above the horizon. Hence it has been concluded that the country was about the 49th de¬ gree of north latitude, and was either Newfoundland, or some part of the coast of North America about the Gulf of St. Lawrence.* It is added that the relatives of Leif made several voyages to Vinland; that they traded with the natives for furs; and that, in 1121, a bishop named Eric went from Greenland to Yinland to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. From this time, says Forster, we know nothing of Yinland, and there is every appearance that the tribe which still exists in the in¬ terior of Newfoundland, and which is so different from the other savages of North America, both in their appearance and mode of living, and always in a state of warfare with the Esquimaux of the northern coast, are descendants of the ancient Normans. The author of the present work has not had the means of tracing this story to its original sources. He gives it on the authority of M. Malte-Brun, and Mr. Forster. The latter extracts it from the Saga or Chronicle of Snorro, who was born in 1179. and wrote in 1215; so that his account was formed long after the event is said to have taken place. Forster says: “The facts which we report have been collected from a great number of Icelandic manuscripts, and transmitted to us by Torfaeus in his two works entitled Veteris Groenlandise Descriptio, Hafnia, 1706, and Historia Winlandiae Antiquae, Hafnia, 1705.” Forster appears to have no doubt of the authenticity of the facts. As far as the author of the present work has had ex¬ perience in tracing these stories of early discoveries of portions of the New World, lie has generally found them very confident deductions drawn from very vague and questionable facts. Learned men are too prone to give substance to mere shadows, when they assist some preconceived theory. Most of these accounts, when divested of the erudite comments of their editors, have proved little better than the traditionary fables, noticed in another part of this work, respecting the imaginary islands of St. Borondon, and of the Seven Cities. There is no great improbability, however, that such enterprising and roving voyagers as the Scandinavians may have wandered to the northern shores of Am¬ erica, about the coast of Labrador, or the shores of Newfoundland; and if the Ice¬ landic manuscripts said to be of the thirteenth century can be relied upon as genuine, free from modern interpolation, and correctly quoted, they would appear to prove the fact. But granting the truth of the alleged discoveries, they led to no more result than would the interchange of communication between the natives of Greenland and the Esquimaux. The knowledge of them appears not to have ex¬ tended beyond their own nation, and to have been soon neglected and forgotten by themselves. Another pretension to an early discovery of the American continent has been set up, founded on an alleged map and narrative of two brothers of the name of Zeno, of Venice; but it seems more invalid than those just mentioned. The following is the substance of this claim. Nicolo Zeno, a noble Venetian, is said to have made a voyage to the north in 1380, in a vessel fitted out at his own cost, intending to visit England and Flanders; but meeting with a terrible tempest, was driven for many days he knew not whither, until he was cast away upon Friseland, an island much in dispute among geo¬ graphers, but supposed to be the archipelago of the Ferroe islands. The shipwrecked voyagers were assailed by the natives; but rescued by Zichmni, a prince of the islands, lying on the south side of Friseland, and duke of another district lying over against Scotland. Zeno entered into the service of this prince, and aided him in conquering Friseland, and other northern islands. He was soon joined by his brother Antonio Zeno, who remained fourteen years in those countries. During his residence in Friseland, Antonio Zeno wrote to his brother Carlo, in * Forster’s Northern Voyages, book ii. chap. 2. 678 APPENDIX. Venice, giving an account of a report brought by a certain fisherman, about a land to the westward. According to the tale of this mariner, he had been one of a party who sailed from Friseland about twenty-six years before, in four fishing-boats. Being overtaken by a mighty tempest, they were driven about the sea for many days, until the boat containing himself and six companions was cast upon an island called Estotiland, about one thousand miles from Friseland. They were taken by the inhabitants and carried to a fair and populous city, where the king sent for many in¬ terpreters to converse with them, but none that they could understand, until a man was found who had likewise been cast away upon the coast, and who spoke Latin. They remained several days upon the island, which was rich and fruitful, abound¬ ing with all kinds of metals, and especially gold.* There was a high mountain in the centre, from which flowed four rivers which watered the whole country. The inhabitants were intelligent and acquainted with the mechanical arts of Europe. They cultivated grain, made beer, and lived in houses built of stone. There were Latin books in the king’s library, though the inhabitants had no knowledge of that language. They had many cities and castles, and carried on a trade with Green¬ land for pitch, sulphur, and peltry. Though much given to navigation, they were ignorant of the use of the compass, and finding the Friselanders acquainted with it, held them in great esteem; and the king sent them with twelve barks to visit a country to the south, called Drogeo. They had nearly perished in a storm, but were cast away upon the coast of Drogeo. They found the people to be cannibals, and were on the point of being killed and devoured, but were spared on account of their great skill in fishing. The fisherman described this Drogeo as being a country of vast extent, or rather a new world; that the inhabitants were naked and barbarous; but that far to the south-west there was a more civilized region, and temperate climate, where the in¬ habitants had a knowledge of gold and silver, lived in cities, erected splendid temples to idols, and sacrificed human victims to them, which they afterward devoured. After the fisherman had resided many years on this continent, during which time he had passed from the service of one chieftain to another, and traversed various parts of it, certain boats of Estotiland arrived on the coast of Drogeo. The fisher¬ man went on board of them, acted as interpreter, and followed the trade between the main-land and Estotiland for some time, until he became very rich: then he fitted out a bark of his own, and with the assistance of some of the people of the island, made his way back, across the thousand intervening miles of ocean, and ar¬ rived safe at Friseland. The account he gave of these countries, determined Zichinni, the prince of Friseland, to send an expedition thither, and Antonio Zeno was to command it. Just before sailing, the fisherman, who was to have acted as guide, died; but certain mariners, who had accompanied him from Estotiland, were taken in his place. The expedition sailed under command of Zichmni; the Venetian, Zeno, merely accompanied it. It was unsuccessful. After having dis¬ covered an island called Icaria, where they met with a rough reception from the inhabitants, and were obliged to withdraw, the ships were driven by a storm to Greenland. No record remains of any further prosecution of the enterprise. The countries mentioned in the account of Zeno were laid down on a map origin¬ ally engraved on wood. The island of Estotiland has been supposed by Malte-Brun to be Newfoundland; its partially civilized inhabitants the descendants of the Scan¬ dinavian colonists of Vinland; and the Latin books in the king’s library to be the remains of the library of the Greenland bishop, who emigrated thither in 1121. Dregeo, according to the same conjecture, was Nova Scotia and New England. The civilized people to the south-west, who sacrificed human victims in rich temples, * This account is taken from Hackluvt, vol. iii. p. 123. The passage about gold and other metals is not to be found in the original Italian of Ramusio (tom. ii. p. 23), and is probably an interpolation. APPENDIX. 679 he surmises to have been the Mexicans, or some ancient nation of Florida or Louisiana. The premises do not appear to warrant this deduction. The whole story abounds with improbabilities; not the least of which is the civilization prevalent among the inhabitants; their houses of stone, their European arts, the library of their king, no traces of which were to be found on their subsequent discovery. Not to mention the information about Mexico penetrating through the numerous savage tribes of a vast continent. It is proper to observe that this account was not published until 1558, long after the discovery of Mexico. It was given to the world by Fi*ancisco Marcolini, a descendant of the Zeni, from the fragments of letters said to have been written by Antonio Zeno to Carlo his brother. “It grieves me,” says the editor, “ that the book, and divers other writings concerning these matters are miserably lost; for being but a child when they came to my hands, and not knowing w r hat they were, I tore them and rent them to pieces, which now I cannot call to remem¬ brance but to my exceeding great grief.” * This garbled statement by Marcolini, derived considerable authority by being in¬ troduced by Abraham Ortelius, an able geographer, in his Theatrum Orbis; but the whole story has been condemned by able commentators as a gross fabrication. Mr. Forster resents this, as an instance of obstinate incredulity, saying that it is im¬ possible to doubt the existence of the country of which Carlo, Nicolo, and Antonio Zeno talk; as original acts in the archives of Venice prove that the chevalier under¬ took a voyage to the north; that his brother Antonio, followed him; that Antonio traced a map, which he brought back and hung up in his house, where it remained subject to public examination, until the time of Marcolini, as an incontestable proof of the truth of what he advanced. Granting all this, it merely proves that Antonio and his brother were at Friseland and Greenland. Their letters never assert that Zeno made the voyage to Estotiland. The fleet was carried by a tempest to Green¬ land, after which we hear no more of him: and his account of Estotiland and Drogeo rests simply on the tale of the fisherman, after whose descriptions his map must have been conjecturally projected. The whole story resembles much the fables circulated shortly after the discovery of Columbus, to arrogate to other nations and individuals the credit of the achievement. M. Malte-Brun intimates that the alleged discovery of Vinland may have been known to Columbus when he made a voyage in the North Sea in 1477,t and that the map of Zeno, being in the national library at London, in a Danish work, at the time when Bartholomew Columbus was in that city, employed in making maps, he may have known something of it, and have communicated it to his brother .% Had M. Malte-Brun examined the history of Columbus with his usual accuracy, he would have perceived that, in his correspondence with Paulo Toscanelli in 1474, he had expressed his intention of seeking India by a route directly to the -west. His voy¬ age to the north did not take place until three years afterward. As to the resi¬ dence of Bartholomew in London, it was not until after Columbus had made his propositions of discovery to Portugal, if not to the courts of other powers. Grant¬ ing, therefore, that he had subsequently heard the dubious stories of Vinland, and of the fisherman’s adventures, as related by Zeno, or at least by Marcolini, they evidently could not have influenced him in his great enterprise. His route had no reference to them, but was a direct western course, not toward Vinland, and Estoti¬ land, and Drogeo, but in search of Cipango, and Cathay, and the other countries described by Marco Polo, as lying at the extremity of India. Hackluyt, Collect, vol. iii. p. 127. t Malte-Brun, Hist, de Geog., tom. i. lib. xvii. X Idem, Geog. Universelle, tom. xiv. Note sur la decouverte de l’Amerique. 6S0 APPENDIX. No. XV. CIRCUMNAVIGATION OP AFRICA BY THE ANCIENTS. The knowledge of the ancients with respect to the Atlantic coast of Africa is con* sidered by modern investigators much less extensive than had been imagined; and it is doubted whether they had any practical authority for the belief that Africa was circumnavigable. The alleged voyage of Eudoxus of Cyzicus, from the Red Sea to Gibraltar, though recorded by Plinj r , Pomponius Mela, and others, is given entirely on the assertion of Cornelius Nepos, who does not tell from whence he de¬ rived his information. Posidonius (cited by Strabo) gives an entirely different ac¬ count of this voyage, and rejects it with contempt.* The famous voyage of Hanno, the Carthaginian, is supposed to have taken place about a thousand years before the Christian era. The Periplus Hannonis remains, a brief and obscure record of this expedition, and a subject of great comment and controversy. By some it has been pronounced a fictitious work, fabricated among the Greeks, but its authenticity has been ably vindicated. It appears to be satisfactorily proved, however, that the voyage of this navigator has been greatly exaggerated, and that he never circumnavigated the extreme end of Africa. Mons. de Bougainville! traces his route to a promontory which he named the West Horn, supposed to be Cape Palmas, about five or six degrees north of the equinoctial line, whence he proceeded to another promontory, under the same parallel, which he called the South Horn, supposed to be Cape de Tres Puntas. Mons. Gosselin, how¬ ever, in his Researches into the Geography of the Ancients (tome 1, p. 162, etc.), after a rigid examination of the Periplus of Hanno, determines that he had not sailed farther south than Cape Non. Pliny, who makes Hanno range the whole coast of Africa, from the straits to the confines of Arabia, had never seen his Periplus, but took his idea from the works of Xenophon of Lampsaco. The Greeks surcharged the narration of the voyager with all kinds of fables, and on their unfaithful copies, Strabo founded many of his assertions. According to M. Gosselin, the itineraries of Hanno, of Scylax, Polybius, Statius, Sebosus and Juba; the recitals of Plato, of Aristotle, of Pliny, of Plutarch, and the tables of Ptolemy, all bring us to the same results, and, notwithstanding their apparent contradictions, fix the limit of southern navigation about the neighborhood of Cape Non, or Cape Bojador. The opinion that Africa was a peninsula, which existed among the Persians, the Egyptians, and perhaps the Greeks, several centuries prior to the Christian era, was not, in his opinion, founded upon any known facts; but merely on conjecture, from considering the immensity and unity of the ocean; or perhaps on more ancient traditions; or on ideas produced by the Carthaginian discoveries, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, and those of the Egyptians beyond the Gulf of Arabia. He thinks that there was a very remote period, when geography was much more per¬ fect than in the time of the Phenicians and the Greeks, whose knowledge was but confused traces of what had previously been better known. The opinion that the Indian Sea joined the ocean was admitted among the Greeks, and in the school of Alexandria, until the time of Hipparchus. It seemed author¬ ized by the direction which the coast of Africa took after Cape Aromata, always tending westward, as far as it had been explored by navigators. It was supposed that the western coast of Africa rounded off to meet the eastern, and that the whole was bounded by the ocean, much to the northward of the equa¬ tor. Such was the opinion of Crates, who lived in the time of Alexander; of Aratus, of Cleanthes, of Cleomedes, of Strabo, of Pomponius Mela, of Macrobius, and many others. Hipparchus proposed a different system, and led the world into an error, which for a long time retarded the maritime communication of Europe and India. He * Gosselin, Recherches sur la Geographie des Anciens, tom. i. p. 162, etc. + Memoirs de l’Acad. des Inscript, tom. xxvi. APPENDIX. 681 supposed that the seas were separated into distinct basins, and that the eastern shores of Africa made a circuit round the Indian Sea, so as to join those of Asia be¬ yond the mouth of the Ganges. Subsequent discoveries, instead of refuting this error only placed the junction of the continents at a greater distance. Marinus of Tyre, and Ptolemy, adopted this opinion in their works, and illustrated it in their maps, which for centuries controlled the general belief of mankind, and perpetuated the idea that Africa extended onward to the south pole, and that it was impossible to arrive by sea at the coasts of India. Still there were geographers who leaned to the more ancient idea of a communication between the Indian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It had its advocates in Spain, and was maintained by Pomponius Mela, and by Isidore of Seville. It was believed also by some of the learned in Italy, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries; and thus was kept alive until it was acted upon so vigorously by Prince Henry of Portugal, and at length triumphantly demonstrated by Vasco de Gama, in his circumnavigation of the Cape of Good Hope. No. XVI. OF THE SHIPS OF COLUMBUS. In remarking on the smallness of the vessels with which Columbus made his first voyage, Dr, Robertson observes that, “in the fifteenth century, the bulk and con¬ struction of vessels were accommodated to the short and easy voyages along the coast, which they were accustomed to perform.” We have many proofs, however, that even anterior to the fifteenth century, there were large ships employed by the Spaniards, as well as by other nations. In an edict published in Barcelona, in 1354, by Pedro IV., enforcing various regulations for the security of commerce, mention is made of Catalonian merchant ships of two and three decks and from 8000 to 12,- 000 quintals burden. In 1419, Alonzo of Aragon hired several merchant ships to transport artillery, horses, etc., from Barcelona to Italy, among which were two, each carrying one hundred and twenty horses, which it is computed would require a vessel of at least 600 tons. In 1463, mention is made of a Venetian ship of 700 tons which arrived at Barcelona from England, laden with wheat. In 1497, a Castilian vessel arrived there being of 12,000 quintals burden. These arrivals incidentally mentioned among others of similar size, as happening at one port, show that large ships were in use in those days.