LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN THE GIFT OF JAMES COLLINS BOOKSTACKS CHRISTOPHEIl COJLFMBFS. THE FE AND VOYAGES CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Br WASHINGTON IRVING. (abridged by the same.) LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. MDCCCXXXI, Venient annis Scjecula seris, quibus Oceanus Viricula rerum laxet, et ingens Pateat tellus, Typhisque novos Detegat Orbes, nec sit terris Ultima Thule. Seneca, Medea. LONDON : PRINTBO By W. CLOWES, sT AMI OKD STBBBT. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page Birth, Parentage, Education, and early Life of Columbus . 1 CHAPTER II. Progress of Discovery under Prince Henry of Portugal— Resi- dence of Columbus in Lisbon — Ideas concerning Islands in the Ocean ..... 7 CHAPTER III. Grounds on which Columbus founded his belief of the existence of undiscovered Lands in the West . . 14 CHAPTER IV. Events in Portugal relative to Discovery — Propositions of Co- lumbus to the Portuguese Court . . 20 CHAPTER V. First Arrival of Columbus in Spain— Characters of the Spanish Sovereigns . . , • , 27 CHAPTER VI. Propositions of Columbus to the Court of Castile . 32 CHAPTER VII. Columbus before the Council at Salamanca ^ . 37 9 iv CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Page Columbus seeks Patronage amongst the Spanish Grandees — Returns to the Convent of La Rabida — Resumes his Negotia- tions with the Sovereigns . . • 45 CHAPTER IX. Arrangement with the Spanish Sovereigns — Preparations for the Expedition at the Port of Palos . . 53 CHAPTER X. Events of the first Voyage — Discovery of Land . . 60 CHAPTER XI. First Landing of Columbus in the New World — Cruise among the Bahama Islands— Discovery of Cuba and Hispaniola 73 CHAPTER XII. Coasting of Hispaniola— Shipwreck, and other Occurrences at the Island . . . . .87 CHAPTER XIII. Return Voyage — Violent Storms —Arrival at Portugal . 99 CHAPTER XIV. Visit of Columbus to the Court of Portugal — Arrival at Palos 107 CHAPTER XV. Reception of Columbus by the Spanish Sovereigns at Barce- lona . .... 114 CHAPTER XVI. Papal Bull of Partition— Preparations for a second Voyage of Discovery • . . • • 120 CHAPTER XVII. Departure of Columbus on his second Voyage of Discovery — Arrival at Hispaniola • . . • 128 CONTENTS. V CHAPTER XVIII. Page ate of the Fortress of La Navidad — Transactions at the Har- bour ..... 134 CHAPTER XIX. Founding of the City of Isabella — Discontents of the People 142 CHAPTER XX, Expedition of Columbus into the Interior of Hispaniola 149 CHAPTER XXI. Customs and Characteristics of the Natives • . 154 CHAPTER XXII. Sickness and Discontent at the Settlement of Isabella — Pre- parations of Columbus for a voyage to Cuba • 161 CHAPTER XXIII. Cruise of Columbus along the Southern Coast of Cuba . 1G5 CHAPTER XXIV. Return Voyage • • . • 171 CHAPTER XXV, Events in the Island of Hispaniola— Insurrections of the Na- tives — Expedition of Ojeda against Caonabo . .177 CHAPTER XXVI. Battle of the Vega— Imposition of Tribute . . 190 CHAPTER XXVII. Arrival of the Commissioner Aguado — Discovery of the Gold Mines of Hayna . . . .197 CHAPTER XXVIII. Return of Columbus to Spain— Preparations for a third Voyage • , • • . 204 b vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIX. Page Discovery of Trinidad and the Coast of Paria— Arrival at San Domingo • . . . , 214 CHAPTER XXX. Administration of the Adelantado . . . 221 CHAPTER XXXI. Rebellion of Roldan . . . .234 CHAPTER XXXn. Visit of Ojeda to the West End of the Island— Conspiracy of Moxica ..... 245 CHAPTER XXXIII. Intrigues against Columbus in the Spanish Court — Appoint- ment of Bobadilla as Commissioner — His Arrival at San Domingo ..... 253 CHAPTER XXXIV. Columbus arrested and sent to Spain . . 260 CHAPTER XXXV. Arrival of Columbus in Spain — His Interview with the So- vereigns — Appointment of Ovando to the Government of Hispaniola ..... 266 CHAPTER XXXVI. Proposition of Columbus for a Crusade — His Preparations for a fourth Voyage. .... 274 CHAPTER XXXVII. Columbus sails on his fourth Voyage — Events at the Islands of Hispaniola — His search after an imaginary Strait 278 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Return to the Coast of Veragua — Contests with the Natives 288 CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER XXXIX, Page Disasters of the Settlement • , .296 CHAPTER XL. Voyage to Jamaica — Transactions at that island . 303 CHAPTER XLI. Mutiny of Porras — Eclipse of the Moon — Stratagem of Co- lumbus to procure Supplies from the Indians . . 310 CHAPTER XLII. Arrival of Diego de Escobar at the Harbour — Battle with the Rebels ..... 317 CHAPTER XLHI. Voyage of Diego Mendez to Hispaniola — Deliverance of Co- lumbus from the Island of Jamaica . . 323 CHAPTER XLIV. Affairs at Hispaniola during the Administration of Ovando — Return of Columbus to Spain . . . 329 CHAPTER XLV. Fruitless application of Columbus to be reinstated in his Government — His last Illness and Death . . 337 CHAPTER XLVI. Observations on the Character of Columbus . 348 APPENDIX, Obsequies of Columbus .... 355 b2 NOTICE OF THE PLATES. The portrait of Columbus is from an Italian work published in Kome in 1596, entitled 'Ritratti de cento capitani illustri,intag- liati da Aliprando Capriolo.' It is considered by the Duke of Veraguas, the lineal descendant of Columbus, and by other capable judges, to be the most probable portrait extant of the discoverer. To face the title. The representation of a Spanish galley in the title-page is copied from the tomb of Fernando Columbus, in the cathedral of Seville. The terrestrial globe, of which a segment is given, was made at Nuremburg in the year 1492, the very year in which Colum- bus departed on his first voyage of discovery. Martin Behem, the inventor, was one of the most learned cosmographers 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 documents submitted by Columbus to the consideration of the Portuguese government. His globe may, therefore, be pre- sumed illustrative of the idea entertained by Columbus of the islands in the ocean near the extremity of Asia, at the time he undertook his discovery .... 16 The sketch of a galley coasting the island of Hispaniola is from an illustration of a letter written by Columbus to Dom Kaphael Xansis, treasurer of the King of Spain. An extremely rare edition of the letter exists in the public library of Milan. The original sketch is supposed to have been made with a pen by Columbus . . , . .87 Portrait of Amerigo Vespucci • . , 246 The map of the routes of Columbus is reduced from one made by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete . , 354 INTRODUCTION. Whether in old times beyond the reach of history or tradition, and at a remote period when, as some imagine, the arts may have flourished to a degree unknown to those whom we term the ancients, there existed an intercourse between the opposite shores of the Atlantic ; whether the Egyptian le- gend narrated by Plato, respecting the island of Atalantis, was indeed no fable, but the tradition of some country, engulphed by one of those mighty convulsions of our globe, which have left the traces of the ocean on the summits of lofty mountains ; must ever remain matters of vague and visionary speculation. As far as authenticated history ex- tends, nothing was known of Terra Firma, and the islands of the western hemisphere, until their dis- covery towards the close of the fifteenth century. A wandering bark may occasionally have lost sight of the landmarks of the old continents, and been driven by tempests across the wilderness of waters, long before the invention of the compass, but none X INTRODUCTION. ever returned to reveal the secrets of the ocean ; and though, from time to time, some document has floated to the old world, giving to its wondering inhabitants indications 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 voy- agers be correct, and their mysterious Vinland were the coast of Labrador, or the shore of New- foundland, they had but transient glimpses of the New World, leading to no permanent knowledge, and in a little time lost again to mankind. Cer- tain it is, that at the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the most intelligent minds were seeking, in every direction, for the scattered lights of geographical knowledge, a profound ignorance prevailed among the learned as to the western regions of the Atlantic ; its vast waters were regarded with awe and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a chaos, into which conjecture could not penetrate, and enterprise feared to ad- venture. We need no greater proof of this than the description given of the Atlantic by Xerif al Edrisi, surnamed the Nubian, an eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen possessed all that was known of geography in the middle ages. ' The ocean,' he observes, ' encircles the ulti- mate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify INTRODUCTION. xi any thing 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 of which are peopled, and 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 break- ing ; for if they broke, it would be impossible for a ship to plough them.' 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 communication 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. THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER I. BIRTH, PARENTAGE, EDUCATION, AND EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. Christopher Columbus, or Columbo, as the name is written in Italian, was born in the city of Genoa, about the year 1435, of poor but reputable and meritorious parentage. He was the son of Domenico Colombo, a wool-comber, and Susanna Fontanarossa, his wife ; and his ancestors seem to have followed the same trade for several generations 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 re- nowned 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 heri- tage of castles and domains, 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 con- tention among various noble families, than to be COLUMBUS. [1435-48. able to substantiate the most illustrious lineage. His son Fernando bad a true feeling on tbe subject. ' I am of opinion,' says be, ' tliat I sbould derive less dignity from any nobility of ancestry, tban from being tbe son of sucb a fatber.' Columbus was tbe oldest of four cbildren ; bay- ing two brotbers, Bartbolomew and Giacomo, or, as bis name is translated into Spanisb, Diego, and ^ one sister, of wbom notbing is known, excepting tbat sbe was married to a person in obscure life, called Giacomo Bavarello. Wbile very young, Columbus was taugbt reading, writing, grammar, and aritbmetic, and made some proficiency in drawing. He soon evinced a strong passion for geographical knowledge, and an irre- sistible inclination for tbe sea ; and in after life, wben be looked back upon bis career witb a solemn and superstitious feeling, be regarded tins early determination of bis mind as an impulse from tbe Deity, guiding bim to tbe studies, and inspiring bim witb the inclinations proper to fit bim for tbe bigh decrees be was destined to accomplish. His father, seeing the bent of his mind, endeavoured to give him an education suitable for maritime life. He sent bim, therefore, to tbe University of Pavia, where he was instructed in geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation ; he acquired also a fa-^ miliar knowledge of the Latin tongue, which at that time was the medium of instruction, and the language of the schools. He remained but a short time at Pavia, barely suflBcient to give bim the rudiments of the necessary sciences ; the thorough acquaintance with them which he displayed in after life must have been the result of diligent self- 1449.] EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 3 schooling, and of casual hours of study, amidst the cares and vicissitudes of a rugged and wandering life. He was one of those men of strong natural genius, who appear to form themselves — who, from having to contend at their very outset with priva- tions and impediments, acquire an intrepidity in braving, and a facility in vanquishing difficulties. Such men learn to effect great purposes with small means, supplying the deficiency of the latter by the resources of their own energy and invention. This is one of the remarkable features in the history of Columbus. In every undertaking, the scantiness and apparent insufficiency of his means enhance the grandeur of his acliievements. Shortly after leaving the university, he entered into nautical life, and, according to his own account, began to navigate at fourteen years of age. A com- plete obscurity rests upon this part of his history. It is supposed he made his first voyages with one Colombo, a hardy captain of the seas, who had risen to some distinction by his bravery, and who was a distant connexion of his family. This veteran is occasionally mentioned in old chronicles ; some- times as commanding a squadron of his own, sometimes as being an admiral in the Genoese service. He appears to have been bold and ad- venturous, ready to fight in any cause, and to seek quarrel wherever it might lawfully be found. The seafaring life in those days was peculiarly full of hazard and enterprise. Even a commercial expedition resembled a warlike cruise, and the ma- ritime merchant had often to fight his way from port to port. Piracy was almost legalized. The frequent feuds between the Italian states; the B 2 4 COLUMBUS. [1459. cruisings of tlie Catalonians ; the armadas fitted out by noblemen, who were petty sovereigns in their own domains ; the roving ships and squadrons of private adventurers ; and the holy wars waged with the Mahometan powders, rendered the narrow seas, to which navigation was principally confined, scenes of the most hardy encounters and trying reverses. Such was the rugged school in which Columbus- was reared, and such the rugged teacher that first broke him in to naval discipline. The first voyage in which we hear any account of his being engaged, was in a naval expedition fitted out at Genoa in 1459, by John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, to m.ake a descent upon Naples, in the hope of recovering that kingdom for his father, King Reinier or Renato, otherwise called Rene, Count de Provence. In this enterprise the republic of Genoa aided with ships and money, and many private adventurers fitted out ships and galleys, aiid engaged under the banners of Anjou. Among the number was the hardy veteran Colombo, who had command of a squadron, and with him sailed his youthful relation. The struggle of John of Anjou for the crown of Naples lasted about four years, with varied fortune, and much hard service. The naval part of the ex- pedition distinguished itself by various acts of in- trepidity, and when the unfortunate duke was at length reduced to take refuge in the island of Ischia, a handful of galleys loyally adhered to him, guarded the island, and scoured and controlled the whole bay of Naples. It is presumed that Columbus served on board of this squadron. That he must have distinguished himself in the course of the ex- ]459.] EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS, 5 pedition is evident, from his liaving been at one time appointed to a separate command, and sent on a daring enterprise to cut out a galley from the port of Tunis, in the course of which he exhibited great resolution and address. There is an interval of several years, during which we have but one or two shadowy traces of Columbus, who is supposed to have been princi- pally engaged in the Mediterranean, and up the Le- vant, sometimes in voyages of commerce, some- times in warlike contests between the Italian states, sometimes in pious and predatory expeditions against the infidels, during which time he was often under the perilous command of his old fighting re- lation, the veteran Colombo. The last anecdote we have of this obscure part of his life is given by his son Fernando. He says that his father sailed for some time with Colombo the younger, a famous corsair, nephew to the old admiral just mentioned, and apparently heir of his warlike propensities and prowess, for Fernando affirms that he was so terrible for his deeds against the infidels, that the Moorish mothers used to frighten their unruly children with his name. T?his bold rover waylaid four Venetian galleys, richly laden, on their return voyage from Flanders, and attacked them with his squadron on the For - tuguese coast between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent. The battle lasted from morning until evening, with great carnage on both sides. The vessels grappled each other, and the crews fought hand to hand, and from ship to ship. The vessel commanded by Co- lumbus was engaged with a huge Venetian galley. They threw hand grenades and other fiery missiles, g COLUMBUS. [1459. ] and tlie galley was wrapped in flames. The vessels being fastened together by chains and iron grap- plings, could not be separated, and both became a mere blazing mass, involved in one conflagration. crews threw themselves into the sea : Columbus seized an oar which was floating near him, and being an expert swimmer, attained the shore, though full two leagues distant. It pleased God, ' adds his son Fernando, to give him strength, that he might preserve him for greater things. After recovering from his exhaustion, he repaired to Lis- bon, where he found many of his Genoese country- men, 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 modern 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 honourable fortune. 1470.] DISCOVERIES BY THE PORTUGUESE. 7 CHAPTER II PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY UNDER PRINCE HENRY OF PORTU- GAL RESIDENCE OF COLUMBUS IN LISBON IDEAS CON- CERNING ISLANDS IN THE OCEAN. The career of modern discovery had commenced shortly before the time of Columbus, and, at the pe- riod of which we are treating, was prosecuted with great activity by Portugal. The re-discovery of the Canary Islands, in tlie fourteenth century, and the occasional voyages made to them, and to the opposite shores of Africa, had first turned the at- tention of mankind in that direction. The grand impulse to discovery, however, was given by Prince Henry of Portugal, son of John the First, surnamed the Avenger, and Philippa of Lancaster, sister of Henry the Fourth of England. Having accompa- nied his father into Africa, in an expedition against the Moors, he received much information at Cent a concerning the coast of Guinea, and other regions entirely 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, he pursued the vein of in- quiry thus accidentally opened. Abandoning the court, he retired to a country retreat in the Al- garves, near to Sagres, in the neighbourhood of Cape St. Vincent, and in full view of the ocean. Here he drew round him men eminent in science, 8 COLUMBUS. [1470. and gave himself up to those branches of study con- nected with the maritime arts. He made himself master of all the geographical knowledge of the ancients, and of the astronomical science of the Arabians of Spain. The result of his studies was a firm conviction that Africa was circumnavigable, and that it was possible, by keeping along its shores, to arrive at India. For a long time past, the opulent trade of Asia had been monopolized by the Italians ; who had their commercial establishments at Constantinople, and in the Black Sea. Thither all the precious commodities of the East were conveyed by a cir- cuitous and expensive internal route, to be thence distributed over Europe. The republics of Venice and Genoa had risen to power and opulence, in consequence of this monopoly ; their merchants emulated the magnificence of princes, and held Europe, in a manner, tributary to their commerce. It was the grand idea of Prince Henry, by circum- navigating Africa, to open an easier and less ex- pensive route to the source of this commerce, to turn it suddenly into a new and simple channel, and to pour it out in a golden tide upon his country. He was before the age in thought, and had to struggle hard against the ignorance and prejudices of mankind in the prosecution of his design. Na- vigation was yet in its infancy ; mariners feared to venture far from the coast, or out of sight of its land-marks ; and thev looked with awe at the vast and unknown expanse of the Atlantic ; they che- rished the old belief that the earth at the equator was girdled by a torrid zone, separating the hemi- 1470.3 ARRIVES AT LISBON. 9 spheres by a region of impassable heat ; and they had a superstitious belief, that whoever doubled Cape Bojador would never return. Prince Henry called in the aid of science to dispel these errors. He established a naval college and observatory at Sagres, and invited thither the most eminent professors of the nautical faculties. The effects of this establishment were soon apparent. A vast improvement took place in maps and charts ; the compass was brought into more general use ; the Portuguese marine became signalised for its hardy enterprises ; 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, ex- plored, and the Cape de Verde and Azore islands discovered. To secure the full enjoyment of these territories, Henry obtained a papal bull, investing the crown of Portugal with sovereign authority over all the lands it might discover in the Atlantic, to India inclusive. Henry died on the 13th of No- vember, 1473, before he had accomplished the great object of his ambition ; but he had lived long enough to behold, through his means, his native country in a grand career of prosperity. He has been well described, as ' full of thoughts of lofty enterprise, and acts of generous spirit.' He bore for his device the magnanimous motto, ' The talent to do good,* the only talent worthy the ambition of princes. The fame of the Portuguese discoveries drew the attention of the world ; and the learned, the curi- ous, and the adventurous, resorted to Lisbon to engage in the enterprises continually fitting out. 10 COLUMBUS. [1470. Among the rest, Columbus arrived there about the year 1470. He was at that time in the full vigour of manhood, and of an engaging presence ; and here it may not be improper to draw his por- trait, according to the minute descriptions given of him by his contemporaries. He was tall, well formed, and muscular, and of an elevated and dig- nified demeanour. His visage was long, and neither full nor meagre ; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy ; his nose aqui- line, his cheek-bones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle ; his whole coun- tenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his youthful days, was of a light colour, but care and trouble 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, en gag- in j and affable with strangers, and of an amiable - ness and suavity in domestic life that strongly attached his household to his person. His temper was naturally irritable ; but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirit, comporting himself with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulg- ing in any intemperance of language. Through- out his life, he was noted for a strict attention to the offices of religion ; 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 service at the chapel of the convent of All Saints. Here he became acquainted with a lady of rank, named Dona Felipa, who resided in the convent. She was the daughter of Bartolomeo 1470.] RESIDES AT LISBON-. 11 Monis de Palestrello, an Italian cavalier, lately de- ceased, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators under Prince Henry, and had colonized and governed the island of Porto Santo. The ac- quaintance soon ripened into attachment, and ended in marriage. It appears to have been a match of mere affection, as the lady had little or no fortune. The newly married couple resided with the mo- ther of the bride. The latter perceiving the in- terest which her son-in-law took in nautical affairs, used to relate to him all she knew of the voyages and expeditions of her late husband, and delivered to him all his charts, journals, and other manu- scripts. By these means Columbus became ac- quainted with the routes of the Portuguese, and their plans and ideas ; and, having by his marriage and residence become naturalized in Portugal, he sailed occasionally in the expeditions to the coast of Guinea. When at home, he supported his fa- mily by making maps and charts ; and though his means were scanty, he appropriated a part to the education of his younger brothers, and the succour of his aged father at Genoa. From Lisbon he re- moved for a time to the recently discovered 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. His wife's sister was married to Pedro Correo, a navigator of note, who had at one time been governor of Porto Santo. In the familiar intercourse of domestic life, their conversation frequently turned upon the dis- coveries of the Atlantic islands, and the African coasts, upon the long-sought-for route to India, 12 COLUMBUS. and upon the possibility of unknown lands existing in the west. It was a period of general excitement with all who were connected with maritime life, or who resided in the vicinity of the ocean. The re- cent discoveries had inflamed their imaginations, and had filled them with ideas of other islands of greater wealth and beauty, yet to be discovered in the boundless wastes of the Atlantic. The opi- nions and fancies of the ancients were again put into circulation : the island of Antilla, and Plato's imaginary Atalantis, once more found firm be- lievers ; and a thousand rumours were spread of unknown islands casually seen in the ocean. Many of these were mere fables ; many of them had their origin in the self-deception of voyagers, whose heated fancies beheld islands in those summer clouds which lie along the horizon, and often beguile the sailor with the idea of distant land. The most singular instance of this kind of self-deception, or rather of optical delusion, is that recorded of the inhabitants of the Canaries. They imagined 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 or dubious weather, but with all the distinctness with which distant objects may be discerned in the transparent atmosphere of a tro- pical climate. It is true, it was only seen tran- siently, and at long intervals ; while at other times, and in the clearest weather, not a vestige of it was visible ; but so persuaded were the people of the Canaries of its reality, that they obtained per- mission from the King of Portugal to fit out va- rious expeditions in search of it. The island, however, was never to be found, though it still 14/0.] GRAND PROJECT OF COLUMBUS. 13 continued occasionally to cheat the eye ; many identified it with a legendary island, said to have been discovered in the sixth century, by a Scottish priest of the name of St. Brandan, and it was actually laid down in many maps of the times, by the name of St. Brandan, or St. Borondon. All these tales and rumours were noted down, with curious care by Columbus, and may have had some influence over his imagination ; but, though of a visionary spirit, his penetrating genius sought in deeper sources for the aliment of its meditations. The voyages he had made to Guinea, and his fre- quent occupation in making maps and charts, had led him more and more to speculate on the great object of geographical enterprise ; but while others were slowly and painfully seeking a route to India, by following up the coast of Africa, his daring genius conceived the bold idea of turning his prow directly to the west, and seeking the desired land by a route across the Atlantic. Having once conceived this idea, it is interesting to notice from what a mass of acknowledged facts, rational hypo- theses, fanciful narrations, and popular rumours, his grand project of discovery was wrought out by the strong workings of his vigorous mmd. 14 COLUMBUS. [1474. CHAPTER III. GROUNDS ON WHICH COLUMBUS FOUNDED HIS BELIEF OF THE EXISTENCE OF UNDISCOVERED LANDS IN THE WEST. We have a record of the determination of Columbus to seek a western route to India, as early as the year 1474, in a correspondence which he held with Paulo Toscanelli, a learned cosmographer of Flo- rence ; and he had doubtless meditated it for a long time previous. He was moved to this deter- mination by a diligent study of all the geographical theories of the ancients, aided by his own expe- rience, by the discoveries of the moderns, and the advancement of astronomical science. He set it down as a fundamental principle, that the earth was a terraqueous globe, which might be travelled round from east to west, and that men stood foot to foot when on opposite points. The circumfe- rence from east to west, at the equator, he divided, according to Ptolemy, into twenty-four hours, of fifteen degrees each, making three hundred and sixty degrees. Of these he imagined, comparing the globe of Ptolemy with the earlier map of Marinus of Tyre, that fifteen hours had been known to the ancients, extending from the Canary or Fortunate Islands, to the city of Thinse in Asia, the western and eastern extremities of the known world. The Portuguese had advanced the western frontier one hour more by the discovery of the 1474.] THEORY OF COLUMBUS. 15 Azore and Cape de Verde Islands : still, about eight hours, or one-third of the circumference of the earth, remained to be explored. Ihis space he imagined to be occupied in a great measure by the eastern regions of Asia, which might extend so far as to approach the western shores of Europe and Africa. A navigator, therefore, by pursuing a direct course from east to west, must arrive at the extremity of Asia, or discover any intervening land. The great obstacle to be apprehended, was from the tract of ocean that might intervene ; but tliis could not be very wide, 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 was assigned to it by other cosmographers ; a theory to which Columbus seems, generally, to have given much faith. He was fortified, also, by the opinion of Aristotle, Seneca, Pliny, and Strabo, who con- sidered the ocean as but of moderate breadth, so that one might pass from Cadiz westward to the Indies in a few days. Columbus derived great support to his theory, also, from a letter which he received in 1474 from Paulo Toscanelli, the learned Florentine already mentioned, who was considered one of the ablest cosmographers of the day. This letter was made up from the narrative of Marco Polo, a Venetian traveller, who, in the fourteenth century, had pene- trated the remote parts of Asia, far beyond the re- gions laid down by Ptolemy. Toscanelli encouraged Columbus in an intention which he had communi- cated to him, of seeking India by a western course, assuring him that the distance could not be more than tour thousand miles in a direct line fr^om Lis- 16 COLUMBUS. [1474. bon to tlie province of Mangi, near Cathay, since ascertained to be the northern coast of China. Of this country a magnificent description was given according to Marco Polo, who extols the power and grandeur of its sovereign, the Great Khan, the splendour and magnitude of his capitals of Cambalu, and Quinsai, or Kinsay, and the wonders of the island of Cipango, or Zipangi, supposed to be Japan. This island he places opposite Cathay, far in the ocean, and represents it as abounding in gold, precious stones, and spices, and that the palace of the king was covered with plates of gold, as edifices in other countries are covered with sheets of lead. The work of Marco Polo is deserving of this par- ticular mention, from being a key to many of the ideas and speculations of Columbus. The territories of the Grand Khan, as described by the Venetian, were the objects of his diligent search in all his voyages ; and in his cruisings among the Antilles, he was continually flattering himself with the hopes of arriving at the opulent island of Cipango, and the shores of Mangi and Cathay. The letter of Paulo Toscanelli was accompanied by a map, pro- jected partly according to Ptolemy, and partly according to the descriptions of Marco Polo. The eastern coast of Asia was depicted in front of the 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. By this conjectural map Columbus governed himself in his first voyage. Besides these learned authorities, Columbus was attentive to every gleam of information bearing upon his theory, that might be derived from veteran 3474.] THEORY OF COLUMBUS. 17 mariners, and the inhabitants of the lately disco- vered islands, who were placed, in a manner, on the frontier posts of geographical knowledge. One Antonio Leone, an inhabitant of Madeira, told him, that in sailing westward one hundred leagues, he had seen three islands at a distance. A mariner of Port St. Mary, also, 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. One Martin Vicenti, a pilot in the service of the King of Portugal, assured Colum- bus 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, evidently not laboured with an iron instrument. As the wind had drifted it from the west, it might have come from some unknown land in that direction. Pedro Correo, brother-in-law of Columbus, also informed him, that he had seen a similar piece of wood, on the island of Porto Santo, which had drifted from the same quarter, and he had heard, from the King of Portugal, that reeds of an immense size had floated to those islands from the west, which Columbus supposed to be the kind of reeds of enormous magnitude described by Ptolemy as growing in India. Trunks of huge pine trees, of a kind that did not grow upon any of the islands, had been wafted to the Azores by westerly winds. The inhabitants also informed him that the bodies of two dead men had been cast upon the island of riores, whose features had caused great wonder and speculation, being different from those of any known race of people. Such are the principal grounds on which, ac- c 18 COLUMBUS. [1474. cording to Fernando Columbus, his father pro- ceeded from one position to another of his theory. It is evident, however, that the grand argument which induced him to his enterprise was the one ] first cited ; namely, that the most eastern part of i Asia known to the ancients could not be separated from the Azores by more than a third of the cir- cumference of the globe ; that the intervening space I must, in a great measure, be filled up by the un- known residue of Asia ; and that, as the circum- ference of the world was 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 enter- prise depended upon two happy errors, the imagi- ■ nary extent of Asia to the east, and the supposed smallness of the earth; both errors of the most learned and profound philosophers, but without which Columbus would hardly have ventured into the western regions of the Atlantic, in whose un- known and perhaps immeasurable waste of waters he might perish before he could reach a shore. When Columbus had once formed his theory, it became fixed in his mind with singular firmness. He never spoke in doubt or hesitation, but with [ as much certainty as if his eyes had beheld the pro- mised land. A deep religious sentiment mingled with his thoughts, and gave them at times a tinge ' of superstition, but of a sublime and lofty kind. — He looked upon himself as standing in the hand of heaven, chosen from among men for the accomplish- ment of its high purpose ; he read, as he supposed, his contemplated discovery foretold in Holy Writ, and shadowed forth darkly in the prophecies. The 1474.] THEORY OF COLUMBUS. 19 ends of the earth were to be brought together, and all nations, and tongues, and languages, united under the banners of the Redeemer. The enthusiastic nature of his conceptions gave an elevation to his spirit, and a dignity and loftiness to his whole demeanour. He conferred with sove- reigns almost with a feeling of equality. His pro- posed discovery was of empires ; his conditions were proportionally magnificent, nor would he ever, even after long delays, repeated disappointments, and when under the pressure of actual penury, abate what appeared to others extravagant demands. Those who could not conceive how an ardent and comprehensive mind could arrive by presumptive evidence at so firm a conviction, sought for other modes of accounting for it ; and gave countenance to an idle tale of his having received previous in- formation of the western worlds from a tempest- tost pilot, who had 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, and other attempts to cast a shade upon his fame, have been diligently examined and refuted ; and it appears evident that his great enter- prise was the bold conception of his genius, quick- ened by the impulse of the age, and aided by those scattered gleams of knowledge which fall ineffec- tually upon ordinary minds. 20 COLUMBUS. [148.% CHAPTER IV. EVENTS IN PORTUGAL RELATIVE TO DISCOVERY PROPOSITIONS OF COLUMBUS TO THE PORTUGUESE COURT. ' While the design of attempting the discovery in the west was maturing in the mind of Columbus, he made a voyage to the northern seas, to the island of Thule, to which the English navigators, particularly those of Bristol, were accustomed to resort on account of its fishery. He even advanced, he says, one hundred leagues beyond, penetrated the polar circle, and convinced himself of the fallacy of the popular belief, that the frozen zone was un- inhabitable. The island thus mentioned by him as Thule is generally supposed to have been Iceland, which is far to the west of the Ultima Thule of the ancients, as laid down on the map of Ptolemy. — Nothing more is known of this voyage, in which we discern indications of that ardent and impatient desire to break away from tl^ limits of the old world, and launch into the unknown regions of the ocean. Several years elapsed without any decided effort on the part of Columbus to carry his design into execution. An enterprise of the kind required the patronage of some sovereign power, which could furnish the necessary means, could assume dominion over the lands to be discovered, and could ensure suitable rewards and dignities to the discoverer. 1481.] JOHN II. OF PORTUGAL. 21 The cause of discovery had languished during the latter part of the reign of Alphonso of Portugal, who was too much engrossed with his wars with Spain to engage in peaceful enterprises, of great cost and doubtful result. Navigation also was still too imperfect for so perilous an undertaking as that proposed by Columbus. Discovery advanced slowly along the coasts of Africa ; and though the compass had been introduced into more general use, yet mariners rarely ventured far out of sight of land ; they even feared to cruise far into the southern hemisphere, with the stars of which they were totally unacquainted. To such men, therefore, the project of a voyage directly westward, in quest of some imagined land in the boundless wastes of the ocean, appeared as extravagant as it would 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 power of navigation. The era was pro- pitious to the quick advancement of knowledge. — The recent invention of printing enabled men to communicate rapidly and extensively their ideas and discoveries. It multiplied and spread abroad, and placed in every hand those volumes of information, which had hitherto existed only in costly manu- scripts, treasured up in the libraries of colleges and convents. At this juncture, John II. ascended the throne of Portugal. He had imbibed the passion for discovery from his grand uncle, Prince Henry, and with his reign all its activity revived. The recent attempts to discover a route to India had excited an eager curiosity concerning the remote parts of the east, and had revived all the accounts, 22 COLUMBUS. [1481. true and fabulous, of travellers. Among these, were the tales told of the renowned Prester John, a Christian king, said to hold sway in a remote part of the east, but whose kingdom seemed to baffle re- search as effectually as the unsubstantial island of St. Brandan. All the fables and dreamy specu- lations concerning this shadowy potentate, and his oriental realm, were again put in circulation. It was fancied that traces of his empire had been dis- cerned 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 ; and John II., in the early part of his reign, actually sent missions in quest of the visionary Prester John. Impatient of the tardiness with which his dis- coveries advanced along the coast of Africa, and eager to realize the splendid project of Prince Henry, and conduct the Portuguese flag into the Indian seas, John II. called upon his men of sci- ence to devise some means of giving greater scope and certainty to navigation. His two physicians, Eoderigo and Joseph, the latter a Jew, who were the most able astronomers and cosmographers of his kingdom, together with the celebrated Mar- tin Behem, entered into a consultation on the subject ; and the result of their conferences was, the application of the astrolabe to navigation. — This instrument has since been improved, and modified into the modern quadrant, of which, even at its first introduction, it possessed all the essential advantages. This invention was one of those timely occurrences which seem to have some- thing providential in them. It was the one thing wanting to facilitate an intercourse across the deep, 1481.] OBTAINS AN AUDIENCE. 23 and to cast navigation loose from its long bondage to the land. Science had thus prepared guides for discovery across the trackless ocean, and had di- vested the enterprise of Columbus of that extremely hazardous character which had been so great an obstacle to its accomplishment. It was immedi- ately after this event that he solicited an audience of the King of Portugal, to lay before him his great project of discovery. This is the first proposition of which we have any clear and indisputable record, although it has been strongly asserted, and with probability, that he had made one at an earlier period, to his native country, Genoa. Columbus obtained a ready audience of King John, who was extremely liberal in encouraging and rewarding nautical enterprise. He explained to the monarch his theory, and proposed, in case the king would furnish him with ships and men, to conduct them by a shorter route to the richest countries of the east, to touch at the opulent island of Cipango, and to establish a communication with the territories of the Grand Khan, the most splen- did, powerful, and wealthy of oriental potentates. King John listened attentively to the proposition of Columbus, and referred it to a learned junto, composed of Masters Eoderigo and Joseph, and the king's confessor, Diego Ortiz, Bishop of Ceuta, a man greatly reputed for his learning, a Castilian by birth, and generally called Cazaclilla, from the name of his birth-place. This scientific body treated the project as extravagant and visionary. Still the king was not satisfied, but convoked his council, composed of persons of the greatest learning in the kingdom, and asked their advice. In this assembly, 24 COLUMBUS. [1484. Cazadilla, the Bishop of Ceuta, opposed the theory of Columbus, as destitute of reason, and indeed evinced a cold and narrow spirit, hostile to all dis- covery. The decision of the council was equally unfavourable with that of the junto, and the pro- position of Columbus was rejected. Certain of the councillors, and particularly the Bishop Cazadilla, seeing that the king was dissatis- fied with their decision, and retained a lurking in- clination for the enterprise, suggested a stratagem by which all its advantages might be secured, with- out committing the dignity of the crown by enter- ing into formal negotiations about a scheme, which might prove a mere chimera. The king, in an evil hour, departed from his usual justice and genero- sity, and had the weakness to permit their strata- gem. These crafty councillors then procured from Columbus, as if to assist them in their deliberations, a detailed plan of his proposed voyage, with the charts by which he intended to shape his course. While they held him in suspense, awaiting their decision, they privately despatched a caravel to pursue the designated route. The caravel took its departure from the Cape de Verde Islands, and stood westward for several days. The weather grew stormy, and the pilots having no zeal to stimulate them, and seeing nothing but an immeasurable waste of wild tumbling waves, still extending before them, lost all courage, and put back to the Cape de Verde Islands, and thence to Lisbon, excusing their own want of resolution, by ridiculing the project as extravagant and irrational. This unworthy attempt to defraud him of his enterprise roused the indignation of Columbus, and 1484.1 LEAVES PORTUGAL. 25 though King John, it is said, showed a disposition to renew the negotiation, he resolutely declined. His wife had been for some time dead ; the domestic tie which had bound him to Portugal, therefore, being broken, he determined to abandon a country where he had been treated with so little faith. Like most projectors, while engaged in schemes which held out promise of incalculable wealth, he had suffered his affairs to run to ruin, and was in danger of being arrested for debt. This has been given as the reason for his leaving Portugal in a secret man- ner, which he did towards the end of 1484, taking with him his son Diego, as yet a mere child. An interval now occurs of about a year, during which the movements of Columbus are involved in uncertainty. It has been asserted by a modern Spanish historian of merit, that he departed imme- diately for Genoa, where he repeated in person the proposition which he had formerly made to the go- vernment by letter. The republic of Genoa, how- ever, was languishing under a long decline, and was embarrassed by ruinous wars. Her spirit was broken with her fortunes ; for with nations, as with individuals, enterprise is the child of prosperity, and is apt to languish in evil days, when there is most need of its exertion. Thus, Genoa, it would appear, disheartened by reverses, rejected a proposition which would have elevated the republic to tenfold splendour, and might for a long time have perpe- tuated the golden wand of commerce in the failing grasp of Italy. From Genoa, it has been said, but equally with- out positive proof, that Columbus carried his pro- posal to Venice, but that it was declined in conse- 26 COLUMBUS. [1484 quence of the critical state of national affairs. Different authors agree, that about this time he visited his aged father, and made such arrange- ments for his comfort as his own poor means af- forded, and that having thus performed the duties of a pious son, he departed once more to try his fortunes in foreign courts. About this time, also, he engaged his brother Bartholomew to sail foy England, to lay his propositions before Henry VII., whom he had heard extolled for his wisdom and munificence. For himself, he sailed for Spain, where he appears to have arrived in great poverty, for this course of fruitless solicitation had exhausted all his means ; nor is it one of the least extraor- dinary 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. I486.] ARRIVES IN SPAIN. 27 CHAPTER V. FIRST ARRIVAL OF COLUMBUS IN SPAIN CHARACTERS OF THE SPANISH SOVEREIGNS. The first trace we have of Columbus in Spain is gathered from the manuscript documents of the celebrated lawsuit, which took place a few years after his death, between his son Don Diego and the crown. It is contained in the deposition of one Garcia Fernandez, a physician, resident in the little sea-port of Palos de Moguer, in Andalusia. About half a league from Palos, on a solitary height over- looking the sea-coast, and surrounded by a forest of pine-trees, there stood, and stands at the present day, an ancient convent of Franciscan friars, dedi- cated to Santa Maria de Rabida. A stranger, tra- velling on foot, accompanied by a young boy, stopped one day at the gate of the convent, and asked of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While receiving tliis humble refreshment, the guardian of the convent. Friar Juan Perez de Marchena, happening 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. That stranger was Columbus, accompanied by his young son Diego. He was on his way to the neighbouring town of Huelva, to seek a brother-in-law, who had married a sister of his deceased wife. The guardian was an intelligent man, and ac- 28 COLUMBUS. [1486. quainted with geographical and nautical science. He was interested by the conversation of Colum- bus, and struck with the grandeur of his plans. He detained him as his guest, and being diffident of his own judgment, sent for a scientific friend to con- verse with him. That friend was Garcia Fernan- dez, the physician of Palos, the same who furnishes this interesting testimony ; and who became equally convinced with the friar of the correctness of the theory of Columbus. Several veteran pilots and mariners of Palos, also, were consulted during the conferences at the convent, who stated various facts observed in the course of their experience, which seemed to corroborate the idea of western lands in the Atlantic. But the conviction of the friar was still more confirmed, by the hearty concurrence of an important personage in that maritime neighbour- hood, one Martin Alonzo Pinzon, resident of the town of Palos, one of the most intelligent sea cap- tains of the day, and the head of a family of wealthy and distinguished navigators. Pinzon not only gave the project of Columbus his decided approbation, but offered to engage in it with purse and person. Fray Juan Perez being now fully persuaded of the importance of the proposed enterprise, advised Columbus to repair to court, and make his propo- sitions to the Spanish sovereigns, offering to give him u letter of recommendation to his friend, Fer- nando de Talavera, prior of the convent of Prado, and confessor to the queen, and a man of great po- litical influence, through whose means he would, no doubt, immediately obtain royal audience and favour. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, also, generously offered to furnish him with money for the journey, J486.] FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, and the friar took charge of his youthful son, Diego, to maintain and educate him in the convent. Thus aided and encouraged, and elated with fresh hopes, Columbus took leave of the little junto at La Eabida, and set out, in the spring of 1486, for the Castilian court, w^hich had just assembled at Cordova, where the sovereigns were fully occupied with their chi- valrous enterprise for the conquest of Granada. — And here it is proper to give a brief description of these princes, who performed such an important part in the events of this history. It has been well observed of Ferdinand and Isa- bella, that they lived together, not like man and wife, whose estates are in common, under the orders of the husband, but like two monarchs, strictly allied. They had separate claims to sovereignty, in virtue of their separate kingdoms, and held separate coun- cils. Yet they were so happily united by common views, common interests, and a great deference for each other, that this double administration never prevented a unity of purpose and action. All acts of sovereignty were executed in both their names ; all public writings subscribed with both their sig- natures ; their likenesses were stamped together on the public coin ; and the royal seal displayed the united arms of Castile and Arragon. Ferdinand possessed a clear and comprehensive genius, and great penetration. He was equable in temper, indefatigable in business, a great observer of men, and is extolled by Spanish writers as un- paralleled in the science of the cabinet. It has been maintained by writers of other nations, however, and apparently with reason, that he was bigoted in rehgion, and craving rather than magnanimous in 30 COLUMBUS. his ambition ; that he made war less like a paladin than a prince, less for glory than for 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 England, the ambitious and perfidious. Contemporary writers have been enthusiastic in their descriptions of Isabella, but time has sanc- tioned their eulogies. She was of the middle size, and well formed ; with a fair complexion, auburn hair, and clear blue eyes. There was a mingled gravity and sweetness in her countenance, and a singular modesty, gracing, as it did, great firmness of pur- pose and earnestness of spirit. Though strongly attached to her husband, and studious of his fame, yet she always maintained her distinct rights as an allied prince. She exceeded him in beauty, personal dignity, acuteness of genius, and grandeur of soul. Combining the active and resolute qualities of man with the softer charities of woman, she mingled in the warlike councils of her husband, and, being in- spired with a truer idea of glory, infused a more lofty and generous temper into his subtle and cal- culating policy. It is in the civil history of their reign, however, that the character of Isabella shines most illustrious. Her fostering and maternal care was continually directed to reform the laws, and heal the ills en- gendered by a long course of civil wars. She as- sembled round her the ablest men in literature and science, and directed herself by their councils in encouraging literature and the arts. She promoted the distribution of honours and rewards for the pro- mulgation of knowledge, fostered the recently in- I486.] FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 31 vented art of printing, and through her patronage Salamanca rose to that eminence which it assumed among the learned institutions of the age. Such was the noble woman who was destined to acquire immortal renown by her spirited patronage of the discovery of the new world. 32 COLUMBUS. CHAPTER VI. PROPOSITIONS OF COLUMBUS TO THE COURT OF CASTILE: When Columbus arrived at Cordova, he found it in all the bustle of military preparation. The two rival Moorish kings of Granada had formed a coalition, and the Castilian sovereigns had sum- moned all their chivalry to assemble for a grand campaign. Every day witnessed the arrival of some Spanish noble, with a splendid retinue, and a bril- liant array of household troops. The court was like a military camp ; every avenue was crowded by warlike grandees and hardy cavaliers, who had distinguished themselves in this Moorish war.— This was an unpropitious moment for an applica- tion like that of Columbus. Every body was en- grossed by the opening campaign. Even Fernando de Talavera, who was to have been his great pa- tron and protector, and his organ of communica- tion with the sovereigns, was completely taken up with military concerns, being one of the clerical advisers who surrounded the queen in this, as it was termed, holy war. The letter of recommen- dation from the worthy Fray Juan Perez, which was to have secured the powerful influence of Talavera, seems to have had but little effect upon the prior, who listened coldly to Columbus, and looked upon his plan as extravagant and impossible. I486.] RESIDES AT CORDOVA. iS3 So far, therefore, from receiving immediate pa- tronage from the sovereigns, Columbus found it impossible to obtain even a liearing. It is a ques- tion, even, whether, for some time, his application reached their ears. If Fernando de Talavera did mention it to them, it must have been in disparag- ing terms, such as rather to destroy than excite interest in its favour. The campaign opened almost immediately ; the king took the field in person ; the queen was fully occupied by the hur- rying concerns of the war, and was part of the time present in the camp ; it would have been in vain, therefore, at such a moment, to expect atten- tion to a scheme of foreign discovery, founded on principles which required calm and learned inves- tigation. During the summer and autumn of 1486, Co- lumbus remained at Cordova, waiting for a more favourable opportunity to urge his suit ; and trust- ing to time and assiduity to gain him converts among the intelligent and powerful. He was in indigent circumstances, and earned a scanty sup- port by making maps and charts. He had to con- tend also against the ridicule of the light and the supercilious, which is one of the greatest obstacles to modest merit in a court. Some scoffed at him as a mere dreamer, others stigmatized him as an adventurer ; the very children, it is said, pointed to their foreheads as he passed, being taught to con- sider him a kind of madman. Indeed, the slender interest on which he had founded his hopes of royal patronage, and the humble garb in \7hich his poverty obliged him to appear, formed a pre- posterous contrast, in the eyes of the courtiers, D 34 COLUMBUS. [1486. with the magnificence of his speculations. ' Be- cause he was a foreigner/ says Oviedo, ' and went but in simple apparel, nor otherwise credited than by the letter of a gray friar, they believed him not, neither gave ear to his words, whereby he was greatly tormented in his imagination.' While thus lingering in Cordova, he became attached to Dona Beatrix Enriquez, a lady of that city, of a noble family. Like most of the cir- cumstances of this part of his life, his connexion with this lady is wrapped in obscurity, but appears never to have been sanctioned by marriage. She was the mother of his second son Fernando, who became his historian, and whom he always treated on terms of perfect equality with his legitimate son, Diego. By degrees the theory of Columbus began to obtain proselytes. The attention of men of reflec- tion was drawn to this solitary individual, who, almost unsupported, was endeavouring to make his way, with so singular a proposition, to the foot of the throne. Whoever conversed with him was struck by the dignity of his manners, the earnest sincerity of his discourse, and the force of his reasoning. Alonzo de Quintanilla, comptroller of the finances of Castile, became a warm advocate of his theory, and received him as a guest into his house. He was countenanced also by Antonio Geraldini, the pope's nuncio, and his brother, Alexander Geraldini, preceptor to the younger children of Ferdinand and Isabella. By these friends he was introduced to the celebrated Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, archbishop of Toledo, and grand cardinal of Spain. This was the most im- 148().] FERDINAND GRANTS AN AUDIENCE. 35 portant personage about the court ; he was ahvays with the kmg and queen, wlio never took any mea- sure of consequence without consulting him, and was facetiously called the third king of Spain. He was an elegant scholar, a man of sound under- standing, and of great quickness and capacity in business. The clear-headed Cardinal was pleased with the noble and earnest manner of Columbus ; he listened to him with profound attention, felt the importance of his project and the force of his arguments, and became at once a firm and service- able friend. Through his intercession the royal audience was at length obtained. Columbus appeared in the presence of the king with modesty, yet self-possession, inspired by a consciousness of the dignity and importance of his errand ; for he felt himself, as he afterwards de- clared in his letters, animated as if by a sacred fire from above, and considered himself an instru- ment in the hand of heaven to accomplish its grand designs. Ferdinand was too keen a judge of men not to appreciate the character of Columbus. He perceived, also, that his scheme had scientific and practical foundations ; and his ambition was excited by the possibility of discoveries far exceeding in importance those which had shed such glory upon Portugal. Still, as usual, he was cool and wary. He ordered Fernando de Talavera, the prior of Prado, to assemble the most learned astronomers and cosmographers of the kingdom, to hold a conference with Columbus. They w^ere to exa- mine Mm upon the grounds of his theory, and afterwards to consult together, and report their opinion as to its merits. Columbus now consi- D 2 36 COLUMBUS. [I486. dered the day of success at hand ; he had been deceived by courtiers, and scoffed at as a visionary by the vulgar and the ignorant ; but he was now to appear before a body of the most learned and enlightened men, elevated, as he supposed, above all narrow prejudice and selfish interest, and ca- pable of comprehending the full scope of his rea- sonings. From the dispassionate examination of such a body of sages, he could not but anticipate the most triumphant verdict. 148C.] CONFERENCE AT SALAMANCA. 37 CHAPTER VII. COLUMBUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL AT SALAMANCA, The interesting conference took place at Sala- manca, the great seat of learning in Spain. It was held in the Dominican convent of St. Stephen, the most scientific college in the university, in which Columbus was lodged and entertained with great hospitality during the course of the examination. The board of conference was composed of profes- sors of the university, together with various digni- taries of the church, and learned friars. No tri- bunal could bear a front of more imposing wisdom ; yet Columbus soon discovered that ignorance and illiberality may sometimes lurk under the very robes of science. The greater part of this learned junta, it would appear, came prepossessed against him, as men in place and dignity are apt to be against poor appli- cants. There is always a proneness to consider a man under examination as a kind of delinquent, or impostor, upon trial, who is to be detected and ex- posed. Columbus, too, appeared in a most unfa- vourable light before a scholastic body ; an obscure navigator, member of no learned institution, des- titute of all the trappings and circumstances which sometimes give oracular authority to dulness, and depending upon the mere force of natural genius. Some of the assembly entertained the popular 38 COLUMBUS. [1486. 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. The hall of the old convent presented a striking spectacle. A simple mariner standing forth in the midst of an imposing array of clerical and collegiate sages — maintaining his theory with natural elo- quence, and, as it were, pleading the cause of the new world. We are told, that when he began to state the grQunds of his theory, the friars of St. Stephen alone paid attention to liim. The others appeared to have intrenched themselves behind one dogged position, namely, that after so many pro- found philosophers had occupied themselves in geographical investigations, and so many able navigators had been voyaging about the world for ages, it was a great presumption in an ordinary man to suppose that there remained such a vast discovery for him to make. Several of the objections opposed by this learned body have been handed down to us, and have pro- voked many a sneer at the expense of the university of Salamanca ; but they are proofs rather of the imperfect state of science at the time, and of the manner in which knowledge, though rapidly ad- vancing, was still impeded in its progress by monas- tic bigotry. Thus, at the very threshold of the dis- cussion, Columbus was assailed with citations from the Bible, and the works of the early fathers of the church, which were thought incompatible with his theory ; doctrinal points were mixed up with philo- sophical discussions, and even a mathematical de- monstration was allowed no truth, if it appeared to j I486.] CONFERENCE AT SALAMANCA. 39 clash with a text of scripture, or a commentary of one of the fathers. Thus the possibiUty of the existence of antipodes in the southern hemisphere, though maintained by the wisest of the ancients, was disputed by some of the sages of Salamanca, on the authority of Lactantius and St. Augustine, those two great luminaries of what has been called the golden age of ecclesiastical learning. ' Is there any one so foolish,' asks Lactantius, ' 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 w^orld in which all things are topsy-turvy ; where the trees grow with their brandies down- ward, 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 ; for these philosophers having once erred, go on in their absurdities, defending one with another.' Objections of a graver nature, and more dignified tone, were advanced on the authority of St. Augus- tine. He pronounces the doctrine of antipodes in- compatible 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 intervening 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 savour more of the convent than the university. To his simplest proposition, the spherical form of the earth, were op* 40 COLUMBUS. [1486. posed figurative texts of scripture. In the Psalms? the heavens are said to be extended over the earth like a hide, that is to say, like the covering of a tent, which, among the ancient pastoral nations, was formed of the hides of animals ; St. Paul also, in his epistle to the Hebrews, compares the heavens to a tabernacle or tent spread over the earth : hence these casuists maintained that the earth must be . flat, like the bottom of the tent. Others admitted the globular form of the earth, and the possibility of an opposite and inhabitable hemisphere, but main- tained that it would be impossible to arrive there in consequence of the heat of the torrid zone. As for steering to the west in search of India, they ob- served that the circumference of the earth must be so great as to require at least three years to the voyage, and those who should undertake it must perish of hunger and thirst, from the impossibility of carrying provisions for so long a period. Not the least absurd objection advanced was, that should a ship even succeed in reaching the extremity of India, she could never get back again, for the ro- tundity of the globe would present a kind of moun- tain, up which it would be impossible for her to sail with the most favourable wind. Such are specimens of the errors and prejudices, the mingled error and erudition, with which Co- lumbus had to contend, throughout the examination of his theory. Many of these objections, however, which appear so glaringly absurd at the present day, were incident to the imperfect state of knowledge of the time. The rotundity of the earth was as yet a matter of mere speculation : no one could tell whether the ocean were not of too vast extent to be traversed ; nor were the law s of specific gravity, I486.] CONFERENCE AT SALAMANCA. 41 and of central gravitation, ascertained, by which, granting the earth to be a sphere, the possibihty of making the tour of it would be manifest. When Columbus took his stand before this learned body, he had appeared the plain and simple navi- gator, somewhat daunted, perhaps, by the greatness of his task, and the august nature of his auditory ; but he had a degree of rehgious feeling, whicli gave him a confidence in the execution of what he con- ceived his great errand, and he was of an ardent temperament, that became heated in action by its own generous fires. All the objections drawn from ancient philosopliers he met boldly and upon equal terms, for he was deeply studied on all points of cosmography, and he disproved many by his own experience, gathered in the course of his extensive voyages, in which he liad penetrated both the torrid and the frozen zone. Nor was he to be daunted by the scriptural difficulties opposed to him, for here he was peculiarly at home. His contemporaries have spoken of his commanding person, his elevated de- meanour, 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 vision- ary spirit took fire, and he met his doctrinal oppo- nents upon their own ground, pouring forth those magnificent texts of scripture, and those mysterious predictions of the prophets, whicli, in liis enthusi- astic moments, he considered as types and annun- ciations of the sublime discovery which he proposed I It is but justice to add, that many of his learned hearers were convinced by his reasoning, and warmed by his eloquence ; among the number of 42 COLUMBUS. [1487. these was Diego de Deza, a worthy friar of the order of St. Dominic, at that time professor of theology in the convent of St. Stephen, but who became after- wards Archbishop of Seville, the second ecclesiasti- cal dignity of Spain. He was an able and erudite man, above the narrow bigotry of bookish lore, and could appreciate the value of wisdom, even when uttered by unlearned lips. He seconded Columbus with all his powers and influence, and by their united efforts they brought over several of the most intelli- gent men of the assembly. Still there was a pre- ponderating mass of inert bigotry and learned pride in the erudite body, which refused to yield to the demonstrations of an obscure foreigner, without fortune or connexions, or any academic honours. After this celebrated examination of Columbus, the board held occasional conferences, but without com- ing to any decision : Fernando de Talavera, to whom the matter was especially intrusted, had too little esteem for it, and was too much occupied by the stir and bustle of public concerns, to press it to a conclusion ; his departure with the court from Cordova, early in the spring of 1487, put an end to the consultations, and left Columbus in a state of the most tantalizing suspense. For several years he followed the movements of the court, continually flattered with hopes of success. Conferences were appointed at various places, but the tempest of warlike aff'airs, wliich hurried the court from place to place, and gave it the bustle and confusion of a camp, continually swept away all matters of less immediate import- ance. It has generally been supposed that these years of irksome solicitation were spent by Co- ■ lumbus in the drowsy attendance of antechambers ; i 1487—90.] FOLLOWS THE COURT. 43 but, on the contrary, they were passed amidst scenes of peril and adventure, and in following the court, he was led into some of the most striking situations of this wild, rugged, and mountainous war. In one of the severest campaigns, he is said to have distinguished himself by his personal prowess. He was present at the sieges and sur- renders of Malaga and Baza, and beheld El Zagal, the elder of the two rival kings of Granada, yield up his crown and possessions to the Spanish so- vereigns. During the siege of Baza, two reverend friars, guardians of the holy sepulchre at Jeru- salem, arrived in the Spanish camp, bearing a menace from the Grand Soldan of Egypt, that he would put to death all the Christians in his domi- nions, and destroy the sepulchre, if the sovereigns did not desist from the war against the Moslems of Granada. It is probable that the pious indig- nation excited by this threat in the bosom of Co- lumbus gave the first rise to a resolution which he entertained to the day of his death : this was, to 'devote the profits which he anticipated from his discoveries to a crusade for the rescue of the holy sepulchre. During this long course of application, Colum- bus partly defrayed his expenses by making maps and charts. He was occasionally assisted, also, by the purse of the worthy Friar Diego de Deza, and was sometimes a guest of Alonzo de Quintanilla. It is due to the sovereigns to say, also, that he was attached to the royal suite, and sums issued to de- fray his expenses, and lodgings provided for him, when summoned to follow this rambling and war- like court. Whenever the sovereigns had an interval of leisure, there seems to have been a 44 COLUMBUS. [im. disposition to attend to liis proposition ; but the hurry and tempest of the war returned, and the question was again swept away. At length, in the winter of 1491, when the sovereigns were preparing to depart on their final campaign in the vega of Granada, Columbus, losing all patience, pressed for a decisive reply, and Fernando de Talavera was ordered, there- fore, to hold a final conference, and to report the decision of his learned brethren. He obeyed, and informed their majesties that the majority of the junta condemned the scheme as vain and impos- sible, and considered it unbecoming such great princes to engage in an undertaking of the kind, on such weak grounds as had been advanced. A degree of consideration, however, had gra- dually grown up at court for the enterprise, and notwithstanding this unfavourable report, the so- vereigns were unwilling to close the door on a project which might be of such important advan- tages. They informed Columbus, therefore, that the great cares and expenses of the war rendered it impossible for them to engage in any new enter- prises for the present ; but that, when the war should be concluded, they would have leisure and inclination to treat with him concerning his pro- positions. This was but a starved reply to receive after so many years of weary attendance : Columbus con- sidered it a mere evasion of the sovereigns to relieve themselves from his importunity, and, giving up all hope of countenance from the throne, he turned his back upon Seville, filled with disappointment and indignation. 1491.] APPLIES FOR PATRONAGE. 45 CHAPTER VIII. COLUMBUS SEEKS PATRONAGE AMONGST THE SPANISH GRAN- DEES RETURNS TO THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA RE- SUMES HIS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SOVEREIGNS. [1491.] Columbus now looked round in search of some otlier source of patronage. He had received favourable letters both from the Kings of England and of France : the King of Portugal, also, had invited him to return to his court ; but he appears to have become attached to Spain, probably from its being the residence of Beatrix Enriquez, and his children. He sought, therefore, to engage the patronage of some one of those powerful Spanish grandees, who had vast possessions, exercised feudal rights, and were petty sovereigns in their domains. Among these were the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, and Medina Cell: both had principalities lying along the sea-bord, with armies of vassals, and ports and shipping at their command. Colum- bus had many interviews with the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who was tempted for a time by the splen- did prospects held out ; but their very splendour threw a colouring of exaggeration over the enter^ prise, and he finally rejected it as the dream of an Italian visionary. The Duke of Medina Celi was still more favour- able, and was actually on the point of granting 46 COLUMBUS. C149U him three or four caravels which lay ready for sea, in his harbour of Port St. Mary; but he sud- denly changed his mind, fearing to awaken the • jealousy of the crown, and to be considered as interfering with the views of the sovereigns, who he knew had been treating with Columbus. He advised him, therefore, to return once more to court, and he wrote a letter to the queen in favour of his project. Columbus felt averse to the idea of subjecting himself again to the tantalizing delays and disap- pointments of the court, and determined to repair to Paris. He departed, therefore, for the convent of La Rabida, to seek his oldest son Diego, and leave him with his other son at Cordova. When the worthy Friar Juan Perez de Marchena beheld Columbus arrive once more at the gate of his convent, after nearly seven years' fruitless soli- citation at the court, and saw, by the humility of his garb, the poverty he had experienced, he was greatly moved ; but when he found that he was on the point of leaving Spain, and carrying his propo- sition to another country, his patriotism took the alarm. He had been confessor to the queen, and knew her to be always accessible to persons of his sacred calling. He wrote a letter to her, there- fore, earnestly vindicating the proposed scheme, and conjuring her not to turn a deaf ear to a matter of such vast importance ; and he prevailed upon Columbus to delay his journey until an answer should be received. The ambassador chosen by the little junta of the convent was one Sebastian Rodriguez, a pilot of Lepe, who acquitted himself faithfully, expe- i 1491.] RETURNS TO LA RABIDA. 47 ditiously, and successfully, in his embassy. He found access to the benignant princess in the royal camp at Santa Fe, before Granada, and delivered the epistle of the friar. He returned in fourteen days, with a letter from the queen, thanking Juan Perez for his timely services, and requesting him to repair immediately to the court, leaving Colum- bus in confident hope of hearing further from her. This royal epistle caused great exultation in the convent. No sooner did the warm-hearted friar receive it, than he procured a mule, and departed instantly, before midnight, for the court. His sacred office, and his former relation as father con- fessor, gave him immediate admission to the queen, and great freedom of counsel. It is probable Isa- bella had never heard the proposition of Columbus urged with such honest zeal and impressive elo- quence. She was naturally more sanguine and susceptible than the king, and more open to warm and generous impulses. Moved by the representa- tions of Juan Perez, she requested that Columbus might be again sent to her, and kindly bethinking herself of his poverty, and his humble plight, ordered that a sufficient sum of money should be forwarded to him, to defray 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. Co- lumbus lost no time in complying with the com- mands of the queen. He exchanged his thread- bare garment for one of more courtly texture, and, purchasing a mule, set out once more, re-animated by fresh hopes, for the camp before Granada. He arrived in time to witness the memorable 48 COLUMBUS. [1491. surrender of tliat capital to the Spanish arms. He beheld Boabdil el Chico, the last of the Moorish kings, sally fortli from the Alhambra, and yield up the keys of that favourite seat of Moslem power ; while the king and queen, with all the chivalry and magnificence of Spain, moved forward in proud and solemn procession, to receive this token of submission. It was one of the most brilliant triumphs in Spanish history. The air resounded with shouts of joy, with songs of triumph and hymns of thanksgiving. On every side were be- held military rejoicings and religious oblations. The court was thronged by the most illustrious of that warlike country, and stirring era ; by the flower of its nobility, the most dignified of its pre- lacy, by bards and minstrels, and all the retinue of a romantic and picturesque age. During this brilliant and triumphant scene, says an elegant Spanish writer, ' a man, obscure and but little known,' followed the court. Confounded in the crowd of importunate applicants, and feeding his imagination, in the corners of antechambers, with the pompous project of discovering a world, he was melancholy and dejected in the midst of the general re^joicing, and beheld with indifference, almost with contempt, the conclusion of a conquest which swelled all bosoms with jubilee, and seemed to have reached the utmost bounds of desire. Tliat man was Christopher Columbus.' The moment had now arrived, however, when the monarchs stood pledged to attend to his pro- posals. They kept their word, and persons of con- fidence were appointed to negotiate with him, among whom was Fernando de Talavera, who, by 1491.] NEGOTIATION WITH COLUMBUS. 49 the recent conquest, had risen to be Archbishop of Granada. At the very outset of their negotiation, however, unexpected difficulties arose. The prin- cipal stipulation of Columbus was, that he should be invested with the titles and privileges of admiral and viceroy over the countries he should discover, with one tenth of all gains, either by trade or con- quest. The courtiers who treated with liim were indignant at such a demand from one whom they had considered a needy adventurer. One observed, with a sneer, that it was a shrewd arrangement which he proposed, whereby he was certain of the profits and honours 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. His terms, however, were pronounced inadmissible, and others were offered, of more moderate nature, but he refused to cede one point of his demands, and the negotiation was broken off. It is impossible not to admire the great con- stancy of purpose and loftiness of spirit here dis- played by Columbus. Though so large a portion of life had worn away in fruitless solicitings, during which he had experienced the bitterness of poverty, neglect, ridicule, and disappointment; though there was no certainty that he would not have to enter upon the same career at any other court ; yet nothing could shake his perseverance, or make him descend to terms which he considered beneath the dignity of his enterprise. Indignant at the repeated disappointments he had experienced in Spain, he now determined to abandon it for ever, and, mounting Ixis mule, sallied forth from Santa E 50 COLUMBUS. [1491. Ft5, on liis way to Cordova, with the intention of immediately proceeding from thence to France. When the few friends, who were zealous be- lievers in the theory of Columbus, saw him on the point of abandoning the country, they were filled with distress. Among the number was Luis de St. Angel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of Arragon, and Alonzo de Quintanilla, who de.- termined to make one bold effort to avert the evil. They hastened to the queen, and St. Angel ad- dressed her with a courage and eloquence inspired by the exigency of the moment. He did not con- fine himself to entreaties, but almost mingled re- proaches. He expressed his astonishment that a queen who had evinced the spirit to undertake so many great and perilous enterprises should hesi- tate at one where the loss could be but trifling, while the gain might be incalculable ; for all that was required for this great expedition was but two vessels, and about thirty thousand crowns, and Columbus himself had offered to bear an eighth of the expense. He reminded her how much might be done for the glory of God, the promotion of the Christian faith, and the extension of her own power and dominion, should this enterprise be adopted ; but what cause of regret it would be to herself, of sorrow to her friends, and triumph to her enemies, should it be rejected by her, and accomplished by some other power. He vindi- cated the judgment of Columbus, and the sound- ness and practicability of his plans ; and observed, tliat even a failure would reflect no disgrace upon the crown. It was worth the trouble and expense to clear up even a doubt, upon a matter of such 1491.] CONDUCT OF ISABELLA. 51 importance ; for it belonged to enlightened and magnanimous princes to investigate questions of the kind, and to explore the wonders and secrets of the universe. These, and many more arguments were urged, with that persuasive power which honest zeal imparts. The generous spirit of Isabella was enkindled, and it seemed as if the subject, for the first time, broke upon her mind in its real gran- deur. She declared her resolution to undertake the enterprise, but paused for a moment, remem- bering that King Ferdinand looked coldly on the affair, and that the royal treasury was absolutely drained by the war. Her suspense was but mo- mentary. With an enthusiasm worthy of herself and of the cause, she 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 Isa- bella ; it stamped her renown for ever as the patroness of the discovery of the New World. St. Angel, eager to secure this favourable re- solution, assured her majesty that there would be no need of pledging her jewels, as he was ready to advance the necessary funds, as a loan from the treasury of Arragon : his offer was gladly accepted. Columbus had proceeded on his solitary journey across the vega of Granada, and had reached the bridge of Pinos, about two leagues from that city, a pass famous for bloody encounters during the Moorish wars. Here he was overtaken by a courier sent after him in all speed by the queen, requesting him to return to Santa Fe. He hesi- tated, for a moment, to subject himself again to E 2 52 COLUMBUS. [149L the delays and equivocations of the court; but when he was informed that Isabella had positively undertaken the enterprise, and pledged her royal word, every doubt was dispelled ; he turned the reins of his mule, and hastened back joyfully to Santa Fe, confiding implicitly in the noble probity of that princess. 1492.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 53 CHAPTER IX. ARRANGEMENT WITH THE SPANISH SOVEREIGNS PREPARA- TIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION AT THE PORT OF PALOS. [1492.] On arriving at Santa Fe, Columbus had an imme- diate audience 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 ge- nerous enthusiasm, while the king remained cold and calculating, in this as in all his other under- takings. A perfect understanding being thus effected with the sovereigns, articles of agreement were drawn out by Juan de Coloma, the royal secretary. They were to the following effect : — 1. That Columbus should have, for himself during his life, and his heirs and successors for ever, the ofhce of high admiral in all the seas, lands and continents he might discover, with similar honours 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 54 COXUMBUS. [1492. for the government of each island or province, one of whom should be selected by the sovereigns. 3. That he should be entitled to one-tenth of all free profits, arising from the merchandise and pro- ductions of the countries within his admiralty. 4. That he, or his lieutenant, should be the sole judge of all causes and disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain. 5. That he might then, and at all after times, contribute an eighth part of the expense of expe- ditions to sail to the countries he expected to dis- cover, and should receive in consequence an eighth part of the profits. These 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. All the royal documents, issued in consequence, bore equally the signatures of Ferdinand and Isa- bella, but her separate crown of Castile defrayed all the expense. As to the money advanced by St. Angel out of the treasury of King Ferdinand, that prudent monarch indemnified himself, some few years afterwards, by employing some of the first gold brought by Columbus from the New World to gild the vaults and ceilings of the grand saloon, in his royal palace of Saragoza, in Arragon. One of the great objects held out by Columbus in his undertaking, was the propagation of the Christian faith. He expected to arrive at the ex- tremity of Asia, or India, as it was then generally termed, at the vast empire of the Grand Khan, of whose maritime provinces of Mangi and Cathay, and tlieir dependent islands, since ascertained to be a part of the kingdom of China, the most mag- 1492.