* Indeed, at the time of fit¬ ting out the second expedition of Columbus, there were prepared in the port of Bermeo, a Caracca of 1250 tons, and four ships of from 150 to 450 tons burden. Their destination, however, was altered, and they were sent to convoy Muley Boab- dil, the last Moorish king of Granada, from the coast of his conquered territory to ! Africa, t It was not for want of large vessels in the Spanish ports, therefore, that those of Columbus were of so small a size. He considered them best adapted to voyages of discovery, as they required but little depth of water, and therefore could more easily and safely coast unknown shores, and explore bays and rivers. He had some purposely constructed of a very small size for this service; such was the caravel, which in his third voyage he dispatched to look out for an opening to the sea at the upper part of the Gulf of Paria, when the water grew too shallow for his vessel of one hundred tons burden. The most singular circumstance with respect to the ships of Columbus is that they should be open vessels: for it seems difficult to believe that a voyage of such extent and peril should be attempted in barks of so frail a construction. This, however, is * Capmany, Questiones Criticas. Quest. 6. t Archives de Ind. en Sevilla. 682 APPENDIX. expressly mentioned by Peter Martyr, in bis Decades written at the time; and men¬ tion is made occasionally, in the memoirs relative to the voyages written by Co¬ lumbus and his son, of certain of his vessels being without decks. He sometimes speaks of the same vessel as a ship and a caravel. There has been some discussion of late as to the precise meaning of the term caravel. The Chevalier Bossi, in his dissertations on Columbus, observes that in the Mediterranean caravel designates the largest class of ships of war among the Mussulmans, and that in Portugal it means a small vessel of from 120 to 140 tons burden; but Columbus sometimes applies it to a vessel of forty tons. Du Cange, in his glossary, considers it a word of Italian origin. Bossi thinks it either Turkish or Arabic, and probably introduced into the European languages by the Moors. Mr. Edward Everett, in a note to his Plymouth oration, considers that the true origin of the word is given in “ Ferrarii Origines Linguae Italicae,” as fol¬ lows: “ Caravela, navigii minoris genus. Lat. Carabus: Greece Karabron.” That the word caravel was intended to signify a vessel of a small size is evident from a naval classification made by King Alonzo in the middle of the thirteenth century. In the first class he enumerates Naos, or large ships which go only with sails, some of which have two masts, and others but one. In the second class smaller vessels as Carracas, Fustas, Ballenares, Pinazas, Carabelas, etc. In the third class vessels with sails and oars, as Galleys, Galeots, Tardantes, and Saetias.* Bossi gives a copy of a letter written by Columbus to Don Raphael Xansis, treas¬ urer of the King of Spain, an edition of which exists in the public library at Milan. With this letter he gives several wood-cuts of sketches made with a pen, which ac- companied this letter, and which he supposes to have been from the hand of Co¬ lumbus. In these are represented vessels which are probably caravels. They have high bows and sterns, with castles on the latter. They have short masts with large square sails. One of them, besides sails, has benches of oars, and is probably in¬ tended to represent a galley. They are all evidently vessels of small size, and light construction. In a work called “Recherches sur le Commerce,” published in Amsterdam, 1799, is a plate representing a vessel of the latter part of the fifteenth century. It is taken from a picture in the church of St. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. The vessel bears much resemblance to those said to have been sketched by Columbus; it has two masts, one of which is extremely small with a latine sail. The mainmast has a large square sail. The vessel has a high poop and prow, is decked at each end, and is open in the centre. It appears to be the fact, therefore, that most of the vessels with which Columbus undertook his long and perilous voyages, were of this light and frail construction, and little superior to the small craft which ply on rivers and along coasts in modern days. No XVH. ROUTE OF COLUMBUS IN HIS FIRST VOYAGE.t It has hitherto been supposed that one of the Bahama Islands, at present bearing the name of San Salvador, and which is also known as Cat Island, was the first point where Columbus came in contact with the New World. Navarrete. however, in his introduction to the “ Collection of Spanish Voyages and Discoveries,” recently published at Madrid, has endeavored to show that it must have been Tur k’s Island, one of the same group, situated about 100 leagues (of 20 to the degree) S.E. of San Salvador. Great care has been taken to examine candidly the opinion of Navar * Capmany. Quest. Crit. t The author of this work is indebted for this able examination of the route ol Columbus to an officer of the navy of the United States, ivhose name he regrets the not being at liberty to mention. He has been greatly benefitted, in various parts of this history, by nautical information from the same intelligent source. APPENDIX, 683 rete, comparing it with the journal of Columbus, as published in the above men¬ tioned work, and with the personal observations of the writer of this article, who has been much among these islands. Columbus describes Guanahani, on which he landed, and to which he gave the name of San Salvador, as being a beautiful island, and very large; as being level, and covered with forests, many of the trees of which bore fruit; as having abun¬ dance of fresh water, and a large lake in the centre; that it was inhabited by a numerous population; that he proceeded for a considerable distance in his boats along the shore, which trended to the N.N.E., and as he passed, was visited by the inhabitants of several villages. Turk’s Island does not answer to this description. Turk’s Island is a low key composed of sand and rocks, and lying north and south, less than two leagues in extent. It is utterly destitute of wood, and has not a single tree of native growth. It has no fresh water, the inhabitants depending entirely on cisterns and casks in which they preserve the rain; neither has it any lake, but sev¬ eral salt ponds, which furnish the sole production of the island. Turk's Island can¬ not be approached on the east or north-east side, in consequence of the reef that surrounds it. It has no harbor, but has an open road on the west side, which ves¬ sels at anchor there have to leave and put to sea whenever the wind comes from any other quarter than that of the usual trade breeze of N.E. which blows over the island; for the shore is so bold that there is no anchorage except close to it; and J when the wind ceases to blow from the land, vessels remaining at their anchors would be swung against the rocks, or forced high upon the shore, by the terrible surf that then prevails. The unfrequented road of the Hawk's Nest, at the south end of the island, is even more dangerous. This island, which is not susceptible of the slightest cultivation, furnishes a scanty subsistence to a few sheep and horses. The inhabitants draw all their consumption from abroad, with the exception of fish and turtle, which are taken in abundance, and supply the principal food of the slaves employed in the salt-works. The whole wealth of the island consists in the produce of the salt-ponds, and in the salvage and plunder of the many wrecks which take place in the neighborhood. Turk’s Island, therefore, would never be inhabited in a savage state of society, where commerce does not exist, and where men are obliged to draw their subsistence from the spot which they people. Again: when about to leave Guanahani, Columbus was at a loss to choose which to visit of a great number of islands in sight. Now there is no land visible from Turk’s Island, excepting the two salt keys which lie south of it, and with it form the group known as Turk’s Islands. The journal of Columbus does not tell us what j course he steered in going from Guanahani to Concepcion, but he states that it was five leagues distant from the former, and that the current was against him in sail¬ ing to it: whereas the distance from Turk’s Island to the Gran Caico, supposed by J Navarrete to be the Concepcion of Columbus, is nearly double, and the current sets | constantly to the W.N.W. among these islands, which would be favorable in going I from Turk’s Island to the Caicos. From Concepcion Columbus went next to an island which he saw nine leagues off in a westerly direction, to which he gave the name of Fernandina. This Navarrete takes to be Little Inagua, distant no less than twenty-two leagues from Gran Caico. i Besides, in going to Little Inagua, it would be necessary to pass quite close to three I islands, each larger than Turk’s Island, none of which are mentioned in the jour- i nal. Columbus describes Fernandina as stretching twenty-eight leagues S.E and N.W.: whereas Little Inagua has its greatest length of four leagues in a S.W. direc¬ tion. In a word the description of Fernandina has nothing in common with Little Inagua. From Fernandina Columbus sailed S.E. to Isabella, which Navarrete takes i to be Great Inagua; whereas this latter bears S.W. from Little Inagua, a courso differing 90° from the one followed by Columbus. Again: Columbus, on the 20th of November, takes occasion to say that Guanahani was distant eight leagues from Isabella; whereas Turk’s Island is thirty-five leagues from Great Inagua. Leaving Isabella, Columbus stood W.S.W. for the island of Cuba, and fell in with the Islas Arenas. This course drawn from Great Inagua would meet the coast of 684 APPENDIX. Cuba about Port Nipe: whereas Navarrete supposes that Columbus next fell in with the keys south of the Jumentos, and which bear W.N.W. from Inagua; a course differing 45° from the one steered by the ships. After sailing for some time in the neighborhood of Cuba, Columbus finds himself, on the 14th of November, in the sea of Nuestra Sefiora, surrounded by so many islands that it was impossible to count them: whereas, on the same day, Navarrete places him off Cape Moa, where there is but one small island, and more than fifty leagues distant from any group that can possibly answer the description. Columbus informs us that San Salvador was distant from Port Principe forty-five leagues: whereas Turk’s Island is distant from the point, supposed by Navarrete to be the same, eighty leagues. On taking leave of Cuba, Columbus remarks that he had followed its coast for an extent of 120 leagues. Deducting twenty leagues for his having followed its wind¬ ings, there still remain 100. Now, Navarrete only supposes him to have coasted this island an extent of seventy leagues. Such are the most important difficulties which the theory of Navarrete offers, and which appear insurmountable. Let us now take up the route of Columbus as re¬ corded in his journal, and, with the best charts before us, examine how it agrees with the popular and traditional opinion, that he first landed on the island of San Salvador. We learn from the journal of Columbus that, on the 11th of October, 1492, he con¬ tinued steering W.S.W. until sunset, when he returned to his old course of west, the vessels running at the rate of three leagues an hour. At ten o’clock he and several of his crew saw a light, which seemed like a torch carried about on land. He con¬ tinued running on four hours longer, and had made a distance of twelve leagues farther west, when at two in the morning land was discovered ahead, distant two leagues. The twelve leagues which they ran since ten o’clock, with the two leagues distance from the land, form a total corresponding essentially with the distance and situation of Watling’s Island from San Salvador; and it is thence presumed that the light seen at that hour was on Watling’s Island, which they were then passing. Had the light been seen on land ahead, and they had kept running on four hours at the rate of three leagues an hour, they must have run high and dry on shore. As the admiral himself received the royal reward for having seen this light, as the first discovery of land, Watling’s Island is believed to be the point for which this premium was granted. On making land, the vessels were hove to until daylight of the same 12th of Octo¬ ber; they then anchored off an island of great beauty, covered with forests, and extremely populous. It was called Guanahani by the natives, but Columbus gave it the name of San Salvador. Exploring its coast, where it ran to the N.N.E., he found a harbor capable of sheltering any number of ships. This description corresponds minutely with the S.E. part of the island known as San Salvador, or Cat Island, which lies east and west, bending at its eastern extremity to the N.N.E., and has the same verdant and fertile appearance. The vessels had probably drifted into this bay at the S.E. side of San Salvador, on the morning of the 12th, while lying to for day¬ light; nor did Columbus, while remaining at the island, or when sailing from it, open the laud so as to discover that what he had taken for its whole length was but a bend at one end of it, and that the main body of the island lay behind, stretching far to the N.W. From Guanahani, Columbus saw so many other islands that he was at a loss which next to visit. The Indians signified that they were innumerable, and mentioned the names of above a hundred. He determined to go to the largest in sight, which appeared to be about five leagues distant; some of the others were nearer, and some further off. The island thus selected, it is presumed, was the present island of Concepcion; and that the others were that singular belt of small islands, known as La Cadena (or the chain), stretching past the island of San Sal¬ vador in a S.E. and N.W. direction; the nearest of the group being nearer than Concepcion, while the rest are more distant. PPENDIX. 685 Leaving San Salvador in the afternoon of the 14th for the island thus selected, the ships lay by during the night, and did not reach it until late in the following day, being retarded by adverse currents. Columbus gave this island the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion; he does not mention either its bearings from San Salva¬ dor, or the course which he steered in going to it. We know that in all this neigh¬ borhood the current sets strongly and constantly to the W.N.W.; and since Colum¬ bus had the current against him, he must have been sailing in an opposite direc¬ tion, or to the E.S.E. Besides, when near Concepcion, Columbus sees another island to the westward, the largest he had yet seen; but he tells us that he anchored off Concepcion, and did not stand for this larger island, because he could not have sailed to the west. Hence it is rendered certain that Columbus did not sail west¬ ward in going from San Salvador to Concepcion; for, from the opposition of the wind, as there could be no other cause, he could not sail toward that quarter. Now, on reference to the chart, we find the island at present known as Concepcion situ¬ ated E.S.E. from San Salvador, and at a corresponding distance of five leagues. Leaving Concepcion on the 16th of October, Columbus steered for a very large island seen to the westward nine leagues off, and which extended itself twenty-eight leagues in a c.E. and N.W. direction. He was becalmed the whole day, and did not reach the island until the following morning, 17th of October. He named it Fer- nandina. At noon he made sail again, with a view to run round it, and reach another island called Samoet; but the wind being at S.E. by S., the course he wished to steer, the natives signified that it would be easier to sail round this island by running to the N.W. with a fair wind. He therefore bore up to the N.W., and having rim two leagues found a marvellous port, with a narrow entrance, or rather with two entrances, for there was an island which shut it in completely, forming a noble basin within. Sailing out of this harbor by the opposite entrance at the N.W., he discovered that part of the island which runs east and west. The natives signified to him that this island was smaller than Samoet, and that it would be bet¬ ter to return toward the latter. It had now become calm, but shortly after there sprung up a breeze from W.N.W., which was ahead for the course they had been steering; so they bore up and stood to the E.S.E. in order to get an offing; for the weather threatened a storm, which however dissipated itself in rain. The next day, being the 18th of October, they anchored opposite the extremity of Fernan- dina. The whole of this description answers most accurately to the island of Exuma, which lies south from San Salvador, and S.W. by S. from Concepcion. The only inconsistency is that Columbus states that Fernandina bore nearly west from Con¬ cepcion, and was twenty-eight leagues in extent. This mistake must have proceed¬ ed from his having taken the long chain of keys called La Cadena for part of the same Exuma; which continuous appearance they naturally assume when seen from Concepcion, for they run in the same S.E. and N.W. direction. Their bearings, when seen from the same point, are likewise westerly as well as southwesterly. As a proof that such was the case, it may be observed that, after having approached these islands, instead of the extent of Fernandina being increased to his eye, he now remarks that it was twenty leagues long, whereas before it was estimated by him at twenty-eight; he now discovers that instead of one island there were many, and alters his course southerly to reach the one that was: most conspicuous. The identity of the island here described with Exuma is irresistibly forced upon the mind. The distance from Concepcion, the remarkable port with an island in front of it, and farther on its coast turning off to the westward, are all so accurate¬ ly delineated, that it would seem as though the chart had been drawn from the de¬ scription of Columbus. On the 19tli of October, the ships left Fernandina, steering S.E. with the wind at north. Sailing three hours on this course, they discovered Samoet to the east, and steered for it, arriving at its north point before noon. Here they found a little island surrounded by rocks, with another reef of rocks lying between it and Sa- moet. To Samoet Columbus gave the name of Isabella, and to the point of it oppo- 686 APPENDIX. site tlie little island, that of Cabo del Isleo; the cape at the S.W. point of Samoet, Columbus called Cabo de Laguna, and off this last his ships were brought to anchor. The little island lay in the direction from Fernandina to Isabella, east and west. The coast from the small island lay westerly twelve leagues to a cape, which Columbus cabled Fermosa from its beauty; this he believed to be an island apart from Samoet or Isabella, with another one between them. Leaving Cape Laguna, where he remained until the 20th of October, Columbus steered to the N.E. toward Cabo del Isleo, but meeting with shoals inside the small island, he did not come to anchor until the day following. Near this extremity of Isabella they found a lake, from which the ships were supplied with water. This island of Isabella, or Samoet, agrees so accurately in its description with Isla Larga, which lies east of Exuma, that it is only necessary to read it with the chart unfolded to be convinced of the identity. Having resolved to visit the island -which the natives called Cuba, and described as bearing W.S.W. from Isabella, Columbus left Cabo del Isleo at midnight, the commencement of the 24th of October, and shaped his course accordingly to the W.S.W. The wind continued light, with rain, until noon, when it freshened up, and in the evening Cape Verde, the S.W. point of Fernandina, bore N.W. distant seven leagues. As the night became tempestuous, he lay to until morning, drifting ac¬ cording to the reckoning two leagues. On the morning of the 25th he made sail again to W.S.W., until nine o’clock, when he had run five leagues; he then steered west until three, when he had run eleven leagues, at which hour land was discovered, consisting of seven or eight keys lying north and south, and distant five leagues from the ships. Here he anchored the next day, south of these islands, which he called Islas de Arena; they were low, and five or six leagues in extent. The distances run by Columbus, added to the departure taken from Fernandina and the distance from these islands of Arena at the time of discovering, give a sum of thirty leagues. This sum of thirty leagues is about three less than the distance from the S.W. point of Fernandina or Exuma, whence Columbus took his depar¬ ture, to the group of Mucaras, which lie east of Cayo Lobo on the grand bank of Bahama, and which correspond to the description of Columbus. If it were neces¬ sary to account for the difference of three leagues in a reckoning, where so much is given on conjecture, it would readily occur to a seaman, that an allowance of two leagues for drift, during a long night of blowy weather, is but a small one. The course from Exuma to the Mucaras is.about S.W. by W. The course followed by Columbus differs a little from this, but as it was his intention, on setting sail from Isabella, to steer W.S.W., and since he afterward altered it to west, we may con¬ clude that he did so in consequence of having been run out of his course to the southward, while lying to the night previous. Oct. 27.