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 55 nificent accounts had been given by Marco Polo. Various missions had been sent, in former times, by- popes and pious sovereigns, to instruct this oriental potentate, and his subjects, in the doctrines of Christianity. Columbus hoped to effect this grand work, and to spread the light of the true faith among the barbarous countries and nations that were to be discovered in the unknown parts of the east. Isabella, from pious zeal, and Ferdinand from mingled notions of bigotry and ambition, accorded with his views, and when he afterwards departed on this voyage, letters were actually given him, by the sovereigns, for the Grand Khan of Tartary. The ardent enthusiasm of Columbus did not stop here. Recollecting the insolent threat once made by the Soldan of Egypt, to destroy the holy sepul- chre at Jerusalem, he proposed that the profits which might arise from his discoveries should be consecrated to a crusade for the rescue of the holy edifice from the power of the infidels. The sove- reigns smiled at this sally of the imagination, and expressed themselves well pleased with the idea ; but what they may have considered a mere momen- tary thought 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 the leading ob- ject of his ambition, meditated throughout the re- mainder of his life, and solemnly provided for in his will, and that he considered his great discovery but as a preparatory dispensation of Providence, to furnish means for its accomplishment. The port of Palos de Moguer, in Andalusia, was fixed upon as the place where the armament for the 56 COLUMBUS. [1492. expedition was to be fitted out, tlie community of the place being obliged, in consequence of some misdemeanour, to serve the crown for one year with two armed caravels. A royal order was issued, commanding the authorities of Palos to have these caravels ready for sea within ten days, and to yield them and their crews to the command of Columbus. The latter was likewise empowered to fit out a thirds, vessel ; nor was any restriction put upon his voy- age, excepting that he should not go to the coast of Guinea, or any other of the lately discovered possessions of Portugal. Orders were likewise issued by the sovereigns, commanding the inhabi- tants of the sea-bord of Andalusia to furnish sup- plies and assistance of all kinds for the expedition, at reasonable rate, and threatening severe penalties to such as should cause any impediment. As a mark of particular favour to Columbus, Isabella, before his departure from the court, ap- pointed his son Diego page to Prince Juan, the heir apparent, an honour granted only to the sons of persons of distinguished rank. Thus gratified in Ids dearest wishes, 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 after Columbus conceived his enterprise, before he was enabled to carry it into effect ; that the most of that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation, amidst 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 1492.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 57 fifty- six years of age. His example should teach the enterprising never to despair. When Columbus arrived at Palos, and presented himself once more before the gates of the convent of La Rabida, he was received with open arms by the worthy Juan Perez, and again entertained as his guest. The zealous friar accompanied him to the parochial church of St. George, in Palos, where Columbus caused the royal order for the caravels to be read by a notary public, in presence of the authorities of the place. Nothing could equal the astonishment and horror of the people of this mari- time community, when they heard of the nature of the expedition in which they were ordered to en- gage. They considered the ships and crews de- manded of them in the light of sacrifices devoted to destruction. All the frightful tales and fables with which ignorance and superstition are prone to people obscure and distant regions were conjured up concerning the unknown parts of the deep, and the boldest seamen shrunk from such a wild and chimerical cruise into the wilderness of the ocean. Repeated mandates were issued by the sovereigns, ordering the magistrates of Palos, and the neigh- bouring town of Moguer, to press into the service any Spanish vessels and crews they might think proper, and threatening severe punishments on all who should prove refractory. It was all in vain ; the communities of those places were thrown into complete confusion ; tumults and altercations took place, but nothing of consequence was effected. At length Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the wealthy and enterprising navigator, who has already been mentioned, came forward and engaged personally 58 COLUMBUS. [1492. in the expedition. He and his brother Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who was likewise a navigator of great courage and ability, possessed vessels, and had seamen in their employ. They were related to many of the seafaring inhabitants of Palos and Moguer, and had great influence throughout the neighbourhood. It is supposed that they furnished Columbus with funds to pay the eighth share of the expense, which he had engaged to advance. They furnished two of the vessels required, and de- termined to sail in the expedition. Their example and persuasions had a wonderful effect ; a great many of their relations and friends agreed to em- bark, and the vessels were ready for sea within a month after they had engaged in their enterprise. During the equipment of the armament, various difficulties occurred. A third vessel, called the Pinta, had been pressed into the service, with its crew. The owners, Gomez Rascon and Christoval Quintero, were strongly repugnant to the voyage, as were most of the mariners under them. These people, and their friends, endeavoured in various ways to retard or defeat the voyage. The caulkers did their work in a careless manner, and, on being ordered to do it over again, absconded ; several of the seamen who had inlisted willingly, repented and deserted. Every thing had to be effected by harsh and arbitrary measures, and in defiance of popular opposition. At length, by the beginning of August, every difficulty was vanquished, and the vessels were ready for sea. After all the objections made by various courts to undertake this expedition, it is surprising how inconsiderable an armament was 1492.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. ^9 required. Two of the vessels were light barques, called caravels, not superior to river and coasting craft of modern days. They were built high at the prow and stern, with forecastles and cabins for the crew, but were without deck in the centre. Only one of the three, called the Santa Maria, was com- pletely decked, on board of which Columbus hoisted his flag. Martin Alonzo Pinzon commanded one of the caravels, called the Pinta, and was accom- panied by his brother, Francisco Martin, as mate or pilot. The other, called the Nina, had latteen sails, and was commanded by Vicente Yafiez Pinzon ; on board of this vessel went Garcia Fernandez, the physician of Palos, in the capacity of steward. — There were three other able pilots, Sancho Ruiz, Pedro Alonzo Nino, and Bartholomew Roldan, and the whole number of persons embarked was one hundred and twenty. The squadron being ready to put to sea, Columbus confessed himself to the Friar Juan Perez, and par- took of the communion, and his example was fol- lowed by the officers and crews, committing them- selves, with the most devout and affecting cere* monials, to the especial guidance and protection of heaven, in this perilous enterprise. A deep gloom was spread over the whole community of Palos, for almost every one had some relation or friend on board of the squadron. The spirits of the seamen, already depressed by their own fears, were still more cast down, at beholding 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. 60 COLUMBUS. [1492. CHAPTER X. EVENTS OF THE FIRST VOYAGE DISCOVERY OF LAND, [1492.] It was early in the morning of Friday the 3cl of August, 1492, that Columbus set sail from the bar of Saltes, a small island formed by the rivers Odiel and Tinto, in front of Palos, steering for the Canary Islands, from whence he intended to strike due west. As a guide by which to sail, he had the con- jectural map or chart, sent him by Paolo Toscanelli of Florence. In this it is supposed the coasts of Europe and Africa, from the south of Ireland to the end of Guinea, were delineated as immediately opposite to the extremity of Asia, while the great island of Cipango, described by Marco Polo, lay between them, fifteen hundred miles from the Asiatic coast ; at this island Columbus expected first to arrive. On the third day after setting sail, the Pinta made signal of distress, her rudder being broken and unhung. This was suspected to have been done through the contrivance of the ovmers, Gomez Eascon and Christoval Quintero, to disable the vessel, and cause her to be left behind. Columbus was much disturbed at this occurrence. It gave him a foretaste of the difiiculties to be apprehended, from people partly inlisted on compulsion, and full 1492.] EVENTS OF THE FIRST VOYAGE. 61 of doubt and foreboding. Trivial obstacles might, in this early stage of the voyage, spread panic and mutiny through his crews, and induce them to re- nounce the prosecution of the enterprise. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who commanded the Pinta, secured the rudder with cords, but these fastenings soon gave way, and the caravel proving defective in other respects, Columbus remained three weeks cruising among the Canary Islands, in search of another vessel to replace her. Not being able to find one, the Pinta was repaired, and fur- nished with a new rudder. The latteen sails of the Nina were also altered into square sails, that she might work more steadily and securely. While making these repairs, and taking in wood and water, Columbus was informed that three Por- tuguese caravels had been seen hovering off the island of Ferro. Dreading some hostile stratagem, on the part of the King of Portugal, in revenge for his having embarked in the service of Spain, he put to sea early on the morning of the 6th of September, but for three days a profound calm de- tained the vessels within a short distance of the land. This was a tantalizing delay, for Columbus trembled lest something should occur to defeat his expedition, and was impatient to find himself far upon the ocean, out of sight of either land or sail ; which, in the pure atmospheres of these latitudes, may be descried at an immense distance. On Sunday, the 9th of September, as day broke, he beheld Ferro about nine leagues distant; he was in the very neighbourhood, therefore, where the Portuguese caravels had been seen. Fortu- nately a breeze sprang up with the sun, and in the 62 COLUMBUS. [1492. course of the day, the heights of Ferro gradually failed from the horizon. On losing sight of this last trace of land, the hearts of the crews failed them, for they seemed to have taken leave of the world. Behind them was every thing dear to the heart of man — country, family, friends, life itself ; before them every thing was chaos, mystery and peril. In the perturbatior^ of the moment, they despaired of ever more seeing their homes. Many of the rugged seamen shed tears, and some broke into loud lamentations. Co- lumbus tried in every way to soothe their distress, describing the splendid countries to which he ex- pected to conduct them, and promising them land, riches, and every thing that could arouse tlieir cu- pidity or inflame their imaginations ; nor were these promises made for purposes of deception, for he certainly believed he should realize them all. He now gave orders to the commanders of the other vessels, in case they should be separated by any accident, to continue directly westward ; but that, after sailing seven hundred leagues, they should lay by from midnight until daylight, as at about that distance he confidently expected to find land. Fore- seeing 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 continued throughout the voyage. This was to keep two reckonings, one private, in which the true way of the ship was noted, and which he retained in secret for his own government; the other public, for general inspection, in which a number of leagues was daily subtracted from the sailing of the ships, 1492.] VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE. 63 SO as to keep the crews in ignorance of the real distance they had advanced. When about one hundred and fifty leagues west of Ferro, they fell in with a part of a mast of a large vessel, and the crews, tremblingly alive to every portent, looked with a rueful eye upon tliis fragment of a wreck, drifting ominously at the entrance of these unknown seas. On the 13th of September, in the evening, Co- lumbus, for the first time, noticed the variation of the needle, a phenomenon which had never before been remarked. He at first made no mention of it, lest his people should be alarmed ; but it soon at- tracted 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 un- known 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 terrors. He told them that the direction of the needle was not to the polar star, but to some fixed and invisible point. The varia- tion, 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 liigh opinion they entertamed of Columbus as a profound astronomer gave weight to his theory, and their alarm subsided. They had now arrived within the influence of the trade wind, which, following the sun, blows steadily from east to west between the tropics, and sweeps ( 64 COLUMBUS. [1492. over a few adjoining degrees of tlie ocean. With tMs 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 in his journal perpetually recurs to the bland and tem- perate serenity of tlie weather, and compares the pure and balmy mornings to those of April in An- dalusia, observing, that the song of the nightingale « was alone wanting to complete the illusion. ! They now began to see large patches of herbs and weeds all drifting from the west. Some were such as grow about rocks or in rivers, and as green as if recently washed from the land. On one of the patches was a live crab. They saw also a white tropical bird, of a kind which never sleeps upon the sea ; and tunny fish played about the ships. Columbus now supposed himself arrived in the weedy sea described by Aristotle, into which cer- tain ships of Cadiz had been driven by an impe- tuous east wind. As he advanced, there were various other signs that gave great animation to the crews ; many birds were seen flying from the west ; there was a cloudiness in the north, such as often hangs over land ; and at sun- set the imagination of the seamen, aided by their desires, would shape those clouds into distant islands. Every one was eager to be the first to behold and announce the wished-for shore ; for the sovereigns had promised a pension of thirty crowns to whomsoever should first discover land. Columbus sounded occasionally with a line of two hundred fathoms, but found no bottom. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, as well as others of his officers, and many of the seamen, were often solicitous for Co- lumbus to alter his course, and steer in the directioa 1492.] TERRORS OF THE SEAMEN, 65 of these favourable signs ; but he persevered in steering to the westward, trusting that, by keeping in one steady direction, he should reach the coast of India, even if he should miss the intervening islands, and might then seek them on his return* Notwithstanding the precaution which had been taken to keep the people ignorant of the distance they had sailed, they gradually became uneasy at the length of the voyage. The various indications of land which occasionally flattered their hopes, passed away one after another, and the same in- terminable expanse of sea and sky continued to ex- tend before them. They had advanced much far- ther to the west than ever man had sailed before, and though already beyond the reach of succour, were still pressing onward and onward into that apparently boundless abyss. Even the favourable wind, which seemed as if providentially sent to waft them to the new world with such bland and gentle breezes, was conjured by their fears into a source of alarm. They feared that the wind in these seas might always prevail from the east, and if so, would never permit their return to Spain. A few light breezes from the west allayed for a time their last apprehension, and several small birds, such as keep about groves and orchards, came singing in the morning, and flew away at night. Their song was wonderfully cheering to the hearts of the poor ma- riners, who hailed it as the voice of land. The birds they had hitherto seen had been large and strong of wing ; but such small birds, they observed, were too feeble to fly far, and their singing showed that they were not exhausted by their flight. F 66 COLUMBUS. [1492. On the following day there was a profound calm, and tlie sea, as far as the eye could reach, was co- vered with weeds, so as to have the appearance of a vast inundated meadow, a phenomenon attributed to the immense quantities of submarine plants which are detached by the currents from the bottom of the ocean. The seamen now feared that the sea was growing shallow ; they dreaded lurking rocks^ and shoals, and quicksands, and that their vessels might run aground, as it were, in the midst of the ocean, far out of the track of human aid, and with no shore where the crews could take refuge. Co- lumbus proved the fallacy of this alarm, by sound- ing with a deep sea-line, and finding no bottom. 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. The crews now became uneasy at the calmness of the weather. They observed that the contrary winds they expe- rienced were transient and unsteady, and so light as not to ruffle the surface of the sea ; the only winds of constancy and force were from the west, and even those had not power to disturb the torpid stillness of the ocean : there was a risk, therefore, either of perishing amidst stagnant and shoreless waters, or of being prevented, by contrary winds, from ever returning to their native country. Columbus continued, with admirable patience, to reason with these absurd fancies, but in vain ; when fortunately there came on a heavy swell of the sea, unaccompanied by wind, a phenomenon that often occurs in the broad ocean, caused by the impulse of some past gale, or distant current of wind. It was, DISCONTENT OF THE SEAMEN. 67 nevertheless, regarded with astonishment by the mariners, and dispelled the imaginary terrors occa- sioned by the calm. The situation of Columbus was daily becoming more and more critical. The impatience of the seamen rose to absolute mutiny. They gathered together in the retired parts of the ships, at first in little knots of two and three, which gradually in- creased and became formidable, joining in murmurs and menaces against the admiral. They exclaimed against him as an ambitious desperado, who, in a mad phantasy, had determined to do something extravagant, to render himself notorious. What obligation bound them to persist, or when were the terms of their agreement to be considered as ful- filled ? They had already penetrated into seas un- traversed by a sail, and where man had never before adventured. Were they to sail on until they should perish, or until all return with their frail ships should become impossible ? Who would blame them, should they consult their safety and return ? The admiral was a foreigner without friends or in- fluence. His scheme had been condemned by the learned as idle and visionary, and discountenanced by people of all ranks. There was, therefore, no party on his side, but rather a large number who would be gratified by his failure. . Such are some of the reasonings by which these men prepared themselves for open rebellion. Some even proposed, as an effectual mode of si- lencing all after-complaints of the admiral, that they should throw him into the sea, and give out that he had fallen overboard, while contemplating F 2 68 COLUMBUS. [1492. the stars and signs of the heavens, with his astro- nomical instruments. Columbus was not ignorant of these secret cabals, but he kept a serene and steady countenance, sooth- ing some with gentle words, stimulating the pride or the avarice of others, and openly menacing the most refractory with punishment. New hopes di- verted them for a time. On the 25th of September, Martin Alonzo Pinzon mounted on the stern of his vessel, and shouted ' Land ! land ! Senor, I claim the reward I' There was, indeed, such an ap pearance of land in the south-west, that Columbu threw himself upon his knees, and returned thanks to God, and all the crews joined in chanting gloria in excelsis. The ships altered tlieir course, and stood all night to the south-west, but the morning light put an end to all their hopes, as to a dream : the fancied land proved to be nothing but an even- ing cloud, and had vanished in the night. For several days they continued on with alter nate hopes and murmurs, until the various signs o land became so numerous, that the seamen, from a state of despondency, passed to one of high excite- ment. Eager to obtain the promised pension, they were continually giving the cry of land ; until Co- lumbus declared, that should any one give a notice of the kind, and land not be discovered within three days afterwards, he should thenceforth forfeit all claim to the reward. On the 7th of October, they had come seven hundred and fifty leagues, the distance at which Columbus had computed to find the island of Cipango. There were great flights of small field- 492.] MANIFESTATIONS OF LAND. 69 birds to the south-west, which seemed to indicate some neiglibouring land in that direction, where tliey were sure of food and a resting-place. Yield- ing to the solicitations of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and his brothers, Columbus, on the evening of the 7th, altered his course, therefore, to the west south- west. As he advanced, the signs of land in- creased ; the birds came singing about the ships ; and herbage floated by as fresh and green as if re- cently from shore. When, however, on the even- ing of the third day of this new course, the seamen beheld the sun go down upon a shoreless horizon, they again broke forth into loud clamours, and in- sisted upon abandoning the voyage. Columbus endeavoured to pacify them by gentle words and liberal promises ; but finding these only increased their violence, he assumed a different tone, and 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 perse- vere, until, by the blessing of God, he should ac- complish the enterprise. He was now at open defiance with his crew, and his situation would have been desperate, but, for- tunately, the manifestations of land on the follow- ing day were such as no longer to admit of doubt. A green fish, such as keeps about rocks, swam by the ships ; and a branch of thorn, with berries on it, floated by : they picked up, also, a reed, a small board, and, above all, a staff artificially carved. All gloom and murmuring was now at an end, and throughout the day each one was on the watch for the long-sought land. In the evening, when, according to custom, the 70 COLUMBUS. [1492. Tnariners had sung the salve regina^ or vesper hymn to the Virgin, Columbus made an impressive address to his crew, pointing out the goodness of God in thus conducting them by soft and favouring breezes across a tranquil ocean to the promised land. He expressed a strong confidence of mak- ing land that very night, and ordered that a vigi- lant look-out should be kept from the forecastle, promising to whomsoever should make the disco- very 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 ; at sunset they 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, Columbus took his station on the top of the castle or cabin on the high poop o his vessel. However he might carry a cheerfi and confident countenance during the day, it wa to him a time of the most painful anxiety ; an now, when he was wrapped from observation by the shades of night, he maintained an intense and un- remitting watch, ranging his eye along the dusky horizon, in search of the most vague indications of land. Suddenly, about ten o'clock, he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a distance. Fearing that his eager hopes might deceive him, he called to Pedro Gutierrez, gentleman of the king's bed chamber, and demanded whether he saw a light i that direction ; the latter replied in the affirmative* Columbus, yet doubtful whether it might not b^ some delusion of the fancy, called Rodrigo Sanchez 1492.] DISCOVERY OF LAND. 7l 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 twice afterwards in sudden and passing gleams, as if it were a torch in the bark of a fisherman, rising and sinking with the waves ; or in the hands 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 import- ance to them ; Columbus, however, considered them as certain signs of land, and, moreover, that the land was inhabited. They continued on their course until two in the morning, when a gun from the Pinta gave the joyful signal of land. It was first discovered by a mariner named Rodriguez Bermejo, resident of Triana, a suburb of Seville, but native of Alcala de la Guadaira; but the reward was afterwards ad- judged to the admiral, for having previously per- ceived the light. The land was now clearly seen about two leagues distant, whereupon they took in sail, and laid-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 diflS- culty and danger, he had accomplished his object. The great mystery of the ocean was revealed ; his theory, which had been the scoff of sages, was triumphantly estabhshed; he had secured to him- self a glory which must be as durable as the world itself. It is difficult even for the imagination to con- ceive the feelings of such a man, at the moment of so sublime a discovery. What a bewildering crowd 72 COLUMBUS. [1492. of conjectures must have thronged upon his mind, as to the land which lay 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 in the balmy air the fragrance of aromatic groves. The moving light which he had beheld, proved that it was the resi- dence of man. But what were its inhabitants ? Were they like those of other parts of the globe or were they some strange and monstrous race, such as the imagination in those times was prone to give to all remote and unknown regions ? Had he come upon some wild island, far in the Indian seas ; or was this the famed Cipango itself, the object of his golden fancies ? A thousand specu- lations of the kind must have swarmed upon him, as he watched for the night to pass away; won- dering whether the morning light would reveal a savage wilderness, or dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering fanes, and gilded cities, and all the splen- dours of oriental civilization. 1492.] FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS. 73 CHAPTER XI. FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS IN THE NEW WORLD CRUISE AMONG THE BAHAMA ISLANDS — DISCOVERY OF CUBA AND HISPANIOLA. [1492.] When the day dawned, Columbus saw before him a level and beautiful island, several leagues in ex- tent, of great freshness and verdure, and covered with trees like a continual orchard. Though every thing appeared in the wild luxuriance of untamed nature, yet the island was evidently populous, for the inhabitants were seen issuing from the woods, and running from all parts to the shore. They were all perfectly naked, and from their attitudes and gestures, appeared lost in astonishment at the sight of the ships. Columbus made signal to cast anchor, and to man the boats. He entered his own boat, richly attired in scarlet, and bearing the royal standard. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vincente Yanez his brother, likewise put off in their boats, each bearing the banner of the enterprise em- blazoned with a green cross, having on each side the letters F and Y, surmounted by crowns, the Spanish initials of the Castilian monarchs, Fer- nando and Ysabel. As they approached the shores, they were de- lighted by the beauty and grandeur of the forests ; 74 COLUMBUS. [1492. the variety of unknown fruits on the trees which overhung the shores ; the purity and suavity of the atmosphere, and the crystal transparency of the seas which bathe these islands. On landing, Co- lumbus threw himself upon his knees, kissed the earth, and returned thanks to God with tears of joy. His example was followed by his compa- nions, whose breasts, indeed, were full to over- flowing. Columbus then rising, drew his sword, displayed the royal standard, and took possession in the names of the Castilian sovereigns, giving the island the name of San Salvador. He then called upon all present to take the oath of obedi- ence to him as admiral and viceroy, and represen- tative of the sovereigns. His followers now burst forth into the most ex- travagant transports. They thronged around him, some embracing him, others kissing his hands. Those who had been most mutinous and turbulent during the voyage, were now most devoted and enthusiastic. Some begged favours of him, as of a man who had already wealth and honours in his gift. Many abject spirits, who had outraged him by their insolence, now crouched at his feet, beg- ging his forgiveness, and offering for the future the blindest obedience to his commands. The natives oF the island, when, at the dawn of tlay, they had beheld the ships hovering on the coast, had supposed them some monsters, which had issued from the deep during the night. Their veering about, without any apparent effort, and the shifting and furling of their sails, resembling huge wings, filled them with astonishment. When they ;beheld the boats approach the shore, and a number 1492.] NATIVES OF ST. SALVADOR. 75 of strange beings, clad in glittering steel, or raiment of various colours, landing upon the beach, they fled in affright to the woods. Finding, however, that there was no attempt to pursue or molest them, they gradually recovered from their terror, and ap- proached the Spaniards with great awe, frequently prostrating themselves, and making signs of adora- tion. During the ceremony of taking possession, they remained gazing, in timid admiration, at the complexion, the beards, the shining armour, and splendid dress of the Spaniards. The admiral par- ticularly attracted their attention, from his com- manding height, his air of authority, his scarlet dress, and the deference paid to him by his com panions; all which pointed him out to be the com- mander. When they had still further recovered from their fears, they approached the Spaniards, touched their beards, and exammed their hands and faces, admiring their whiteness. Columbus, pleased with their simplicity, their gentleness, and the con- fidence they reposed in beings who must have ap- peared so strange and formidable, submitted to their scrutiny with perfect acquiescence. The won- dering savages were won by this benignity; they now supposed that the ships had sailed out of the crystal firmament which bounded their horizon, or that they had descended from above, on their ample v^^ings, and that these marvellous beings were inhabitants of the skies. The natives of the island were no less objects of curiosity to the Spaniards, difi*ering, as they did, from any race of men they had ever seen. They were entirely naked, and painted with a variety of colours and devices, so as to have a wild and fan- 76 COLUMBUS. [1492. tastic appearance. Tlieir natural 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 Africa, under the same latitude, but straight and coarse, partly cut above the ears, but some locks behind left long, and falling upon their shoulders. Their features, though disfigured by paint, were agreeable ; they had lofty foreheads, and remarkably fine eyes. They were of moderate stature, and v/ell 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. They appeared to be a simple and artless people, and of gentle and friendly dispositions. Their only arms were lances, hardened at the end by fire, or pointed v/ith a flint or the bone of a fish. There was no iron to be seen among them, nor did they know its properties ; for when a drawn sword was presented to them, they unguardedly took it by the edge. Columbus distributed among them coloured caps, glass beads, liawk's-bells, and other trifles, which they received as inestimable gifts, and, decorating themselves with them, were won- derfully delighted with their finery. 4 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 nature of his discovery was known, and has since been extended to all the aboriginals of the New World. The Spa- niards remained all day on shore, refreshing them- selves, after their anxious voyage, amidst the beau- tiful groves of the island ; and they returned to their 1492.] NATIVES OF ST. SALVADOR. 77 ships late in the evening, delighted with all they had seen. The island where Columbus had thus, for the first time, set his foot upon the New World, is one of the Lucayos, or Bahama Islands, and was called by the natives Guanahani : it still retains the name 3f San Salvador, which he gave it, though called by the English, Cat Island. The light which he had seen the evening previous to his making land, I may have been on Watling's Island, which lies a jfew leagues to the east. On the following morning, at daybreak, some of the natives came swimming off to the ships, and 3thers came in light barks which they called canoes, Formed of a single tree, hollowed, and capable of bolding from one man to the number of forty or fifty. The Spaniards soon discovered that they were jlestitute of wealth, and had little to offer, in return I'or trinkets, except balls of cotton yarn, and do- mesticated parrots. They brought cakes of a kind J)f bread called cassava, made from the yuca root, 1 vhich constituted a principal part of their food, j The avarice of the discoverers was awakened by ii perceiving small ornaments of gold in the noses of !!5ome of the natives. On being asked where this Drecious metal was procured, they answered by dgns, pointing to the south ; and Columbus under- stood them to say, that a king resided in that quar- ;er, of such wealth that he was served in great /essels of gold. He interpreted all their imperfect 3ommunications according to his previous ideas md his cherished wishes. They spoke of a warlike Deople, who often invaded their islands from the lorth-west, and carried off the inhabitants. These COLUMBUS. [1492. he concluded to be the people of the main land of Asia, subjects to the Grand Khan, who, according to Marco Polo, were accustomed to make war upon the islands, and make slaves of the natives. The rich country to the south could be no other than the island of Cipango ; and the king who was served out of golden vessels must be the monarch whose magnificent palace was said to be covered with plates of gold. Having explored the island of Guanahani, and taken in a supply of wood and water, Columbus set sail in quest of the opulent country to the south, taking seven of the natives with him, to acquirer the Spanish language, and serve as interpreters and guides. He now beheld a number of beautiful islands, green, level, and fertile, and the Indians intimated by signs that they were innumerable : he supposed them to be a part of the great archipelago described by Marco Polo as stretching along the coast of Asia, and abounding with spices and odoriferous trees. He visited three of them, to which he gave the names of Santa Maria de la Concepcion, Fernan- dina, and Isabella. The inhabitants gave the same proofs as those of San Salvador of being totally unaccustomed to the sight of civilized man. They regarded the Spaniards as superhuman beings, ap- proached them with propitiatory offerings, of what- ever their poverty, or rather their simple and natu- ral mode of life afforded ; the fruits of their fields and groves, their cotton yarn, and their domesti- cated parrots. When the Spaniards landed in search of water, they took them to the coolest springs, the sweetest and freshest runs, filling their casks, roil- i 1492.] BAHAMA ISLANDS. 79 ing them to the boats, and seeking in everyway to gratify their celestial visiters. Columbus vi^as enchanted by the lovely scenery of some of these islands. ' I know not/ says he, * where first to go ; nor are my eyes ever weary of gazing on the beautiful verdure. The singing of the birds is such, that it seems as if one would never desire to depart hence. There are flocks of parrots that obscure the sun, and other birds of many kinds, large and small, entirely different from ours. Trees, also, of a thousand species, each having its par- ticular fruit, and all of marvellous flavour. I be- lieve there are many herbs and trees which would be of great value in Spain for tinctures, medicines, and spices, but I know nothing of them, which gives me great vexation.' The fish, which abounded in these seas, partook of the novelty which characterized most of the ob- jects in this new world. They rivalled the birds in the tropical brilliancy of tbeir colours, the scales of some of them glanced back the rays of light like precious stones, and as thev sported about the ships, they flashed gleams of gold and silver through the crystal waves. Columbus was disappointed in his hopes of find- ing any gold or s};ices in these islands : but the natives continued to point to the south as the re- gion of wealth, and began to speak of an island in ^hat direction, called Cuba, whicb, the Spaniards inderstood them to say, abounded in gold, pearls^ md spices, and carried on an extensive commerce, md that large merchajit-sbips came to trade with the inhabitants. Columbus concluded tliis to be .he desired Cipango, and the merchant ships to. 80 COLUMBUS. [1492. be those of the Grand Khan. He set sail in search of it, and after being delayed for several days, by contrary winds and calms, among the small islands of the Bahama bank and channel, he arrived in sight of it on the 28th of October. As he approached this noble island, he was struck with its magnitude, the grandeur of its mountains, its fertile valleys, and long sweeping plains, covered by stately forests, and watered by noble rivers.-^ — He anchored in a beautiful river to the west of i Nuevitas del Principe, and taking formal posses- ' sion of the island, gave it the name of Juana, in honour of Prince Juan, and to the river the name of San Salvador. Columbus spent several days coasting this part of the island, and exploring the fine harbours and rivers with which it abounds. From his continual remarks in his journal on the beauty of the scenery, and from the pleasure which he evidently derived from rural sounds and objects, he appears to have been extremely open to those delicious influences exercised over some spirits by the graces and won- ders of nature. He was, in fact, in a mood to see every thing through a fond and favouring medium, for he was enjoying the fulfilment of his hopes, the hard-earned but glorious reward of his toils and perils ; and it is difificult to conceive the rapturous state of his feelings, while thus exploring the charms of a virgin world, won by his enterprise and valour. In the sweet smell of the woods, and the odour of the flowers, he fancied he perceived the fragrance of oriental spices, and along the shores he found shells of the oyster which produces pearls. He frequently deceived himself, in fancying that he i 1492.] ISLAND OF CUBA. 81 heard the song of the nightingale, a bird unknown in these countries. From the grass growing to the very edge of the water, he inferred the peace- fuhiess of the ocean which bathes these islands, never lashing the shores with angry surges. Ever since his arrival among these Antilles, he had ex- perienced nothing but soft and gentle weather, and he concluded that a perpetual serenity reigned over these seas, little suspicious of the occasional bursts of fury to which they are liable, and of the tremendous hurricanes which rend and devastate the face of nature. While coasting the island, he landed occasionally and visited the villages, the inhabitants of which fled to the woods and mountains. The houses were constructed of branches of palm-trees, in the shape of pavilions, and were scattered under the spreading trees, like tents in a camp. They were better built than those he had hitherto visited, and extremely clean. He found in them rude images and wooden masks, carved with considerable inge- nuity. Finding implements for fishing in all the cabins, he concluded that the coasts were inhabited merely by fishermen, who supplied the cities in the interior. After coasting to the north-west for some dis- tance, Columbus came in sight of a great head- land, to which, from the groves which covered it, he gave the name of the Cape of Palms. Here he learnt that behind this bay there was a river, from whence it was but four days' journey to Cuba- nacan. By this name the natives designated a province in the centre of Cuba ; nacan^ in their language, signifying the midst. Columbus fancied, G 82 COLUMBUS. [1492. however, that they were talking of Cublay Khan, the Tartar sovereign; and understood them to say that Cuba was not an island, but terra firrAa. He concluded that this must be a part of the mainland of Asia, and that he could be at no great distance from Mangi and Cathay, the ultimate destination of his voyage. The prince, said to reign over the neighbouring country, might be some oriental potentate of consequence ; he determined, there- fore, to send a present to him, and one of his letters of recommendation from the Castilian sovereigns. For this purpose he chose two Spa^ niards, one of whom was a converted Jew, and knew Hebrew, Clialdaic, and a little Arabic, one or other of which languages, it was thought, must be known to this oriental prince. Two Indians were sent with them as guides : they were furnished with strings of beads, and various trinkets, for their travelling expenses, and enjoined to inform them- selves accurately concerning the situation of cer- tain provinces, ports, and rivers of Asia, and to ascertain whether drugs and spices abounded in the country. The ambassadors penetrated twelve leagues into the interior, when they came to a vil- lage of fifty houses, and at least a thousand inhabi- tants. They were received with great kindness, conducted to the principal house, and provisions placed before them, after which the Indians seated themselves on the ground around their visiters, and waited to hear what they had to communicate. The Israelite found his Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic of no avail, and the Lucayan interpreter had to be the orator. He made a regular speech after the Indian manner, extolling the power, wealth, 1492.j ISLAND OF CUBA. and munificence of the white men. When he had finished, the Indians crowded'round the Spaniards, touched and examined their skin and raiment, and kissed their hands and feet in token of adoration. There was no appearance of gold, or any other article of great value, among them ; and when they were shown specimens of various spices, they said there was nothing of the kind to be found in the neighbourhood, but far off to the south-west. Finding no traces of the city and court they had anticipated, the envoys returned to their ships : on the way back they beheld several of the natives going about with firebrands in tlieir hands, and certain dried herbs which they rolled up in a leaf, and lighting one end put the other in their mouths, and continued inhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll of this kind they called a tobacco ; a name since transferred to the weed itself. The Spaniards were struck with astonishment at this singular and apparently preposterous luxury, although prepared to meet with wonders. The report of the envoys put an end to many splendid fancies of Columbus, about this barbaric prince and his capital ; all that they had seen be- tokened a primitive and simple state of society ; the country, though fertile and beautiful, was wild, and but slightly and rudely cultivated ; the people Were evidently strangers to civilized man, nor could they hear of any inland city, superior to the one they had visited. As fast as one illusion passed away, however, another succeeded. Columbus now understood from the signs of the Indians, that there was a G 2 84 COLUMBUS. [1492; country to the eastward where the people collected gold along the river banks by torch-light, and afterwards wrought it into bars with hammers. In speaking of this place, they frequently used the words Babeque and Bohio, which he supposed to be the names of islands or provinces. As the season was advancing, and the cool nights gave hints of approaching winter, he resolved not to pro- ceed further to the north, and turning eastward, sailed in quest of Babeque, which he trusted might j prove some rich and civilized island. After running along the coast for two or three days, and passing a great cape to which he gave the name of Cape Cuba, he stood out to sea in the direction pointed out by the Indians. The wind, however, came directly ahead, and after various ineffectual attempts he had to return to Cuba. What gave him great uneasiness was, that the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, parted company with him during this attempt. She was the best sailer, and had worked consider- ably to windward of the other ships. Pinzon paid no attention to the signals of Columbus to turn back, though they were repeated at night by lights at the masthead: when morning dawned, the Pinta was no longer to be seen. Columbus considered this a wilful desertion, and was much troubled and perplexed by it. Martin Alonzo had for some time shown impatience at the domination of the admiral. He was a veteran na- vigator of great abilities, and accustomed from his wealth and standing to give the law among his nautical associates. He had furnished two of the 1492.] DISCOVERY OF HISPANIOLA. 