—At sunrise Columbus set sail from the isles Arenas or Mucaras, for an island called Cuba, steering S.S.W. At dark, having made seventeen leagues on that course, he saw the land, and hove his ships to until morning. On the 28th he made sail again at S.S.W., and entered a beautiful river with a fine harbor, which he named San Salvador. The journal in this part does not describe the localities with the minuteness w r ith which everything has hitherto been noted; the text also is in several places obscure. This port of San Salvador we take to be the one now known as Caravelas Grandes, situated eight leagues west of Neuvitas del Principe. Its bearings and distance from the Mucaras coincide exactly with those run by Columbus; and its description agrees, as far as can be ascertained by charts, with the port -which he visited. Oct. 29.—Leaving this port, Columbus stood to the west, and having sailed six leagues, he came to a point of the island running N.W., which we take to be the Punta Gorda; and, ten leagues farther, another stretching easterly, which will be Punta Curiana. One league farther he discovored a small river, and beyond this another very large one, to which he gave the name of Rio de Mares. This river emptied into a flue basin resembling a lake, and having a bold entrance: it had for APPENDIX. 687 landmarks two round mountains at the S.W., and to the W.N.W. a bold promontory, suitable for a fortification, which projected far into the sea. This we take to be the fine harbor and river situated west of Point Curiana; its distance corresponds with that run by Columbus from Caravelas Grandes, which we have supposed identical with Port San Salvador. Leaving Rio de Mares the 30th of October, Columbus stood to the N.W. for fifteen leagues, when he saw a cape, to which he gave the name of Cabo de Palmas. This, we believe, is the one which forms the eastern en¬ trance to Laguna de Moron. Beyond this cape was a river, distant, according to the natives, four days’ journey from the town of Cuba; Columbus determined therefore to make for it. Having lain to all night, he reached the river on the 31st of October, but found that it was too shallow to admit his ships. This is supposed to be what is now known as Laguna de Moron. Beyond this was a cape surrounded by shoals, and another projected still farther out. Between these two capes was a bay capable of receiving small vessels. The identity here of the description with the coast near Laguna de Moron seems very clear. The cape east of Laguna de Moron coincides with Cape Palmas, the Laguna de Moron w r ith the shoal river described by Colum¬ bus; and in the western point of entrance, with the island of Cabrion opposite it, we recognize the two projecting capes he speaks of, with what appeared to be a bay between them. This all is a remarkable combination, difficult to be found anywhere but in the same spot which Columbus visited and described. Further, the coast from the port of San Salvador had run west to Rio de Mares, a distance of seventeen leagues, and from Rio de Mares it had extended N. W. fifteen leagues to Cabo de Palmos; all of which agrees fully with what has been here supposed. The wind having shifted to north, which was contrary to the course they had been steering, the vessels bore up and returned to Rio de Mares. On the 12th of November the ships sailed out of Rio de Mares to go in quest of Babeque, an island believed to abound in gold, and to lie E. by S. from that port. Having sailed eight leagues with a fair wind, they came to a river, in which may be recognized the one which lies just west of Punta Gorda. Four leagues farther they saw another, which they called Rio del Sol. It appeared very large, but they did not stop to examine it, as the wind w r as fair to advance. This we take to be the river now known as Sabana. Columbus was now retracing his steps, and had made twelve leagues from Rio de Mares, but in going w r est from Port San Salvador to Rio de Mares, he had run seventeen leagues. San Salvador, therefore, remains five leagues east of Rio del Sol; and, a ccordingly, on reference to the chart, we find Caravelas Grandes situated a corresponding distance from Sabana. Having run six leagues from Rio del Sol, which makes in all eighteen leagues from Rio de Mares, Columbus came to a cape which he called Cabo de Cuba, probably from supposing it to be the extremity of that island. This corresponds precisely in distance from Punta Curiana with the lesser islands of Guajava, situated near Cuba, and between which and the greater Guajava Columbus must have passed in running in for Port San Salvador. Either he did not notice it, from his attention being engrossed by the magnificent island before him, or, as is also possible, his vessels may have been drifted through the passage, which is two leagues wide, while lying to the night previous to their arrival at Port San Salvador. On the 13th of November, having hove to all night, in the morning the ships passed a point two leagues in extent, and then entered into a gulf that made into the S.S.W., and w'hich Columbus thought separated Cuba from Bohio. At the bottom of the gulf w r as a large basin between two mountains. He could not determine whether or not this was an arm of the sea; for not finding shelter from the north wind. he put to sea again. Hence it would appear that Columbus must have partly sailed round the smaller Guajava, which he took to be the extremity of Cuba, with¬ out being aware that a few hours’ sail would have taken him, by this channel, to Port San Salvador, his first discovery in Cuba, and so back to the same Rio del Sol which he had passed the day previous. Of the two mountains seen on both sides of tbij entrance, the principal one corresponds with the peak called Alto de Juan 688 APPENDIX. Daune, which lies seven leagues west of Punta de Matemillos. The wind continu¬ ing north, he stood east fourteen leagues from Cape Cuba, which we have supposed the lesser island of Guajava. It is here rendered sure that the point of litUe Gua¬ java was believed by him to be the extremity of Cuba; for he speaks of the land mentioned as lying to leeward of the above-mentioned gulf as b$ing the island of Bohio, and says that he discovered twenty leagues of it running E.S.E. and W.N.W. On the 14th November, having lain to all night with a N.E. wind, he determined to seek a port, and if he found none, to return to those which he had left in the island of Cuba; for it will be remembered that all east of little Guajava he supposed to be Bohio. He steered E. by S. therefore six leagues, and then stood in for the land. Here he saw many ports and islands; but as it blew fresh, with a heavy sea, he dared not enter, but ran the coast down N.W. by W. for a distance of eighteen leagues, where he saw a clear entrance and a port, in which he stood S.S.W. and afterward S.E., the navigation being all clear and open. Here Columbus beheld so many islands that it was impossible to count them. They were very lofty, and covered with trees. Columbus called the neighboring sea Mar de Nuestro Senora, and to the harbor near the entrance to these islands he gave the name of Puerto del Principe. This harbor he says he did not enter until the Sunday following, which was four days after. This part of the text of Columbus’s journal is confused, and there are also anticipations, as if it had been written subsequently, or mixed together in copying. It appears evident that while lying to the night previous, with the wind at N.E., the ships had drifted to the N.W., and been carried by the power¬ ful current of the Bahama channel far in the same direction. When they bore up, therefore, to return to the ports which they had left in the island of Cuba, they fell in to leeward of them, and now first discovered the numerous group of islands of which Cayo Romano is the principal. The current of this channel is of itself suf¬ ficient to have carried the vessels to the westward a distance of 20 leagues, which is what they had run easterly since leaving Cape Cuba, or Guajava, for it had acted upon them during a period of thirty hours. There can be no doubt as to the identity of these keys with those about Cayo Romano; for they are the only ones in the neighborhood of Cuba that are not of a low and swampy nature, but large and lofty. They inclose a free, open navigation, and abundance of fine harbors, in late years the resort of pirates, who found security and concealment for themselves and their prizes in the recesses of these lofty keys. From the description of Colum¬ bus, the vessels must have entered between the islands of Baril and Pacedon, and sailing along Cayo Romano on a S.E. course, have reached in another day their old cruising ground in the neighborhood of ^lesser Guajava. Not-only Columbus does not tell us here of his having changed nis anchorage among these keys, but his journal does not even mention his having anchored at all, until the return from the ineffectual search after Babeque. It is clear, from what has been said, that it was not in Port Principe that the vessels anchored on this occasion; but it could not have been very distant, since Columbus went from the ships in his boats on the 18th November, to place a cross at its entrance. He had probably seen the entrance from without, when sailing east from Guajava on the 13th of November. The identity of this port with the one now known as Nuevitas el Principe seems certain, from the description of its entrance. Columbus, it appears, did not visit its interior. On the 19th November the ships sailed again, in quest of Babeque. At sunset Port Principe bore S.S.W. distant seven leagues, and having sailed all night at N.E. by N. and until ten o’clock of the next day (20th November), they had run a distance pf fifteen leagues on that course. The wind blowing from E.S.E., which was the direction in which Babeque was supposed to lie, and the weather being foul, Colum¬ bus determined to return to Port Principe, which was then distant twenty-five leagues. He did not wish to go to Isabella, distant only twenty leagues, lest the Indians whom he had brought from San Salvador, which Jay eight leagues from Isabella, should make their escape. Thus, in sailing N.E. by If. from near Port Principe, Columbus bad approached within a short distance of Isabella. That island was then, according to his calculations, thirty-seven leagues from Port Principe; APPENDIX. 689 and San Salvador was forty-five leagues from the same point. The first differs but eight leagues from the truth, the latter nine; or from the actual distance of Nuevitas el Principe from Isla Larga and San Salvador. Again, let us now call to mind the course made by Columbus in going from Isabella to Cuba; it was first W.S.W., then W., and afterward S.S.W. Having consideration for the different distances run on each, these yield a medium course not materially different from S.W. Sailing then „ S.W. from Isabella, Columbus had reached Port San Salvador, on the coast of Cuba. Making afterward a course of N.E. by N. from off Port Principe, he was going in the direction of Isabella. Hence we deduce that Port San Salvador, on the coast of Cuba, lay west of Port Principe, and the whole combination is thus bound together and established. The two islands seen by Columbus at ten o’clock of the same 20th November, must have been some of the keys which lie west of the Jumentos. Running back toward Port Principe, Columbus made it at dark, but found that he had been earned to the westward by the currents. This furnishes a sufficient proof of the strength of the current in the Bahama channel; for it will be remembered that he ran over to Cuba with a fair wind. After contending for four days, until the 24th November, with light winds against the force of these currents, he arrived at length opposite the level island whence he had set out the week before when going to Babeque. We are thus accidentally informed that the point from which Columbus started fn search of Babeque was the same island of Guajava the lesser, which lies west of Nuevitas el Principe. Further: at first he dared not enter into the opening between the two mountains, for it seemed as though the sea broke upon them; but having sent the boat ahead, the vessels followed in at S.W. and then W. into a fine harbor. The level island lay north of it, and with another island formed a secure basin cap¬ able of sheltering all the navy of Spain. This level island resolves itself then into our late Cape Cuba, which we have supposed to be little Guajava, and the entrance east of it becomes identical with the gulf above mentioned which lay between two mountains, one of which we have supposed the Alto de Juan Daune, and which gulf appeared to divide Cuba from Bohio. Our course now becomes a plain one. On the 26th of November, Columbus sailed from Santa Catalina (the name given by him to the port last described) at sunrise, and stood for the cape at the S.E. which he called Cabo de Pico. In this it is easy to recognize the high peak already spoken of as the Alto de Juan Daune. Arrived off this he saw another cape, distant fifteen leagues, and still farther another five leagues beyond it, which he called Cabo de Oampana. The first must be that now known as Point Padre, the second Point Mulas: their distances from Alto de Juan Daune are underrated; but it requires no little experience to estimate correctly the distances of the bold headlands of Cuba, as seen through the pure atmosphere that surrounds the island. Having passed Point Mulas in the night, on the 27th Columbus looked into the deep bay that lies S.E. of it, and seeing the bold projecting head-land that makes out between Port Nipe and Port Banes, with those deep bays on each side of it, he supposed it to be an arm of the sea dividing one land from another with an island between them. Having landed at Taco for a short time, Columbus arrived in the evening of the 27th at Baracoa, to which he gave the name of Puerto Santo. From Cabro del Pico to Puerto Santo, a distance of sixty leagues, he had passed no fewer than nine good ports and five rivers to Cape Campana, and thence to Puerto Santo eight more rivers,each with a good port; all of which maybe found on the chart between Alto de Juan Daune and Baracoa. By keeping near the coast he had been assisted to the S.E. by the eddy current of the Bahama channel. Sailing from Puerto Santo or Baracoa on the 4th of December, he reached the extremity of Cuba the following day, and striking off upon a wind to the S.E. in search of Babeque, which lay to the N.E., he came in sight of Bohio, to which he gave the name of Hispaniola. On taking leave of Ouba, Columbus tells us that he had coasted it a distance of 120 leagues. Allowing twenty leagues or this distance for his having followed the undulations of the coast, the remaining 100 measured from Point Maysi fail exactly C90 APPENDIX. upon Cabrion Key, which we have supposed the western boundary of his dis¬ coveries. The astronomical observations of Columbus form no objection to what has been here advanced; for he tells us that the instrument which he made use of to measure the meridian altitudes of the heavenly bodies was out of order and not to be de¬ pended upon. He places his first discovery, Guanaliani, in the latitude of Ferro, which is about 27° 30' north. San Salvador we find in 24° 30' and Turk’s Island in 21° 30': both are very wide of the truth, but it is certainly easier to conceive an error of three than one of six degrees. Lay-ng aside geographical demonstration, let us now examine how historical records agree with the opinion here supported, that the island of San Salvador was the first point where Columbus came in contact with the New World. Herrera, who is considered the most faithful and authentic of Spanish historians, wrote his History of the Indies toward the year 1G00. In describing the voyage of Juan Ponce de Leon, made to Florida in 1512, he makes the following remarks:* “Leaving Aguada in Porto Rico, they steered to the N.W. by N., and in five days arrived at an island called El Viejo, in latitude 22° 30' north. The next day they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos, called Caycos. On the eighth day they anchored at another island called Yaguna in 24°, on the eighth day out from Porto Rico. Thence they passed to the island of Manuega, in 24° 30', and on the eleventh day they reached Guanahani, which is in 25° 40' north. This island of Guanaliani was the first discovered by Columbus on his first voyage, and which he called San Salva¬ dor.” This is the substance of the remarks of Herrera, and is entirely conclusive as to the location of San Salvador. The latitudes, it is true, are all placed higher than we now know them to be; that of San Salvador being such as to correspond with no other land than that now known as the Berry Islands, which are seventy leagues distant from the nearest coast of Cuba: whereas Columbus tells us that San Salvador was only fortj^-five leagues from Port Principe. But in those infant days of navigation, the instruments for measuring the altitudes of the heavenly bodies, and the tables of declinations for deducing the latitude, must have been so imper¬ fect as to place the most scientific navigator of the time below the most mechanical one of the present. The second island arrived at by Ponce de Leon, in his northwestern course, was one of the Caycos; the first one, then called El Viejo, must have been Turk’s Island, which lies S.E. of the Caycos. The third island they came to was probably Marig- uana; the fourth, Crooked Island; and the fifth, Isla Larga. Lastly they came to Guanahani, the San Salvador of Columbus. If this be supposed identical with Turk’s Island, where do we find the succession of islands touched at by Ponce de Leon on his way from Porto Rico to San Salvador?! No stress has been laid, in these remarks, on the identity of name which has been preserved to San Salvador, Concepcion, and Port Principe, with those given by Columbus, though traditional usage is of vast weight in such matters. Geographical proof, of a conclusive kind it is thought, has been advanced, to enable the world to remain in its old hereditary belief that the present island of San Salvador is the spot where Columbus first set foot upon the New World. Established opinions of the kind should not be lightly molested. It is a good old rule, that ought to be kept in mind in curious research as well as territorial dealings, “ Do not disturb the ancient landmarks.” Note to the Revised, Edition of 1848.—The Baron de Humboldt, in his “ Examen Critique de l’histoire de la geographie du nouveau continent,” published in 1837, * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ix. cap. 10. t In the first chapter of Herrera’s description of the Indies, appended to his his¬ tory, is another scale of the Bahama Islands, which -corroborates the above. It begins at the opposite end, at the N.W., and runs down to the S. E. It Is thought unnecessary to cite it particularly. APPENDIX. 691 speaks repeatedly in high terms of the ability displayed in the above examination of the route of Columbus, and argues at great length and quite conclusively in sup¬ port of the opinion contained in it. Above all, he produces a document hitherto unknown, and the great importance of which had been discovei'ed by M. Vaieknaer and himself in 1832. This is a map made in 1500 by that able mariner Juan de la Cosa, who accompanied Columbus in his second voyage and sailed with other of the discoverers. In this map, of which the Baron de Humboldt gives an engraving, the islands as laid down agree completely with the bearings and distances given in the journal of Columbus, and establishes the identity of San Salvador, or Cat Island, and Guanahani. “ I feel happy,” says M. de Humboldt, “ to be enabled to destroy the incertitudes (which rested on this subject) by a document as ancient as it is unknown; a docu¬ ment which confirms irrevocably the arguments which Mr. Washington Irving has given in his work against the hypotheses of the Turk’s Island.” In the present revised edition the author feels at liberty to give the merit of the very masterly paper on the route of Columbus where it is justly due. It was fur¬ nished him at Madrid by the late commander Alexander Slidel Mackenzie, of the United States navy, whose modesty shrunk from affixing his name to an article so calculated to do him credit, and which has since challenged the high euiogiums of men of nautical science. No. XVIII. PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THE SUMS MENTIONED IN THIS WORK HAVE BEEN REDUCED INTO MODERN CURRENCY. In the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the mark of silver, which was equal to 8 ounces or to 50 castillanos was divided into 65 reals, and each real into 34 maravedis; so that that there were 2210 maravedis in the mark of silver. Among other silver coins there was the real of 8, which, consisting of 8 reals, was, within a small frac¬ tion, the eighth part of a mark of silver, or one ounce. Of -he gold-coins then in circulation the castillano or dobla de la vanda was worth 490 maravedis, and the ducado 383 maravedis. If the value of the maravedi had remained unchanged in Spain down to the present day, it would be easy to reduce a sum of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella into a correspondent sum of current money; but by the successive depreciations of the coin of Vellon, or mixed metals, issued since that period, the real and mara- I vedi of Vellon, which had replaced the ancient currency, were reduced toward the year 1700, to about a third of the old real and maravedi, now known as the real and maravedi of silver. As, however, the ancient piece of 8 reals was equal approxi¬ mately to the ounce of silver, and the duro. or dollar of the present day, is likewise equal to an ounce, they may be considered identical. Indeed, in Spanish America, the dollar, instead of being divided into 20 reals, as in Spain, is divided into only 8 parts called reals, which evidently represent the real of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, as the dollar does the real of 8. But the ounce of silver was anciently worth 276)4 maravedis; the dollar, therefore, is likewise equal to 276)4 maravedis. By converting then the sums mentioned in this work into maravedis they have been i afterward reduced into dollars by dividing by 276)4- There is still, however, another calculation to be made, before we can arrive at i the actual value of any sum of gold and silver mentioned in former times. It is I necessary to notice the variation which has taken place in the value of the metals | themselves. In Europe, previous to the discovery of the New World, an ounce of gold commanded an amount of food or labor which would cost tlmee ounces at the present day; hence an ounce of gold was then estimated at three times its present ; value. At the same time an ounce of silver commanded an amount which at present : costs 4 ounces of silver. It appears from this, that the value of gold and silver varied with respect to each other, as well as with respect to all other commodities. This is owing to there having been much more silver brought from the New World, 692 APPENDIX. with respect to the quantity previously in circulation, than there has been of gold. In the fifteenth century one ounce of gold was equal to about 12 of silver; and now, in the year 1827, it is exchanged against 16. Hence giving an idea of the relative value of the sums mentioned in this work, it has been found necessary to multiply them by three when in gold, and by four when expressed in silver.* It is expedient to add that the dollar is reckoned in this work at 100 cents of the United States of North America, and four shillings and sixpence of England. No. XIX. PRESTER JOHN: Said to be derived from the Persian Prestegani or Perestigani, which signifies apostolique; or Preschtalc Oeham, angel of the world. It is the name of a potent Christian monarch of shadowy renown, whose dominions were placed by writers of the middle ages sometimes in the remote parts of Asia and sometimes in Africa, and of whom such contradictory accounts were given by the travellers of those days that the very existence either of him or his kingdom came to be considered doubtful. It now appears to be admitted that there really was such a potentate in a remote part of Asia. He was of the Nestorian Christians, a sect spread through¬ out Asia, and taking its name and origin from Nestorius, a Christian patriarch of Constantinople. The first vague reports of a Christian potentate in the interior of Asia, or as it was then called, India, were brought to Europe by the Crusaders, who it is supposed gathered them from the Syrian merchants who traded to the very confines of China. In subsequent ages, when the Portuguese in their travels and voyages discovered a Christian king among the Abyssinians, called Baleel-Gian, they confounded him with the potentate already spoken of. Nor was the blunder extraordinary, since the original Prester John was said to reign over a remote part of India; and the ancients included in that name Ethiopia and all the regions of Africa and Asia bordering on the Red Sea and on the commercial route from Egypt to India. Of the Prester John of India we have reports furnished by William Ruysbrook, commonly called Rubruquis, a Franciscan friar sent by Louis IX., about the middle of the thirteenth century, to convert the Grand Khan. According to him, Prester John was originally a Nestorian priest, who on the death of the sovereign made himself King of the Naymans, all Nestorian Christians. Carpini, a Franciscan friar, sent by Pope Innocent in 1245 to convert the Mongols of Persia, says that Ocoday, one of the sons of Ghengis Khan of Tartary, marched with an army against the Christians of Grand India. The king of that country, who was called Prester John, came to their succor. Having had figures of men made of bronze, he had them fastened on the saddles of horses, and put fire within, with a man behind with a bellows. When they came to battle these horses were put in the advance, and the men who were seated behind the figures threw something into the fire, and blowing with their bellows, made such a smoke that the Tartars were quite covered with it. They then fell on them, dispatched many with their arrows, and put the rest to flight. Marco Polo (1271) places Prester John near the great wall of China, to the north of Chan-si, in Teudich, a populous region full of cities and castles. Mandeville (1332) makes Prester sovereign of Upper India (Asia), with four thous¬ and islands tributary to him. When John II. of Portugal, was pushing his discoveries along the African coast, he was informed that 350 leagues to the east of the kingdom of Benin in the pro¬ found depths of Africa, there was a puissant monarch, called Ogave, who bad spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over all the surrounding kings. * See Caballero Pesos y Medidas. J. B. Say, Economie Politique. APPENDIX. 693 An Afriean prince assured him, also, that to the east of Timbuctoo there was a sovereign who professed a religion similar to that of the Christians and was king of a Mosaic people. King John now supposed he had found traces of the real Prester John, with whom he was eager to form an alliance religious as well as commercial. In 148? he sent envoys by land in quest of him. One was a gentleman of his household, Pedro de l Covilham; the other, Alphonso de Paiva. They went by Naples to Rhodes, thence to Cairo, thence to Aden on the Arabian Gulf above the mouth of the Red Sea. Here they separated with an agreement to rendezvous at Cairo. Alphonso de Paiva sailed direct for Ethiopia; Pedro de Covilham for the Indies. The latter passed to Callicut and Goa, where he embarked for Sofala on the eastern coast of Africa, thence returned to Aden, and made his way back to Cairo. Here he learned that his coadjutor, Alphonso de Paiva, had died in that city. He found two Portu¬ guese Jews waiting for him with fresh orders from King John not to give up his researches after Prester John until he found him. One of the Jews he sent back with a journal and verbal accounts of his travels. With the other he set off again for Aden; thence to Ormuz, at the entrance of the Gulf of Persia, where all the rich merchandise of the East was brought to be transported thence by Syria and Egypt into Europe. Having taken note of everything here, he embarked on the Red Sea, and arrived at the court of an Abyssinian prince named Escander (the Arabic version of Alexander), whom he considered the real Prester John. The prince received him graciously, and manifested a disposition to favor the object of his embassy, but died suddenly, and his successor Naut refused to let Covilham depart, but kept him for many years about his person, as his prime councillor, lavishing on him wealth and honors. After all, this was not the real Prester John, who, as has been ob¬ served, was an Asiatic potentate. No. XX. MARCO POLO.* The travels of Marco Polo, or Paolo, furnish a key to many parts of the voyages and speculations of Columbus, which without it woukl hardly be comprehensible. Marco Polo was a native of Venice, who, in the thirteenth century, made a journey into the remote, and, at that time, unknown regions of the East, and filled all Christendom with curiosity by bis account of the countries he had visited. He was preceded in his travels by his father Nicholas and his uncle Maffeo Polo. These two brothers were of an illustrious family in Venice, and embarked about the year 1255 on a commercial voyage to the East. Having traversed the Mediterranean and through the Bosphorus, they stopped for a short time at Constantinople, which city had recently been wrested from the Greeks by the joint arms of France and Venice. Here they disposed of their Italian merchandise, and, having purchased a stock of jewelry, departed on an adventurous expedition to trade with the western Tartars, who, having overrun many parts of Asia and Europe, were settling and forming cities in the vicinity of the Wolga. After traversing the Euxine to Soldaia (at i present Sudak), a port in the Crimea, they continued on, by land and water, until they reached the military court, or rather camp, of a Tartar prince, named Barkah, a descendant of Ghengis Khan, into whose hands they confided all their merchan- f — - - ■ — - .. - ... - ■ - ■■ - - * * In preparing the first edition of this work for the press the author had not the benefit of the English translation of Marco Polo, published a few years since, with admirable commentaries, by William Marsden, F.R S. He availed himself, prin. cipally, of an Italian version in the Venetian edition of Rainusio (1606), the French translation by Bergeron, and an old and very incorrect Spanish translation. Having since procured the work of Mr. Marsden he has made considerable alterations in these notices of Marco Poio. 694 APPENDIX: dise. The barbaric chieftain, while he was dazzled by their precious commodities, was flattered by the entire confidence in his justice manifested by these strangers. He repaid them with princely munificence, and loaded them with favors during a year that they remained at his court. A war breaking out between their patron and his cousin Hulagu, chief of the eastern Tartars, and Barkah being defeated, the Polos were embarrassed how to extricate themselves from the country and return home in safety. The road to Constantinople being cut off by the enemy, they took a circuitous route, round the head of the Caspian Sea, and through the deserts of Transoxiana, until they arrived in the city of Bokhara, where they resided for three years. While here there arrived a Tartar nobleman who was on an embassy from the victorious Hulagu to his brother the Grand Khan. The ambassador became acquainted with the Venetians, and finding them to be versed ii. the Tartar tongue, and possessed of curious and valuable knowledge, he prevailed upon them to ac¬ company him to the court of the emperor, situated, as they supposed, at the very extremity of the East. After a march of several months, being delayed by snow-storms and inundations, they arrived at the court of Cublai, otherwise called the Great Khan, which signifies King of Kings, being the sovereign potentate of the Tartars. This magnificent prince received them with great distinction; he made inquiries about the countries and princes of the West, their civil and military government, and the manners and customs of the Latin nation. Above all, he was curious on the subject of the Christian religion. He was so much struck by their replies, that, after holding a council with the chief persons of his kingdom, he entreated the two brothers to go on his part as ambassadors to the pope, to entreat him to send a hundred learned men well instructed fn the Christian faith, to impart a knowledge of it to the sages of his empire. He also entreated them to bring him a little oil from the lamp of our Saviour, in Jerusalem, which he concluded must have marvellous virtues. It has been supposed, and with great reason, that under this covert of religion, the shrewd Tartar sovereign veiled motives of a political nature. The influence of the pope in promoting the crusades had caused his power to be known and respected throughout the East; it was of some moment, therefore, to conciliate his good-will. Cublai Khan had no bigotry nor devotion to any particular faith, and probably hoped, by adopting Christianity, to make it a common cause between himself and the warlike princes of Christendom, against his and their inveterate enemies, the soldan of Egypt and the Saracens. Having written letters to the pope in the Tartar language, he delivered them to the Polos, and appointed one of the principal noblemen of his court to accompany them in their mission. On their taking leave he furnished them -with a tablet of gold on which was engraved the royal arms; this was to serve as a passport, at sight of which the governors of the various provinces were to entertain them, to furnish them with escorts through dangerous places, and render them all other necessary services at the expense of the Great Khan. They had scarce proceeded twenty miles, when the nobleman who accompanied them fell ill, and they were obliged to leave him, and continue on their route. Their golden passport procured them every 'attention and facility throughout the do minions of the Great Khan. They arrived safely at Acre, in April, 12G9. Here they received news of the recent death of Pope Clement IV., at which they were much grieved, fearing it would cause delay in their mission. There was at that time in Acre a legate of the holy chair, Tebaklo di Vesconti, of Placentia, to whom they gave an account of their embassy. He heard them with great attention and inte¬ rest, and advised them to await the election of a new pope, which must soon take place, before they proceeded to Rome on their mission. They determined in the interim to make a visit to their families, and accordingly departed for Negropont, and thence to Venice, where great changes had taken place in their domestic con' perns, during their long absence. The wife of Nicholas, whom he had left pi'eg' nant, had died, in giving birth to a son, who had been named Marco. APPENDIX ; 695 As the contested election for the new pontiff remained pending for two years, they were uneasy, lest the Emperor of Tartary should grow impatient at so long a postponement of the conversion of himself and his people; they determined, there¬ fore, not to wait the election of a pope, but to proceed to Acre, and get such dispatches and such ghostly ministry for the Grand Khan as the legate could fur¬ nish. On the second journey, Nicholas Polo took with him his son Marco, who afterward wrote an account of these travels. They were again received with great favor by the legate Tebaldo, who, anzioxis for the success of their mission, furnished them with letters to the Grand Khan, in which the doctrines of the Christian faith were fully expounded. With these, and with a supply of the holy oil from the sepulchre, they once more set out, in Sep¬ tember, 1271, for the remote parts of Tartary. They had not long departed, when missives arrived from Rome, informing the legate of his own election to the holy chair. He took the name of Gregory X., and decreed that in future, on the death of a pope, the cardinals should be shut up in conclave until they elected a successor; a wise regulation, which has since continued, enforcing a prompt decision, and preventing intrigue. Immediately on receiving intelligence of his election, he dispatched a courier to the King of Armenia, requesting that the two Venetians might be sent back to him, if they had not departed. They joyfully returned, and were furnished with new letters to the Khan. Two eloquent friars, also, Nicholas Vincent and Gilbert do Tripoli, were sent with them, with power’s to ordain priests and bishops and to grant absolution. They had presents of crystal vases, and other costly articles to deliver to the Grand Khan; and thus well provided, they once more set forth on their journey.