85 ships, and much of the funds for the expedition, and thought himself entitled to an equal share in the command : several disputes, therefore, had oc- curred between him and the admiral. Columbus feared he might have departed to make an inde- pendent cruise, or might have the intention to hasten back to Spain, and claim the merit of the discovery. These thoughts distracted his mind, and embarrassed him in the farther prosecution of his discoveries. For several days he continued exploring tlie coast of Cuba, until he reached the eastern end, to v/hich, from supposing it the extreme point of Asia, he gave the name of Alpha and Omega, the begin- ning and the end. While steering at large beyond this cape, undetermined which course to take, he descried high mountains towering above the clear horizon to the south-east, and giving evidence of an island of great extent. He immediately stood for it, to the great consternation of his Indian guides, who assured him by signs that the inhabi- tants had but one eye, and were fierce and cruel cannibals. In the transparent atmosphere of the tropics, objects are descried at a great distance, and the purity of the air and serenity of the deep-blue sky give a magical charm to scenery. Under these ad- vantages, the beautiful island of Hayti revealed itself to the eye as they approached. Its moun- tains were higher and more rocky than those of the other islands, but the rocks rose from among rich forests. The mountains swept down into lux- uriant plains and green savannahs, while the ap- 8CI COLUMBUS. [1492. pearance of cultivated fields, with the numerous fires at night, and the columns of smoke which rose in various parts by day, all showed it to be populous. It rose before them in all the splendour of tropical vegetation, one of the most beautiful islands in the world, and doomed to be one of the most unfortunate. 1492.] COASTING OF HISPANIOLA. 87 CHAPTER XII. COASTING OF HISPANIOLA. SHIPWRECK, AND OTHER OC- CURRENCES AT THE ISLAND. [1492.] On the evening of tlie 6th of December, Columbus entered a harbour 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. Not being able to meet with any of the inhabitants, who had fled from their dwellings, he coasted along the northern side of the island to another harbour, which he called Conception. Here the sailors caught several kinds of fish similar to those of their own country ; they heard also the notes of a bird which sings in the night, and which they mis- took for the nightingale, and they fancied that the features of the surrounding country resembled those of the more beautiful provinces of Spain : in consequence of this idea, the admiral named the island Espanola, or, as it is commonly written, Hispaniola. After various ineffectual attempts to obtain a communication with the natives, three sailors succeeded in overtaking a young and hand- some female, who was flying from them, and brought their wild beauty in triumph to the ships. She was treated with the greatest kindness, and 88 COLUMBUS. [1492. dismissed finely clothed, and loaded with presents of beads, hawk's bells, and other baubles. Con- fident of the favourable impression her account of her treatment, and the sight of her presents, must produce, Columbus, on the following day, sent nine men, well armed, to seek her village, accompanied by a native of Cuba as an interpreter. The village was situated in a fine valley, on the banks of a- beautiful river, and contained about a thousand houses. The natives fled at first, but being re- assured by the interpreter, they came back to the number of two thousand, and approached the Spaniards with awe and trembling, often pausing and putting their hands upon their heads in token of reverence and submission. The female also, who had been entertained on board of the ships, came borne in triumph on the shoulders of some of her countrymen, followed by a multitude, and preceded by her husband, who was full of gratitude for the kindness with which she had been treated. Having recovered from their fears, the natives conducted the Spaniards to their houses, and set before them cassava bread, fish, roots, and fruits of various kinds, offering them freely whatever they possessed, for a frank hospi- \ taUty reigned throughout the island, where as yet the passion of avarice was unknown. The Spaniards returned to the vessels enraptured with the beauty of the country, surpassing, as they said, even the luxuriant valley of Cordova ; all that they complained of was, that they saw no signs of riches among the natives. Continuing along the coast, Columbus had far- ther intercourse with the natives, some of whom 1492.] NATIVES OF HISPANIOLA, 89 had ornaments of gold, which they readily ex- changed for the merest trifle of European manu- facture. At one of the harbours where he was de- tained by contrary winds, he was visited by a young cacique, apparently of great importance, who came borne on a litter by four men, and attended by two hundred of his subjects. He entered the cabin where Columbus was dining, and took his seat be- side him, with a frank, unembarrassed air, while two old men, who were his councillors, seated themselves at his feet, watching his lips, as if to catch and communicate his ideas. If any thing were given him to eat, he merely tasted it, and sent it to his followers, maintaining an air of great gravity and dignity. After dinner, he presented the admiral with a belt curiously wrought, and two pieces of gold. Columbus made him various presents in return; he shewed him a coin, bearing the like- nesses of Ferdinand and Isabella, and endeavoured to give him an idea of the power and grandeur of those sovereigns. The cacique, however, could not be made to believe that there was a region on earth which produced such wonderful people and wonderful things, but persisted in the idea that the Spaniards were more than mortal, and that the country and sovereigns they spoke of must exist somewhere in the skies. On the 20th of December, Columbus anchored in a fine harbour, to which he gave the name of St. Thomas, supposed to be what at present is called the Bay of Acul. Here a large canoe visited the ships, bringing messengers from a grand cacique named Guacanagari, who resided on the coast a little farther to the eastward, and reigned over all so COLUMBUS. [1492. that part of the island. The messengers bore a present of a broad belt, wrought ingeniously with coloured beads and bones, and a wooden mask, the eyes, nose, and tongue of which were of gold. They invited Columbus, in the name of the cacique, to come with his ships opposite to the village where he resided. Adverse winds prevented an imme- diate compliance with this invitation ; he therefore sent a boat well armed, with the notary of the squadron, to visit the chieftain. The latter re- turned with so favourable an account of the ap- pearance of the village, and the hospitality of the cacique, that Columbus determined to set sail for his residence as soon as the wind would permit. Early in the morning of the 24th of December, therefore, he weighed anchor, with a light wind that scarcely filled the sails. By eleven o'clock at night, he was within a league and a half of the re- sidence of the cacique : the sea was calm and smooth, and the ship almost motionless. The admiral having had no sleep the preceding nighty retired to take a little repose. No sooner had he left the deck, 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, never to intrust the helm to the boys. The rest of the mariners who had the watch took like ad- vantage of the absence of Columbus, and in a little while the whole crew was buried in sleep. While this security reigned over the ship, the treacherous currents, which run swiftly along this coast, carried her smoothly, but with great violence upon a sand- bank. The heedless boy, feeling the rudder strike, and hearing the rushing of the sea, cried out for aid. U92,] SHIPWRECK. 91 Columbus was the first to take the alarm, and was soon followed by the master of the ship, whose duty it was to have been on watch, and by his delin- quent companions. The admiral ordered them to carry out an anchor astern, that they might warp the vessel off. They sprang into the boat, but being confused and seized with a panic, as men are apt to be when suddenly awakened by an alarm, instead of obeying the commands of Columbus, they rowed off to the other caravel. Vincente Yanez Pinzon, who commanded the latter, re- proached them with their pusillanimity, and refused to admit them on board ; and, manning his boat, he hastened to the assistance of the admiral. In the mean time, the ship swinging across the stream, had been set more and more upon the bank. Efforts were made to lighten her, by cutting away the mast, but in vain. The keel was firmly bedded in the sand ; the seams opened, and the breakers beat against her, until she fell over on one side. Fortunately, the weather continued calm, other- wise both ship and crew must have perished. The admiral abandoned the wreck, and took refuge, with his men, on board of the caravel. He laid-to until daylight, sending messengers on shore to i inform the cacique Guacanagari of his disastrous shipwreck. When the chieftain heard of the misfortune of his guest, he was so much afflicted as to shed tears ; and never, in civilized country, were the vaunted rites of hospitality more scrupulously observed, than by this uncultured savage. He assembled his people, and sent off all his canoes to the assistance of the admiral, assuring him, at the same time, that 92 COLUMBUS. [U02. every thing lie possessed was at his service. The effects were landed from the wreck, and deposited near the dwelling of the cacique, and a guard set over them, until houses could be prepared, in which they could be stored. There seemed, however, no disposition among the natives to take advantage of the misfortune of the strangers, or to plunder the treasures thus cast upon their shores, though they must have been inestimable in their eyes. Even in transporting the effects from the ship, they did not attempt to pilfer or conceal the most trifling article. On the contrary, they manifested as deep a concern at the disaster of the Spaniards as if it had hap- pened to themselves, and their only study was how they could administer relief and consolation. Co- lumbus was greatly affected by this unexpected goodness. ' These people,' said he, in his journal, intended for the perusal of the sovereigns, ' love their neighbours as themselves, their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied by a smile. I swear to your majesties, there is not in the world a better nation or a better land.' When the cacique first met with Columbus, he was much moved at beholding his dejection, and again offered him every thing he possessed that could be of service to him. He invited him on shore, where a banquet was prepared for his entertain- ment, consisting of various kinds of fish and fruit, and an animal called Utia by the natives, which resembled a coney. After the collation, he con- ducted Columbus to the beautiful groves which surrounded his residence, where upwards of a thou- sand of the natives were assembled, all perfectly naked, who performed several of their national 1492.] TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES. 93 games and dances. Thus did this generous ca- cique try, by every means in his power, to cheer the melancholy of his guest, showing a warmth of sympathy, a delicacy of attention, and an innate dignity and refinement, which could not have been expected from one in his savage state. He was treated with great deference by his subjects, and conducted himself towards 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. When the Indians had finished their games, Co- lumbus gave them an entertainment in return, cal- culated to impress them with a formidable opinion of the military power of the Spaniards. A Casti- lian, who had served in the wars of Granada, ex- hibited his skill in shooting with a Moorish bow, to the great admiration of the cacique. A cannon and an arquebus were likewise discharged ; at the sound of which the Indians fell to the ground, as though they had been struck by a thunderbolt. When they saw the effect of the ball rending and shivering the trees, they were filled with dismay. On being told, however, that the Spaniards would protect them with these arms, against the invasions of their dreaded enemies, the Caribs, their alarm was changed into confident exultation, considering themselves under the protection of the sons of hea- ven, who had come from the skies, armed with thun- der and lightning. The cacique placed a kind of coronet of gold on the head of Columbus, and hung plates of the same metal round his neck, and he dispensed liberal presents among his followers. Whatever trifles Columbus gave in return were re- 94 COLUMBUS. [1492. garded with reverence as celestial gifts, and were said by the Indians to have come from Turey, or heaven. The extreme kindness of the cacique, the gentle- ness of his people, and the quantities of gold daily brought by the natives, and exchanged for trifles, contributed to console Columbus for his misfor^ tunes. When Guacanagari perceived the great value which the admiral attached to gold, he as- sured him, by signs, that there was a place, not far off", among the mountains, where it abounded to such a degree as to be regarded with indifference ; and he promised to procure him, from thence, as much as he desired. Columbus gathered many other particulars concerning this golden region. It was called Cibao, and lay among high and rugged mountains. The cacique who ruled over it owned many rich mines, and had banners of wrought gold. Columbus fancied that the name of Cibao must be a corruption of Cipango, and flat- tered himself that this was the very island produc- tive of gold and spices, mentioned by Marco Polo. Three houses bad been given to the shipwrecked crew for their residence. Here, living on shore, and mingling freely with the natives, they became fascinated by their easy and idle mode of life. They were governed by their caciques with an absolute but patriarchal and easy rule, and existed in that state of primitive and savage simplicity, which some phi- losophers have fondly pictured as the most enviable on earth. ' It is certain,' says old Peter Martyr, * that the land among these people is as common as the sun and water ; and that mine and thine," the seeds of all mischief, have no place with them. They 1492.] TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES. 95 are content with so little, tliat, in so large a country, they have rather superfluity than scarceness ; so that they seem to live in a golden world, without toil, in open gardens, neither intrenched, nor shut up by Walls or hedges. They deal truly with one another, without laws, or books, or judges.' In fact, they seemed to disquiet themselves about nothing ; a few fields, cultivated almost without labour, furnished roots and vegetables, their groves were laden with delicious fruit, and the coast and rivers abounded with fish. Softened by the indulgence of nature, a great part of the day was passed by them in in- dolent repose, in that luxury and sensation inspired by a serene sky and voluptuous climate, and in the evening they danced in their fragrant groves, to their national songs, or the rude sound of their sylvan drums. When the Spanish mariners looked back upon their own toilsome and painful life, and reflected upon the cares and hardships that must still be their lot, should they return to Europe, they regarded with a wistful eye the easy and idle existence of these Indians, and many of them, representing to the admiral the difficulty and danger of embarking so many persons in one small caravel, entreated permission to remain in the island. The request immediately suggested to Columbus the idea of forming the germ of a future colony. The wreck of the caravel would furnish materials and arms for a fortress ; and the people who should remain in the island could explore it, learn the language of the natives, and collect gold, while the admiral returned to Spain for reinforcements. Guacanagari was over- joyed at finding that some of these wonderful 96 COLUMBUS. [1492. strangers were to remain for the defence of his island, and that the admiral intended to revisit it^ He readily gave permission to build the fort, and his subjects eagerly aided in its construction, little dreaming that they were assisting to place on their necks the galling yoke of perpetual and toilsome slavery. AVhile thus employed, a report was brought to Columbus, by certain Indians, that another ship was at anchor in a river at the eastern end of the island ; he concluded it of course to be the Pinta, and immediately despatched a canoe in quest of it, with a letter for Pinzon, urging him to rejoin him immediately. The canoe coasted the island for thirty leagues, but returned without having heard or seen anything of the Pinta, and all the anxiety of the admiral was revived : should that vessel be lost, the whole success of his expedition would de- pend on the return of his own crazy bark, across an immense expanse of ocean, where the least accident might bury it in the deep, and with it all record of his discovery. He dared not therefore prolong his voyage, and explore those magnificent regions which seemed to invite on every hand, but deter- mined to return immediately to Spain. So great was the activity of the Spaniards, and the assistance of the natives, that in ten days the fortress was completed. It consisted of a strong wooden tower, with a vault beneath, and the whole surrounded by a wide ditch. It was supplied with the ammunition and mounted with the cannon saved from the wreck, and was considered sufficient to overawe and repulse the whole of this naked and un warlike people. Columbus gave the fortress and 1492.] LEAVES LA NAVIDAD. 97 harbour the name of La Navidad, or the Nativity, in , memorial of having been preserved from the wreck of his ship on Christmas -day. From the number of volunteers that offered to remain he selected thirty -nine of the most trustworthy, putting them under the command of Diego de Arana, notary and alguazil of the armament. In case of his death, Pedro Gutierrez was to take the command, and he, in like case, to be succeeded by Rodrigo de Escobido. He charged the men, in the most emphatic manner, to be obedient to their commanders, respectful to Guacanagari and his chieftains, and circumspect and friendly in their intercourse with the natives. He warned them not to scatter themselves asunder, as their safety would depend upon their united force, and not to stray beyond the territory of the friendly cacique. He enjoined it upon Arana, and the other com- manders, to employ themselves in gaining a know- ledge of the island, in amassing gold and spices, and in searching for a more safe and convenient harbour for that settlement. Before his departure, he gave the natives another mihtary exhibition, to increase their awe of the prowess of the white men. The Spaniards per- formed skirmishes and mock fights, with swords, bucklers, lances, crossbows, and fire-arms. The Indians were astonished at the keenness of the steeled weapons, and the deadly power of the crossbows and muskets ; but nothing equalled their awe and admiration when the cannon were dis- charged from the fortress, wrapping it in smoke, shaking the forests with their thunder, and shiver- ing the stoutest trees. H 98 COLUMBUS. [1492. When Columbus took leave of Guacanagari, the kind-hearted cacique shed many tears ; for, while he had been awed by the dignified demeanour of the admiral, and the idea of his superhuman nature, he had been completely won by the benignity of his manners. The seamen too had made many pleasant connexions among the Indians, and they parted with mutual regret. The sorest parting, however, was with their comrades who remained behind, from that habitual attachment formed by a companionship in perils and adventures. When the signal gun was fired, they gave a parting cheer to the gallant handful of volunteers 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. 1493.] PINZON REJOINS COLUMBUS. 99 CHAPTER XIII. RETURN VO"X AGE VIOLENT STORMS ARRIVAL AT PORTUGAL. [1493.] It was on the 4th of January that Columbus set sail from La Navidad on his return to Spain. On the 6th, as he was beating along the coast, with a head wind, a sailor at the mast-head cried out that there was a sail at a distance, standing towards them. To their great joy it proved to be the Pinta, which came sweeping before the wind with flowing canvas. On joining the admiral, Pinzon endeavoured to ex- cuse his desertion, by saying that he had been sepa- rated from him by stress of weather, and had ever since been seeking him. Columbus listened pas- sively but incredulously to these excuses, avoiding any words that might produce altercations, and dis- turb the remainder of the voyage. He ascertained, afterwards, that Pinzon had parted company inten- tionally, and had steered directly east, in quest of a region where the Indians on board of his vessel had assured him he would find gold in abundance. They had guided him to Hispaniola, where he had been for some time in a river about fifteen leagues east of La Navidad, trading with the natives. He had collected a large quantity of gold, one half of which he retained as captain, and the rest he di- vided among his men, to secure their secrecy and H 2 100 COLUMBUS. [1493. fidelity. On leaving the river, lie had carried off four Indian men and two girls, to be sold in Spain. Columbus sailed for this river, to which he gave the name of Rio de Gracia ; but it long-continued to be known as the river of Martin Alonzo. Here he ordered the four men and two girls to be dis- missed, well clothed, and with many presents, to atone for the wrong they had experienced, and to allay the hostile feeling it might have caused among the natives. This restitution was not made with- out great unwillingness, and many angry words, on the part of Pin z on. After standing for some distance further along the coast, they anchored in a vast bay, or rather gulf, three leagues in breadth, and extending so far inland, that Columbus at first supposed it to be an arm of the sea. Here he was visited by the people of the mountains of Ciguay, a hardy and warHke race, quite different from the gentle and peaceful people they had hitherto met with on this island. They were of fierce aspect, and hideously painted, and their heads were decorated with feathers. They had bows and arrows, war clubs, and swords made of palm wood, so hard and heavy that a blow from them would cleave through a helmet to the very brain. At first sight of these ferocious-look- ing people, Columbus supposed them to be the Caribs, so much dreaded throughout these seas ; but on asking for the Caribbean islands, the In- dians still pointed to the eastward. With these people the Spaniards had a skirmish, in which several of the Indians were slain. This \vas the first contest they had had with the inhabi- tants of the new world, and the first time that na- 1493.] SKIRMISH WITH THE NATIVES. 101 tive blood had been shed by white men. From this skirmish Columbus called the place El Golfo de las Fleclies, or the Gulf of Arrows ; but it is now known' by the name of the Gulf of Samana. He lamented that all his exertions to maintain an ami- cable intercourse had been ineffectual, and antici- pated further hostility on the part of the natives ; but on the following day they approached the Spaniards as freely and confidently as if nothing liad happened ; the cacique came on board with only three attendants, and throughout all their sub- sequent dealings they betrayed no signs of lurking fear or enmity. This frank and confiding conduct, so indicative of a brave and generous nature, was properly appreciated by Columbus : he entertained the cacique with great distinction, and at parting made many presents to him and his attendants. This cacique of Ciguay was named Mayonabex, and in subsequent events of this liistory will be found to acquit himself with valour and magnani- mity, under the most trying circumstances. Columbus, on leaving the bay, took four young Indians to guide him to the Caribbean islands, situated to the east, of which they gave him very interesting accounts, as well as of the island of Mantinino, said to be inhabited by Amazons. A favourable breeze sprang up, however, for the voyage homewards, and seeing gloom and impa- tience in the countenances of his men, at the idea of diverging from their route, he gave up his in- tention of visiting these islands for the present, and made all sail for Spain. The trade-winds which had been so propitious on the outward voyage were equally adverse to a re- 102 eOLUMBUS. [1493. turn. The favourable breeze soon died away ; light winds from the east, and frequent calms, succeeded ; but they had intervals of favourable weather, and by the 12th of February they had made such pro- gress as to begin to flatter themselves with the hopes of soon beholding land. The wind now came on to blow violently ; on the following evening there were three flashes of lightning in the north- north-east, from which signs Columbus predicted an approaching tempest. It soon burst upon them with frightful violence ; their small and crazy ves- sels were little fitted for the wild storms of the Atlantic ; all night they were obliged to scud under bare poles at the mercy of the elements. As the morning dawned, there was a transient pause, and they made a little sail ; but the wind rose with re- doubled fury from the south, and increased in the night, the vessels labouring terribly in a cross sea, which threatened at each moment to overwhelm them or dash them to pieces. The tempest still augmenting, they were obliged again to scud be- fore the wind. The admiral made signal lights for the Pinta to keep in company ; for some time she replied by similar signals, but she was separated by the violence of the storm ; her lights gleamed more and more distant, until they ceased entirely. When the day dawned, the sea presented a frightful waste of wild, broken waves lashed into fury by the gale ; Columbus looked around anxiously for the Pinta, but she was nowhere to be seen. Throughout a dreary day the helpless bark was driven along by the tempest. Seeing all human skill baffled and confounded, Columbus endea- voured to propitiate heaven by solemn vows. Lots 1493.] VIOLENT STORM. 105 were cast to perform pilgrimages and penitences, most of which fell upon Columbus ; among other things, he was to perform a solemn mass, and to watch and pray all night in the chapel of the con- vent of Santa Clara, at Moguer. Various private vows were made by the seamen, and one by the admiral and the whole crew, that if they were spared to reach the land, they would walk in proces- sion barefooted and in their shirts, to offer up thanksgivings in some church dedicated to the Virgin. The heavens, however, seemed deaf to all their vows ; the storm grew still more furious, and every- one gave himself up for lost. During this long and awful conflict of the elements, the mind of Colum- bus was a prey to the most distressing anxiety. He was harassed by the repinings of his crew, who cursed the hour of their leaving their country, and their want of resolution in not compelling him to abandon the voyage. He was afflicted, also, when he thought of his two sons, who would be left des- titute by his death. But he had another source of distress, more intolerable than death itself. It was highly probable that the Pinta had foundered in the storm. In such case, the history of his discovery would depend upon his own feeble bark ; one surge of the ocean might bury it for ever in oblivion, and his name only remain as that of a desperate adven- turer who had perished in pursuit of a chimera. In the midst of these gloomy reflections, an ex- pedient suggested itself, by which, though he and his ships might perish, the glory of his acliievements might survive to his name, and its advantages be secured to his sovereigns. He wrote on parchment a brief account of his discovery, and of his having 104 COLUMBUS. [1493, taken possession of the newly found lands in the name of their catholic majesties. This he sealed and directed to the king and queen, and super- scribed a promise of a thousand ducats to whom- soever 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 cask, threw it into the sea. A copy of this memorial he inclosed, in a similar manner, and placed it upon the poop of his vessel, so that, should the caravel sink, the cask might float off and survive. Happily, these precautions, though wise, were superfluous ; at sunset there was a streak of clear sky in the west, the wind shifted to that quarter, and on the morning of the 15th of February they came in sight of land. The transports of the crew at once more beholding the old world were almost equal to those they had experienced on discovering the new. For two or three days, however, the wind again became contrary, and they remained hovering in sight of land, of which they only caught glimpses through the mist and rack. At length they came to anchor, at the island of St. Mary's, the most southern of the Azores, and a possession of the crown of Portugal. An ungenerous reception, however, awaited the poor tempest-tost mariners, on their return to the abode of civilized man, far different from the kindness and hospitality they had experienced among the savages of the new world. Columbus had sent one half of the crew on shore, to fulfil the vow of a barefooted procession to a hermitage or chapel of the Virgin which stood on a solitary part of the coast, and awaited their return to perform the same ceremony with the remainder 1493.] RECEPTION AT ST. MARY'S. 105 of his crew. Scarcely had they begun their prayers and thanksgivings, when a party of horse and foot, headed by the governor of the island, surrounded the hermitage, and took them all prisoners. The real object of this outrage was to get possession of the person of Columbus ; for the King of Por- tugal, jealous lest his enterprise might interfere with his own discoveries, had sent orders to his commanders of islands and distant ports to seize and detain him wherever he should be met with. Having failed in this open attempt, the governor next endeavoured to get Columbus in his power by stratagem, but was equally unsuccessful. A violent altercation took place between them, and Columbus threatened him with the vengeance of his sove- reigns. At length, after two or three days' deten- tion, the sailors who had been captured in the chapel were released ; the governor pretended to have acted through doubts of Columbus having a regular commission, but that being now convinced of his being in the service of the Spanish sove- reigns, he was ready to yield him every service in his power. The admiral did not put his offers to the proof. The wind became favourable for the continuation of his voyage, and he again set sail on the 24th of February. After two or three days of pleasant sailing, there was a renewal of tempes- tuous weather. About midnight of the 2d of March, the caravel was struck by a squall, which rent all her sails, and threatened instant destruc- tion. The crew were again reduced to despair, and made vows of fastings and pilgrimages. The storm raged throughout the succeeding day, during which, from various signs, they considered them- •106 COLUMBUS. [1493.jj selves in the vicinity of land, which they supposed .must be the coast of Portugal. The turbulence of the following night was dreadful. The sea was broken, wild, and mountainous, the rain fell in torrents, and the lightning flashed, and the thun- j der pealed from various parts of the heavens. | In the first watch of this fearful night the sea- I men gave the usually welcome cry of land ; but it only increased their alarm, for they were ignorant of their situation, and dreaded being driven on shore, or dashed upon the rocks. Taking in sail, therefore, they endeavoured to keep to sea as much as possible. At day-break on the 4th of March, they found themselves off the rock of Cintra, at the mouth of the Tagus. Though distrustful of the good-will of Portugal, Columbus had no alter- native but to run in for shelter, and he accordingly anchored about three o'clock in the river, opposite to Rastello. The inhabitants came off from vari- ous parts of the shore, to congratulate him on what they deemed a miraculous preservation, for they had been watching the vessel the whole morn- ing, with great anxiety, and putting up prayers for her safety. The oldest mariners of the place assured him that they had never known so tem- pestuous a winter. Such were the difficulties and perils with which Columbus had to contend on his return to Europe : had one -tenth part of them beset his outward voyage, his factious crew would have risen in arms against the enterprise, and he never would have discovered the new world. J4&3.3 AT LISBON. 107 CHAPTER XIV. VISIT OF COLUMBUS TO THE COURT OF PORTUGAL.— ARRrV'AL AT PALOS. [1493.] Immediately on his arrival in the Tagus, Colum- bus despatched a courier to the King and Queen of Spain, with tidings of his discovery. He wrote also to the King of Portugal, entreating permission to go to Lisbon with his vessel, as a report had got abroad that she was laden with gold, and he felt himself insecure in the neighbourhood of a place like Rastello, inhabited by needy and adventurous people. At the same time he stated the route and events of his voyage, lest the king should suspect him of having been in the route of the Portuguese discoveries. The tidings of this wonderful bark, freighted with the people and productions of a newly disco- vered world, filled all Lisbon with astonishment. For several days the Tagus was covered with barges and boats going to and from it. Among the visiters were various officers of the crown and cavaliers of high distinction. All hung with rapt attention upon the accounts of the voyage, and gazed with insatiable curiosity upon the plants, and animals, and above all upon the inhabitants of the new world. The enthusiasm of some, and the avarice x)f others, was excited ; while many repined at the 108 COLUMBUS. [1493 incredulity of the king and his councillors, by which so grand a discovery had been for ever lost tc Portugal. On the 8th of March, Columbus received a mes- sage from King John, congratulating him upon his arrival, and inviting him to tlie court at Valparaiso, about nine leagues from Lisbon. The king at tlie same time ordered, that anything which the admi- ral required, for himself or his vessel, should be furnished free of cost. Columbus distrusted the good faith of the king, and set out refuctantly for the court ; but his re- ception was what might have been expected from an enlightened and liberal prince. On approaching i the royal residence, he was met by the principal personages of the king's household, and conducted with great ceremony to the palace. The king wel- comed him to Portugal, and congratulated him on the glorious result of his enterprise. He ordered him to seat himself in his presence, an honour only granted to persons of royal dignity, and assured him that everything in his kingdom was at the service of his sovereigns and himself. They had repeated conversations about the events of the voyage, and the king made minute inquiries as to the soil, pro- ductions, and people of the newly discovered coun- tries, and the routes by which Columbus had sailed. The king listened with seeming pleasure to his re- plies, but was secretly grieved at the thoughts that this splendid enterprise had been offered to him and refused. He was uneasy, also, lest this undefined discovery should in some way interfere with his own territories, comprehended in the papal bull, which granted to the crown of Portugal all the 1403.] VISITS THE COURT OF PORTUGAL. 109 lands it should discover from Cape Non to the Indies. On suggesting these doubts to his councillors, they eagerly encouraged them, for some of them were the very persons who had scoffed at Columbus as a dreamer, and his success covered them with confusion. They declared that the colour, hair, and manners of the natives, brought in the caravel, agreed exactly with the descriptions given of the people of that part of India granted to Portugal by the papal bull. Others observed that there was but little distance between the Tercera islands and those which Columbus had discovered : the latter therefore clearly belonged to Portugal. Others endeavoured to awaken the anger of the king, by ileclaring that Columbus had talked in an arrogant jmd vain-glorious tone of his discovery, merely to revenge himself upon the monarch for having re- lected his propositions. j Seeing the king deeply perturbed in spirit, some ■iven went so far as to propose, as an effectual means of impeding the prosecution of these enter- 3rises, that Columbus should be assassinated. It vould be an easy matter to take advantage of his ofty deportment, to pique his pride, provoke him ;o an altercation, and suddenly despatch him as if n casual and honourable encounter. Happily, the king had too much magnanimity to idopt such wicked and dastardly counsel. Though secretly grieved and mortified that the rival power )f Spain should have won this triumph which he lad rejected, yet he did justice to the great merit )f Columbus, and honoured him as a distinguished benefactor to mankind. He felt it liis duty, also, 110 COLUMBUS. [1493. as a generous prince, to protect all strangers driven by adverse fortune to his ports. Others of his council advised that he should secretly fit out a powerful armament, and despatch it, under guidance of two Portuguese mariners who had sailed with Columbus, to take possession of the newly dis- covered country ; he might then settle the question of right with Spain by an appeal to arms. Tliis counsel, in which there was a mixture of courage and craft, was more relished by the king, and he resolved to put it promptly in execution. In the meantime, Columbus, after being treated with the most honourable attentions, was escorted back to his ship by a numerous train of cavaliers of the court, and on the way paid a visit to the queen, at a monastery of San Antonia, at Villa Franca, where he was listened to with wonder, as he related the events of his voyage to her majesty and the ladies of her court. The king had offered him a free passage by land to Spain, at the royal expense but as the weather had moderated, he preferred to return in his caravel. Putting to sea on the 13th of March, therefore he arrived safely at Palos on the 1 5th ; having taken not quite seven months and a half to accomplish this most mo- mentous of all maritime enterprises. The triumphant return of Columbus was a pro- digious event in the little community of Palos, every member of which was more or less interested in the fate of the expedition. Many had lamented their friends as lost, while imagination had lent myste- rious horrors to their fate. When, therefore, they beheld one of the adventurous vessels furling her sails in their harbour, from the discovery of a world, K93.] ARRIVES AT PALOS. Ill the whole community broke forth into a transport of joy, the bells were rung, the shops shut, and all business suspended. Columbus landed, and walked in procession to the church of St. George, to re- turn thanks to God for his safe arrival. Wherever he passed, the air rang with acclamations, and he received such honours as are paid to sovereigns. What a contrast was this to his departure 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 at first felt disposed to proceed there in the ca- ravel ; but, reflecting on the dangers and disasters of his recent voyage, he gave up the idea, and de- spatched a letter to the sovereigns, informing them of his arrival. He then departed for Seville, to await their reply. It arrived within a few days, and was as gratifying as his heart could have de- sired. The sovereigns were dazzled and astonished by this sudden and easy acquisition of a new em- pire of indefinite extent, and apparently boundless wealth. They addressed Columbus by his titles of admiral and viceroy, promising him still greater rewards, and urging him to repair immediately to court, to concert plans for a second and more ex- tensive expedition. It is fitting here to speak a word of the fate of Martin Alonzo Pinzon. By a singular coinci- dence, which appears to be well authenticated, he anchored at Palos on the evening of the same day that Columbus' had arrived. He had been driven by the storm into the bay of Biscay, and had made 112 COLtTMBtJS. [1493. tlie port of Bayonne. Doubting whether Colum- bus had survived the tempest, he had immediately written to the sovereigns, giving an account of the discovery, and requesting permission to come to court and relate the particulars in person. As soon as the weather was favourable, he again set sail, anticipating a triumphant reception in his na- tive port of Palos. When, on entering the har- bour, he beheld the vessel of the admiral riding at anchor, and learned the enthusiasm with which he had been received, his heart died within him. It is said 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 this is not likely, for he was a man of too much resolution to yield to such a fear. It is more probable that a consciousness of his misconduct made him unwil- ling to appear before the public in the midst of their enthusiasm for Columbus, and to witness the honours heaped upon a man whose superiority he had been so unwilling to acknowledge. Whatever may have been his motive, it is said that he landed privately in his boat, and kept out of sight until the departure of the admiral, when he returned to his home, broken in health, and deeply dejected, awaiting the reply of the sovereigns to his letter. The reply at length arrived, forbidding his coming to court, and severely reproaching him for his con- duct. This letter completed his humiUation ; the wounds of his feelings gave virulence to his bodily malady, and in a few days he died, a victim to grief and repentance. Let no one, however, indulge in harsh censures over the grave of Pinzon. His merits and services 1493,] CHARACTER OF PINZON, 113 are entitled to the highest praise ; his errors should be regarded with indulgence. He was one of the first in Spain to appreciate the project of Colum- bus, animating him by his concurrence, and aiding him with his purse when poor and unknown at Palos. He afterwards enabled him to procure and fit out his ships, when even the mandates of the sovereigns were ineffectual; and finally he em- barked in the expedition with his brothers and his friends, staking life, property, everything, upon the event. He had thus entitled himself to parti- cijiate largely in the glory of this immortal enter- prise, when, unfortunately, forgetting for a moment the grandeur of the cause, and the implicit obe- dience due to his commander, he yielded to the incitements of self-interest, and was guilty of that act of insubordination which has cast a shade upon his name. Much may be said, however, in extenua- tion of his fault ; his consciousness of having rendered great services to the expedition, and of possessing property in the ships, and his habits of command, which rendered him impatient of con- trol. That he was a man naturally of generous sentiments and honourable ambition, is evident from the poignancy with which he felt the disgrace drawn upon him by his conduct. A mean man would not have fallen a victim to self- upbraiding for having been convicted of a mean action. His story shows how one lapse from duty may counter- balance the merits of a thousand services ; how Dne moment of weakness may mar the beauty of I whole life of virtue ; and how important it is for I man, under all circumstances, to be true, not nerely to others, but to himself. I 114 COLUMBUS. [1493. 