* Arriving in Armenia, they ran great risk of their lives from the war which was raging, the sol-dan of Babylon having invaded the country. They took refuge for some time with the superior of a monastery. Hei'e the two reverend fathers, losing all courage to prosecute so perilous an enterprise, determined to remain, and the Venetians continued their journey. They were a long time on the way, and exposed to great hardships and sufferings from floods and snow-storms, it being the winter season. At length they reached a town in the dominions of the Khan. That poten¬ tate sent officers to meet them at forty days’ distance from the court, and to pro¬ vide quarters for them during their journey.t He received them with great kind¬ ness, was highly gratified with the result of their mission and with the letters of the | pope, and having received from them some oil from the lamp of the holy sepulchre, he had it locked up, and guarded it as a precious treasure. The three Venetians, father, brother, and son, were treated with such distinction by the Khan, that the courtiers were filled with jealousy. Marco soon, however, made himself popular, and was particularly esteemed by the emperor. He acquired | the four principal languages of the country, and was of such remarkable capacity j that, notwithstanding his youth, the Khan employed him in missions and services of importance, In various parts of his dominions, some to the distance of even six months’ journey. On these expeditions he was industrious in gathering all kinds of information respecting that vast empire; and from notes and minutes made for the satisfaction of the Grand Khan, he afterward composed the history of his travels. After about seventeen years residence in the Tartar court the Venetians felt a longing to return to their native country. Their patron was advanced in age and could not survive much longer, and after his death, their return might be difficult if not impossible. They applied to the Grand Khan for permission to depart, but for a time met with a refusal, accompanied by friendly upbraidings. At length a * Ramusio, tom. iii. t Bergeron, by blunder m the translation from the original Latin, has stated that the Khan sent 40,000 men to escort them. This has drawn the ire of the critics upon Maroo Polo, who have cited it as one of his monstrous exaggerations. 696 APPENDIX. singular train of events operated in their favor; an embassy arrived from a Mogul Tartar prince, who ruled in Persia, and who was grand-nephew to the emperor. The object was to entreat, as a spouse, a princess of the imperial lineage. A grand¬ daughter of Cublai Khan, seventeen years of age, and of great beauty and accom¬ plishments, was granted to the prayer of the prince, and departed for Persia with the ambassadors, and with a splendid retinue, but after travelling for some months, was obliged to return on account of the distracted state of the country. The ambassadors despaired of conveying the beautiful bride to the arms of her expecting bridegroom, when Marco Polo returned from a voyage to certain of the Indian islands. His representations of the safety of a voyage in those seas, and his private instigations, induced the ambassadors to urge the Grand Khan for permis¬ sion to convey the princess by sea to the Gulf of Persia, and that the Christians might accompany them, as being best experienced in maritime affairs. Cublai Khan consented with great reluctance, and a splendid fleet was fitted out and victualled for two years, consisting of fourteen ships of four masts, some of which had crews of two hundred and fifty men. On parting with the Venetians the munificent Khan gave them rich presents of jewels, and made them promise to return to him after they had visited their families. He authorized them to act as his ambassadors to the principal courts of Europe, and, as on a former occasion, furnished them with tablets of gold, to serve, not merely as passports, but as orders upon all commanders in his territories for ac¬ commodations and supplies. They set sail therefore in the fleet with the oriental princess and her attendants and the Persian ambassadors. The ships swept along the coast of Cochin China, stopped for three months at a port of the island of Sumatra near the western entrance of the Straits of Malacca, waiting for the change of the monsoon to pass the Bay of Bengal. Traversing this vast expanse they touched at the island of Ceylon and then crossed the strait to the southern part of the great peninsula of India. Thence sailing up the Pirate coast, as it is called, the fleet entered the Per¬ sian Gulf and arrived at the famous port of Olmuz, where it is presumed the voyage terminated, after eighteen months spent in traversing the Indian seas. Unfortunately for the royal bride who was the object of this splendid naval ex¬ pedition, her bridegroom, the Mogul king, had died some time before her arrival, leaving a son named Ghazan, during whose minority the government was adminis¬ tered by his uncle, Kai-Khatu. According to the directions of the regent, the princess was delivered to the youthful prince, son of her intended spouse. He was at that time at the head of an army on the borders of Persia. He was of a diminu¬ tive stature but of a great soul, and, on afterwards ascending the throne, acquired renown for his talents and virtues. What became of the Eastern bride, who had travelled so far in quest of a husband, is not known; but everything favorable is to be inferred from the character of Ghazan. The Polos remained some time in the court of the regent, and then departed, with fresh tablets of gold given by that prince, to carry them in safety and honor through his dominions. As they had to traverse many countries where the traveller is ex¬ posed to extreme peril, they appeared on their journeys as Tartars of low condition, having converted all their wealth into precious stones and sewn them up in the folds and linings of their coarse garments. They had a long, difficult, and perilous journey to Trebizond, whence they proceeded to Constantinople, thence to Negro- pont, and, finally to Venice, where they arrived in 1295, in good health, and literally laden with riches. Having heard during their journey of the death of their old benefactor, Cublai Khan, they considered their diplomatic functions at an end, and also that they were absolved from their promise to return to his dominions. Ramusio, in his preface to the narrative of Marco Polo, gives a variety of particu¬ lars concerning their arrival, which he compares to that of Ulysses. When they arrived at Venice, they were known by nobody. So many years had elapsed since their departure without any tidings of them, that they were either forgotten or con¬ sidered dead. Besides, their foreign garb, the influence of southern suns, and the APPENDIX. 697 similitude which men acquire to those among whom they reside for any length of time, had given them the look of Tartars rather than Italians. They repaired to their own house, which was a noble palace, situated in the street of St. Giovanne Chrisostomo, and was afterward known by the name of la Corte de la Milione. They found several of their relatives still inhabiting it; but they were slow in recollecting the travellers, not knowing of their wealth, and probably con¬ sidering them, from their coarse and foreign attire, poor adventurers returned to be a charge upon their families. The Polos, however, took an effectual mode of quickening the memories of their friends, and insuring themselves a loving recep¬ tion. They invited them all to a grand banquet. When their guests arrived, they received them richly dressed in garments of crimson satin of oriental fashion. When water had been served for the washing of hands, and the company were sum¬ moned to table, the travellers, who had retired, appeared again in still richer robes of crimson damask. The first dresses were cut up and distributed among the ser¬ vants, being of such length that they swept the ground, which, saj^s Ramusio, was the mode in those days with dresses worn within doors. After the first course, they again retired and came in dressed in crimson velvet; the damask dresses being like¬ wise given to the domestics, and the same was done at the end of the feast with their velvet robes, when they appeared in the Venetian ^dress of the day. The guests were lost in astonishment, and could not comprehend the meaning of this masquerade. Having dismissed all the attendants, Marco Polo brought forth the coarse Tartar dresses in which they had arrived. Slashing them in several places with a knife, and ripping open the seams and lining, there tumbled forth rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and other precious stones, until the whole table glittered with inestimable wealth, acquired from the munificence of the Grand Khan, and conveyed in this portable form through the perils of their long journey. The company, observes Ramusio, were out of their wits with amazement, and now clearly perceived what they had at first doubted, that these in very truth were those honored and valiant gentlemen the Polos, and, accordingly, paid them great respect and reverence. The account of this curious feast is given by Ramusio, on traditional authority, having Jheard it many times related by the illustrious Gasparo Malipiero, a very ancient gentleman, and a senator, of unquestionable veracity, who had it from his father, who had it from his grandfather, and so on up to the fountain-head. When the fame of this banquet and of the wealth of the travellers came to be divulged throughout Venice, all the city, noble and simple, crowded to do honor to the extraordinary merit of the Polos. Maffeo, who was the eldest, was admitted to the dignity of the magistracy. The youth of the city came every day to visit and converse with Marco Polo, who was extremely amiable and communicative. They were insatiable in their inquiries about Cathay and the Grand Khan, which he answered with great courtesy, giving details with which they were vastly delighted, and, as he always spoke of the wealth of the Grand Khan in round numbers, they gave him the name of Messer Marco Milioni. Some months after their return, Lampa Doria, commander of the Genoese navy, appeared in the vicinity of the island of Curzola with seventy galleys. Andrea Dandolo, the Venetian admiral, was sent against him. Marco Polo commanded a galley of the fleet. His usual good fortune deserted him. Advancing the first in the line with his galley, and not being properly seconded, he was taken prisoner, thrown in irons, and carried to Genoa. Here he was detained for a long time in prison, and all offers of ransom rejected. His imprisonment gave great uneasiness to his father and uncle, fearing that he might never return. Seeing themselves in this unhappy state, with so much treasure and no heirs, they consulted together. They "were both very old men; but Nicola, observes Ramusio, was of a galliard complexion: it was determined he should take a wife. He did so; and to the won¬ der of his friends, in four years had three children. In the mean while the fame of Marco Polo’s travels had circulated in Genoa. His prison was daily crowded with nobility, and he was supplied with everything that 698 APPENDIX, could cheer him in his confinement. A Genoese gentleman, who visited him every day, at length prevailed upon him to write an account of what he had seen. He had his papers and journals sent to him from Venice, and with the assistance of his friend, or, as some will have it, his fellow-prisoner, produced the work which after¬ ward made such noise throughout the world. The merit of Marco Polo at length procured him his liberty. He returned to Venice, where he found his father with a house full of children. He took it in good part, followed the old man's example, married, and had two daughters, Moretta and Fantina. The date of the death of Marco Polo is unknown; he is supposed to have been, at the time, about seventy years of age. On his death-bed he is said to have been exhorted by his friends to retract what he had published, or, at least, to disavow those parts commonly regarded as fictions. He replied indignantly that so far from having exaggerated, he had not told one half of the extraordinary things of which he had been an eye-witness. Marco Polo died without male issue. Of the three sons of his father by the second marriage, one only had children—viz., five sons and one daughter. The sons died without leaving issue; the daughter inherited all her father’s wealth and married into the noble and distinguished house of Trevesino. Thus the male line of the Polos ceased in 1417, and the family name was extinguished. Such are the principal particulars known of Marco Polo, a man whose travels for a long time made a great noise in Europe, and will be found to have had a great effect on modern discovery. His splendid account of the extent, wealth, and pop¬ ulation of the Tartar territories filled every one with admiration. The possibility of bringing all those regions under the dominion of the Church, and rendering the Grand Khan an obedient vassal to the holy chair, was for a long time a favorite topic among the enthusiastic missionaries of Christendom, and there were many saints-errant who undertook to effect the conversion of this magnificent infidel. Even at the distance of two centuries, when the enterprises for the discovery of the new route to India had set all the warm heads of Europe madding about these remote regions of the East, the conversion of the Grand Khan became again a pop¬ ular theme; and it was too speculative and romantic an enterprise not to catch tne vivid imagination of Columbus. In all his voyages, he will be found continually to be seeking after the territories of the Grand Khan, and even after his last expe¬ dition, when nearly worn out by age, hardships, and infirmities, he offered, in a let¬ ter to the Spanish monarchs, written from a bed of sickness, to conduct any mis¬ sionary to the territories of the Tartar emperor, who would undertake his conver¬ sion. No. XXI. THE WORK OF MARCO POLO. The work of Marco Polo is stated by some to have been originally written in Latin,* though the most probable opinion is that it was written in the Venetian dialect of the Italian. Copies of it in manuscript were multiplied and rapidly cir¬ culated; translations were made into various languages, until the invention of printing enabled it to be widely diffused throughout Europe. In the course of these translations and successive editions, the original text, according to Purclias, has been much vitiated, and it is probable many extravagances in numbers and measurements with which Marco Polo is charged may be the errors of translators and printers. When the work first appeared, it was considered by some as made up of fictions and extravagances, and Vossius assures us that even after the death of Marco Polo he continued to be a subject of ridicule among the light and unthinking, insomuch that he was frequently personated at masquerades by some wit or droll, who, in bio * Hist, des Voyages, tom. xxvii. lib. iv. cap. 8. Paris, 1549. APPENDIX. 699 feigned character, related all kinds of extravagant fables and adventures. His work, however, excited great attention among thinking men, containing evidently a fund of information concerning vast and splendid countries, before unknown to the European world. Yossius assures us that it was at one time highly esteemed by the learned. Francis Pepin, author of the Brandenburgh version, styles Polo a man commendable for his piety, prudence, and fidelity. Athanasius Ivircher, in his account of China, says that none of the ancients have described the kingdoms of the remote East with more exactness. Various other learned men of past times have borne testimony to his character, and most of the substantial parts of his work have been authenticated by subsequent travellers. The most able and ample vindication of Marco Polo, however, is to be found in the English translation of his work, with copious notes and commentaries, by William Marsden, F.R.S. He has diligently discriminated between what Marco Polo relates from his own observa¬ tion, and what he relates as gathered from others; he points out the errors that have arisen from misinterpretations, omissions, or interpretations of translators, and he claims all proper allowance for the superstitious coloring of parts of the narrative from the belief, prevalent among the most wise and learned of his day, in miracles and magic. After perusing the work of Mr. Marsden, the character of Marco Polo rises in the estimation of the reader. It is evident that his narration, as far as related from his own observations, is correct, and that he had really traversed a great part of Tartary and China, and navigated in the Indian seas. Some of the countries and many of the islands, however, are evidently described from accounts given by others, and in these accounts are generally found the fables which have excited incredulity and ridicule. As he composed his work after his return home, partly from memory and partly from memorandums, he was liable to confuse what he had heard with what he had seen, and thus to give undue weight to many fables and exaggerations which he had received from others. Much has been said of a map brought from Cathay by Marco Polo, which was conserved in the convent of San Michale de Murano in the vicinity of Venice, and in which the Cape of Good Hope and the island of Madagascar were indicated, coun¬ tries which the Portuguese claim the merit of having discovered two centuries after¬ ward. It has been suggested also that Columbus had visited the convent and ex¬ amined this map, whence he derived some of his ideas concerning the coast of India. According to Ramusio, however, who had been at the convent, and was well acquainted with the prior, the map preserved there was one copied by a friar from the original one of Marco Polo, and many alterations and additions had since been made by other hands, so that for a long time it lost all credit with judicious people, until on comparing it with the work of Marco Polo it was found in the main to agree with his descriptions.