1 CHAPTER XV. KECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY THE SPANISH SOVEREIGNS AT BARCELONA. [1493.] The journey of Columbus to Barcelona was like the progress of a sovereign. Wherever he passed, the surrounding country poured forth its inhabit- ants, who lined the road, and thronged the vil- lages, rending the air with acclamations. In the large towns, the streets, windows, and balconies were filled with spectators, eager to gain a sight of him and of the Indians whom he carried with him, who were regarded with as much astonish- ment as if they had been natives of another planet. It was about the middle of April that he arrived at Barcelona, and the beauty and serenity of the weather, in that genial season and favoured climate, contributed to give splendour to the memorable ceremony of his reception. As he drew near the place, many of the youthful courtiers and cavaliers, followed by a vast concourse of the populace, came forth to meet him. His entrance into this noble city has been compared to one of those triumphs which the Romans were accustomed to decree to conquerors. First were paraded the six Indians, painted according to their savage fashion, and de- corated with their ornaments of gold. After these 1493.] RECEPTION AT BARCELONA. 115 were borne various kinds of live parrots, together with stuffed birds and animals of unknown species, and rare plants supposed to be of precious quali- ties : while especial care was taken to display the Indian coronets, bracelets, and other decorations 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 chivalry. The streets were almost impassable from the multitude ; the houses, even to the very roofs, were crowded with specta- tors. It seemed as if the public eye could not be sated with gazing at these trophies 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 considered a signal dispensation of Providence in reward for the piety of the sove- reigns ; and the majestic and venerable appear- ance of the discoverer, so different from the youth and buoyancy that generally accompany roving enterprise, seemed in Imrmony with the grandeur and dignity of the achievement. To receive him with suitable distinction, the sovereigns had ordered their throne to be placed in public, under a rich canopy of brocade of gold, where they awaited his arrival, seated in state, with Prince Juan beside them, and surrounded by their principal nobility. Columbus arrived in their pre- sence, accompanied by a brilliant crowd of cavaliers, among whom, we are told, he was conspicuous for his stately and commanding person, which, with his venerable grey hairs, gave him the august ap- pearance of a senator of Rome. A modest smile i2 I I16t COLUMBUS. [1493. lighted up liis countenance, showing that he en- joyed 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 nobly deserved, than these testimonials of the admiration and gratitude of a nation, or rather of a world. On his approach, the sovereigns rose, as if receiving a person of the highest rank. Bending on his knees, he would have kissed their hands in token of vassalage, but they raised him in the most gracious manner, and ordered him to seat himself in their presence ; a rare honour in this proud and punctilious court. He now gave an account of the most striking events of his voyage, and displayed the various productions and the native inhabitants which he had brought from the new world. He assured their majesties that all these were but harbingers of greater discoveries which he had yet to make, which would add realms of incalculable wealth to their dominions, and whole nations of proselytes to the true faith. When Columbus had finished, the king and queen sank on their knees, raised their hands to heaven, and, with eyes filled with tears of joy and gratitude, poured forth thanks and praises to God. All pre- sent followed their example ; a deep and solemn enthusiasm pervaded that splendid assembly, and prevented all common acclamations of triumph. The anthem of Te Deum laudamus, chanted by the choir of the royal chapel, with the melodious ac- companiments of instruments, rose up from the midst in a full body of harmony, bearing up, as it were, the feelings and thoughts of the auditors to 1493.] RECEPTION AT BARCELONA. 117 heaven. Such was the solemn and pious manner in which the brilliant court of Spain celebrated this sublime event ; offering up a grateful tribute of melody and praise, and giving glory to God for the discovery of another world. While the mind of Columbus was excited by this triumph, and teeming with splendid anticipations, his pious scheme for the deliverance of the holy sepulchre was not forgotten. Flushed with the idea of the vast wealth that must accrue to himself from his discoveries, he made a vow to furnish, within seven years, an army of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for a crusade to the holy land, and a similar force within the five following years. It is essential to a full knowledge of the character and motives of this extraordinary man, that this visionary project should be borne in recol- lection. It shows how much his mind was elevated above selfish and mercenary views, and filled with those devout and heroic schemes which, in the time of the crusades, had inflamed the thoughts and di- rected the enterprizes of the bravest warriors and most illustrious princes. During his sojourn at Barcelona, the sovereigns took every occasion to bestow on Columbus the highest marks of personal consideration. He was admitted at all times to the royal presence ; ap- peared occasionally with the king on horseback, riding on one side of him, while Prince Juan rode on the other side ; and the queen delighted to con- verse familiarly with him on the subject of his voyage. To perpetuate in his family the glory of his achievement, a coat of arms was given him, in which he was allowed to quarter the royal arms, 118 COLUMBUS. [1493. the castle and lion, with those more peculiarly assigned him, which were a group of islands sur- rounded by waves ; to these arms were afterwards annexed the motto : A CASTILLA Y A LEON NUEVO MUNDO DIO COLON. (To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new world.) The pension of thirty crowns, which had been decreed by the sovereigns to whomsoever should first 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 of what he deemed his merited reward, that he renounced his country and his faith, and, crossing into Africa, turned Mussulman ; an anecdote, however, which rests on rather questionable authority. The favour shown Columbus by the sovereigns insured him for a time the caresses of the nobility ; for in a court every one is eager to lavish atten- tions upon the man ' whom the king delighteth to honour.' At one of the banquets which were given him occurred the well-known circumstance of the^ egg. A shallow courtier present, impatient of the honours paid to Columbus, and meanly jealous of him as a foreigner, abruptly asked him, whether he thought that, in case he had not discovered the Indies, there would have been wanting men in Spain capable of the enterprise. To this Columbus made no direct reply, but, taking an egg, invited the company to make it stand upon one end. — Every one attempted it, but in vain ; whereupon he 1493.] RECEPTION AT BARCELONA. 119 struck it upon the table, broke one 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 joy occasioned by this great discovery was not confined to Spain ; the whole civilized world was filled with wonder and delight. Every one rejoiced in it as an event in which he was more or less interested, and which opened a new and un- bounded field for inquiry and enterprise. Men of learning and science shed tears of joy, and those of ardent imaginations indulged in the most extra- vagant and delightful dreams. Notwithstanding all this triumph, however, no one had an idea of the real importance of the discovery. 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. They were called, therefore, the West Indies, and as the region thus discovered appeared to be of a vast and indefinite extent, and existing in a state of na- ture, it received the comprehensive appellation of ' The New World.' 120 COLUMBUS. [1493. CHAPTER XVI, PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND VOYAGE OF DISCOA ERY. [1493.] In the midst of tlieir rejoicings, the Spanish sove- reigns lost no time in taking every measure to se- cure their new acquisitions. During the crusades, a doctrine had been estabhshed among the Christian princes, according to which the pope, from his su- preme authority over all temporal things, as Christ's vicar on earth, was considered as empowered to dispose of all heathen lands to such Christian po- tentates as would undertake to reduce them to the dominion of the church, and to introduce mto them the light of religion. Alexander VI., a native of Valencia, and born a subject to the crown of Arragon, had recently been elevated to the papal chair. He was 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. Ferdinand was well aware of his worldly and per- fidious character, and endeavoured to manage him accordingly. He despatched ambassadors to him, announcing the new discovery as an extraordinary triumph of the faith, and a vast acquisition of em- pire to the church. He took care to state that 1493.] PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION. 121 it did not in the least interfere With the possessions ceded by the holy chair to Portugal, all which had been sedulously avoided ; he supplicated his Holi- ness, therefore, to issue a bull, granting to the crown of Castile dominion over all those lands, and such others as might be discovered in those parts, artfully intimating, at the same time, his determination to maintain possession of them, however his Holiness might decide. No difficulty was made in granting what was considered but a reasonable and modest request, though it is probable that the acquiescence of the worldly-minded pontiff was quickened by the insinuation of the politic monarch. A bull was accordingly issued, dated May 2d, 1493, investing the Spanish sovereigns with similar rights, privileges, and indulgences, in respect to the newly discovered regions, as those granted to the Portuguese with respect to their African discoveries, and under the same condition of propagating the catholic faith. To prevent any conflicting claims, however, between the two powers, the famous line of demarcation was established. This was an ideal line drawn from the north to the south pole, a hundred leagues west of the Azores and the Cape de Verde islands. All land discovered by the Spa- nish navigators to the west of this line was to be- long to the crown of Castile ; all land discovered in the contrary direction was to belong to Portugal. It seems never to have occurred to the pontiff, that, by pushing their opposite discoveries, they might some day or other come again in collision, and renew the question of territorial right at the antipodes. In the meantime, the utmost exertions were made to fit out the second expedition of Columbus. To COLUMBUS. insure regularity and despatch in the affairs relative to the new world, they were placed under the su- perintendence of Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, arch- deacon of Seville, who successively was promoted to the sees of Badajoz, Palencia, and Burgos, and finally appointed patriarch of the Indies. Fran- cisco Pinelo was associated with him as treasurer, and Juan de Soria as contador, or comptroller. — Their office was fixed at Seville, and was the germ of the royal India-house, which afterwards rose to such great power and importance- No one was permitted to embark for the newly discovered lands, without express license from either the sovereigns, Columbus, or Fonseca. The ignorance of the age as to enlarged principles of commerce, and the ex- ample of the Portuguese in respect to their African possessions, have been cited in excuse for the nar- row and jealous spirit here manifested ; but it al- ways, more or less, influenced the policy of Spain in her colonial regulations. Another instance of the despotic sway exercised by the crown over commerce is manifested in a royal order, empowering Columbus and Fonseca to freight or purchase any vessels in the ports of Andalusia, or to take them by force, if refused, even though freighted by other persons, paying what they should conceive a reasonable compensa- tion, and compelling their captains and crews to serve in the expedition. Equally arbitrary powers were given with respect to arms, ammunition, and naval stores. As the conversion of the heathen was professed- to be the grand object of these discoveries, twelve ecclesiastics were chosen to accompany the expedi-> 1493] SECOND EXPEDITION. 123 tion, at tlie head of whom was Bernardo Buyl, or Boyle, a Benedictine monk, native of Catalonia, a man of talent and reputed sanctity, but a subtle politician of intriguing spirit. He was appointed by the pope his apostolical vicar for the new world. These monks were charged by Isabella with the spiritual instruction of the Indians, and provided by her with all things necessary for the dignified performance of the rights and ceremonies of the church. The queen had taken a warm and com- passionate interest in the welfare of the natives, looking upon them as committed by Heaven to her peculiar care. She gave general orders that they should be treated with the utmost kindness, and enjoined Columbus to inflict signal punishment on all Spaniards who should wrong them. The six Indians brought by the admiral to Barcelona were baptized with great state and solemnity, the king, the queen, and prince Juan, officiating as sponsors, and were considered as an offering to Heaven of the first fruits of these pagan nations. The preparations for the expedition were quick- ened by the proceedings of the court of Portugal. John II., unfortunately for himself, had among his councillors certain politicians of that short-sighted class who mistake craft for wisdom. By adopting their perfidious policy, he had lost the new world when it was an object of honourable enterprise ; in compliance with their advice, he now sought to retrieve it by subtle stratagem. A large armament was fitting out, the avowed object of which was an expedition to Africa, but its real destination to seize upon the newly discovered countries. To lull sus- picion, he sent ambassadors to the Spanish court, to 124 COLUMBUS. [1493. congratulate the sovereigns on the success of Co- lumbus, and to amuse them with negociations re- specting their discoveries. Ferdinand had received e^rly intelligence of the naval preparations of Por- tugal, and perfectly understood the real purpose of this mission. A keen diplomatic game ensued be- tween the sovereigns, wherein the parties were playing for a newly discovered world. Questions and propositions were multiplied and entangled ; the object of each being merely to gain time to despatch his expedition. Ferdinand was suc- cessful, and completely foiled his adversary ; for though John II. was able and intelHgent, and had crafty councillors to advise him, yet, whenever deep and subtle policy was required, Ferdinand was master of the game. It may be as well to mention in this place, that the disputes between the two powers, on the sub- ject of their discoveries, was finally settled on June 4th, 1494, by removing the imaginary line of par- tition three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape de Verde islands ; an arrangement which ultimately gave to Portugal the possession of the Brazils. By the indefatigable exertions of Columbus, aided by Fonseca and Soria, a fleet of seventeen sail, large and small, were soon in a state of for- wardness ; labourers and artificers of all kinds were engaged for the projected colony ; and an ample supply was provided of whatever was ne- cessary for its subsistence and defence, for the cultivation of the soil, the working of the mines, and the traffic of the natives. The extraordinary excitement which prevailed J493.] CHARACTER OF OJEDA. 125 respecting tliis expedition, and the magnificent ideas which were entertained concerning the new world, drew volunteers of all kinds to Seville. It was a romantic and stirring age, and the Moorish wars being over, the bold and restless spirits of the nation were in want of suitable employment. Many hidalgos of high rank, officers of the royal household, and Andalusian cavaliers, pressed into the expedition, some in the royal service, others at their own cost, fancying they were about to enter upon a glorious career of arms, in the splendid countries and among the semi- barbarous nations of the east. No one had any definite idea of the object or nature of the service in which he was embarked, or the situation and character of the region to which he was bound. Indeed, during 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 indulgence of any of its golden dreams. Among the noted personages w^ho engaged in the expedition was a young cavalier of good fa- mily, named Don Alonzo de Ojeda, who deserves particular mention. He was small, but well pro- portioned and muscular ; of a dark but handsome and animated countenance, and possessed of incredi- ble strength and agility. He was 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 5, 126 COLUMBUS. [1493, he was for a long time the idol of the rash and roving youth who engaged in the early expeditions to the new world, and distinguished himself by many perilous enterprises and singular exploits. The very first notice we have of him is a hare- brained feat which he performed in the presence of Queen Isabella, in the Giralda, or Moorish tower of the cathedral of Seville. A great beam pro- jected about twenty feet from the tower, at an immense height from the ground ; along this beam Ojeda walked briskly with as much confidence as if pacing his chamber. When arrived at the end, he stood on one leg, with the other elevated in the air ; then turning nimbly, walked back to the tower, placed one foot against it, and threw an orange to the summit ; which could only have been done by one possessed of immense muscular strength. Throughout all this exploit, the least giddiness, or false step, would have precipitated him to the earth and dashed him to pieces. During the fitting out of the armament, various disputes occurred between Columbus and the per- sons appointed by the crown to assist him. Juan 4e Soria, the comptroller, demurred occasionally to the expenses, which exceeded the amount originally calculated, and he sometimes refused to sign the accounts of the admiral. The archdeacon Fonseca also disputed the requisitions of Columbus for foot- men and domestics suitable to his state as viceroy. They both received reprimands from the sovereigns, and were commanded to study, in everything, the wishes of Columbus. From this trifling cause we jnay date the rise of an implacable hostility ever jifter manifested by Fonseca towards Columbus, 1493.] SECOND EXPEDITION. 127 which every year increased in rancour, and which his official station enabled him to gratify in the most invidious manner. Enjoying the unmerited favour of the sovereigns, he maintained a control of Indian affairs for about thirty years. He must undoubtedly have possessed talents for business, to ensure such perpetuity of office ; but he was ma- lignant and vindictive, and, in the gratification of his private resentments, often obstructed the na- tional enterprises, and heaped wrongs and sorrows on the heads of the most illustrious of the early discoverers. 128 COLUMBUS. [1493. CHAPTER XVII. DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS ON HIS SECOND VOYAGE OF DIS- COVERY ARRIVAL AT HISPANIOLA. [1493.] The departure of Columbus on his second voyage of discovery presented a brilliant contrast to his gloomy embarkation at Palos. On the 25th of September, at the dawn of day, the bay of Cadiz was whitened by his fleet. There were three large ships of heavy burden, and fourteen caravels. The number of persons permitted to embark had ori- ginally been hmited to one thousand ; but many volunteers were allowed to inlist without pay, others got on board of the ships by stealth, so that eventually about fifteen hundred set sail in the fleet. All were full of animation, and took a gay leave of their friends, anticipating a prosperous voyage and triumphant return. Instead of being regarded by the populace as devoted men, bound upon a dark and desperate enterprise, they were contemplated with envy, as favoured mortals, destined to golden regions and delightful climes, where nothing but wealth, and wonder, and enjoy- ment awaited them. Columbus moved among the throng, accompanied by his sons, Diego and Fer- nando, the eldest but a stripling, who had come to 1493.] CARIBBEE ISLANDS DISCOVERED. 129 witness his departure. Wherever he passed, every eye followed him with admiration, and every tongue extolled and blessed him. Before sunrise the whole fleet was under weigh ; the weather was serene and propitious, and as the populace watched their parting sails, brightening in the morning beams, they looked forward to their joyful return, laden with the treasures of the new world. Columbus touched at the Canary islands, where he took in wood and water, and procured live stock, plants, and seeds, to be propagated in Hispaniola. On the 13th of October he lost sight of the island of Ferro, and, favoured by the trade winds, was borne pleasantly along, shaping his course to the south-west, hoping to fall in with the islands of the Caribs, of which he had received such interesting accounts in his first voyage. At the dawn of day of the 2nd of November, a lofty island was descried to the west, to which he gave the name of Dominica, from having discovered it on Sunday. As the ships moved gently onward, other islands rose to sight, one after another, covered with [forests, and enlivened by flights of parrots and I other tropical birds, while the whole air was sweet- jened by the fragrance of the breezes which passed over them. These were a part of that beautiful (cluster of islands called the Antilles, which sweep (almost in a semicircle from the eastern end of Porto (Rico to the coast of Paria on the southern conti- Iment, forming a kind of barrier between the main ocean and the Caribbean sea. . In one of those islands, to which they gave the name of Guadaloupe, the Spaniards first met with the delicious anana, or pine-apple. They found K 131 COLUMBUS. [1493. also, to their surprise, the sternpost of a European vessel, which caused much speculation, but which, most probably, was the fragment of some wreck, borne across the Atlantic by the constant current which accompanies the trade winds. What most struck their attention, however, and filled them with horror, was the sight of human limbs hanging in the houses, as if curing for provisions, and others broiling or roasting at the fire. Columbus now concluded that he had arrived at the islands of the cannibals, or Caribs, the objects of his search ; and he was confirmed in this belief by several captives taken by his men. These Caribs were the most ferocious people of these seas ; making roving ex- peditions in their canoes to the distance of one hundred and fifty leagues, invading the islands, ravaging the villages, making slaves of the young- est and handsomest females, and carrying off the men to be killed and eaten. While at this island, a party of eight men, headed by Diego Marque, captain of one of the caravels, strayed into the woods, and did not return at night to the ships. The admiral was extremely uneasy at their absence, fearing some evil from the fero- cious disposition of the islanders : on the following day parties were sent in quest of them, each with a trumpeter, to sound calls and signals, and guns were fired from the ships, but all to no purpose. The parties returned in the evening, wearied by a fruitless search, with many dismal stories of the traces of cannibalism they had met with. Alonzo de Ojeda, the daring young cavalier who had already been mentioned, then set off with forty men into the interior of the island, beating up the 1493.] TRANSACTIONS AT GUADALOUPE. 131 forests, and making the mountains and valleys re- sound with trumpets and fire-arms, but with no better success. Their search was rendered exces- sively toilsome by the closeness and luxuriance of the forests, and by the windings and doublings of the streams, which were so frequent, that Ojeda declared he had waded through twenty -six rivers within the distance of six leagues. He gave the most enthusiastic accounts of the country. The {□rests, he said, were filled with aromatic trees and shrubs, which he had no doubt would be found ta produce precious gums and spices. Several days elapsed without tidings of the strag- glers, and Columbus, giving them up for lost, was on the point of sailing, when they made their way back to the fleet, haggard and exhausted. For se- veral days they had been bewildered in the mazes of a forest so dense as almost to exclude the day. Some of them had climbed trees in hopes of getting a sight of the stars by which to govern their course, but the height of the branches shut out all view of the heavens. They were almost reduced to despair, when they fortunately arrived at the sea shore, and keeping along it, came to where the fleet was at anchor. After leaving Guadaloupe, Columbus touched at other of the Caribbean islands. At one of them, i which he named Santa Cruz, a ship's boat, sent on shore for water, had an encounter with a canoe, in which were a few Indians, two of whom were fe- i males. The women fought as desperately as the I men, and plied their bows with such vigour, that I one of them sent an arrow through a Spanish buck- iler, and wounded the soldier who bore it."" The i K 2 132 COLUMBUS. [1493. canoe being run down and overset, they continued to fight while in the water, gathering themselves occasionally on sunken rocks, and managing their weapons as dexterously as if they had been on firm ground. It was with the utmost difficulty they could be overpowered and taken. When brought on board the ships, the Spaniards could not but admire their untamed spirit and fierce demeanour. One of the females, from the reverence with which the rest treated her, appeared to be their queen : she was accompanied by her son, a young man strongly made, with a haughty and frowning brow, who had been wounded in the combat. One of the Indians had been transpierced by a lance, and died of the wound ; and one of the Spaniards died a day or two afterwards, of a wound received from a poisoned arrow. Pursuing his voyage, Columbus passed by a cluster of small islands, to which he gave the name of The Eleven Thousand Virgins, and arrived one evening in sight of a great island, covered with fine forests, and indented with havens. It was called by the natives Boriquen, but he named it San Juan Bau- tista ; it is the same since known by the name of Porto Rico. After running for a whole day along its beautiful coast, and touching at a bay at the west end, he arrived, on the 22nd of November, off the eastern extremity of Hayti, or Hispaniola. The greatest animation prevailed throughout the armada at the thoughts of soon arriving at the end of their voyage, while those who had accompanied Columbus in the preceding expedition looked forward to meet- ing with the comrades they had left behind, and to a renewal of pleasant scenes among the groves of 1493.] CRUISE IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA. 133 Hayti. Passing by the gulf of Las Fleclies, where the skirmish had occurred with the natives, Colum- bus set on shore one of the young Indians who had been taken from the neighbourhood, and had ac- companied him to Spain. He dismissed him finely apparelled and loaded with trinkets, anticipating favourable effects from the accounts he would be able to give to his countrymen of the power and munificence of the Spaniards, but he never heard anything of him more. Only one Indian, of those who had been to Spain, remained in the fleet, a young Lucayan, native of the island of Guanahani, who had been baptized at Barcelona, and named after the admiral's brother, Diego Colon ; he con- tinued always faithful and devoted to the Spaniards. Continuing along the coast, Columbus paused in the neighbourhood of Monte Christi, to fix upon a place for a settlement, in the neighbourhood of a stream said to abound in gold, to which, in his first voyage, he had given the name of Rio del Oro. Here, as the seamen were ranging the shore, they found the bodies of three men and a boy, one of whom had a rope of Spanish grass about his neck, and another, from having a beard, was evidently a European. The bodies were in a state of decay, but bore the marks of violence. This spectacle gave rise to many gloomy forebodings, and Colum- bus hastened forward to La Navidad, full of appre- hensions that some disaster had befallen Diego de Arana and his companions. 114 COLUMBUS. [1493. CHAPTER XVIII. FATE OF THE FORTRESS OF LA NAVIDAD. TRANSACTIONS AT I THE HARBOUR. [1493.] On the evening of the 27th of November, Colum- bus anchored opposite to the harbour of La Navidad, j about a league from the land. As it was too dark ' to distinguish objects, he ordered two signal guns to be fired. The report echoed along the shore, but there was no gun, or light, or friendly shout in reply. Several hours passed away in the most dismal suspense ; about midnight, a number of In- dians came off in a canoe, and inquired for the ad- miral, refusing to come on board until they should see him personally. Columbus showed himself at the side of his vessel, and a light being held up, his countenance and commanding person were not to be mistaken. The Indians now entered the ship with- out hesitation. One of them was a cousin of the cacique Guacanagari, and the bearer of a present from him. The first inquiry of Columbus was con- cerning the garrison. He was informed that several of the Spaniards had died of sickness, others had fallen in a quarrel among themselves, and others had removed to a different part of the island ; — that Guacanagari had been assailed byCaonabo, the fierce cacique of the golden mountains of Cibao, who had i 1493.] ARRIVAL AT LA NAVIDAD. 135 wounded him in combat, and burnt his village, and that he remained ill of his wound in a neighbour- ing hamlet. Melancholy as were these tidings, they relieved Columbus from the painful suspicion of treachery on the part of the cacique and people in whom he had confided, and gave him hopes of finding some of the scattered garrison still alive. The Indians were well entertained, and gratified with presents ; on departing, they promised to return in the morning with Guacanagari. The morning, however, dawned and passed away, and the day declined, without the promised visit from the chieftain. There was a silence and an air of desertion about the whole neighbourhood ; not a canoe appeared in the har- bour ; not an Indian hailed them from the land ; nor was there any smoke to be seen rising from among the groves. Towards the evening, a boat was sent on shore to reconnoitre. The crew hast- ened to the place where the fortress had been erected. They found it burnt and demolished, the palisadoes beaten down, and the ground strewed with broken chests, spoiled provisions, and the fragments of European garments. Not an Indian approached them, and if they caught a sight of any lurking among the trees, they vanished on finding themselves perceived. Meeting no one from wPiom they could obtain information concerning this melancholy scene, they returned to the ships with dejected hearts. Columbus himself landed on the following morn- ing, and, repairing to the ruins of the fortress, caused diligent search to be made for the dead bo- dies of the garrison. Cannon and arquebuses were discharged to summon any survivors that might be 136 COLUMBUS. [1493. in the neighbourhood, but none made their appear- ance. Columbus had ordered Arana and his fellow-officers, in case of sudden danger, to bury all the treasure they might possess, or throw it in the well of the fortress. The well was therefore searched, and excavations were made among the ruins, but no gold was to be found. Not far from the fortress the bodies of eleven Europeans were discovered buried in different places, and they appeared to have been for some time in the ground. In the houses of a neighbouring hamlet were found several European articles, which could not have been procured by barter. This gave suspi- cions that the fortress had been plundered by the Indians in the vicinity ; while, on the other hand, the village of Guacanagari was a mere heap of burnt ruins, which showed that he and his people had been involved in the same disaster with the garrison. Columbus was for some time perplexed by these contradictory documents of a disastrous story. At length a communication was effected with some of the natives ; their evident apprehen- sions were dispelled, and by the aid of the inter- preter the fate of the garrison was more minutely ascertained. It appeared that Columbus had scarcely set sail for Spain, when all his counsels and commands faded from the minds of those who remained be- hind. Instead of cultivating the good will of the natives, they endeavoured, by all kinds of wrongful means, to get possession of their golden ornaments and other articles of value, and seduced from them their wives and daughters. Fierce brawls occurred between themselves, about their ill-gotten spoils, or the favours of the Indian women. In vain did 1493.] DISASTER AT THE FORTRESS. 137 Diego de Arana interpose his authority ; all order, all subordination, all unanimity, were at an end ; factions broke out among them, and at length ambition arose to complete the destruction of this mimic empire. Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo, whom Columbus had left as lieutenants to succeed Arana in case of accident, now aspired to an equal share in the authority. In the quarrels which succeeded a Spaniard was killed, and Gu- tierrez and Escobedo, having failed in their object, withdrew from the fortress, with nine of their ad- herents, and a number of women, and set off for the mountains of Cibao, with the idea of procuring immense wealtPi from its golden mines. These mountains were in the territories of the famous Caonabo, called by the Spaniards ' the lord of the golden house.' He was a Carib by birth, and had come an adventurer to the island, but, possessing the fierceness and enterprise of his nation, had gained such an ascendency over these simple and un warlike people, as to make himself their most powerful cacique. The wonderful accounts of the white men had reached him among his mountains, and he had the shrewdness to perceive that his own consequence must decline before such formi- dable intruders. The departure of Columbus had given him hopes that their intrusion would be but temporary ; the discords of those who remained increased his confidence. No sooner, therefore, did Gutierrez and Escobedo, with their companions, appear in his dominions, than he seized them and put them to death. He then assembled his sub- jects, and, traversing the forests with profound secrecy, arrived in the vicinity of La Navidad without being discovered. But ten men remained 138 COLUMBUS. CU93. in the fortress with Arana ; the rest were Uving in careless security in the village. In the dead of the night Caonabo and his warriors burst upon the place with frightful yells, and set fire to the for- tress and village. The Spaniards were completely taken by surprise. Eight were driven to the sea- side, and, rushing into the waves, were drowned ; the rest were massacred. Guacanagari and hm^ subjects fought faithfully in defence of their guests, but, not bein.g of a warlike character, they were easily routed. The cacique was wounded in the conflict, and his village burnt to the ground. Such is the story of the first European establish- ment in the new world. It presents in a dimi- nutive compass an epitome of the gross vices which degrade civilization, and the grand political errors which sometimes subvert the mightiest empires. All law and order were relaxed by licen- tiousness ; public good was sacrificed to private interest and passion ; the community was con- vulsed by divers factions, until the whole body politic was shaken asunder by two aspiring dema- gogues, ambitious of the command of a petty for- tress in a wilderness, and the supreme control of eight and thirty men ! This account of the catastrophe of the fortress satisfied Columbus of the good faith of Guacanagari ; but circumstances concurred to keep alive the sus- picions entertained of him by the Spaniards. Co- lumbus paid a visit to the chieftain, whom he found in a neighbouring village, suffering apparently from a bruise which he had received in the leg from a stone. Several of his subjects, also, exhibited re- cent wounds, which had evidently been made by Indian weapons. The cacique was greatly agitated 1493.] CONDUCT OF GUACANAGARI. 139 at seeing Columbus, and deplored with tears the misfortunes of the garrison. At the request of the admiral, his leg was examined by a Spanish surgeon, but no sign of a wound was to be seen, though he shrunk witli pain whenever the leg was touched. As some time had elapsed since the battle, the external bruise might have disappeared, while a tenderness might remain in the part. Many of the Spaniards, however, who had not witnessed the generous conduct of the cacique in the first voyage, looked upon his lameness as feigned, and the whole story of the battle a fabrication to conceal his perfidy. Columbus persisted in believing him innocent, and invited him on board of his ships, where the cacique was greatly astonished at the wonders of art and nature brought from the old world. What most amazed him was the horses. He had never seen any but the most diminutive quadrupeds, and gazed with awe at the grandeur of these noble animals, their great strength, terrific appearance, yet perfect docility. The sight of the Carib prisoners also increased his idea of the prowess of the Spaniards, having the hardihood to invade these terrible beings even in their strong holds, while he could scarcely look upon them without shuddering, though in chains. On board the ship were several Indian women who had been captives to the Caribs. Among them was one distinguished above her companions by a certain loftiness of demeanour ; she had been much noticed and admired by the Spaniards, who had given her the name of Catalina. She particularly at- tracted the attention of the cacique, who is repre- sented to have been of an amorous complexion. 140 COLUMBUS. [U93. He 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 hands of the Caribs, she and her com- panions were still, in a manner, captives on board of the ship. A collation was served up for the entertainment of Guacanagari, and Columbus endeavoured by kindness and hospitality to revive their former cor- dial intercourse, but it was all in vain ; the cacique was evidently distrustful, and ill at ease. The suspicions of his guilt gained ground among the Spaniards. Father Boyle, in particular, regarded him with an evil eye, and advised Columbus, now that he had him securely on board of his ship, to detain him prisoner ; but Columbus rejected the counsel of the crafty friar, as contrary to sound policy and honourable faith. The cacique, how- ever, accustomed in his former intercourse with the Spaniards to meet on every side with faces beaming with gratitude and friendship, could not but perceive the altered looks of cold suspicion and secret hostility. Notwithstanding the frank and cordial hospitality of the admiral, therefore, he soon took leave and returned to land. On the following day there was a mysterious movement and agitation among the natives on shore. The brother of Guacanagari came on board, under pretext of bartering a quantity of gold, but, as it afterwards proved, to bear a message to Catalina, the Indian female, whose beauty had captivated the heart of the cacique, and whom, with a kind of na- tive gallantry, he wished to deliver from bondage. At midnight, when the crew were buried in the* 1493.] CONDUCT OF GUACANAGARI. 141 first sleep, Catalina awakened her female com- panions, and proposed a bold attempt to gain their liberty. The ship was anchored full three miles from the shore, and the sea was rough ; but these island women were accustomed to buffet with the waves, and the water was to them almost as their natural element. Letting themselves down silently from the side of the vessel, they trusted to the strength of their arms, and swam bravely for the shore. They were overheard by the watch, the alarm was given, the boats were manned and gave chase in the direction of a light blazing on the shore, an evident beacon for the fugitives. Such was the vigour of these sea nymphs, however, that they reached the land before they were overtaken. Four were captured on the beach, but the heroic Cata- lina, with the rest of her companions, escaped in safety to the forest. Guacanagari disappeared on the same day with all his household and effects, and it was supposed had taken refuge, with his island beauty, in the interior. His desertion gave redoubled force to the doubts heretofore enter- tained, and he was generally stigmatized as the perfidious destroyer of the garrison. 142 COLUMBUS. [1403. CHAPTER XIX. FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF ISABELLA DISCONTENTS OF THE PEOPLE. [1493.] The misfortunes which had befallen the Spaniards, both by sea and land, in the vicinity of this harbour, threw a gloom over the place, and it was considered by the superstitious mariners as under some baneful influence, or malignant star. The situation, too, was low, moist, and unhealthy, and there was no stone in the neighbourhood for building. Columbus searched, therefore, for a more favourable place for his projected colony, and fixed upon a harbour about ten leagues east of Monte Christi, protected on one side by a natural rampart of rocks, and on the other by an impervious forest, with a fine plain in the vicinity, watered by two rivers. A great induce- ment also for settling here was, that it was at no great distance from the mountains of Cibao, where the gold mines were situated. The troops, and the various persons to be em- ployed in the colony, were immediately disem- barked, together with the stores, arms, ammunition, and all the cattle and live stock. An encampment was formed on the margin of the plain, round a sheet of water, and the plan of a town traced out, 1493.] CITY OF ISABELLA FOUNDED. 143 and the houses commenced. The public edifices, such as a church, a storehouse, and a residence for the admiral, were constructed of stone ; and the rest of wood, plaster, reeds, and such other mate- rials as could be readily procured. Thus was founded the first Christian city of the New World, to which Columbus gave the name of Isabella, in honour of his royal patroness. For a time every one exerted himself with zeal ; but maladies soon began to make their appearance. Many had suffered from sea sickness, and the long confinement on board of the ships ; others from the exposures on the land, before houses could be built for their reception, and from the exhalations of a hot and moist climate, dense natural forests, and a new, rank soil, so trying to constitutions accustomed to a dry climate and open cultivated country. The important and hurried labours of building the city and cultivating the earth bore hard upon the Spaniards, many of whom were unaccus- tomed to labour, and needed repose and relaxation. The maladies of the mind also mingled with those of the body. Many, as has been shown, had em- barked in the enterprise with the most visionary and romantic expectations. What, then, was their surprise at finding themselves surrounded by im- practicable forests, doomed to toil painfully for mere subsistence, and to attain every comfort by the severest exertion ! As to gold, which they had j expected to find readily and in abundance, it was to be procured only in small quantities, and by patient and persevering labour. All these disappointments sank deep into their hearts, their spirits flagged as their golden dreams melted away, and the gloom of 144 COLUMBUS. [1493. despondency aided the ravages of disease. Colum- bus himself was overcome by the fatigues, anxieties, and exposures he had suffered, and for several weeks was confined to his bed by severe illness ; but his energetic mind rose superior to the mala- dies of the body, and he continued to give direc- tions about the building of the city, and the general concerns of the expedition. The greater part of the ships were ready to re- turn to Spain, but he had no treasure to send with" them. The destruction of the garrison had defeated all his hopes of finding a quantity of gold, amassed and ready to be sent to the Sovereigns. It was ne- cessary for him to do something, however, before the vessels sailed, to keep up the reputation of his discoveries, and justify his own magnificent repre- sentations. The region of the mines lay at a dis- tance of but three or four days* journey, directly in the interior ; the very name of the cacique, Cao-' nabo, signfying ' the lord of the golden house/ seemed to indicate the wealth of his dominions. Columbus determined, therefore, to send an expe- dition to explore them. If the result should an- swer to the accounts given by the Indians, he would be able to send home the fleet with confidence, bearing tidings of the discovery of the golden moun- tains of Cibao. The person chosen for this enterprise was Alonzo de Ojeda, who delighted in all service of an adven- turous nature. He set out from the harbour early in January, 1494, accompanied by a small number of well-armed men, several of them young and spirited cavaliers like himself. They crossed the first range of mountains by a Marrow and winding il 1493.] EXPLORING OF THE INTERIOR. 145 Indian path, and descended into a vast plain, co- vered with noble forests, and studded with villages and hamlets. The inhabitants overwhelmed them with hospitality, and delayed them in their journey by their kindness. They had to ford many rivers also, so that they were six days in reaching the chain of mountains, which locked up, as it were, the golden region of Cibao. Here they saw ample signs of natural wealth. The sands of the moun- tain streams glittered with particles of gold ; in some places they picked up large specimens of virgin ore, and stones streaked and richly impreg- nated with it. Ojeda himself found a mass of rude gold in one of the brooks weighing nine ounces. The little band returned to the harbour, with en- thusiastic accounts of the golden promise of these mountains. A young cavalier, named Gorvalan, who had been sent to explore a different tract of country, returned with similar reports. Encou- raged by these good tidings, Columbus lost no time in despatching twelve of the ships, under the com- mand of Antonio de Torres, retaining only five for the service of the colony. By these ships he sent home specimens of the gold found among the mountains of Cibao, and of all fruits and plants of unknown and valuable species, together with the Carib captives, to be instructed in the Spanish language and the Christian faith, that they might serve as interpreters, and aid in the conversion of their countrymen. He wrote also a sanguine account of the two expeditions into the interior, and expressed a confident expectation, as soon as the health of himself and his people would permit, of procuring and making abundant shipments of gold, L 146 COLUMBUS. [1493. spices, and valuable drugs. He extolled the fertility of the soil, evinced in the luxuriant growth of the sugar-cane, and of various European grains and vegetables ; but entreated supplies of provisions for the immediate wants of the colony, as their stores were nearly exhausted, and they could not accustam Ihemselves to the diet of the natives. Among many sound and salutary suggestions in this letter, there was one of a pernicious tendency. In his anxiety to lighten the expenses of the colony, and procure revenue to the crown, he recommended that the natives of the Caribbean islands, beings cannibals and ferocious invaders of their peaceful neighbours, should be captured and sold as slaves, or exchanged with merchants for live stock and other necessary supplies. He observed, that, by transmitting these infidels to Europe, where they would have the benefits of christian instruction, there would be so many souls snatclied from per- dition, and so many converts gained to the faith. Such is the strange sophistry by which upright men may deceive themselves, and think they are obeying the dictates of their conscience, when, in fact, they are but listening to the incitements of their inte- rest. It is but just to add, that the sovereigns did not accord with him in his ideas, but ordered thatt the Caribs should be treated like the rest of the islanders ; a command which emanated from the merciful heart of Isabella, who ever showed herself the benign protectress of the Indians. When the fleet arrived in Europe, though it brought no gold, yet the tidings from Columbus and his companions kept up the popular excitement. The sordid calculations of petty spirits were as yet i493.] MUTINY OF DIAZ. 147 overruled by the eBthusiasm of generous minds. There was something wonderfully grand in the idea of 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 ; of Saturn, Ceres, and Triptolemus, travelling about the earth to spread new inventions among mankind, and of the colonising enterprises of the Phoenicians. But while such sanguine anticipations were in- dulged in Europe, murmuring and sedition began to prevail among the colonists. Disappointed in their hopes of wealth, disgusted with the labours imposed upon them, and appalled by the prevalent maladies, they looked with horror upon the sur- rounding wilderness, and became impatient to return to Spain. Their discontents were increased by one Firmin Cado, a wrong-headed and captious man, who had come out as assayer and purifier of metals, but whose ignorance in his art equalled his obstinacy of opinion. He pertinaciously insisted that there was scarcely any gold in the island, and that all the specimens brought by the natives had been accumulated in the course of several genera- tions, and been handed down from father to son in their families. At length a conspiracy was formed, headed by Bernal Diaz de Pisa, the compti'oiler, to take ad- vantage of the illness of Columbus, to seize upon the ships remaining in the harbour, and to return L 2 148 COLUMBUS. [1493. to Spain, where they thought it would he easy to justify their conduct, by accusing Columbus of gross deceptions and exaggerations concerning the countries he had discovered. Fortunately Colum- bus received information in time, and arrested the ringleaders of the conspiracy. Bernal Diaz was confined on board of one of the ships, to be sent to Spain for trial ; and several of the inferior mu- tineers were punished, but not with the severity their offence deserved. This was the first time Columbus exercised the right of punishing delin- quents in his new government, and it immediately caused a great clamour against him. Already the disadvantage of being a foreigner was clearly manifested. He had no natural friends to rally round him ; whereas the mutineers had connexions in Spain, friends in the colony, and met with sym- pathy in every discontented mind. 1494.] EXPEDITION TO CIBAO. 149 CHAPTER XX. EXPEDITION OF COLUMBUS INTO THE INTERIOR OF HISPANIOLA. [1494.] As the surest means of quieting the murmurs and rousing the spirits of his people, Columbus, as soon as his health permitted, made preparations for an expedition to the mountains of Cibao, to explore the country, and establish a post in the vicinity of the mines. Placing his brother Diego in command at Isabella, during his absence, and taking with him every person in health that could be spared from the settlement, and all the cavalry, he de- parted on the 12th of March, at the head of four hundred men, armed with helmets and corslets, with arquebuses, lances, swords, and crossbows, and followed by labourers and miners, and a mul- titude of the neighbouring Indians. After travers- ing a plain, and fording two rivers, they encamped in the evening at the foot of a wild and rocky pass of the mountains. The ascent of this defile presented formidable difficulties to the little army, which was encumbered with various munitions, and with mining imple- ments. There was nothing but an Indian foot- path winding among rocks and precipices, and the entangled vegetation of a tropical forest. A number of high-spirited young cavaliers, therefore, threw 150 COLITMBUS. . [1^4 themselves in the advance, and aiding the labourers and pioneers, and stimulating them with promises of liberal reward, they soon constructed the first road formed by Europeans in the New World, which, in commemoration of their generous zeal, was called El Puerto de los Hidalgos, or the Pa§s of the Hidalgos. On the following day the army toiled up this steep defile, and arrived where the gorge of the mountain opened into the interior. Here a glorious prospect burst upon their view. Below lay a vast and delicious plain, enamelled with all the rich va- riety of tropical vegetation. The magnificent forests presented that mingled beauty and majesty of ve- getable forms peculiar to these generous climates. Palms of prodigious height, and spreading ma-- hogany trees, towered from amid a wilderness of variegated foliage. Universal freshness and verdure^ were maintained by numerous streams which mean- dered gleaming through the deep bosom of the woodland, while various villages and hamlets seen among the trees, and the smoke of others rising out 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 realise their ideas of a terrestrial paradise ; and Columbus, struck with its vast extent, gave it the name of the Vega Real, or Royal Plain. Having descended the rugged pass, the army issued upon the plain, in military array, with great clangour of warlike instruments. When the Indians beheld this band of warriors glittering in steel, 1494.] EXPEDITION TO CIBAO. 151 1 ' emerging from the mountains with prancing steed and floating banners, and heard, for the first time, i their rocks and forests echoing to the din of drum ' and trumpet, they were bewildered with astonish- ment. The horses, especially, excited their terror j and admiration. They at first supposed the rider I and his steed to be one animal, and nothing could exceed their surprise on seeing the horseman dis- mount. On the approach of the army the Indians ge- nerally fled with terror, but their fears were soon dispelled ; they then absolutely retarded the march of the army by their kindness and hospitality ; nor did they appear to have any idea of receiving a recompense for the provisions they furnished in abundance. The untutored savage, in almost every part of the world, scorns to make a traffic of hos- pitality. For two or three days they continued their march across this noble plain, where every scene presented the luxuriance of wild, uncivilized nature. They crossed two large rivers ; one, called the Yagui by the natives, was named by the admiral the River of Eeeds ; to the other he gave the name of Rio Verde, or Green River, from the verdure and freshness of its banks. At length they arrived at a chain of lofty and rugged mountains, which formed a kind of barrier to the vega, and amidst which lay the golden region of Cibao. On entering this vaunted country, the whole character of the scenery changed, as if nature delighted in contrarieties, and displayed a miser-like poverty of exterior when teeming with hidden treasures. Instead of the soft, luxuriant landscape of the vega, nothing was to be seen but 152 COLUMBUS. [1494- chains of rocky and steril mountains, scantily clothed with pines. The very name of the country bespoke the nature of the soil ; Cibao, in the lan- guage of the natives, signifying a stone. But what consoled the Spaniards for the asperity of the soil, was to observe particles of gold among the sands . of the streams, which they regarded as earnests of the wealth locked up in the mountains. Choosing a situation in a neighbourhood that seemed to abound in mines, Columbus began to build a fortress, to which he gave the name of St. Thomas, intended as a pleasant, though pious re- proof of Firmin Cado and his doubting adherents, who had refused to believe that the island con- tained gold, until they should behold it with their eyes, and touch it with their hands. While the admiral remained superintending the building of the fortress, he despatched a young ca- valier of Madrid, named Juan de Luxan, with a small band of armed men, to explore the province. Luxan returned, after a few days, with the most satisfactory accounts. He found many parts of Cibao more capable of cultivation than those that had been seen by the admiral. The forests ap- peared to abound with spices ; the trees were over- run with vines bearing clusters of grapes of plea- sant flavour ; while every valley and glen had its stream, yielding more or less gold, and showing the universal prevalence of that precious metal. The natives of the surrounding country likewise flocked to the fortress of St. Thomas, bringing gold to exchange for European trinkets. One old man brought two pieces of virgin ore weighing an ounce, and thought himself richly repaid on receiving a 1494.] EXPEDITION TO CIBAO. 153 hawk's-bell. On remarking the admiration of the admiral at the size of these specimens, he assured him that in his country, which lay at half a day's distance, pieces were found as big as an orange. Others spoke of masses of ore as large as the head of a child, to be met with in their neighbourhood. As usual, however, these golden tracts were always in some remote valley, or along some rugged and sequestered stream ; and the wealthiest spot was sure to lie at the greatest distance, — for the land of promise is ever beyond the mountain. IM COLUMBUS.. [1494. CHAPTER XXr. I etrSTOMS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIVES. The fortress of St. Thomas being nearly completed^ I Columbus left it in command of Pedro Margarite^ a native of Catalonia, and knight of the order of Santiago, with a garrison of fifty-six men, and set out on his return to Isabella. He paused for a time in the vega to establish routes between the fortress and the harbour ; during which time he sojourned in the villages, that his men might become accus- tomed to the food of the natives, and that a mutual good- will might grow up between them. 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. The casual descents of the Caribs had compelled the inhabitants of the sea- coast to acquaint themselves with the use of arms ; and Caonabo had introduced something of his own warlike spirit into the centre of the island. Yet, generally speaking, the habits of the people were mild and gentle. Their religious creed was of a vague yet simple nature. They believed in one Supreme Being, who inhabited the sky, who was immortal, omnipotent, and in- visible ; to whom they ascribed an origin, having had a mother, but no father. They never addressed 1494] OPINIONS OF THE NATIVES. 155' their worship directly to him, but to inferior deities, called zemes, a kind of messengers or mediators. Each cacique, each family, and each individual, had a particular zemi as a tutelary or protecting genius ; whose image, generally of a hideous form, was placed about their houses, carved on their furniture, and sometimes bound to their foreheads when they went to battle. They believed their zemes to be trans- ferrable, with all their beneficial powers ; they there- fore often stole them from each other, and, when the Spaniards arrived, hid them away, lest they should be taken by the strangers. I They believed that these zemes presided over every object in nature. Some had sway over the elements, causing steril or abundant years, sending whirlwinds and tempests of rain and thunder, or sweet and temperate breezes, and prolific showers. Some governed the seas and forests, the springs and fountains, like the nereids, the dryads, and satyrs of antiquity. They gave success in hunting and fishing; they guided the mountain streams into safe chan- nels, leading them to meander peacefully through the plains; or, if incensed, they caused them to burst forth into floods and torrents, inundating and laying waste the valleys. The Indians were well acquainted with the me- dicinal properties of trees and vegetables. Their butios, or priests, acted as physicians, curing diseases with simples, but making use of many mysterious rites ; chanting and burning a light in the chamber of the patient, and pretending to exorcise the malady, and to send it to the sea or to the mountain. They practised also many deceptions, making the idols to 156 COLUMBUS. [1494. speak with oracular voice, to enforce the orders of the caciques. Once a year each cacique held a festival in honour of his zemi, when his subjects formed a procession to the temple ; the married men and women deco- rated witli their most precious ornaments ; the young females entirely naked, carrying baskets of cakes, ornamented with flowers, and singing as they ad- vanced, while the cacique beat time on an Indian drum. After the cakes had been offered to the zemi they were broken and distributed among the people, to be preserved in their houses as charms against all adverse accidents. The young females then danced to the cadence of songs in praise of their deities, and of the heroic actions of their ancient caciques ; and the whole ceremony concluded by a grand invocation to the zemi to watch over and protect the nation. The natives believed that their island of Hayti was the earliest part of creation, and that the sun and moon issued out of one of its caverns to give light to the universe. This cavern still exists near Cape Francois, and the hole in the roof may still be seen from whence the Indians believed the sun and moon had sallied forth to take their places in the sky. It was consecrated as a kind of temple ; two idols were placed in it, and the walls were decorated with green branches. In times of great drought the natives made pilgrimages and processions to it, with songs and dances, and offerings of fruit and flowers. They ascribed to another cavern the origin of the human race, believing that the large men issued forth from a great aperture, but the little men from ^ little cranny. For a long time they dared venture 1494.] OPINIONS OF THE NATIVES. 152^ from the cavern only in the night, for the sight of the sun was fatal to them, producing wonderful transformations. One of their number having lin- gered on a river's bank, where he was fishing, until the sun had risen, was turned into a bird of melo- dious note, which yearly, about the time of his transformation, is heard singing plaintively in the night, bewailing his misfortune. This is the same bird which Columbus mistook for a nightingale. When the human race at length emerged from the cave, they for some time wandered about dis- consolately without females, until coming near a small lake, they beheld 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 impos- sible to hold them, until they employed certain men whose hands had been rendered rough by a kind of leprosy. These succeeded in securing four of them ; and from these slippery females the world was peopled. Like most savage nations, they had a tradition concerning the deluge, equally fanciful with the preceding. They said that there once lived in the island a mighty cacique, whose only son conspiring against him, he slew him. He afterwards preserved his bones in a gourd, as was the custom of the na- tives with the remains of their friends. On a sub- sequent day, the cacique and his wife opened the gourd to contemplate the bones of their son, when, to their surprise, several fish leaped out. Upon this the discreet cacique closed the gourd and placed it on the top of his hut, boasting that he had the sea shut up within it, and could have fish whenever he COLUMBUS, [1494. pleased. Four brothers, however, children of the same birth, and curious intermeddlers, hearing of this gourd, came during the absence of the cacique to peep into it. In their carelessness they suflPered it to fall upon the ground, where it was dashed to pieces; when, lo! to their astonishment and dis- may, there issued forth a mighty flood, with dol- phins and sharks, and tumbling porpoises, 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 suff'er him to die like the vulgar. Common people, in like situation, were extended in their hammocks, bread and water placed beside them, and they were then abandoned to die in solitude. Sometimes they were carried to the cacique, and if he permitted them the distinction, they were strangled. The body of the deceased was sometimes consumed with fire in his habitation ; sometimes the bones were retained, or the head, or a limb, and treasured up among the family reliques. After the death of a cacique, his body was opened, dried at a fire, and preserved. They had confused notions of the existence of the soul when separated from the body, and believed in apparitions of the deceased. They had an idea that the spirits of good men after death were reunited to the spirits of those they had most loved, and to those of their ancestors : they were transported to a happy region, generally supposed to be near a lake, 1494.3 OPINIONS OF THE NATIVES. 159 in the beautiful province of Xaragua, in the western part of the island. Here they lived in shady and blooming bowers, with lovely females, and ban- queted on delicious fruits. The dances to which the natives were so addicted -were not mere idle pastimes, but were often cere- monials of a religious and mystic nature. In these were typified their historical events and their pro- jected enterprises, whether of war or hunting. They were performed to the chant of certain metres and ballads handed down from generation to generation ; some of a sacred character, containing their notions of theology and their religious fables ; others heroic and historic, rehearsing the deeds of tlieir ancestors. These rhymes they called areytos, ,and sang them to the accompaniment of rude tim- brels made from the shells of certain fishes, or to .tlie sound of a drum made from a hollow tree. The natives appeared to the Spaniards to be ?an idle and improvident race, and indifferent to most of the objects of human anxiety and toil. They were impatient of all kinds of labour, scarcely giving themselves the trouble to cultivate the yuca root, the maize, and the sweet potato, which formed their main articles of food. They loitered away existence under the shade of their trees, or amusing themselves occasionally with their games •and dances. In fact, they were destitute of all powerful mo- tives to toil, being free from most of those wants which doom mankind, in civilised life, and in less I genial climes, to incessant labour. In the soft re- I gion of the vega, the circling seasons brought each i its store of fruits, and while some were gathered in I 160 COLUMBUS, [1494. full maturity, others were ripening on the boughs, and buds and blossoms gave promise of still suc- ceeding abundance. What need was there of gar- nering up and anxiously providing for coming days, to men who lived amid a perpetual harvest ? What need, too, of toilfully spinning or labouring at the loom, where a genial temperature prevailed through-- out the year, and neither nature nor custom pre- scribed the necessity of clothing. The hospitality which characterises men in such a simple and easy mode of existence was evinced towards Columbus and his followers, during their sojourn in the vega. Wherever they went it was a continual scene of festivity and rejoicing, and the natives hastened from all parts to lay the treasures of their groves, and streams, and mountains, at the feet of beings whom they still considered as de- scended from the skies, to bring blessings to their island. As we accompany Columbus, in imagination, on his return to the harbour, over the rocky height from whence the vega first broke upon the eye of the Spaniards, we cannot help pausing, to cast back a look of mingled pity and admiration over this beautiful but devoted region. The dream of na- tural liberty and ignorant content was as yet un- broken, but the fiat had gone forth ; the white man had penetrated into the land ; avarice, and pride, and ambition, and sordid care, and pining labour, were soon to follow, and the indolent paradise of the Indian was about to disappear for ever. 1494.] SICKNESS AT ISABELLA. 161 CHAPTER XXII. SICKNESS AND DISCONTENT AT THE SETTLEMENT OF ISABELLA ^PREPARATIONS OF COLUMBUS FOR A VOYAGE TO CUBA. [1494.] Columbus liad scatcely returned to the harbour, when a messenger arrived from Pedro Margarite, the commander at Fort St. Thomas, informing him that the Indians of the vicinity had abandoned their villages, and broken off all intercourse, and that he understood Caonabo was assembling his warriors to attack the fortress. From what the admiral had seen of the Indians in the interior, and the awe in which they stood of the white men and their horses, lie felt little apprehensions from their hostility, and contented himself with sending a reinforcement of twenty men to the fortress, and detaching thirty j more to open the road between it and the port, f What gave him most anxiety was the distress which t; continued to increase in the settlement. The heat i and humidity of the climate, which gave wonderful \\ fecundity to the soil, and rapid growth to all Eu- i: ropean vegetables, were fatal to the people. The i exhalations from undrained marshes, and a vast con- • tinuity of forest, and the action of the sun upon a reeking vegetable soil, produced intermittent fevers, : and those other violent maladies so trying to Eu- ropean constitutions in the uncultivated countries i of the tropics. The greater part of the colonists 162 COLUMBUS, [1494. were either confined by illness, or reduced to great debility. Tlie stock of medicines was exhausted, and European provisions began to fail, much having been spoiled and much wasted. To avert an abso- lute famine, it was necessary to put the people upon allowance ; this immediately caused loud murmurs, in which many in office, who ought to have sup- ported Columbus in his measures for the common safety, took a leading part. Among the number was Friar Boyle, who was irritated at finding that himself and his household were put on the same allowance with the rest of the community. It was necessary also to construct a mill imme- diately to grind the corn, as all the flour was ex- hausted. Most of the workmen, however, were ill, and Columbus was obliged to put every healthy person in requisition, not even excepting cavaliers and gentlemen of rank. As many of the latter re- fused to comply, he enforced their obedience by compulsory measures. This was another cause of the deep and lasting hostilities that sprang up against him. He was inveighed against, both by the cavaliers in the colony and their families in Spain, as an upstart foreigner, inflated with sudden authority, and who, in pursuit of his own profit and aggrandizement, trampled upon the dignity of Spanish gentlemen, and insulted the honour of the nation. The fate, in truth, of many of the young cavaliers who had come out in this expedition, deluded by romantic dreams, was lamentable in the extreme. Some of them, of noble and opulent connexions, had been brought up in ease and indulgence, and were little calculated to endure the hardships and 1494.] DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES. 165 privations jof a new settlement in the wilderness. When they fell ill, their case soon became incur- able. They suffered under the irritation of wounded pride, and the morbid melancholy of disappointed hope ; their sick bed was destitute of the tender care and soothing attention to which they had been accustomed, and they sank into the grave in all the sullenness of despair, cursing the day that they had left their country. So strong an effect had the un- timely and dreary death of these cavaliers upon the public mind that, many years afterwards, when the settlement of Isabella was abandoned, and had fallen to ruins, its deserted streets were said to be haunted by their spectres, walking about in ancient Spanish dresses, saluting the wayfarer in stately and mourn- ful silence, and vanishing on being accosted. Their melancholy story was insidiously made use of by the enemies of the admiral ; for it was said that they had been seduced from their homes by his delusive pro- mises, and sacrificed by him to his private interests. Columbus was desirous of departing on a voyage to explore the coast of Cuba, but it was indispen- sable, before sailing, to place the affairs of the island in such a state as to ensure tranquillity. For this purpose he determined to send all the men that could be spared from the concerns of the city, or the care of the sick, into the interior, where they could subsist among the natives, and become accustomed to their diet, while their force would overawe the machinations of Caonabo, or any other hostile cacique. A little army was accordingly mustered of two hundred and fifty cross-bow men, one hundred and ten arquebusiers, sixteen horse- men, and twenty officers. These were to be com- M 2 164 COLUMBUS. [1494. manded by Pedro Margarite, while Ojeda was to succeed him in the command of Fort St. Thomas. Columbus wrote a long and earnest letter of in- structions to Margarite, desiring him to make a military tour, and to explore the principal parts of the island ; but enjoining on him the strictest dis- cipline of his army, and the most vigilant care to protect the rights of the Indians, and cultivate their friendship. Ojeda set off at the head of the little army for the fortress ; on his way he learned that three Spaniards had been robbed of their effects by five Indians, at the ford of one of the rivers of the vega, and that the delinquents had been sheltered by their cacique, who had shared their booty. — Ojeda was a quick and impetuous soldier, whose ideas were all of a military kind. He seized one of the thieves, ordered his ears to be cut off in the public square of the village, and sent the cacique, with his son and nephew, in chains to the admiral, who, after terrifying them with preparations for a public execution, pretended to yield to the tears and entreaties of their friends, and set them at liberty. Having thus distributed his forces about the island, and taken measures for its tranquillity, Co- lumbus formed a junto for its government, of which his brother Don Diego was president, and Father Boyle, Pedro Fernandez Coronal, Alonzo Sanchez Caravajal, and Juan de Luxan, were counsellors. Leaving in the harbour two of his largest ships, which drew too much water to explore unknown coasts and rivers, he set sail on the 24th of April, with the Nina or Santa Clara, the San Juan, and the Cordera. 1494.] VOYAGE TO CUBA. 165 CHAPTER XXIII. CRUISE OF COLUMBUS ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST OF CUBA. [1494] The plan of the present expedition of Columbus was to revisit 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 trusted to ar- rive at Mangi, and Cathay, and other rich and com- mercial, though semi-barbarous countries, forming part of the territories of the Grand Khan, as de- scribed by Mandeville and Marco Polo. Having arrived, on the 29tli of April, at the eastern end of Cuba, to which in his preceding voyage he had given the name of Alpha and Omega, but which is now known as Cape May si, he sailed along the southern coast, touching once or twice in the harbours. The natives crowded to the shores, gazing with astonishment at the ships as they glided gently along at no great distance. They held up fruits and other provisions, to tempt the Spaniards to land ; while others came off in canoes, offering various refreshments, not in barter, but as free gifts. On inquiring of them for gold, they 166 COLUMBUS. [1404. uniformly pointed to the south, intimating that a great island lay in that direction, where it was to be found in abundance. On tlie 3d of May, there- fore, Columbus turned his prow directly south, and abandoning the coast of Cuba for a time, steered in quest of this reported island. He had not sailed many leagues before the blue summits of Jamaica began to rise above the horizon. It was two days and a night, however, before he reached it, filled with admiration, as he gradually drew near, at its vast extent, the beauty of its mountains, the ma- jesty of its forests, and the great number of villages which animated the whole face of the country. He coasted the island from about the centre to a port at the western end, which he called the gulf of Buentiempo. He found the natives more inge- nious as well as more warlike than those of Cuba and Hayti. Their canoes were constructed with more art, and ornamented at the bow and stern with carving and painting. Many were of great size, though formed of the hollow trunks of single trees, often a species of the mahogany, Columbus measured one which proved to be ninety- six feet long and eight broad ; it was hollowed out of one of those magnificent trees which rise like verdant towers amidst the rich forests of the tropics. Every cacique possessed a large canoe of the kind, which he seemed to regard as his galley of state. The Spaniards were at first treated with hostility, and were compelled to skirmish with the natives, but a friendly intercourse succeeded. Columbus being disappointed in his hopes finding gold in Jamaica, and the breeze being fai for Cuba, he determined to return thither. Ju 1494.] VOYAGE TO CUBA. 167 as he was about to sail, a young Indian came off to the ship, and begged that the Spaniards would take him with them to their country. He was followed by his relatives and friends, supplicating him to abandon his purpose. For some time he was dis- tracted between concern for their distress, and an ardent desire to see the home of the wonderful strangers. Curiosity, and the youthful propensity to rove, at length prevailed ; he tore himself from the embraces of his friends, and took refuge in a secret part of the ship, from the tears and entreaties of his sisters. Touched by this scene of natural affection, and pleased with the confiding spirit of the youth, Columbus ordered that he should be treated with especial kindness. It would have been interesting to have known something more of this curious savage, and of the effect which the first sight of the land of the white men had upon his mind : whether it equalled his hopes ; or whether, as is usual with savages, he pined amidst the splendours of cities, for his native forests ; and whether he ever returned to the arms of his family. The Spanish voyagers, however, were indifferent to these matters : no further men- tion is made in their narratives of this youthful ad- venturer. Having steered again for Cuba, Columbus, on the 18th of May, arrived at a great cape, to which he gave the name of Cabo de la Cruz, which it still retains. Coasting to the west he soon got entangled in a complete labyrinth of small islands and keys ; some of them were low, naked, and sandy, others covered with verdure, and others tufted with lofty and beautiful forests. To this 168 COLUMBUS. [1494 archipelago, which extended as far as the eye could reach, and, in a manner, enamelled the face of the ocean with variegated verdure, he gave the name of the Queen's Garden. He persuaded himself that these were the islands mentioned by Sir John Mandeville, and Marco Polo, as fringing the coast of Asia ; if so, he must soon arrive at the dominions of the Grand Khan. There was much in the character of the scenery to favour the idea. As the ships glided along the smooth and glassy channels which separated the islands, the magnificence of their vegetation, the soft odours wafted from flowers, and blossoms, and aromatic shrubs, the splendid plumage of scarlet cranes, flamingoes, and other tropical birds, and the gaudy clouds of butterflies, all resembled what is described of oriental climes. Emerging from the labyrinth of the Queen's Garden, Columbus pursued his voyage with a pros- perous breeze along that part of the southern side of Cuba, where, for nearly thirty- five leagues, the navigation is free from banks and islands ; to his left was the broad and open sea, whose dark-blue colour gave token of ample depth; to his right ex- tended a richly- wooded country, called Ornofay, with noble mountains, frequent streams, and nume- rous villages. The appearance of the ships spread wonder and joy along the coast. The natives came off swimming, or in canoes, to offbr fruits and other presents. 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 1494.] VOYAGE TO CUBA. 169 their national chants and dances, the arrival of these wonderful strangers on their coasts. Animated by the delusions of his fancy, Columbus continued to follow up this supposed continent of Asia ; plunging into another wilderness of keys and islets towards the western end of Cuba, and exploring that perplexed and lonely coast, whose intricate channels are seldom visited, even at the present day, except by the lurking bark of the smuggler and the pirate. In this navigation he had to contend with almost incredible difficulties and perils ; his vessels having to be warped through narrow and shallow passages, where they frequently ran aground. He was en- couraged to proceed by information which he re- ceived, or fancied he received, from the natives, concerning a country farther on, called Mangon, where the people wore clothing, and which he sup- posed must be Mangi, the rich Asiatic province described by Marco Polo. He also understood from them, that among the mountains 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, and never spoke, but communi- cated his orders to his subjects by signs. In all this we see the busy imagination of Columbus in- terpreting the imperfectly understood communica- tions of the Indians, into unison with his precon- ceived ideas. This fancied king, with a saintly title, was probably conjured up in his mind by some descriptions which he thought accorded with what he had read of that mysterious potentate Prester J ohn, who had long figured, sometimes as a monarch,. 170 COLIJMBUS. [1494. sometimes as a priest, in the narrations of all eastern travellers. His crews seem to have partaken of his delusion. One day a party being sent on shore for wood and water, while they were employed in* cutting wood and filling their water casks, an archer strayed into the forest, with his crossbow, in search of game, but soon returned, flying in breathless terror. He declared that he had seen through an opening glade a man dressed in long white robes, followed by two others in white tunics, reaching to their knees, and that they had com- plexions as fair as Europeans. Columbus was rejoiced at this intelligence, hoping that he had found the clothed inhabitants of Man- gon. Two parties were despatched, well armed, in quest of these people in white : the first returned unsuccessful; the other brought word of having tracked the footprints of some large animal with claws, supposed by them to have been either a lion or a griffin ; but which most probably was an alli- gator. Dismayed at the sight, they hastened back to the sea side. As no tribe of Indians wearing clothing was ever discovered in Cuba, it is pro- bable the men in white were nothing else than a flock of cranes, seen by the wandering archer. These birds, like the flamingoes, feed in company, with one stationed at a distance as a sentinel. When seen through an opening of the woodlands, standing in rows in a shallow glassy pool, their height and erectness give them, at first glance, the semblance of human figures. 1494.1 RETURiVS FROM CUBA. 171 CHAPTER XXIV. RETURN VOYAGE. [1494.] Columbus now hoped, by continuing on, to arrive ultimately at tlie Aura Chersonesus of the ancients ; doubling which he might make his way to the Red Sea, thence to Joppa, and so by the Mediterranean to Spain ; or might circumnavigate Africa, pass tri- umphantly by the Portuguese as they were groping along the coast 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. But, though his fellow voyagers shared his opinion that they were coasting the con- tinent of Asia, they were far from sharing his en- thusiasm, and shrunk from the increasing perils of the voyage. The ships were strained and crazed by frequently running aground. The cables and rigging were much worn, the provisions nearly ex- hausted, and the crews worn out and disheartened by incessant labour. The admiral, therefore, was finally persuaded to abandon all further prosecution I of the voyage ; but, before he turned back, he obhged the whole of the officers and seamen to sign a deposition, declaring their perfect conviction that Cuba was a contment, the beginning and the end 172 COLUMBUS. [14^4. of India. Tliis singular instrument was signed near that deep bay called by some the bay of Phi- lipina, by others, of Cortes. At this very time, a ship-boy from the mast-head might have overlooked the group of islands to the south, and have beheld the open sea beyond. Had Columbus continued on for two or three days longer, he would have passed round the extremity of Cuba ; his illusion would have been dispelled, and an entirely different course might have been given to his subsequent discoveries. Returning now towards the east, the crews suf- fered excessively from fatigue, and a scarcity of provisions. At length, on the 7th of July, they anchored at the mouth of a fine river, in a genial and abundant country, which they had previously visited, as they had come down along the coast. Here the natives brought them provisions of various kinds. It was a custom with Columbus to erect crosses in all remarkable places, to denote the dis- covery of the country, and its subjugation to the true faith. This was done on the banks of this river, on a Sunday morning, with great ceremony. Columbus was attended by the cacique, and by his principal favourite, a venerable Indian, fourscore years of age. While mass was performed in a stately grove, the natives looked on with awe and reverence. When it was ended, the old man of fourscore made a speech to Columbus in the Indian manner. ' I am told,' said he, ' that thou hast lately come to these lands with a mighty force, and hast subdued many countries, spreading great fear among the people ; but be not therefore vain -glo- rious. Know that, according to our belief, the souls of men have two journeys to perform after they have 2494] COASTING OF JAMAICA. 