* The Cape of Good Hope was doubtless among the additions made subsequent to the discoveries of the Portuguese.t Columbus I makes no mention of this map, which he most probably would have done had he | seen it. He seems to have been entirely guided by the one furnished by Faulo Toscanelli, and which was apparently projected after the original map, or after the descriptions of Marco Polo and the maps of Ptolemy. When the attention of the world was turned toward the remote parts of Asia in the fifteenth century, and the Portuguese were making their attempts to circum¬ navigate Africa, the narration of Marco Polo again rose to notice. This, with the travels of Nicolo de Comte, the Venetian, and of Hieronimo da San Stefano, a * Ramusio, vol. ii. p. 17. t Mr. Marsden, who has inspected a splendid fac-simile of this map preserved in the British Museum, objects even to the fundamental part of it: “where,” he ob¬ serves, “ situations are given to places that seem quite inconsistent with the de¬ scriptions in the travels, and can not be attributed to their author, although in¬ serted on the supposed authority of his writings.” Marsden’s M. Polo. Introd. p. xlii. 700 APPENDIX. Genoese, are said to have been the principal lights by which the Portuguese guided themselves in their voyages.* Above all, the influence which the work of Marco Polo had over the mind of Co¬ lumbus gives it particular interest and importance. It was evidently an oracular work with him. He frequently quotes it, aud on his voyages, supposing himself to be on the Asiatic coast, he is continually endeavoring to discover the islands and main-lands described in it, and to find the famous Cipango. It is proper, therefore, to specify some of those places, and the manner in which they are described by a Venetian traveller, that the reader may more fully under¬ stand the anticipations which were haunting the mind of Columbus in his voyages among the West Indian islands, and along the coast of Terra Firma. The winter residence of the Great Khan, according to Marco Polo, was in the city of Cambalu, or Kanbalu (since ascertained to be Pekin), in the province of Cathay. This city, he says, was twenty-four miles square, and admirably built. It was im¬ possible, according to Marco Polo, to describe the vast amount and variety of mer¬ chandise and manufactures brought there; it would seem they were enough to furnish the universe. “ Here are to be seen in wonderful abundance the precious stones, the pearls, the silks, and the diverse perfumes of the East; scarce a day passes that there does not arrive nearly a thousand cars laden with silk, of w’hich they make admirable stuffs in this city.” The palace of the Great Khan is magnificently built, and four miles in circuit. It is rather a group of palaces. In the interior it is resplendent with gold and silver; and in it are guarded the precious vases and jewels of the sovereign. All the ap¬ pointments of the Khan for war, for the chase, for various festivities, are described in gorgeous terms. But though Marco Polo is magnificent in his description of the provinces of Cathay, and its imperial city of Cambalu, he outdoes himself when he comes to describe the province of Mangi. This province is supposed to be the southern part of China. It contains, he says, twelve hundred cities. The capital Quinsai (supposed to be the city of Hang-cheu) was twenty-five miles from the sea, but communicated by a river with a port situated on the sea-coast, and had great trade with India. The name Quinsai, according to Marco Polo, signifies the city of heaven; he says he has been in it and examined it diligently, and affirms it to be the largest in the world; and so undoubtedly it is if the measurement of the traveller is to be taken literally, for he declares that it is one hundred miles in circuit. This seeming ex¬ aggeration has been explained by supposing him to mean Chinese miles or it, which are to the Italian miles in the proportion of three to eight; and Mr. Marsden ob¬ serves that the walls even of the modern city, the limits of which have been con¬ siderably contracted, are estimated by travellers at sixty li. The ancient city has evidently been of immense extent, and as Marco Polo could not be supposed to have measured the walls himself, he has probably taken the loose and incorrect estimates of the inhabitants. He describes it also as built upon little islands like Venice, and has twelve thousand stone bridges,t the arches of which are so high that the largest vessels can pass under them without lowering their masts. It has, he affirms, three thousand baths, and six hundred thousand families, including domestics. It abounds with magnificent houses, and has a lake thirty miles in circuit within its * Hist, des Voyages, tom. xl. lib. xi. chap. 4. t Another blunder in translation has drawn upon Marco Polo the indignation of George Hornius, who (in his Origin of America, iv. 3) exclaims, “ Who can believe all that he says of the city of Quinsai? as for example, that it has stone bridges twelve thousand miles high!” etc. It is probable that many of the exaggerations in the accounts of Marco Polo are in fact the errors of his translators. Mandeville, speaking of this same city, which he calls Causai, says it is built on the sea like Venice, and has twelve hundred bridges. APPENDIX. 701 walls, on the banks of which are superb palaces of people of rank.* The inhabi¬ tants of Quinsai are very voluptuous, and indulge in all kinds of luxuries and de¬ lights, particularly the women, who are extremely beautiful. There are many merchants and artisans, but the masters do not work, they employ servants to do all their labor. The province of Mangi was conquered by the Great Khan, who divided it into nine kingdoms, appointing to each a tributary king. He drew from it an immense revenue, for the country abounded in gold, silver, silks, sugar, spices, and perfumes. ZIPANGU, ZIPANGRI, OR CIPANGO. Fifteen hunered miles from the shores of Mangi, according to Marco Polo, lay the great island of Zipangu, by some written Zipangri, and by Columbus Cipango.t Marco Polo describes it as abounding in gold, which, however, the king seldom permits to be transported out of the island. The king has a magnificent palace covered with plates of gold, as in other countries the palaces are covered with sheets of lead or copper. The halls and chambers are likewise covered with gold, the windows adorned with it, sometimes in plates of the thickness of two fingers. The island also produces vast quantities of the largest and finest pearls, together with a variety of precious stones; so that, in fact, it abounds in riches. The Great Khan made several attempts to conquer this island, but in vain; which is not to be wondered at, if it be true what Marco Polo relates, that the inhabitants had certain stones of a charmed virtue inserted between the skin and the flesh of their right arms, which, through the power of diabolical enchantments, rendered them invul¬ nerable. This island was an object of diligent search to Columbus. About the island of Zipangu or Cipango, and between it and the coast of Mangi, the sea, according to Marco Polo, is studded with small islands to the number of seven thousand four hundred and forty, of which the greater part are inhabited. There is not one which does not produce odoriferous trees and perfumes in abund¬ ance. Columbus thought himself at one time in the midst of these islands. These are the principal places described by Marco Polo, which occur in the letters and journals of Columbus. The island of Cipango was the first land he expected to make, and he intended to visit afterward the province of Mangi, and to seek the Great Khan in his city of Cambalu, in the province of Cathay. Unless the reader can bear in mind these sumptuous descriptions of Marco Polo, of countries teeming with wealth, and cities where the very domes and palaces flamed with gold, he will have but a faint idea of the splendid anticipations which filled the imagination of Columbus when he discovered, as he supposed, the extremity of Asia. It was his confident expectation of soon arriving at these countries, and realizing the accounts of the Venetian, that induced him to hold forth those promises of immediate wealth to the sovereigns, which caused so much disappointment, and brought upon him the frequent reproach of exciting false hopes and indulging in wilful ex- i aggeration. * Sir George Staunton mentions this lake as being a beautiful sheet of water, i about three or four miles in diameter; its margin ornamented with houses and gar- ! dens of mandarins, together with temples, monasteries for the priests of Fo, and I an imperial palace. t Supposed to be those islands collectively called Japan. They are named by the Chinese, Ge-pen, the terminating syllable gu added by Marco Polo, is supposed ' to be the Chinese word lcue, signifying kingdom, which is commonly annexed to the ; names of foreign countries. As the distance of the nearest part of the southern island from the coast of China, near Ning-po, is not more than five hundred Italian miles, Mr. Marsden supposes Marco Polo in stating it to be 1500, means Chinese miles, or li, which are in the proportion of somewhat more than one third of the former. 702 APPENDIX. No. xxn. SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE. Next to Marco Polo the travels of Sir John Mandeville, and his account of the territories of the Great Khan along the coast of Asia, seem to have been treasured up in the mind of Columbus. Mandeville was born in the city of St. Albans. He was devoted to study from his earliest childhood, and after finishing his general education applied himself to medicine. Having a great desire to see the remotest parts of the earth, then known, that is to say, Asia and Africa, and above all, to visit the Holy Land, he left England in 1332, and passing through France embarked at Marseilles. According to his own account he visited Turkey, Armenia, Egypt, Upper and Lower Lybia, Syria, Persia, Chaldea, Ethiopia, Tartary, Amazonia and the Indies, residing in their principal cities. But most he says he delighted in the Holy Land, where he remained for a long time, examining it with the greatest minuteness, and endeav¬ oring to follow all the traces of our Saviour. After an absence of thirty-four years he returned to England, but found himself forgotten and unknown by the greater part of his countrymen, and a stranger in his native place. He wrote a history of his travels in three languages—English, French, and Latin—for he was master of many tongues. He addressed his work to Edward III. His wanderings do not seem to have made him either pleased with the world at large or contented with his home. He railed at the age, saying that there was no more virtue extant, that the Church was ruined; error prevalent among the clergy; simony upon the throne; and, in a word, that the devil reigned triumphant. He soon returned to the continent, and died at Liege in 1372. He was buried in the abbey of the Guliemites, in the suburbs of that city, where Ortelius, in his Itinerarium Belgioe, says that he saw his monument, on which was the effigy, in stone, of a man with a forked beard and his hands raised toward his head (probably folded as in prayer, according to the manner of old tombs) and a lion at his feet. There was an inscription stating his name, quality and calling (viz., professor of medicine), that he was very pious, very learned, and very charitable to the poor, and that after having travelled over the whole world he had died at Liege. The people of the convent showed also his spurs, and the housings of the horses which he had ridden in his travels. The descriptions given by Mandeville of the Grand Khan, of the province ot Cathay, and the city of Cambalu, are no less splendid than those of Marco Polo. The royal palace was more than two leagues in circumference. The grand hall had twenty-four columns of copper and gold. There were more than three hundred thousand men occupied and living in and about the palace, of which more than one hundred thousand were employed in taking care of ten thousand elephants and of a vast variety of other animals, birds of prey, falcons, parrots, and parroquets. On days of festival there were even twice the number of men employed. The title of this potentate in his letters was “ Khan, the son of God, exalted possessor of all the earth, master of those who are masters of others.” On his seal was‘engraved, “ God reigns in heaven, Khan upon earth.” Mandeville has become proverbial for indulging in a traveller’s exaggerations; yet his accounts of the countries which he visited have been found far more vera¬ cious than had been imagined. His descriptions of Cathay and the wealthy province of Mangi, agreeing with those of Marco Polo, had great authority with Columbus. APPENDIX. 703 No. xxm. THE ZONES. The zones were imaginary bands or circles in the heavens producing an effect of climate on corresponding belts on the globe of the earth. The polar circles and the tropics mark these divisions. The central region, lying beneath the track of the sun, was termed the torrid zone; the two regions between the tropics and the polar circles were termed the temperate zones, and the remaining parts, between the polar circles and the poles, the frigid zones. The frozen regions near the poles were considered uninhabitable and unnavigable on account of the extreme cold. The burning zone, or rather the central part of it, immediately about the equator, was considered uninhabitable, unproductive, and impassable in consequence of the excessive heat. The temperate zones, lying between them, were supposed to be fertile and salubrious, and suited to the pur¬ poses of life. The globe was divided into two hemispheres by the equator, an imaginary line encircling it at equal distance from the poles. The whole of the world known to the ancients was contained in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. It was imagined that if there should be inhabitants in the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere, there could still be no communication with them on account of the burning zone which intervened. Parmenides, according to Strabo, was the inventor of this theory of the five zones, but he made the torrid zone extend on each side of the equator beyond the tropics. Aristotle supported this doctrine of the zones. In his time nothing was known of the extreme northern parts of Europe and Asia, nor of interior Ethiopia and the southern part of Africa, extending beyond the tropic of Capricorn to the Cape of Good Hope. Aristotle believed that there was habitable eartn in the southern hemisphere, but that it was forever divided from the part of the world already known by the impassable zone of scorching heat at the equator.* Pliny supported the opinion of Aristotle concerning the burning zones. “ The temperature of the central region of the earth,” he observes, “ where the sun runs its course, is burnt up as with fire. The temperate zones which lie on either side can have no communication with each other in consequence ot the fervent heat of this region.”t Strabo (lib. xi.), in mentioning this theory, gives it likewise his support; and others of the ancient philosophers, as well as the poets, might be cited to show the general prevalence of the belief. It must be observed tnat, at the time when Columbus defended his proposition before the learned board at Salamanca, the ancient theory of the burning zone had not yet been totally disproved by modern discovery. The Portuguese, it is crue, had penetrated within the tropics; but, though the whole of the space between the tropic of Cancer and that of Capricorn, in common parlance, was termed the torrid zone the uninhabitable and impassable oart. strictly sneaking, according to tne doctrine of the ancients, only extended a limited number of degrees on each side of the equator, forming about a third, or at most, the halt of the zone. The proofs I W hich Columbus endeavored to draw therefore from the voyages made to St. Qeor^e la Mina, were not conclusive with those who were bigoted to the ancient theory, and who placed this scorching region farther southward, and immediately about the equator. * Aristot.. 2 Met. cap. 5. t Pliny, lib. i. cap. 61. 704 APPENDIX. xxiv.: OF THE ATALANTIS OF PLATO. The island Atalantis is mentioned by Plato in his dialogue of Timasus. 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 Atalantis, 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. Neptune set¬ tled in this island, from whose son Atlas its name w^as derived, and he divided it among his ten sons. His descendants reigned here in regular succession for many ages. They made irruptions into Europe and Africa, subduing all Lybia as far as Egypt, and Europe to Asia Minor. They were resisted, however, by the Athenians, and driven back to their Atlantic territories. Shortly after this there was a tremen¬ dous earthquake and an overflowing ot the sea, which continued for a day and a night. In the course of this the vast island of Atalantis, and all its splendid cities and warlike nations, were swallowed up, and sunk to the bottom of the sea, which, spreading its waters over the chasm, formed the Atlantic Ocean. For a long time, however, the sea was not navigable, on account of rocks and shelves, of mud and slime, and of the ruins of that drowned country. Many, in modern times, have considered this a mere fable: others suppose that Plato, while in Egypt, had received some vague accounts of the Canary Islands, and, on his return to Greece, finding those islands so entirely unknown to his coun¬ trymen, had made them the seat of his political and moral speculations. Some, however, have been disposed to give greater weight to this story of Plato. They imagine that such an island may really have existed, filling up a great part of the Atlantic, and that the continent beyond it was America, which, in such case, was not unknown to the ancients. Kircher supposes it to have been an island extend¬ ing from the Canaries to the Azores; that it was really engulfed in one of the con¬ vulsions of the glone, and that those small islands are mere shattered fragments of it. As a further proof that the New World was not unknown to the ancients, many have cited the singular passage in the Medea of Seneca, which is wonderfully ap¬ posite, and .shows, at least, how nearly the warm imagination of a poet may ap¬ proach to prophecy. The predictions of the ancient oracles were rarely so un¬ equivocal. Venient annis Ssecula seris, quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum jiaxeb, et ingens Pateat tellus, Typhisque novos Detegat orbes, nec sit terris Ultima Thule. Gosselin, in his aole research into the voyages of the ancients, supposes the Atal¬ antis of Plato to have been nothing more nor less than one of the nearest of the Canaries, viz., Fortaventura or Lancerote. No. XXV. THE IMAGINARY ISLAND OF ST. BRANDAN. One of the most singular geographical illusions on record is that which for along while haunted the imaginations of the inhabitants of the Canaries. They fancied APPENDIX. 705 they beheld a mountainous island, about ninety leagues in length, lying far to the westward. It was only seen at intervals, but in perfectly clear and serene Aveather. To some it seemed one hundred leagues distant, to others forty, to others only fif¬ teen or eighteen.* * * § On attempting to reach it, however, it somehow or other eluded the search, and was nowhere to be found. Still there were so many eye-Avitnesses ©f credibility who concurred in testifying to their having seen it, and the testimony of the inhabitants of different islands agreed so Avell as to its form and position, that its existence Avas generally believed, and geographers inserted it in their maps. It is laid doAvn on the globe of Martin Behem, projected in 1492, as delineated by M. De Murr, and it will be found in most of the maps of the time of Columbus, placed commonly about two hundred leagues AA r est of the Canaries. During the time that Columbus was making his proposition to the court of Portugal, an inhabitant of the Canaries applied to King John II. for a vessel to go in search of this island. In the archives of the Torre do Tombot also, there is a record of a contract made by the croAvn of Portugal with Fernando de Ulmo, cavalier of the royal household, and captain of the island of Tercera, wherein he undertakes to go, at his OAvn expense, in quest of an island or islands, or Terra Firma, supposed to be the island of the Seven Cities, on condition of having jurisdiction over the same for himself and his heirs, alloAving one tenth of the revenues to the king. This Ulmo, finding the ex¬ pedition above his capacity, associated one Juan Alfonso del Estreito in the enter¬ prise. They were bound to be ready to sail Avith tAVO caravels in the month of March, 1487 .t The fate of their enterprise is unknown. The name of St. Brandan, or Borondon, given to this imaginary island from time immemorial, is said to be derived from a Scotch abbot, who flourished in the sixth century, and Avho is called sometimes by the foregoing appellations, sometimes St. Blandano, or St. Blandanus. In the Martyrology of the order of St. Augustine, he is said to have been the patriarch of three thousand monks. About the middle of the sixth century he accompanied his disciple, St. Mackrvio, or St. Malo, in search of certain islands possessing the delights of paradise, which they Avere told existed in the midst of the ocean, and were inhabited by infidels. These most adventurous saints-errant wandered for a long time upon the ocean, and at length landed upon an island called Irna. Here St. Malo found the body of a giant lying in a sepulchre. He resuscitated him, and had much interesting conversation with him, the giant in¬ forming him that the inhabitants of that island had some notions of the Trinity, and, moreover, giving him a gratifying account of the torments which Jews and Pagans suffered in the infernal regions. Finding the giant so docile and reason¬ able, St. Malo expounded to nim the doctrines of the Christian religion, converted him, and baptized him by the the name of Mildum. The giant, however, either through Aveariness of life or eagerness to enjoy the benefits of his conversion, beg¬ ged permission, at the end of fifteen days, to die again, which was granted him. According to another account, the giant told them he kneAV of an island in the ocean, defended by walls of burnished gold, so resplendent that they shone like crystal, but to which there was no entrance. At their request he undertook to guide them to it, and taking the cable of their ship, threw himself into the sea. He had not proceeded far, hoAvever, Avhen a tempest rose, and obliged them all to re¬ turn, and shortly after the giant died.§ A third legend makes the saint pray to heaven on Easter day, that they may be permitted to find land Avhere they may celebrate the offices of religion with becoming state. An island immediately ap¬ pears, on Avhich they land, perform a solemn mass and the sacrament of the Euch- ' arist; after Avhich, re-embarking and making sail, they behold to their astonish¬ ment the supposed island suddenly plunge to the bottom of the sea, being nothing * Feyjoo, Theatro Critico, tom. iv. d. 10, § 29. + Lib. iv. de la Chancelaria del Rey Dn. Juan II. fol. 101. $ Torre do Tombo. Lib. das Ylhas, f. 119. § Fr. Gregorio Garcia, Origen de los Indios, lib. i. cap. 9. 706 APPENDIX. else than a monstrous whale.* * * § When the rumor circulated of an island seen from the Canaries, which always eluded the search, the legends of St. Brandan were re¬ vived, and applied to this unapproachable land. We are told, also, that there was an ancient Latin manuscript in the archives of the cathedral church of the Grand Canary, in which the adventures of these saints were recorded. Through careless¬ ness, however, this manuscript has disappeared.! Some have maintained that this island was known to the ancients, and was the same mentioned by Ptolemy among the Fortunate or Canary Islands, by the names of Aprositus,! or the Inaccessible; and which, according to friar Diego Philipo in his book on the Incarnation of Christ, shows that it possessed the same quality in ancient times of deluding the eye and being unattainable to the feet of mortals.§ But whatever belief the ancients may have had on this subject, it is certain that it took a strong hold on the faith of the moderns during the prevalent rage for discovery; nor did it lack abun- dant testimonials. Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo says, there never was a more difficult paradox nor problem in the science of geography; since to affirm the ex¬ istence of this island is to trample upon sound criticism, judgment, and reason; and to deny it one must abandon tradition and experience, and suppose that many persons of credit had not the proper use of their senses. 11 The belief in this island has continued long since the time of Columbus. It was repeatedly seen, and by various persons at a time, always in the same place and of the same form, in 1526 an expedition set off for the Canaries in quest of it, com¬ manded by Fernando de Troya and Fernando Alvarez. They cruised in the wonted direction, but in vain, and their failure ought to have undeceived the public. “ The phantasm of the island, however,” says Viera, “ had such a secret enchantment for all who beheld it, that the public preferred doubting the good conduct of the explorers, than their own senses.” In 1570 the appearances were so repeated and clear that there was a universal fever of curiosity awakened among the people of the Canaries, and it was determined to send forth another expedition. That they might not appear to act upon light grounds, an exact investigation was previously made of all the persons of talent and credibility who had seen these ap¬ paritions of land, or who had other proofs of its existence. Alonzo de Espinosa, governor of the island of Ferro, accordingly made a report, In which more than one hundred witnesses, several of them persons of the highest respectability, deposed that they had beheld the unknown island about forty leagues to the northwest of Ferro; that they had contemplated it with calmness and cer¬ tainty, and had seen the sun set behind one of its points. Testimonials of still greater force came from the islands of Palma and Teneriffe. There were certain Portuguese who affirmed that, being driven about by a tempest, they had come upon the island of St. Borondon. Pedro Velio, -who was the pilot of the vessel, affirmed that, having anchored in a bay, he landed with several of the crew. They drank fresh water in a brook, and beheld in the sand the print of footsteps, double the size of those of an ordinary man, and the distance between them was in proportion. They found a cross nailed to a neighboring tree; near to which were three stones placed in form of a triangle, with signs of fire having been made among them, probably to cook shell-fish. Having seen much cattle and sheep grazing in the neighborhood, two of their party armed with lances went into the woods in pur¬ suit of them. The night was approaching, the heavens began to lower, and a harsh wind arose. The people on board the ship cried out that she was dragging her anchor, whereupon Velio entered the boat and hurried on board. In an instant they lost sight of land, being as it were swept away in th8 hurricane. When the * Sigeberto, Epist. ad Tietmar. Abbat. t Nunez de la Pena. Conquist de la Gran Canaria, X Ptolemy, lib. iv. tom. iv„ § Fr. D. Philipo, lib. viii. fol 25. P, Hist. Isl. Can., lib. i. cap. 28. APPENDIX. 707 Storm had passed away, and the sea and sky were again serene, they searched in vain for the island; not a trace of it was to be seen, and they had to pursue their voyage, lamenting the loss of their two companions who had been abandoned in the wood.* A learned licentiate, Pedro Ortiz de Funez, inquisitor of the Grand Canary, while on a visit at Tenei-iffe, summoned several persons before him, who testified having seen the island. Among them was one Marcos Verde, a man well known in those parts. He stated that in returning from Barbary and arriving in the neighboi'hood of the Canaries, he beheld land, which, according to his maps and calculations, could not be any of the known islands. He concluded it to be the far-famed St. Borondon. Overjoyed at having discovered this land of mystex-y, he coasted along its spell-bound shores until he anchored in a beautiful harbor formed by the mouth of a mountain ravine. Here he landed with several of his crew. It was now, he said, the hour of the Ave Mai*ia, or of vespers. The sun being set, the shadows began to spread over the land. The voyagers having sepai'ated, wandered about in different directions, until out of hearing of each other’s shouts. Those on board, seeing the night approaching, made signal to summon back the wanderers to the ship. They re embarked, intending to resume their investigations on the following day. Scarcely were they on board, however, when a whirlwind came rushing down the ravine with such violence as to drag the vessel from her anchor and hurry her out to sea, and they never saw anything moi'e of this hidden and inhospitable island. Another testimony remains on record in manusci'ipt of one Abreu Galindo; but whether taken at this time does not appear. It was that of a French adventurer, who, many years before, making a voyage among the Canaries, was overtaken by a violent storm which cai-ried away his masts. At length the furious winds drove him to the shores of an unknown island covered with stately trees. Here he landed with part of his crew, and choosing a tree proper for a mast, cut it down, and began to shape it for his purpose. The guardian power of the island, however, resented as usual this invasion of his foi’bidden shores. The heavens assumed a dark and threatening aspect; the night was approaching, and the mariners, fearing some im¬ pending evil, abandoned their labor and returned on board. They were borne away as usual from the coast, and the next day arrived at the island of Palma.t The mass of testimony collected by official authority in 1750 seemed so satisfactory that another expedition was fitted out in the same year in the island of Palma. It was commanded by Fernando de Villabolos, regidor of the island, but was equally fruitless with the preceding. St. Borondon seemed disposed only to tantalize the world with distant and serene glimpses of his ideal pai’adise, or to reveal it amid storms to tempest-tossed mariners, but to hide it completely from the view of all who diligently sought it. Still the people of Palma adhered to their favorite chimera. Thirty-four years afterward, in 1G05, they sent another ship on the quest, commanded by Gaspar Perez de Acosta, an accomplished pilot, accompanied by the padi'e Lorenzo Pinedo, a holy Franciscan friar, skilled in natural science. St. Borondon, however, refused to l'eveal his island to either monk or mariner. After cruising about in every direction, sounding, observing the skies, the clouds, the winds, everything that could furnish indications, they returned without having seen anything to authorize a hope. t Upward of a century now elapsed without any new attempt to seek this fairy island. Every now and then, it is true, the public mind was agitated by fi'esh im¬ ports of its having been seen. Lemons and other fruits, and the green branches of trees which floated to the shores of Gomera and FeiTo, were pronounced to be from the enchanted groves of St. Borondon. At length, in 1721, the public infatuation again rose to such a height that a fourth expedition was sent, commanded by Don Gaspar Dominguez, a man of probity and talent. As this was an expedition of * Nufiez de la Pena, lib. i. cap. 1. Viera Hist. Isl. Can. tom. i. cap. 28. t Nunez, Conctuista le Gran Canaria. Viera, Hist., etc. ' 708 APPENDIX. solemn and mysterious import, he had two holy friars as apostolical chaplains. They made sail from the island of Tenerilfe toward the end of October, leaving the populace in an indescribable state of anxious curiosity mingled with .superstition. The ship, however, returned from its cruise as unsuccessful as all its predecessors. AVe have no account of any expedition being since undertaken, though the island still continued to be a subject of speculation, and occasionally to reveal its shadowy mountains the eyes of favored individuals. In a letter written from the island of Gomera, 1759, by a Franciscan monk, to one of his friends, he I’elates having seen it from the villege of Alaxero at six in the morning of the third of May. It appeared to consist of two lofty mountains, with a deep valley between; and on contemplat¬ ing it with a telescope, the valley or ravine appeared to be filled with trees. lie summoned the curate Antonio Joseph Manrique, and upwards of forty other persons, all of whom beheld it plainly.* Nor is this island delineated merely in ancient maps of the time of Columbus. It is laid down as one of the Canary Islands in a French map published in 1704; and Mons. Gautier, in a geographical chart, annexed to his Observations on Natural History, published in 1755, places it five degrees to the west of the island of Ferro, in the 29th deg. of N. latitude.t Such are the principal facts existing relative to the island of St. Brandan. Its reality was for a long time a matter of firm belief. It was in vain that repeated voyages and investigations proved its non-existence; the public, after trying all kinds of sophistry, took refuge in the supernatural, to defend their favorite chimera. They maintained that it was rendered inaccessible to mortals by Divine Providence, or by diabolical magic. Most inclined to the former. All kinds of extravagant fan¬ cies were indulged concerning it,$ some confounded it with the fabled island of the Seven Cities situated somewhere in the bosom of the ocean, where in old times seven bishops and their followers had taken refuge from the Moors. Some of the Portuguese imagined it to be the abode of their lost King Sebastian. The Spaniards pretended that Roderick, the last of their Gothic kings, had fled thither from the Moors after the disastrous battle of the Guadalete. Others suggested that it might be the seat of the terrestrial paradise, the place where Enoch and Elijah remained in a state of blessedness until the final day; and that it was made at times apparent to the eyes, but invisible to the search of mortals. Poetry, it is said, has owed to this popular belief one of its beautiful fictions, and the garden of Armida, wdiere Rinaldo was detained enchanted, and which Tasso places in one of the Canary Islands, has been identified with the imaginary St. Borondon.§ The learned father Feyjoo|| has given a philosophical solution to this geographical problem. He attributes all these appearances, which have been so numerous, and so well authenticated as not to admit of doubt, to certain atmospherical deceptions, like that of the Fata Morgana, seen at times in the straits of Messina, where the city of Reggio and its surrounding country is reflected in the air above the neighbor¬ ing sea: a phenomenon which has likewise been witnessed in front of the city of Marseilles. As to the tales of the mariners who had landed on these forbidden shores, and been hurried thence in whirlwinds and tempests, he considers them as mere fabrications. As the populace, however, reluctantly give up anything that partakes of the mar¬ vellous and mysterious, and as the same atmospherical phenomena, which first gave birth to the illusion, may still continue, it is not improbable that a belief in the island of St. Brandan may still exist among the ignorant and credulous of the Canaries, and that they at times behold its fairy mountains rising above the distant horizon of the Atlantic. tTbid. % Ibid. B Theatro Critico, tom. iv. d. x. * Viera, Hist. Isl. Can. tom. i. cap. 28. § Viera, ubi sup. APPENDIX. * 709 No. XXVI. THE ISLAND OF THE SEVEN CITIES. One of the popular traditions concerning the ocean, which were current during the time of Columbus, was that of the Island of the Seven Cities. It was recorded in an ancient legend, that at the time of the conquest of Spain and Portugal by the Moors, when the inhabitants fled in every direction to escape from slavery, seven bishops, followed by a great number of their people, took shipping and abandoned themselves to their fate, on the high seas. After tossing about for some time they landed on an unknown island in the midst of the ocean. Here the bishops burned the ships, to prevent the desertion of their followers, and founded seven cities. Various pilots of Portugal, it was said, had reached that island at different times, Dut had never returned to give any information concerning it, having been detained, according to subsequent accounts, by the successors of the bishops to prevent pur¬ suit. At length, according to common report, at the time that Prince Henry of Portugal was prosecuting his discoveries, several seafaring men presented them¬ selves one day before him, and stated that they had just returned from a voyage, jn the course of which they had landed upon this island. The inhabitants, they said, spoke their language, and carried them immediately to church, to ascertain whether they were Catholics, and were rejoiced at finding them of the true faith. They then made earnest inquiries, to know whether the Moors still retained posses¬ sion of Spain and Portugal. While part of the crew were at church, the rest gathered sand on the shore for the use Of the kitchen, and found to their surprise ihat one third of it was gold. The islanders were anxious that the crew should re¬ main with them a few days, until the return of.their governor, who was absent; but the mariners, afraid of being detained, embarked and made sail. Such was the story they told to Prince Henry, hoping to receive reward for their intelligence. The prince expressed displeasure at their hasty departure from the island, and ordered them to return and procure further information; but the men, apprehen¬ sive, no doubt, of having the falsehood of their tale discovered, made their escape, $,nd nothing more was heard of them.