173 departed from tlie body ; one to a place dismal, foul, and covered with darkness, prepared for such as have been unjust and cruel to their fellow-men ; the other full of dehght, for such as have promoted peace on earth. If, then, thou art mortal, and dost expect to die, beware that thou hurt no man wrongfully, neither do harm to those who have done no harm to thee.' When this speech was explained to Columbus by his interpreter, he was greatly moved by the simple eloquence of this untutored savage, and rejoiced to hear his doctrine of the future state of the soul, having supposed that no belief of the kind existed among the inhabitants of these countries. He as- sured the old man that he had been sent by his sovereigns to teach them the true religion, to pro- tect them from harm, and to subdue their enemies the Caribs. The venerable Indian was exceedingly astonished to learn that the admiral, whom he had considered so great and powerful, was yet but a subject ; and when he was told, by the interpreter who had been in Spain, of the grandeur of the Spanish Monarchs, and of the wonders of their kingdom, a sudden desire seized him to embark with the admiral, and accompany him to see this wonderful country, and it was with difficulty the tears and remonstrances of his wife and children could dissuade him from his purpose. After leaving this river, to which, from the so- lemn mass performed on its banks, Columbus gave the name of Rio de la Misa, he continued on to Cape Cruz, and then stood over to Jamaica, to complete the circumnavigation of that island. For nearly a month he continued beating to the east- I 174 COLUMBUS. [1494. ward, along its southern coast, coming to anchor every evening under the land, and making but slow progress. Anchoring one evening in a great bay, he was visited by a cacique with a numerous train, who remained until a late hour conversing with the Lucayan interpreter, who had been in Spain, about the Spaniards and their country, and their prowess in vanquishing the Caribs. On the following morning, when the ships were under weigh, they beheld three canoes issuing from among the islands of the bay. The centre one was large, and handsomely carved and painted. In it were seated the cacique and his family, consisting pf two daughters, young and beautiful, two sons, and five brothers. They were all arrayed in iheiv, jewels, and attended by the officers of the chieftain, decorated with plumes and mantles of variegated feathers. The standard-bearer stood in the prow with a fluttering white banner, while other Indians^ fancifully painted, beat upon tabors, or sounded trumpets of fine black wood, ingeniously carved. The cacique, entering on board of the ship, distri- buted presents among the crew, and approaching the admiral, ' I have heard,' said he, ' of the irre- sistible power of thy sovereigns, and of the many nations thou hast subdued in their name. Thou hast destroyed the dwellings of the Caribs, slaying their warriors, and carrying their wives and children into captivity. 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 render ho- 1494.-] COASTING OF JAMAICA. 175 mage to thy king and queen, and behold thy coun- try, of which I hear such wonders.' When this speech was interpreted to Columbus, and he beheld the wife, the sons and daughters of the cacique, and considered to what ills they would be exposed, he was touched with compassion, and determined not to take them from their native land. He received the cacique under his protection, as a vassal of his sovereigns, but informed him that he had many lands yet to visit before he should return to his own country. He dismissed him, therefore, for the present, promising that at some future time he would gratify his wishes. On the 19th of August, Columbus lost sight of the eastern extremity of Jamaica, and on the fol- lowing day made that long peninsula of Hayti, since called Cape Tiburon, but to which he gave the name of San Miguel. He coasted the whole of the southern side of the island, and had to take reftige in the channel of Saona, from a violent storm which raged for several days, during which time he suf- fered great anxiety for the fate of the other vessels, which remained at sea, exposed to the fury of the tempest. Being rejoined by them, and the weather having moderated, he set sail eastward with the in- tention of completing the discovery of the Caribbee islands, but his physical strength did not correspond to the efforts of his spirit. The extraordinary fatigues which he had suffered both in mind and body, during this harassing voyage, which had lasted for five months, had secretly preyed upon his health. He had shared in all the hardships and privations of the common seamen, and he had cares and trials from which they were exempt. When the sailor, worn COLUMBUS. [1494. out with the labours of his watch, slept soundly, in spite of the howling of the storms, the anxious commander maintained his painful vigil, through long sleepless nights, amidst the pelting of the tempest and the drenching surges of the sea, for the safety of his ships depended upon his watchful- ness. During a great part of the voyage he had been excited by the hope of soon arriving at the known parts of India ; he was afterwards stimulated by a conflict with hardships and perils, as he made his way back against contrary winds and currents. The moment he was relieved from all solicitude, and found himself in a tranquil sea, which he had already explored, the excitement suddenly ceased, and mind and body sunk exhausted by almost su- perhuman exertions. He fell into a deep lethargy resembling death itself. His crew feared that death was really at hand. They abandoned, there- fore, all farther prosecution of the voyage, and spreading their sails to a favourable breeze from the east, bore Colubus back, in a state of complete insensibility, to the harbour of Isabella. 1494.] BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS. 177 CHAPTER XXV, EVENTS IN THE ISLAND OF HISPANIOT.A INSURRECTION OF THE NATIVES EXPEDITION OF ODEJA AGAINST CAONABO. [1494.] A JOYFUL and heartfelt surprise awaited Columbus on his arrival, in findings at his bedside, his brother Bartholomew, the companion of his youth, his zea- lous 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 for Portugal, he commissioned Bartholomew to repair to England, and offer his project of discovery to Henry VII. Various cir- cumstances occurred to delay this application. There is reason to believe that, in the interim, he accom- panied BartholomewDiaz in that celebrated voyage, in the course of which the Cape of Good Hope was discovered. On his way to England, also, Bartho- lomew Columbus was captured by a corsair, and re- duced to extreme poverty. It is but justice to the memory of Henry VII. to say, that when, after a lapse of several years, the proposition was eventually made to him, it met with a more prompt attention than it had received from any other sovereign. An agreement was actually made with Bartholomew for the prosecution of the enterprise, and the latter departed for Spain in search of his brother. Oa N 171 COLUMBUS. [1494i reacliing Paris, he received intelligence that the dis- covery was already made, and that his brother was actually at the Spanish court, enjoying his triumph, and preparing to sail on a second expedition. He hastened to rejoin him, and was furnished by the French monarch, Charles VIIL, with a hundred crowns to defray the expenses of the journey. He reached Seville just as his brother had sailed ; but being an accomplished navigator, the sovereigns gave him the command of three ships, freighted with supplies for the colony, and sent him to aid his brother in his enterprizes. He again arrived too late, reaching the settlement of Isabella just after the departure of the admiral for the coast of Cuba. The sight of this brother was an inexpressible re- lief to Columbus, disabled as he was by sickness, overwhelmed with cares, and surrounded by stran- gers. His chief dependence had hitherto been upon his brother Don Diego ; but the latter was of a mild and peaceable disposition, with an inclination for a clerical life, and was but little fitted to manage the affairs of a factious colony. Bartholomew was of a different and more efficient character. He was prompt, active, decided, and of a fearless spirit ; whatever he determined he carried into instant ex- ecution, without regard to difficulty or danger. His person corresponded to his mind ; it was tall, mus- cular, vigorous and commanding. He had an air of great authority, but somewhat stern, wanting that sweetness and benignity which tempered the authoritative demeanour of the admiral. Indeed, there was a certain asperity in his temper, and a dryness and abruptness in his manners, which made him many enemies ; yet, notwithstanding these ex- 1494.] BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS. 179 ternal defects, he was of a generous disposition, free from arrogance or malevolence, and as placable as he was brave. He was a thorough seaman, both in theory and practice, having been formed, in a great measure, under the eye of the admiral, to whom he was but little inferior in science. 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 observation, aided by the studies of maturer years. Equally vigorous and penetrating in intellect with the admiral, but less enthusiastic in spirit and soaring in imagination, and with less simplicity of heart, he surpassed him in the adroit management of business, was more attentive to pecuniary interests, and had more of that worldly wisdom which is so important in the ordinary concerns of life. His genius might never have excited him to the sublime speculation which led to the discovery of a world, but his practical sagacity was calculated to turn that discovery to more advantage. Anxious to relieve himself from the pressure of public business, during his present malady, Colum- bus immediately invested his brother with the title and authority of Adelantado, an office equivalent to that of lieutenant-governor. He felt the importance of his assistance in the present critical state of the colony ; for, during the few months that he had been absent, the whole island had become a scene of violence and discord. A brief retrospect is here necessary to explain the cause of this confusion. Pedro Margarite, to whom Columbus, on his N 2 180 COLUMBUS, departure, had given orders to make a military tour of the island, set forth on his expedition with the greater part of the forces, leaving Alonzo de Ojeda in command of Fort St. Thomas. Instead, however, of proceeding on his tour,Margarite lingered among the populous and hospitable villages of the vega, where he and his soldiery, by their licentious and oppressive conduct, soon roused the indignation and hatred of the natives. Tidings of their excesses reached Don Diego Columbus, who, with the con- currence of the council, wrote to Margarite, repre- hending his conduct, and ordering him to depart on his tour. Margarite replied in a haughty and arro- gant tone, pretending to consider himself indepen- dent in his command, and above all responsibility to Don Diego, or his council. He was supported in his tone of defiance by a kind of aristocratical party composed of the idle cavaliers of the colony, who had been deeply wounded in the pundonor, the proud punctilio so jealously guarded by a Spaniard, and affected to look down with contempt upon the newly coined nobility of Don Diego, and to consider Columbus and his brothers mere mercenary and upstart foreigners. In addition to these partisans Margarite had a powerful ally in his fellow-country- man. Friar Boyle, the apostolical vicar for the new world ; an intriguing man, who had conceived a vio- lent hostility against the admiral, and had become disgusted with his mission to the wilderness. A cabal was soon formed of most of those who were disaffected to the admiral, and discontented with I their abode in the colony. Margarite and Friar Boyle acted as if possessed of paramount authority; and, without consulting Don Diego or the council. 1494.] TROUBLES WITH THE NATIVES. 181 took possession of certain ships in the harbour, and set sail for Spain, with their adherents. They were both favourites of the king, and deemed it would be an easy matter to justify their abandonment of their military and religious commands, by a pre- tended zeal for the public good, and a desire to represent to the sovereigns the disastrous state of the colony, and the tyranny and oppression of Co- lumbus and his brothers. Thus the first general and apostle of the new world set the flagrant ex- ample of unauthorised abandonment of their posts. The departure of Margarite left the army with^ out a head ; the soldiers now roved about in bands, or singly, according to their caprice, indulging in all kinds of excesses. The natives, indignant at having their hospitality thus requited, refused any longer to furnish them with food ; the Spaniards, therefore, seized upon provisions wherever they could be found, committing, at the same time, many acts of wanton violence. At length the Indians were roused to resentment, and, from confiding I and hospitable hosts, were converted into vindictive enemies. They slew the Spaniards wherever they could surprise them singly or in small parties ; and Guatiguana, cacique of a large town on the Grand River, put to death ten soldiers who were quartered in his town, set fire to a house in which forty sick Spaniards were lodged, and even held a small for- tress called Magdalena, recently built in the vega, in a state of siege, insomuch, that the commander had to shut himself up within his walls, until relief should arrive from the settlement. The most formidable enemy of the Spaniards was Caonabo, the Carib cacique of the mountains. He 182 COLUMBUS. [1494 had natural talents for war, great sagacity, a proud and daring spirit to urge him on, three valiant brothers to assist him, and a numerous tribe at his command. He had been enraged at seeing the fortress of St. Thomas erected in the very centre of his dominions ; and finding by his spies that the garrison was reduced to but fifty men, and the army of Margarite dismembered, he thought the time had arrived to strike a signal blow, and to repeat the horrors wliich 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 deserves particular no- tice as a specimen of the singular character which arose among the Spanish discoverers. He had been schooled in Moorish warfare, and of course versed in all kinds of military stratagems. Naturally of a rash and fiery spirit, his courage was heightened by superstition. Having never received a wound in his numerous quarrels and encounters, he considered himself under the special protection of the holy Virgin, and that no weapon had power to harm him. He had a small Flemish painting of the Virgin, which he carried constantly with him ; in his marches he bore it in his knapsack, and would often take it out, fix it against a tree, and address his prayers to his military patroness. In a word, he swore by the Virgin ; he invoked the Virgin either in brawl or battle ; and under favour of the Virgin he was ready for any enterprise or adventure. Such was Alonzo de Ojeda, bigoted in devotion, reck- less in life, fearless in spirit, like many of the rov- ing Spanish cavaliers of tbose days. 1494.] O JED A BESIEGED BY CAONABO. 183 Having reconnoitred the fortress of St. Thomas, Caonabo assembled ten thousand warriors, armed with war clubs, bows and arrows, and lances hard- ened in the fire, and led them secretly through the forests, thinking to surprise Ojeda; but he found him warily drawn up within his fortress, which was built upon a hill, and nearly surrounded by a river. Caonabo then held the fortress in siege for thirty days, and reduced it to great distress. He lost many of his bravest warriors, however, by the impetuous sallies of Ojeda ; others grew weary of the siege and returned home. He at length relinquished the attempt, and retired, filled with admiration of the prowess of Ojeda. The restless chieftain now endeavoured to form a league of the principal caciques of the island to unite their forces, surprise the settlement of Isabella, and massacre the Spaniards wherever they could be found. To explain this combination, it is necessary to state the internal distribution of the island. It was divided into five domains, each governed by a sovereign cacique of absolute and hereditary powers, having many inferior caciques tributary to him. The most important domain comprised the middle part of the royal vega, and was governed by Gua- rionex. The second was Marion, under the sway of Guacanagari, on whose coast Columbus had been wrecked. The third was Maguana, which included the gold mines of Cibao, and was under the sway of Caonabo. The fourth was Xaragua, at the western end of the island, the most populous and extensive of all. The sovereign was named Behechio. The fifth domain was Higuey, and occupied the whole eastern part of the island, but had not as yet been 184 COLUMBUS. [1494. visited by the Spaniards. The name of the cacique was Cotabanama. Three of these sovereign caciques readily entered into the league with Caonabo, for the profligate conduct of the Spaniards had inspired hostility even in remote parts of the island, which had never been visited by them. The league, however, met with unexpected opposition from the fifth cacique, Gua- canagari. He not merely refused to join the con- spiracy, but entertained a hundred Spaniards in his territory, supplying all their wants with his accus- tomed generosity. This drew upon him the odium and hostility of his fellow-caciques, who inflicted on him various injuries and indignities. Behechio killed one of his wives, and Caonabo carried another away captive. Nothing, however, could shake the devotion of Guacanagari to the Spaniards ; and as his dominions lay immediately adjacent to the settlement, his refusal to join in the conspiracy prevented it from being immediately carried into eflect. Such was the critical state to which the affairs of the island had been reduced, and such the bitter hostility engendered among its kind and gentle in- habitants, during the absence of Columbus. Imme- diately on his return, and while he was yet confined to his bed, Guacanagari visited him, and revealed to him all the designs of the confederate caciques, offering to lead his subjects to the field, and to fight by the side of the Spaniards. 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 amicable intercourse was renewed, and the 1494.] CAONABO. 185 cliieftain ever continued to evince an affectionate reverence for the admiral. Columbus considered the confederacy of the ca- ciques as but imperfectly formed, and trusted that, from their want of skill and experience in warfare, their plans might easily be disconcerted. He was too ill to take the field in person, his brother Diego was not of a military character, and Bartholomew was yet a stranger among the Spaniards, and re- garded with jealousy. He determined, therefore, to proceed against the Indians in detail, attacking some, conciliating others, and securing certain of the most formidable by stratagem. A small force was accordingly sent to relieve Fort Magdalena, which was beleaguered by Guatiguana, the cacique of the Grand River, who had massacred the Spaniards quartered in his town. He was driven from before the fortress, his country laid waste, and many of his warriors slain, but the chieftain made his escape. As he was tributary to Guarionex, the sovereign of the royal vega, care was taken to explain to that powerful cacique, that this was an act of mere individual punishment, not of general hostility. Guarionex was of a quiet and placable disposition ; he was easily soothed and won to friendship ; and, to link him in some degree to the Spanish interest, Columbus prevailed upon him to give his daughter in marriage to the converted Lucayan, who had been baptized in Spain by the name of Diego Colon, and who was devoted to the admiral. He gained permission from him also to erect a fortress in the midst of his territories, which he named Fort Conception. The most formidable enemy remained to be dis- m COLUMBUS. [1494. posed of, whicli was Caonabo : to make war upon this fierce and subtle chieftain in the depths of his wild woodland territory, and among the fast- nesses of his mountains, would have been a work of time, peril, and uncertain issue. In the mean* while, the settlements would never be safe from his secret combinations and daring enterprises, nor eould the mines be worked with security, as they lay in his neighbourhood. While perplexed on this subject, Columbus was relieved by a proposition of Alonzo de Ojeda, who undertook to bring the Carib chieftain either a friend or captive to the settlement. - Choosing ten bold and hardy followers, well armed and well mounted, and invoking the protec- tion of his patroness the Virgin, Ojeda plunged into the forest, and making his way above sixty leagues into the wild territories of Caonabo, ap- peared fearlessly before the cacique in one of his most populous towns, professing to come on an amicable embassy from the admiral. He was well received by Caonabo, who had tried him in battle, and had conceived a warrior's admiration of him*. The free, dauntless deportment, great personal strength and agility, and surprising adroitness of Ojeda in all manly and warlike exercises, were cal- culated to charm a savage, and soon made him a favourite with Caonabo. He used all his influence to prevail upon the cacique to repair to Isabella, and enter into a treaty with Columbus, ofl'ering him, it is said, as an inducement, the bell of th6 chapel at the harbour. This bell was the wonder of the island. When its melody sounded through the forests, as it rung for mass, the Indians had 1494.] CAONABO SURPRISED. 187 noticed that the Spaniards hastened from all parts to the chapel. At other times, when it gave the vesper-peal, they beheld the Spaniards pause in the midst of their labours or amusements, and, taking off their hats, repeat a prayer with great devotion. They imagined, therefore, that this bell had some mysterious power ; that it had come from ' Turey,' or the skies, and was the zemi of the white men ; that it talked to them, and they obeyed its orders. Caonabo had longed to see this bell, and when it was proffered to him as a present of peace, he found it impossible to resist the temptation. He agreed to visit the admiral at the harbour ; but when the time came to depart, Ojeda beheld with surprise a powerful army ready to march. He remonstrated on taking such a force on a mere friendly visit, to which the cacique proudly replied, ' that it was not befitting a great prince like him to go forth scantily guarded.' Ojeda feared somft sinister design, and, to outwit the cacique, had resort to a stratagem which has the air of a romantic fable, but is recorded by all the cotemporary historians, and accords with the adventurous and extravagant character of the man, and the wild stratagems inci- dent to Indian warfare. As the army had halted one day near the river Yegua, Ojeda produced a set of manacles of polished steel, so highly burnished that they looked like silver. These he assured Caonabo were ornaments worn by the Castilian monarchs on high festivities, and were sent as a present to him. He proposed that Caonabo should bathe in the river, after which he should be decorated with these ornaments, mounted on the horse of Ojeda, and conducted back 188 COLUMBUS. [1494. in the state of a Spanish monarch to astonish his subjects. The cacique was dazzled with the splen- dour of the shackles, and pleased with the idea of bestriding one of those tremendous animals so dreaded by his countrymen. He bathed in the^ river, mounted behind Ojeda, and the shackles were adjusted. The Spaniards then pranced among the astonished savages, and made a wide sweep into the forest, until the trees concealed them from sight. They then drew their swords, closed round Caonabo, and threatened him with instant death, if he made the least noise or resistance. They bound him with cords to Ojeda, to prevent his falling or effecting an escape ; then putting spurs to their horses, they dashed across the Yegua, ^ made off through the woods with their prize, and, after a long, rugged, and perilous journey, entered Isabella in triumph ; Ojeda bringing the wild In- dian chieftain bound behind him a captive. Columbus could not refrain from expressing his great satisfaction when this dangerous foe was de- livered into his hands. The haughty Carib met him with a lofty and unsubdued air, disdaining to conciliate him by submission, or to deprecate his vengeance for his massacre of the garrison of La Navidad. He even boasted that he had secretly reconnoitred Isabella, with the design of wreaking on it the same destruction. He never evinced the least animosity against Ojeda for the artifice by which he had been captured. He looked upon it as the exploit of a master spirit, to pounce upon him, and bear him off in this hawk-like manner, from the very midst of his fighting men, for there is nothing that an Indian more admires in warfare 1 1494] CAONABO SURPRISED. 189 than a deep-laid and well-executed stratagem. Whenever Columbus entered the prison of Ca- onabo, all present rose according to custom, and paid him reverence. The cacique alone remained sitting. On the contrary, when Ojeda entered, though small in person, and without external state, Caonabo immediately rose, and saluted him with profound respect. On being asked the reason of this, the proud Carib replied, that the admiral had never dared to come personally to his dominions and capture him ; it was only through the valour of Ojeda he was his prisoner ; to the latter alone> therefore, he should pay reverence. Columbus, though struck with the natural he- roism of this savage, considered him too dangerous an enemy to be left at large. He maintained him, therefore, a close prisoner in a part of his own dwelling, until he could be shipped to Spain, but treated him with great kindness and respect. One of the brothers of the cacique assembled an army in hopes of surprising the fortress of St. Thomas, and capturing a number of Spaniards, for whom he might obtain Caonabo in exchange ; but Ojeda re- ceived intelligence of his design, and, coming upon him suddenly, attacked him with his little troop of horse, routed his army, killed many of his war- riors, and took him prisoner. 190 COLUMBUS. [1494. CHAPTER XXVI. BATTLE OF THE VEGA. IMPOSITION OF TRIBUTE. [1494.] The arrival of four ships about this time, com- manded by Antonio Torres, bringing out a phy- sician and apothecary, various mechanics, millers, and husbandmen, and an ample supply of provisions, diffused universal joy among the suffering Spaniards. Columbus received a highly flattering letter from the sovereigns, approving of all that he had done, informing him that all differences with Portugal had been amicably adjusted, and inviting him to return to Spain, or to send some able person in his place, furnished with maps and charts, to be pre- sent at a convention for adjusting the dividing line of discovery between the two powers. Columbus hastened the return of the ships, sending his brother Diego to attend the convention, and to counteract the misrepresentations which he was aware had been sent home of his conduct, and which would be en- forced by Margarite and Friar Boyle. He remitted, by the ships, all the gold he could collect, with specimens of fruits and valuable plants, and five hundred Indian captives, to be sold as slaves in Seville. It is painful to find the glory of Columbus sullied by such violations of the laws of humanity, but the customs of the times must plead his apology. 1494.] BATTLE OF THE VEGA. j[9l In the recent discoveries along the coast of Africa, the traffic in slaves had formed one of the greatest sources of profit ; and in the wars with the en- lightened and highly civilised Moors of Granada, the Spaniards were accustomed to make slaves of their prisoners. Columhus was goaded on, likewise, by the misrepresentations of his enemies, to try every means of indemnifying the sovereigns for the expenses of his enterprises, and to produce them a revenue from the countries he had discovered. , The admiral had now recovered his health, and the colonists were in some degree refreshed and invigorated by the supplies brought by the ships, when Guacanagari brought intelligence that the allied caciques, headed by Manicaotex, brother and successor to Caonabo, had assembled all their forces in the vega, within two days' march of Isabella, with an intention of making a grand assault upon the settlement. Columbus immediately determined to carry the war into the territories of the enemy, rather than wait for it to be brought to his door. The whole sound and effective force he could muster, in the present sickly state of the colony, did not exceed two hundred infantry and twenty horse. There were twenty blood-hounds also, ani- mals scarcely less terrible to the Indians than the horses, and infinitely more destructive. Guacana- gari, also, brought his people into the field, but both he and his subjects were of an un warlike character ; the chief advantage of his co-operation was, that it completely severed him from his fellow I caciques, and secured him as an ally. \ It was on the 27th of March, 1495, that Co- lumbus issued forth from Isabella with his little 192 COLUMBUS. [14^. army, accompanied by his brother, the Adelantado, and advancing by rapid marches, arrived in the neighbourhood of the enemy, who were assembled in the vega, near to where the town of Santiago has since been built. The Indians were confident in their number, which is said to have amounted to one hundred thousand ; this is evidently an ex- aggeration, but the number was undoubtedly very great. The Adelantado arranged the mode of attack. The infantry, divided into small detach- ments, advanced suddenly from various quarters, with great din of drums and trumpets, and a de- structive discharge of fire-arms. The Indians were struck with panic. An army seemed pressing upon them from every quarter. Many were slain by the balls of the arquebuses, which seemed to burst with thunder and lightning from the forests. In the height of their confusion, Alonzo de Ojeda charged impetuously on their main body with his cavalry, bearing down and trampling them under foot, and dealing deadly blows with lance and sword. The blood-hounds were, at the same time, let loose, and rushed upon the naked savages, seizing them by the throat, dragging them to the earth, and tearing out their bowels. The battle, if such it might be called, was of short duration. The Indians, over- whelmed, fled in every direction, with yells and bowlings. Some clambered to the tops of rocks and precipices, from whence they made piteous supplications and promises of submission. Many were slain, many made prisoners, and the confer deracy was, for the time, completely broken up. Guacanagari had accompanied the Spaniards into the field, but he was little more than a spectator of 14%.] SUBJUGATION OF THE NATIVES. 193 the battle. His participation in the hostilities of the white men, however, was never forgiven by the other caciques ; and he returned to his do- minions, followed by the hatred and execrations of his countrymen. Columbus followed up his victory by making a military tour through various parts of the island, which were soon reduced to subjection. He then exercised what he considered the right of a con- queror, and imposed tributes on the vanquished provinces. In those which possessed mines, each individual, above the age of fourteen years, was obUged to render, every three months, the measure of a Flemish hawk's-bell of gold dust*. The caciques had to pay a much larger amount for their personal tribute. Manicaotex, the brother of Caonabo, rendered in, every three months, half a calabash of gold. In those provinces which pro- duced no gold, each individual was obliged to furnish twenty- five pounds of cotton every three months. A copper medal, suspended about the neck, was a proof that an Indian had paid his tribute; any one found without such certificate, was liable to arrest and punishment. Various fortresses were erected in the most important places, so as to keep the Indians in complete sub- jection. In this way the yoke of servitude was fixed upon the island, and its thraldom completely insured. Deep despair now fell upon the natives, for they found a perpetual task inflicted upon them, enforced at stated and frequently recurring periods. Weak * Equal in value to fifteen dollars of the present time, O 194 COLUMBUS. [1495. and indolent by nature, and brouglit up in the untasked idleness of their soft climate, and their 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 prospect of return to that roving independence and ample leisure, so dear to the wild inhabitant 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 noon- tide 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 sum- moned to their simple amusements by the rude Indian drum. Or, if they occasionally indulged in a national dance, after a day of painful toil, the ballads to which they kept time were of a melan- choly and plaintive character. They spoke of the ^ times that were past, before the white men had introduced sorrow, and slavery, and weary labour among them ; and they rehearsed prophecies pre- tended to be handed down from their ancestors, foretelling that strangers should come into their island, clothed in apparel, with swords capable of cleaving a man asunder at a blow, under whose yoke their race should be subdued and pass away, , 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 soon waft them back to their home in the sky. In their simplicity, they had repeatedly in- 1495.] FATE OF GUACANAGARI. 195 quired of the Spaniards when they intended to return to Turey, or the heavens. All such hope was now at an end ; and, finding how vain waB every attempt to deliver themselves from their in- vaders by warlike means, they now resorted to a forlorn and desperate alternative. Knowing that the Spaniards depended, in a great measure, for subsistence on the supphes which they furnished them, they endeavoured to produce a famine. For this purpose, tPiey destroyed their fields of maize, stripped the trees of their fruit, pulled up the yuca and other roots, and then fled to the mountains. The Spaniards were indeed reduced to much distress, but were partially relieved by supplies from Spain. They pursued the natives to their mountain retreats, hunting them from one dreary fastness to another, until thousands perished in dens and caverns of famine and sickness, and the sur- vivors, yielding themselves up in despair, submitted humbly to the yoke. So deep an awe did they con- ceive 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 Guacanagari, as he makes no further appearance in the course of I this history. His friendship for the Spaniards severed him from his countrymen, but it did not exonerate him from the general woes of the island. At a time when Columbus was absent, the Spa- niards exacted a tribute from him, which his people, with the common repugnance to labour, found it difficult and distressing to pay. Unable o 2 196 COLUMBUS. [1495. to bear the murmurs of his subjects, the hostilities of his fellow caciques, the extortions of his un- grateful allies, and the sight of the various miseries which he felt as if he had invoked upon his race, he retired to the mountains, where it is said he died obscurely and in misery. An attempt has been made by a Spanish historian to defame the character of this Indian prince ; but it is not for Spaniards to excuse their own ingra- titude by casting a stigma upon his name. He appears to have always manifested towards 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 those intruders from his native soil ; but he appears to have been blinded by his admiration of them, and his personal attachment to Columbus. He was bountiful, hospitable, affec- tionate, and kind-hearted ; competent to rule a gentle and un warlike people in the happier days of the island, but unfitted, through the mildness of his nature, for the stern turmoil which followed the arrival of the white men. 1495.] INTRIGUES AGAINST COLUMBUS. 197 CHAPTER XXVII. ARRIVAL OF THE COMMISSIONER AGUADO DISCOVERY OF THE GOLD MINES OF HAliJ^A. [1495.] While Columbus was endeavouring to remedy the evils produced by the misconduct of Margarite and his followers, that recreant commander, and his politic coadjutor, Friar Boyle, were busily under- mining his reputation in the court of Spain. They accused him of deceiving the sovereigns and the public by extravagant descriptions of the countries he had discovered ; and of tyranny and oppression towards the colonists, compelling excessive labour during a time of sickness and debility ; inflicting severe punishments for the most trifling offence, and heaping indignities on Spanish gentlemen of rank. They said nothing, however, of the exigen- cies which had called for unusual labour ; nor of the idleness and profligacy of the commonalty, which called for coercion and chastisement ; nor of the contumacy and cabals of the cavaliers, who had been treated with indulgence rather than severity. These representations, being supported by many factious and discontented idlers who had returned from the colony, and enforced by people of rank connected with the cavaliers, had a baneful effect upon the popularity of Columbus, and his favour with the sovereigns. 198 COLUMBUS. [1495. About this time a measure was adopted which shows the declining influence of the admiral. A proclamation was made on the 10th of April, 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. They were to pay certain proportions of their profits to the crown, and to be subject to certain regula- tions. The privilege of an eighth of the tonnage was likewise secured to Columbus, as admiral ; but he felt himself exceedingly aggrieved at this per- mission being granted without his knowledge or consent, considering it an infringement of his rights, and a measure likely to disturb the course of regular discovery by the licentious and predatory enterprises of reckless adventurers. The arrival of the ships commanded by Torres, bringing accounts of the voyage along the southern coasts of Cuba, supposed to be the continent of Asia, and specimens of the gold, and the vegetable and animal productions of the country, counterbalanced in some degree these unfavourable representations of Margarite and Boyle. Still it was determined to send out a commissioner to inquire into the al- leged distresses of the colony, and the conduct of Columbus, and one Juan Aguado was appointed for the purpose. He had already been to Hispa- niola, and on returning had been strongly recom- mended to royal favour by Columbus. In appoint- ing a person, therefore, for whom the admiral appeared to have a regard, and who was under obligations to him, the sovereigns thought, perhaps, to soften the harshness of the measure. As to the five hundred slaves sent home in the 1495.] CONDUCT OF AGUADO. 199 ships of Torres, Isabella ordered a consultation of pious theologians to determine whether, having been taken in warfare, their sale as slaves would be justifiable in the sight of God. Much difference of opinion arose among the divines on this im- portant question ; whereupon the queen decided it according to the dictates of her conscience and her heart, and ordered that the Indians should be taken back to their native country. Juan de Aguado set sail from Spain towards the end of August with four caravels freighted with supplies, and Don Diego Columbus returned in this squadron to Hispaniola. Aguado was one of those weak men whose heads are turned by the least elevation. Though under obligations to Columbus, he forgot them all, and forgot even the nature and extent of his own commission. Finding Columbus absent in the interior of the island, on his arrival, he acted as if the reins of government had been trans* ferred into his hands. He paid no respect to Don Bartholomew, who had been placed in command by his brother during his absence, but, proclaiming his letter of credence by sound of trumpet, he pro- ceeded to arrest various public officers, to call others to rigorous account, and to invite every one, who had wrongs or grievances to complain of, to come forward boldly and make them known. He already regarded Columbus as a criminal, and intimated, and perhaps thought, that he was keeping at a dis- tance through fear of his investigations. He even talked of setting off at the head of a body of horse to arrest him. The whole community was in con- fusion ; the downfall of the family of Columbus was considered as arrived, and some thought the admiral would lose his head. 200 COLUMBUS. [1495. The news of the arrival and of the insolent con- duct of Aguado reached Cokimbus in the interior of the island, and he immediately hastened to Isa- bella to give him a meeting. As every one knew the lofty spirit of Columbus, his high sense of his services, and his jealous maintenance of his official dignity, a violent explosion was anticipated at the impending interview. The natural heat and im- petuosity of Columbus, however, had been subdued by a life of trials, and 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 profound reverence for the authority of his sovereigns ; for, in his enthusiastic spirit, prone to deep feelings of reverence, loyalty was inferior only to religion. He received Aguado, therefore, with the most grave and punctilious courtesy, ordered his letter of credence to be again proclaimed by sound of trumpet, and assured him of his readiness to acquiesce in whatever might be the pleasure of his sovereigns. The moderation of Columbus was regarded by many, and by Aguado himself, as a proof of his loss of moral courage. Every dastard spirit who had any lurking ill will, any real or imaginary cause of complaint, now hastened to give it utterance. 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 clamours of oppression ; and all the ills of the colony, however produced, were ascribed to the mal-administration of the admiral. Aguado listened to every accusation with ready 1495.] TEMPEST IN THE HARBOUR. 201 credulity, and having collected information suf- ficient, as he thought, to ensure the ruin of the admiral and his brothers, prepared to return to Spain. Columbus resolved to do the same ; for he felt that it was time to appear at court, to vindicate his conduct from the misrepresentations of his ene- mies, and to explain the causes of the distresses of the colony, and of the disappointments with respect to revenue, which he feared might discourage the prosecution of his discoveries. When the ships were ready to depart, a terrible storm swept the island ; it was one of those awful w^hirlwinds which occasionally rage within the tropics, and which were called ' Uricans ' by the Indians, a name which they still retain. Three of the ships at anchor in the harbour were sunk by it, with all who were on board ; others were dashed against each other, and driven mere wrecks upon the shore. The Indians were overwhelmed with astonishment and dismay, for never in their me- mory, or in the traditions of their ancestors, had they known so tremendous a storm. They believed that the Deity had sent it in punishment of the cruelties and crimes of the white men, and de- clared that this people moved the very air, the water, and the earth, to disturb their tranquil life, and to desolate their island. The departure of Columbus, and of Aguado, was delayed until one of the shattered vessels, the Nina, could be repaired, and another constructed out of the fragments of the wrecks. In the mean time, information was received of rich mines in the in- terior of the island. A young Arragonian, named Miguel Diaz, in the service of the Adelantado, 202 COLUMBUS. [1495. having wounded a companion in a quarrel, fled from the settlement, accompanied by five or six comrades, who had either been engaged in the af- fray, or were personally attached to him. Wander- ing about the island, they at length came to an Indian village, on the banks of the 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 con- ceived a strong affection for the young Arragonian. A connexion was formed between them, and they lived for some time very happily together. At length the remembrance of his country and his friends began to haunt the mind of the Spaniard ; he longed to return to the settlement, but dreaded the austere justice of the Adelantado. His Indian bride observing him frequently lost in gloomy thought, drew from him the cause of his melancholy. Fearful that he would abandon her, and knowing the influence of gold over the white men, she in- formed him of certain rich mine^ in the neighbour- hood, and urged him to persuade his countrymen to abandon Isabella, and remove to that part of the island, to the fertile banks of the Ozema, promising that they should be hospitably received by her nation. Diaz was rejoiced at this intelligence, and has- tened with it to the settlement, flattering himself that it would make his peace with the Adelantado. He was not mistaken. No tidings could have come more opportunely ; for, if true, they would furnish the admiral with the most efl'ectual means of si- lencing the cavils of his enemies. The Adelantado immediately set out in company 1495.] MINES OF HAYNA. 