* This story had much currency. The Island of the Seven Cities was identified with the island mentioned by Aristotle as having been discovered by the Carthagin¬ ians, and was put down in the early maps, about the time of Columbus, under the jjiame of Antilla. At the time of the discovery uf New Spain, reports were brought to Hispaniola of the civilization of the country: that the people wore clothing: that their houses and temples were solid, spacious, and often magnificent; and that crosses were occasionally found among them. Juan de Grivalja, being dispatched to explore the coast of Yucatan, reported that irv sailing along it he beheld, with great wonder, stately and beautiful edifices of lime and stone, and many high towers that shone at a distanced For a time the old tradition of the Seven Cities was revived, and i many thought that they were to be 1 rnnd in the same part of New Spain. Ha. xxvii. DISCOVERY OF TAE ISLAND OF MADEIRA. The discovery of Maderia by Macfiam rests principally upon the authority of Francisco Alcaforado, an esquire of Prince Henry of Portugal, who composed an account of it for that prince. It J(»es not appear to have obtained much faith * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 10. t Torquemada Monarquia Indiana, lib. iv. cap. 4. Origen de los Indios por Fr. Gregorio Garcia, lib. iv. cap. 20. 710 APPENDIX. among Portuguese historians. No mention is made of it in Barros; he attributes the first discovery of the island to Juan Gonzales and Tristram Yaz, who he said descried it from Porto Santo, resembling a cloud on the horizon.* The abbe Provost, however, in his general history of voyages, vol. seems in¬ clined to give credit to the account of Alcaforado. “It was composed,” he ob¬ serves, “at a time when the attention of the public would have exposed the least falsities; and no one was more capable than Alcaforado of giving an exact detail of this event, since he was of the number of those who assisted at the second discov¬ ery.” The narrative, as originally written, was overcharged with ornaments and digressions. It was translated into French and published in Paris in 1G71. The French translator had retrenched the ornaments, but scrupulously retained the facts. The story, however, is cherished in the island of Maderia, where a painting in illustration of it is still to be seen. The following is the purport of the French translation: I have not been able to procure the original of Alcaforado. During the reign of Edward the Third of England, a young man of great courage and talent, named Robert Macham, fell in love with a young lady of rare beauty, of the name of Anne Dorset. She was his superior in birth, and of a proud and aristocratic family; but the merit of Macham gained him the preference over all his rivals. The family of the young lady, to prevent her making an inferior alli¬ ance, obtained an order from the king to have Macham arrested and confined, until by arbitrary means they married his mistress to a man of quality. As soon as the nuptials were celebnated, the nobleman conducted his beautiful and afflicted bride to his seat near Bristol. Macham was now restored to liberty. Indignant at the wrongs he had suffered, and certain of the affections of his mistress, he prevailed upon several friends to assist him in a project for the gratification of his love and his revenge. They followed hard on the traces of the new-married couple to Bristol. One of the friends obtained an introduction into the family df the nobleman in quality of a groom. He found the young bride full of tender recollections of her lover, and of dislike to the husband thus forced upon her. Through the means of this friend, Macham had several communications with her, and concerted means for their escape to France, where they might enjoy their mutual love unmolested. When all things were prepared, the young lady rode out one day, accompanied only by the fictitious groom, under pretence of taking the air. No sooner were they out of sight of the house than they galloped to an appointed place on the shore of the channel, where a boat awaited them. They were conveyed on board a ves¬ sel, which lay with anchor a-trip and sails unfurled, ready to put to sea. Here the lovers were once more united. Fearful of pursuit, the ship immediately weighed anchor; they made their way rapidly along the coast of Cornwall, and Macham anticipated the triumph of soon landing with his beautiful prize on the shores of gay and gallant France. Unfortunately an adverse and stormy wind arose in thg night; at daybreak they found themselves out of sight of land. The mariners were ignorant and inexperienced; they knew nothing of the compass, and it was a time when men were unaccustomed to traverse the high seas. For thirteen days the lovers were driven about on a tempestuous ocean, at the mercy of wind and wave. The fugitive bride was filled with terror and remorse, and looked upon this uproar of the elements as the anger of Heaven directed against her. All the efforts of her lover could not remove from her mind a dismal presage of some approaching catastrophe. At length the tempest subsided. On the fourteenth day, at dawn, the mariners perceived what appeared to be a tuft of wood rising out of the sea. They joyfully steered for it, supposing it to be an island. They were not mistaken. As they drew near, the rising sun shone upon noble forests, the trees of which were of a kind unknown to them. Flights of birds also came hovering about the ship, and perched upon the yards and rigging, without any signs of fear. The boat was sent on shore to reconnoitre, and soon returned with such accounts of the beauty of the * Barros, Asia, decad. i. lib. i. cap. 3. APPENDIX. 711 country, that Macham determined to take his drooping companion to the land, in hopes her health and spirits might be restored by refreshment and repose. They were accompanied on shore by the faithful friends who had assisted in their flight. The mariners remained on board to guard the ship. The country was indeed delightful. The forests were stately and magnificent; there were trees laden with excellent fruits, others with aromatic flowers; the waters were cool and limpid, the sky was serene, and there was a balmy sweetness in the air. The animals they met with showed no signs of alarm or ferocity, from which they concluded that the island was uninhabited. On penetrating a little dis 1 tance they found a sheltered meadow, the green bosom of which was bordered by laurels and refreshed by a mountain brook which ran sparkling over pebbles. In the centre was a majestic tree, the wide branches of which afforded shade from the rays of the sun. Here Macham had bowers constructed and determined to pass a few days, hoping that the sweetness of the country and the serene tranquillity of this delightful solitude would recruit the drooping health and spirits of his com¬ panion. Three days, however, had scarcely passed when a violent storm arose from the north-east, and raged all night over the island. On the succeeding morn¬ ing Macham repaired to the seaside, but nothing of his ship was to be seen, and he concluded that it had foundered in the tempest. Consternation fell upon the little band, thus left in an uninhabited island in the midst of the ocean. The blow fell most severely on the timid and repentant bride. She reproached herself with being the cause of all their misfortunes, and, from the first, had been haunted by dismal forebodings. She now considered them about to be accomplished, and her horror was so great as to deprive her of speech; she ex¬ pired in three days without uttering a word. Macham was struck with despair at beholding the tragical end of this tender and beautiful being. He upbi'aided himself, in the transports of his grief, with tearing her from her home, her country, and her friends, to perish upon a savage coast. All the efforts of his companions to console him were in vain. He died within five days, broken-hearted; begging, as a last request, that his body might be interred beside that of his mistress, at the foot of a rustic altar which they had erected under the great tree. They set up a large wooden cross on the spot, on which was placed an inscription written by Macham himself, relating in a few words his pite¬ ous adventure, and praying any Christians who might arrive there to build a chapel in the place dedicated to Jesus the Saviour. After the death of their commander, his followers consulted about means to es¬ cape from the island. The ship’s boat remained on the shore. They repaired it and put it in a state to- bear a voyage, and then made sail, intending to return to England. Ignorant of their situation, and carried about by the winds, they were cast upon the coast of Morocco, where, their boat being shattered upon the rocks, they were captured by the Moors and thrown into prison. Here they understood that their ship had shared the same fate, having been driven from her anchorage in the tempest, and carried to the same inhospitable coast, where all her crew were made prisoners. The prisons of Morocco were in those days filled with captives of all nations, taken by their cruisers. Here the English prisoners met with an experienced pilot, a Spaniard of Seville, named Juan de Morales. He listened to their story with great interest; inquired into the situation and description of the island they had discovered; and, subsequently, on his redemption from prison, communicated the circumstances, it is said, to Prince Henry of Portugal. There is a difficulty in the above narrative of Alcaforado in reconciling dates. The voyage is said to have taken place during the reign of Edward III., which com¬ menced in 1327 and ended in 1378. Morales, to whom the English communicated their voyage, is said to have been in the service of the Portuguese, in the second discovery of Maderia, in 1418 and 1420. Even if the voyage and imprisonment had taken place in the last year of King Edward’s reign, this leaves a space of forty years. 712 APPENDIX. Hackluyt gives an account of the same voyage, taken from Antonio Galvano. He varies in certain particulars. It happened, he says, in the year 1344, in the time of Peter IY. of Aragon. Macham cast anchor in a bay since called after him Machio. The lady being ill, he took her on shore, accompanied by some of his friends, and the ships sailed without them. After the death of the lady, Macham made a canoe out of a tree, and ventured to sea in it with his companions. They were cast upon the coast of Africa, where the Moors, considering it a kind of miracle, carried him to the king of their country, who sent him to the King of Castile. In consequence of the traditional accounts remaining of this voyage, Henry II. of Castile sent people, in 1395, to rediscover the island. No. xxvin.: LAS CASAS. Bartholomew Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, so often cited in all histories of the New World, was born at Seville In 1474, and was of French extraction. The family name was Casaus. The first of the name who appeared in Spain served under the standard of Ferdinand III., surnamed the Saint, in his wars with the Moors of Andalusia. He was at the taking of Seville from the Moors, when he was rewarded by the king, and received permission to establish himself there. His descendants enjoyed the prerogatives of nobility, and suppressed the letter u in their name, to accommodate it to the Spanish tongue. Antonio, the father of Bartholomew, went to Hispaniola with Columbus in 1493, and returned rich to Seville in 1498.* It has been stated by one of the biographers of Bartholomew Las Casas, that he accompanied Columbus in his third voyage in 1498, and returned with him in 1500.t This, however, is incorrect. He was, during that time, completing his education at Salamanca, where he was instructed in Latin, dialectics, logic, metaphysics, ethics, and physics, after the supposed method and system of Aristotle. While at the university, he had, as a servant, an Indian slave, given him by his father, who had received him from Columbus. When Isabella, in her transport of virtuous indignation, ordered the Indian slaves to be sent back to their country, this one was taken from Las Casas. The young man was aroused by the circumstance,.and, on considering the nature of the case, became inflamed with a zeal iu favor of the unhappy Indians, which never cooled throughout a long and active life. It was excited to tenfold fervor, when, at about the age of twenty-eight years, he accompanied the commander Ovando to Hispaniola in 1502, and was an eye witness to many of the cruel scenes which took place under his administration. The whole of his future life, a space exceeding sixty years, was-devoted to vindi¬ cating the cause, and endeavoring to meliorate the sufferings of the natives. As a missionary, he traversed the wilderness of the New World in various directions, seeking to convert and civilize them; as a protector and champion, he made several voyages to Spain, vindicated their wrongs before courts and monarchs, wrote vol¬ umes in their behalf, and exhibited a zeal and constancy and intrepidity worthy of an apostle. He died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, and was buried at Madrid, in the church of the Dominican convent of Atocha, of which fraternity he was a member. Attempts have been made to decry the consistency, and question the real philan¬ thropy of Las Casas, in consequence of one of the expedients to which he resorted to relieve the Indians from the cruel bondage imposed upon them. This occurred in 1517, when he arrived in Spain, on one of his missions, to obtain measures in their favor from the government. On his arrival in Spain, he found Cardinal Ximenes, who had been left regent on the death of King Ferdinand, too ill to attend to his affairs. He repaired, therefore, to Valladolid, where he awaited the coining * Navarette, Colec. Yiag. tom. i. Introd. p. Ixx. t T. A. Llorente CEuvres de Las Casas, p. xi. Paris, 1822. APPENDIX. 713 of the new monarch Charles, Archduke of Austria, afterward the Emperor Charles V. He had strong opponents to encounter in various persons high in authority, who, holding estates and repartimientos in the colonies, were interested in the slavery of the Indians. Among these, and not the least animated, was the Bishop Fonseca, President of the Council of the Indies. At length the youthful sovereign arrived, accompanied by various Flemings of his court, particularly his grand chancellor, Doctor Juan de Selvagio, a learned and upright man, whom he consulted on all affairs of administration and justice. Las Casas soon became intimate with the chancellor, and stood high in his esteem; but so much opposition arose on every side that he found his various propositions for the relief of the natives but little attended to. In his doubt and anxiety he had now recourse to an expedient which he considered as justified by the circumstances of the case.* The chancellor Selvagio and other Flemings who had accompanied the youthful sovereign, had obtained from him, before quitting Flanders, licenses to import slaves from Africa to the colonies; a measure which had recently in 1516 been prohibited by a decree of Cardinal Ximenes while acting as regent. The chan¬ cellor, who was a humane man, reconciled it to his conscience by a popular opinion that one negro could perform, without detriment to his health, the labor of several Indians, and that therefore it was a great saving of human suffering. So easy is it for interest to wrap itself up in plausible argument! He might, moreover, have thought the welfare of the Africans but little affected by the change. They were accustomed to slavery in their own country, and they were said to thrive in the New World. “The Africans,” observes Herrera, “prospered so much in the island of Hispaniola, that it was the opinion unless a negro should happen to be hanged, he would never die; for as yet none had been known to perish from infirmity. Like oranges, they found their proper soil in Hispaniola, and it seemed ever more natural to them than their native Guinea.” t Las Casas finding all other means ineffectual, endeavored to turn these interested views of the grand chancellor to the benefit of the Indians. He proposed that the Spaniards, resident in the colonies, might be permitted to procure negroes for the labor of the farms and the mines, and other severe toils, which were above the strength and destructive of the lives of the natives .X He evidently considered the poor Africans as little better than mere animals; and he acted like others, on an arithmetical calculation of diminishing human misery, by substituting one strong man for three or four of feebler nature. He, moreover, esteemed the Indians as a nobler and more intellectual race of beings, and their preservation and welfare of higher importance to the general interests of humanity. It is this expedient of Las Casas which has drawn down severe censure upon his ! memory. He has been charged with gross inconsistency, and even with having I originated this inhuman traffic in the New World. This last is a grievous charge; ! but historical facts and dates remove the original sin from his door, and prove that * the practice existed in the colonies, and was authorized by royal decree, long before | he took a part in the question. I Las Casas did not go to the New World until 1502. By a royal ordinance passed j in 1501, negro slaves were permitted to be taken there, provided they had been born 1 among Christians.§ By a letter written by Ovando, dated 1503, it appears that | there were numbers in the island of Hispaniola at that time, and he entreats that j none more might be permitted to be brought. . * Herrera clearly states this as an expedient adopted when others failed. “Bar- tolome de las Casas, viendo que sus conceptos hall*ban en todas partes dificultad, i pie las opiniones que tenia, por mucha fainiliaridad que bavia seguido i gran cred- 1 ito con el gran Canciller, no podian haber efecto, se volvio a otros expeclientes , <£c.” —Decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 2. t Herrera, Hist. Ind. lib. ii. decad. iii. cap. 4. X Ibid., decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 20. § Herrera, Hist. Ind., d. ii, lib. iii. cap. 8. 714 APPENDIX. In 1506 the Spanish government forbade the introduction of negro slaves from th