203 ivith Diaz and his Indian guides. He was con- ducted to the banks of a river called the Hayna, where he found gold in greater quantities and larger particles than even in the rich province of Cibao, and observed several excavations, where it appeared as if mines had been worked in ancient times. Columbus was overjoyed at the sight of these specimens, brought back by the Adelantado, and was surprised to hear of the excavations, as the Indians possessed no knowledge of mining, and merely picked up the gold from the surface of the soil, on the beds of the rivers. The circumstance gave rise to one of his usual veins of visionary speculation. He had already surmised that Hispa- niola might be the ancient Ophir ; he now fancied he had discovered the identical mines from whence King Solomon had procured his great supplies of gold for the building of the temple of Jerusalem, He gave orders that a fortress should be imme- diately erected in the vicinity of the mines, and that they should be diligently worked ; and he now looked forward with confidence to his return to Spain, the bearer of such golden tidings. It may not be uninteresting to mention that Miguel Diaz remained faithful to his Indian bride, who was baptized by the name of Catalina. They were regularly married, and had two children. I 204 COLUMBUS. [1496. CHAPTER XXVIII. RETURN OF COLUMBUS TO SPAIN PREPARATIONS FOR A THIRD VOYAGE. [1496.] The new caravel, the Santa Cruz, being finished, and the Nina repaired, Columbus gave the com- mand of the island during his absence to his brother, Don Bartholomew, with the title of Adelantado. He then embarked on board of one of the caravels, and Aguado in the other. The vessels were crowded with two hundred and twenty-five passengers, the sick, the idle, the profligate, and factious of the colony. Never did a more miserable and disap- pointed crew return from a land of promise. There were thirty Indians also on board, and among them the once redoubtable Caonabo, toge- ther with one of his brothers, and a nephew. The admiral had promised to restore them to their coun- try and their power, after having presented them to the sovereigns ; trusting by kind treatment, and a display of the wonders of Spain, to conquer their hostility, and convert them into important instruments for the quiet subjugation of the island. Being as yet but little experienced in the navi- gation 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 ,1496.] RETURNS TO SPAIN. 205 the island. His voyage, in consequence, became a toilsome and tedious struggle against the trade winds and calms which prevail between the tropics. Though he sailed on the 10 th of March, yet on the 6th of A-pril he was still in the vicinity of the Caribbee islands, and had to touch at Guadaloupe to procure provisions. Here skirmishes occurred with the fierce natives, both male and female ; for the women were perfect amazons, of large and powerful frame and great agility. Several of the latter were taken prisoners ; they were naked, and wore their hair loose and flowing upon their shoul- ders, though some decorated their heads with tufts of feathers. Their weapons were bows and arrows. Among them was the wife of a cacique, a woman of a proud and resolute spirit. On the approach of the Spaniards she had fled with an agility that soon distanced all pursuers, excepting a native of the Canary Islands, noted for swiftness of foot. She would have escaped even from him, but perceiving that he was alone, and far from his companions, she suddenly turned upon him, seized him by the throat, and would have strangled him, had not the Spaniards arrived and taken her, entangled like a hawk with her prey. When Columbus departed from the island, he dis- missed all the prisoners with presents. The female cacique alone refused to go on shore. She had con- ceived a passion for Caonabo, having found out that he was a Carib, and she had been won by the story, gathered from the other Indians, of his great valour and his misfortunes. In the course of the voyage, however, the unfortunate Caonabo expired. He maintained his haughty nature to the last, for his 206 COLUMBUS. [1496, death is principally ascribed to the morbid melan- choly of a proud but broken spirit. His fate fur- nishes, on a narrow scale, a picture of the fallacy of human greatness. When the Spaniards first arrived on the coast of Hayti, their imaginations were inflamed with rumours of a magnificent prince among the mountains, the lord of the golden house, the sovereign of the mines of Cibao ; but a short time had elapsed, and he was a naked and moody 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. Columbus left Guadaloupe on the 20th of April, still working his way against the whole current of the trade winds. By the 20th of May but a por- tion of the voyage was performed, yet the provi- sions were so much exhausted, that every one was put on an allowance of six ounces of bread, and a pint and a half of water. By the beginning of June there was an absolute famine on board of the ships, and some proposed that they should kill and eat their Indian prisoners, or throw them into the sea as so many 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 entitled to simi- lar treatment. He exhorted them to a little pa- tience, assuring them that they would soon make land, as, according to his reckoning, they could not 1496.] RETURNS TO SPAIN. 207 be far from Cape St. Vincent. They scoffed at his words, for they believed themselves as yet far from their desired haven. The next morning, however, proved the correctness of his calculations, for they made the very land he had predicted. On the 11th of June the vessels anchored in the bay of Cadiz. Tlie populace crowded to witness the landing of the gay and bold adventurers, who had sailed from this very port animated by the most sanguine expectations. Instead, however, of a joy- ous crew, bounding on shore, flushed with success, and rich 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 liad been the object of their search ; and who had nothing to relate of the New World but tales of sickness, poverty, and disappointment. The appearance of Columbus himself was a kind of comment on his fortunes. Either considering himself in disgrace with the sovereigns, or having made some penitential vow, he was clad in the habit of a Franciscan monk, girded with a cord, and he had suffered his beard to grow like the friars of that order. But however humble he might be in his own personal appearance, he endeavoured to keep alive the public interest in his discoveries. On his way to Burgos to meet the sovereigns, he made a studious display of the coronets, collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, which he had brought from the New World. He carried with him, also, several Indians, decorated with glittering orna- ments, and among them the brother of Caonabo, COLUMBUS. [1496 on whom he put a massive collar and chain of gold, weighing six hmidred castillanos as being ca- cique of the golden country of Cibao. The reception of Columbus by the sovereigns was different from what he had anticipated, for he was treated with distinguished favour ; nor was any mention made either of the complaints of Mar*, garite and Boyle, or the judicial inquiries con- ducted by Aguado. However these may have had a transient effect upon the minds of the sovereigns, they were too conscious of his great deserts, and of the extraordinary difficulties of his situation, not to tolerate what they may have considered errors on his part. Encouraged by the interest with which the sove- z^eigns listened to his account of his recent voyage along the coast of Cuba, bordering, as he supposed, on the rich territories of the Grand Khan, and of his discovery of the mines of Hayna, which he failed not to represent as the Ophir of the ancients, Co- lumbus now proposed a further enterprise, by which he promised to make yet more extensive discoveries, and to annex a vast and unappropriated portion of the continent of Asia to their dominions. All he asked was eight ships ; two to be despatched to Hispaniola with supplies, the remaining six to be put under his command for the voyage. The sovereigns readily promised to comply with his request, and were probably sincere in their in- tentions to do so ; but in the performance of their promise Columbus was doomed to meet with in- tolerable delay. The resources of Spain at this moment were tasked to the utmost by the ambition * Equivalent to 3195 dollars of the present time, 1496.] REMUNERATION OF COLUMBUS. 209 of Ferdinand, who lavished all his revenues in war- like enterprises. While maintaining a contest of deep and artful policy with France, with the ulti- mate aim of grasping the sceptre of Naples, he was laying the foundation of a wide and powerful con- nexion, by the marriages of the royal children, who were now maturing in years. At this time rose that family alliance which afterwards consolidated such an immense empire under his grandson and successor, Charles V. These widely extended operations both of war and amity put all the land and naval forces into re- quisition, drained the royal treasury, and engrossed the time and thoughts of the sovereigns. It was not until the spring of 1497 that Isabella could find leisure to enter fully into the concerns of the new world. She then took them up 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 protecting zeal all the provisions in favour of the latter must be attributed, for the king began to look coldly on him, and Fonseca, who had most influence in the aff'airs of the Indies, was his im- placable enemy. As the expenses of the expeditions had hitherto exceeded the returns, Columbus was relieved of his eighth part of the cost of the past enterprises, and allowed an eighth of the gross pro- ceeds for the next three years, and a tenth of the net profits. He was allowed also to establish a mayorazgo, or entailed estate, in his family, of •which he immediately availed himself, devising his estates to his male descendants, with the express charge that his successor should never use any other 210 COLUMBUS. [1496. title in signature than simply ' The Admiral.' As he had felt aggrieved by the royal licence for gene- ral discovery, granted in 1495, it was annulled as far as it might be prejudicial to his interests, or to the previous grants made him by the crown. The titles and prerogatives of Adelantado were likewise conferred upon Don Bartholomew, though the king had at first been displeased with Columbus for investing his brother with dignities which were only in the gift of the sovereign. While all these measures were taken for the immediate gratification of Columbus, others were adopted for the good of the colony. The precise number of persons was fixed who were to be sent to Hispaniola, among whom were several females ; and regulations were made for their payment and support, and for the distribution of lands among them to be diligently cultivated. The greatest care was enjoined likewise by Isabella in the religious instruction of the natives, and the utmost lenity in collecting the tributes imposed upon them. With respect to the government of the colony, also, it was generally recommended that, whenever the public safety did not require stern measures, there should be manifested a disposition to indulgent and easy rule. When every intention was thus shown on the part of the crown to despatch the expedition, un- expected difficulties arose on the part of the public. The charm was dispelled which, in the preceding voyage, had made every adventurer crowd into the service of Columbus; the new found world, instead of a region of wealth and enjoyment, was now con- sidered a land of poverty and disaster. To supply 1496.] DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DELAYS. 211 the want of voluntary recruits, therefore, Columbus proposed to transport to Hispaniola, for a limited term of years, all criminals condemned to banish- ment or the galleys, excepting such as had com- mitted crimes of an atrocious nature. This per- nicious measure shows the desperate alternative to which he was reduced by the reaction of public sentiment. It proved a fruitful source of misery and disaster to the colony ; and having frequently been adopted by various nations, whose superior experience should have taught them better, has proved the bane of many a rising settlement. Notwithstanding all these expedients, and the urgent representations of Columbus of the suffer- ings to which the colony must be reduced for want of supplies, it was not until the beginning of 1498 that the two ships were despatched to Hispaniola, under the command of Pedro Fernandez Coronal. A still further delay occurred in fitting out the six ships that were to bear Columbus on his voyage of discovery. His cold-blooded enemy Fonseca, who was now bishop of Badajoz, having the superin- tendence of Indian affairs, was enabled to impede and retard all his plans. The various officers and agents employed in the concerns of the armament were most of them dependents and minions of the bishop, and sought to gratify him, by throwing all kinds of difficulties in the way of Columbus, treat- ing liim with that arrogance which petty and ig- noble men in place are prone to exercise, when they think they can do so with impunity. So wearied and disheartened did he become by these delays, and by the prejudices of the fickle public, that he p 2 212 COLUMBUS. [149^. at one time thought of abandoning his discoveries altogether. The insolence of these worthless men harassed him to the last moment of his sojourn in Spain, and followed him to the water's edge. One of tha^ j most noisy and presuming was one Ximeno de Breviesca, treasurer of Fonseca, a converted Jew or Moor, and a man of impudent front and un- bridled tongue, who, echoing the sentiment of his patron the bishop, had been loud in his abuse of the admiral and his enterprises. At the very time that Columbus was on the point of embarking, he was assailed by the insolence of this Ximeno. Forgetting, in the hurry and indig- nation of the moment^ his usual self-command, he struck the despicable minion to the earth, and spurned him with his foot, venting in this unguarded paroxysm the accumulated griefs and vexations ^ which had long rankled in his heart. This trans- port of passion, so unusual in his well- governed temper, was artfully made use of by Fonseca, and others of his enemies, to injure him in the royal favour. The personal castigation of a public officer was represented as a flagrant instance of his vin- dictive temper, and a corroboration of the charges of cruelty and oppression sent home from the colony ; and we are assured that certain humili- ating measures, shortly afterwards adopted to- wards him, were in consequence of the effect pro- duced upon the sovereigns by these misrepresen- tations. Columbus himself deeply regretted his indiscretion, and foresaw the invidious use that would be made of it. It woukl be difficult to make^ 1496.] DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DELAYS. 213 with equal brevity, a more direct and affecting appeal than that contained in one of his letters, wherein he alludes to this affair. He entreats the sovereigns not to let it be wrested to his injury in their opinion ; but to remember, when any thing should be said to his disparagement, that he was * absent, envied, and a stranger.' 214 COLUMBUS. [1498. CHAPTER XXIX. DISCOVERY OF TRINIDAD AND THE COAST OF PARIA ^ARRIVAL AT SAN DOMINGO. [1498.] On the 30th of May, 1498, Columbus set sail from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, with a squa- dron of six vessels, on his third voyage of discovery. From various considerations, he was induced to take a different route from that pursued in his former expeditions. He had been assured by persons who had traded to the east, that the rarest objects of commerce, such as gold, precious stones, drugs, and spices, were chiefly to be found in the regions about the equator, where the inhabitants were black or darkly coloured ; and that, until he arrived among people of such complexions, it was not probable he would find those articles in great abundance. Columbus expected to find such people more to the south and south-east. He recollected that the natives of Hispaniola had spoken of black men who had once come to their island from the south, the heads of whose javelins were of guanin, or adulte- rated gold. The natives of the Caribbee islands, also, had informed him that a great tract of the main land lay to the south; and in his preceding voyage he had remarked that Cuba, which he supposed to be the continent of Asia, swept off in that direction. 1498.] THIRD VOYAGE. 215 He proposed, therefore, to take his departure 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 favour of the trade winds. Having touched at the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira, to take in wood and water, he con- tinued his course to the Canary islands, from whence he despatched three of his ships direct for Hispaniola, with supplies for the colony. With the remaining three he prosecuted his voyage towards the Cape de Verde islands. The ship in which he sailed was decked, the other two were merchant caravels. As he advanced within the tropics, the change of climate, and the close and sultry weather, brought on a severe attack of the gout, accompanied by a violent fever ; but he still 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 5th of July, he took his departure from the Cape de Verde islands, and steered to the south- ' west until he arrived, according to his observations, in the fifth degree of north latitude. Here the wind suddenly fell, and a dead sultry calm suc- ceeded. The air was like a furnace, the tar melted from the sides of the ships, the seams yawned, the salt meat became putrid, the wheat was parched as if with fire, some of the wine and water-casks burst, and the heat in the holds of the vessels was so suf- focating, that no one could remain below to prevent the damage that was taking place among the sea- stores. The mariners lost all strength and spirits. It seemed as if the old fable of the torrid zone was 216 COLUMBUS. [1498. about to be realized, and that they were approach- ing a fiery region, where it would be impossible to exist. It is true, the heavens became overcast, and there were drizzling showers, but the atmosphere was close and stifling, and there was that combina- tion of heat and moisture which relaxes all the energies of the human frame. A continuation of this weather, together with the remonstrances of his crew, and his extreme suffering from the gout, ultimately induced him to alter his route, and stand to the north-west, in hopes of falling in with the Caribbee islands, where he might repair his ships, and obtain water and pro- visions. After sailing some distance in this direc- tion, through an ordeal of heats and calms, and murky, stifling atmosphere, the ships all at once emerged into a genial region : a pleasant cooling breeze played over the sea, and gently filled their sails ; the sky became serene and clear, and the sun shone forth with all its splendour, but no longer with a burning heat. On the 31st of July, when there was not above a cask of water remaining in each ship, a mariner, named Alonzo Perez, descried, from the mast-head, three mountains rising above the horizon : as the ships drew nearer, these mountains proved to be united at the base. Columbus, therefore, from a religious association of ideas, gave this island the name of La Trinidad (or the Trinity), which it continues to bear at the present day. Shaping his course for this island, he approached its eastern extremity, to which he gave the name of Punta de Galera, from a rock in the sea which resembled a galley under sail. He then coasted 1498.1 GULF OF PARIA. 21/ along the southern shore, between Trinidad and the main land, which he beheld on 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 Orinoco ; 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. He was for several days coasting the island of Trinidad, and exploring the great gulf of Paria, which lies behind it, fancying himself among islands, and that he must find a passage to the open ocean by keeping to the bottom of the gulf. During this time, he was nearly swept from his anchors, and thrown on shore by a sudden rush and swell of the sea, near Point Arenal, between Trinidad and the main land, caused, as is supposed, by the swelling of one of the rivers which flow into the gulf. He landed on the inside of the long pro- montory of Paria, which he mistook for an island, and had various interviews with the natives, from whom he procured great quantities of pearls, many of a fine size and quality. There were several phenomena that surprised and perplexed Columbus in the course of his voyage along this coast, and which gave rise to speculations, some ingenious and others fanciful. He was asto- nished at the vast body of fresh water continually flowing into the Gulf of Paria, so as apparently to sweeten the whole surrounding sea, and at the constant current which set through it, which he supposed to be produced by some great river. He 218 COLUMBUS. [1498. remarked, with wondering, also the difference be- tween the climate, vegetation, and people of these coasts, and those of the same parallel in Africa. There the heat was insupportable, and the land parched and steril ; the inhabitants were black, with crisped wool, ill shapen, and of dull and brutal natures. Here, on the contrary, although the sun was in Leo, he found the noontide heat moderate, the mornings and evenings fresh and cool, the country green and fruitful, covered with beautiful forests, and watered by innumerable streams and fountains ; the people fairer than even those in the lands he had discovered further north, with long hair, well-proportioned and graceful forms, lively minds, and courageous spirits. In respect to the vast body of fresh water, he made one of his simple and great conclusions. Such a mighty stream could not be produced by an island ; it must be the outpouring of a continent. He now supposed that the various tracts of land which he had beheld about the gulf were connected together, and continued to an immense distance to the south, far beyond the equator, into that hemisphere hitherto unknown to civilized man. As to the mild temperature of the climate, the fresh verdure of the country, and the comparative fairness of the inhabitants, in a parallel so near to the equator, he attributed it to the supe- rior elevation of this part of the globe ; for, from a variety of circumstances, ingeniously but errone- ously reasoned upon, he inferred, that philosophers had been mistaken in the form of the earth, which, instead of being a perfect sphere, he now con- cluded to be shaped like a pear, one part more ele- vated than the rest, rising into the purer regions of 1498.] HASTENS TO HISPANIOLA. 219' the air, above the heats, and frosts, and storms of the lower parts of the earth. He imagined this apex to be situated about the equinoctial line, in the interior of this vast continent, which he con- sidered the extremity of the east ; that on this summit, as it were, of the earth, was situated the terrestrial paradise ; and that the vast stream of fresh water which poured into the gulf of Paria, issued from the fountain of the tree of life, in the midst of the garden of Eden. Extravagant as this speculation may seem at the present day, it was grounded on the writings of the most sage and learned men of those times, among whom the situ- ation of the terrestrial paradise had long been a subject of discussion and controversy, and by seve- ral of whom it was supposed to be on a vast moun- tain, in the remote parts of the east. The mind of Columbus was so possessed by these theories, and he was so encouraged by the quantities of pearls which he had met with, for the first time, in the new world, that he would gladly have fol- lowed up his discovery, not doubting but that the country would increase in the value of its produc- tions as he approached the equator. The sea- stores of his ships, however, were almost exhausted, and the various supplies with which they were freighted for the colony were in danger of spoiling. He was suffering also extremely in his health. Besides the gout, which had rendered liim 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 almost deprived him of sight. He determined, therefore, to hasten to Hispaniola, intending to repose there from his fatigues, and re- 220 COLUMBUS. [1498. emit his health, while he should send his brother, the Adelantado, to complete this important dis- covery. On the 14th of August, therefore, he left the gulf, by a narrow strait between the promontory of Paria and the island of Trinidad. This strait is beset with small islands, and the current which sets through the gulf is so compressed between them as to cause a turbulent sea, with great foaming and roaring, as if rushing over rocks and shoals. The admiral conceived himself in imminent danger of shipwreck, when passing through this strait, and gave it the name of La Boca del Drago, or the Mouth of the Dragon. After reconnoitring the coast to the westward, as far as the islands of Cubaga and Margarita, and convincing himself of its being a continent, lie bore away for Hispaniola, for the river Ozema, where he expected to find a new settlement, which he had instructed his brother to form in the neighbourhood of the mines. He was borne far to the westward by the currents, but at length reached his desired haven, where he ar- rived, haggard, emaciated, and almost blind, and was received with open arms by the Adelantado. The brothers were strongly attached to each other: Don Bartholomew had a great deference for the brilliant genius, the enlarged mind, and the com- manding 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. Tliey had both, during their long separation, experienced the need of each other's sympathy and support. 1498.] SAN DOMINGO. 221 CHAPTER XXX. ADMINISTRATION OF THE ADELANTADO. Columbus had anticipated a temporary repose from his toils on arriving at Hispaniola ; but a new scene of trouble and anxiety opened upon him, which was destined to affect all his future fortunes. To ex- plain this, it is necessary to state the occurrences of the island during his long detention in Spain. When he sailed for Europe in March, 1496, his brother, Don Bartholomew, immediately proceeded to execute his instructions with respect to the gold mines of Hayna. He built a fortress in the neigh- bourhood, which he named St. Christoval, and another fortress not far off, on the eastern bank of the Ozema, in the vicinity of the village inhabited by the female cacique who had first given intelli- gence of the mines to Miguel Diaz. This fortress was called San Domingo, and was the origin of the city which still bears that name. Having garrisoned these fortresses, and made arrangements for working the mines, the inde- fatigable Adelantado set out to visit the dominions of Behechio, which had not as yet been reduced to obedience. This cacique, as has been mentioned, reigned over Xaragua, a province comprising almost the whole of the west end of the island, in- eluding Cape Tiburon. It was one of the most 222 COLUMBUS. [149a populous and fertile districts. 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 part of the island. The Indians of Hayti generally placed their ely- sium, or paradise of happy spirits, in the delightful valleys that bordered the great lake of Xaragua. With Behechio resided his sister Anacaona, wife of the late formidable Caonabo, one of the most beautiful females in the island, of great natural grace and dignity, and superior intelligence ; her name in the Indian language signified Golden Flower. She had taken refuge with her brother, after the cap- ture and ruin of her husband, but appears never to have entertained any vindictive feelings against the Spaniards, whom she regarded with great admira- tion as almost superhuman beings. On the con- trary, she counselled her brother, over whom she had great influence, to take warning by the fate of her husband, and to conciliate their friendship. Don Bartholomew entered the province of Xara- gua at tlie head of an armed band, putting his ca- valry in the advance, and marching with banners displayed, and the sound of drum and trumpet. Behechio met him with a numerous force, but being assured that he came merely on a friendly visit, he dismissed his army, and conducted the Adelantado to his residence in a large town, near the deep bay called at present the Bight of Leagon. As they approached, thirty young females, of the cacique's household, beautifully formed, came forth to meet them, waving palm branches, and dancing and singing their areytos or traditionary ballads. When they came before Don Bartholomew, they 1498.] INSURRECTION OF GUARIONEX, 223 knelt and laid their palm branches at his feet. After these came the beautiful Anacaona, reclining on a litter, borne by six Indians. She was lightly- clad in a robe of various coloured cotton, with a fragrant garland of red and wliite flowers round her head, and wreaths of the same round her neck and arms. She received the Adelantado with that natural grace and courtesy for which she was celebrated. For several days Don Bartholomew remained in Xaragua, entertained by the cacique and his sister with banquets, national games and dances, and other festivities ; then having arranged for a periodical tribute to be paid in cotton, hemp, and cassava bread, the productions of the surrounding country, he took a friendly leave of his hospitable enter- tainers, and set out with his little army for Isabella. He found the settlement in a sickly state, and suf- fering from a scarcity of provisions ; he distributed, therefore, all that were too feeble to labour or bear arms into the interior, where they might have better air and more abundant food ; and at the same time he established a chain of fortresses between Isabella and San Domingo. Insurrections broke out among the natives of the vega, caused by their impatience of tribute, by the outrages of some of the Spaniards, and by a severe punishment inflicted on certain Indians for the alleged violation of a chapel. Guarionex, a man naturally moderate and pacific, was persuaded by Ms brother caciques to take up arms, and a combination was formed among them to rise suddenly upon the Spaniards, massacre them, jand destroy Fort Conception, which was situated in the vega. By some means the garrison received inti- mation of the conspiracy. They immediately wrote a 224 COLUMBUS. [149a letter to tlie Adelantado imploring prompt assist- ance. How to convey the letter in safety was an anxious question, for the natives had discovered that these letters had a wonderful power of communi- cating intelligence, and fancied that they could talk. An Indian undertook to be the bearer of it. He en- closed it in a staff, and set out on his journey. Being intercepted, he pretended to be dumb and lame, leaning on his staff for support. He was suffered to depart, and limped forward until out of sight, when he resumed his speed, and bore the letter safely and expeditiously to San Domingo. The Adelantado, with his accustomed prompt- ness, set out with a body of troops for the fortress. By a rapid and well concerted stratagem he sur- prised the leaders in the night, in a village in which they were sleeping, and carried them all off captive, seizing upon Guarionex with his own hand. He completed his enterprise with spirit, sagacity, and moderation. Informing himself of the particulars of the conspiracy, he punished two caciques, the prin- cipal movers of it, with death, and pardoned all the rest. Finding, moreover, that Guarionex had been chiefly incited to hostility by an outrage committed by a Spaniard on his favourite wife, he inflicted punishment on the ofl'ender. The heart of Guari- onex was subdued by the unexpected clemency of the Adelantado, and he made a speech to his subjects in praise of the Spaniards. They listened to him with attention, and when he had concluded, bore him off on their shoulders with songs and shouts of joy, and for some time the tranquillity of the vega was restored. About this time, receiving information from Be- 1408.] THE ADELANTADO RECEIVES TRIBUTE. £25 liecllio, cacique of Xaragua, that his tribute in cotton and provisions was ready for delivery, the Adelantado marched there, at the head of his forces, to receive it. So large a quantity of cotton and cassava bread was collected together, that Don Bartholomew had to send to the settlement of Isa- bella for a caravel to be freighted with it. In the mean time, the utmost kindness was lavished upon their guests by these gentle and generous people. The troubles which distracted the other parts of de- voted Hayti had not yet reached this pleasant region ; and when the Spaniards regarded the fertility and sweetness of the country, bordering on a tranquil sea, the kindness of the inhabitants, and the beauty of the women, they pronounced it a perfect paradise. When the caravel arrived on the coast, it was regarded by Anacaona and her brother with awe and wonder. Beliechio visited it with his canoes ; but his sister, with her female attendants, were conveyed on board in the boat of the Adelantado. As they approached, the caravel fired a salute. At the sound of the cannon, and the sight of volumes of smoke, bursting from the sides of the ship, and rolling along the sea, Anacaona, overcome with dismay, fell into the arms of the Adelantado, and her attendants would have leaped overboard, but were reassured by the cheerful words of Don Bar- tholomew. As they drew nearer the vessel, several instruments of martial music struck up, with which they were greatly delighted. Their admiration in- creased on entering on board ; but when the anchor was weighed, the sails filled by a gentle breeze, and they beheld this vast mass veering from side to side, apparently by its own will, and playing like a huge Q I 226 COLUMBUS. [1498. monster on the deep, the brother and sister re- mained gazing at each other in mute astonishment. Nothing seems ever to have filled the mind of the savage with more wonder than that beautiful tri- | umph of human ingenuity — a ship under sail. While the Adelantado was thus absent quelling insurrections, and making skilful arrangements for the prosperity of the colony, and the advantage of the crown, new mischiefs were fermenting in the factious settlement of Isabella. The prime mover was Francisco Koldan, a man who had been raised by Columbus from poverty and obscurity, and pro- moted from one office to another, until he had ap- pointed him alcalde mayor, or chief judge of the island. He was an uneducated man, but of strong natural talents, great assiduity, and intrepid im- pudence. He had seen his benefactor return to Spain, apparently under a cloud of disgrace, and, considering him a fallen man, began to devise how he might profit by his downfall. He was intrusted with an office inferior only to that of the Adelan- tado ; the brothers of Columbus were highly un- popular ; he imagined it possible to ruin them, both with the colonists and with the government at home, and by dexterous management to work his way into a command of the colony. For this purpose he mingled among the common people, threw out sug- gestions that the admiral was in disgrace, and would never return ; railed at the Adelantado and Don Diego as foreigners, who took no interest in their welfare, but 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 1498.] CONSPIRACY OF ROLDAN. 227 the caciques. By these seditious insinuations, he exasperated their feelings to such a degree, that they at one time formed a conspiracy to assassinate the Adelantado, but it was happily disconcerted by accident. When the caravel returned from Xaragua, laden with provisions, it was dismantled by order of Don Diego, and drawn up on the beach. Roldan im- mediately seized upon this circumstance to awaken new suspicions. He said the true reason for dis- mantling the caravel was to prevent any of the colonists returning in it to Spain, to represent the oppressions under which they suffered. He advised them to launch and take possession of the vessel, as the only means of regaining their independence. They might then throw off the tyranny of these upstart foreigners, and might lead a life of ease and quiet, employing the Indians as slaves, and enjoying unlimited indulgence with respect to the Indian women. Don Diego was informed of these seditious move- ments ; but he was of a mild, pacific nature, and deficient in energy. Fearing to come to an open rupture in the mutinous state of the colony, he thought to divert Roldan from his schemes by giving him distant and active employment. He de- tached him suddenly, therefore, with a small force, to overawe the Indians of the vega, who had shown a disposition to revolt. Roldan made use of this opportunity to organise an armed faction. He soon got seventy well armed and resolute men at his command, disposed to go all desperate lengths with him, and he made friends and partisans among the discontented caciques, promising to free them from q2 228 COLUMBUS. [1498. tribute. He now tlirew off the mask, and openly- set the Adelantado and his brother at defiance, as men who had no authority from the crown, but were appointed by Columbus, who was himself in disgrace. He pretended always to act in his official capacity, and to do every thing from loyal motives, and every act of open rebellion was accompanied with shouts of ' Long live the king 1 ' Having en- deavoured repeatedly to launch the caravel, but in vain, he broke open the royal stores, and supplied his followers with arms, clothing, and provisions, and then marched off to the vega, and attempted to surprise and get possession of Fort Conception, but was happily foiled by its commander, Miguel Ballester, a staunch old soldier, both resolute and wary, who kept the enemy at bay until succour should arrive. The conspiracy had attained a formidable head during the absence of the Adelantado, several per- sons of consequence having joined it, among whom was Adrian de Moxica, and Diego de Escobar, the latter being alcayde of the fortress of La Madalena. Don Bartholomew was perplexed at first, and could not act with his usual vigour and decision, not know- ing in whom he could confide, or how far the con- spiracy had extended. On receiving tidings, how- ever, from Miguel Ballester, of the danger of Fort Conception, he threw himself, with what forces he could collect, into that fortress, and held a parley with Roldan from one of the windows, ordering him to surrender his staff of office as alcalde mayor, and submit peaceably to superior authority. All threats and remonstrances, however, were vain ; Roldan persisted in his rebellion, He represented the Ade- 3498.] CONSPIRACY OF HOLD AN. 229 lantado as the tyrant of the Spaniards, the op- pressor of the Indians ; and himself as the redresser of wrongs and champion of the injured. He sought, by crafty emissaries, to corrupt the garrison of Fort Conception, and seduce them to desert, and laid plans to surprise and seize upon the Adelantado, should he leave the fortress. The affairs of the island were now in a lamentable situation. The Indians perceiving the dissensions among the Spaniards, and encouraged by the pro- tection of Roldan, ceased to send in their tributes, and threw off allegiance to the government. Rol- dan's band daily gained strength, and ranged inso- lently and at large about the country ; while the Spaniardsj'who remained loyal, fearing conspiracies among the natives, had to keep under shelter of the forts. Munitions of all kinds were rapidly wasting, and the spirits of the well-affected were sinking into despondency. The Adelantado himself remained shut up in Fort Conception, doubtful of the fidelity of his own garrison, and secretly informed of the plots to capture or destroy him, should he venture abroad. Such was the desperate state to which the colony was reduced by the long detention of Columbus in Spain, and the impediments thrown in the way of all his endeavours to send out supplies and rein- forcements. Fortunately, at this critical juncture, the arrival of two ships, under command of Pedro Hernandez Coronal, at the port of San Domingo, with troops and provisions, strengthened the hands of Don Bartholomew. The royal confirmation of his title and authority of Adelantado at once put an end to all question of the legitimacy of his power, and secured the fidelity of his soldiers ; and the 230 COLUMBUS. [1498. tidings that the admiral was in high favour at court, and on the point of coming out with a powerful squadron, struck consternation into the rebels, who had presumed upon his having fallen into disgrace. The Adelantado immediately hastened to San Do- mingo, nor was there any attempt made to molest him on his march. When he found himself once more secure, his magnanimity prevailed over his indignation, and he sent Pedro Hernandez Coronal to offer Roldan and his band amnesty for all of- fences, on condition of instant obedience. Roldan feared to venture into his power, and determined to prevent the emissary from communicating with his followers, lest they should be induced to return to their allegiance. When Coronal approached the encampment of the rebels, therefore, he was opposed in a narrow pass by a body of archers with their cross-bows levelled. ' Halt there, traitor cried Roldan : ' had you arrived eight days later, we should all have been united.' It was in vain that Coronal endeavoured to win this turbulent man from his career. He professed to oppose only the tyranny and misrule of the Ade- lantado, but to be ready to submit to the admiral on his arrival, and he and his principal confederates wrote letters to that effect to their friends in San Domingo. When Coronal returned with accounts of Rol- dan's contumacy, the Adelantado proclaimed him and his followers traitors. That shrewd rebel, however, did not suffer his men to remain within the reach either of promise or menace. He pro- posed to them to march off, and establish them- selves in the remote province of Xaragua. The 1498.] FLIGHT OF GUARIONEX. 231 Spaniards, who had been there, had given the most alluring accounts of the country and its inhabitants, and above all of the beauty of the women, for they had been captivated by the naked charms of the dancing nymphs of Xaragua. In this delightful region, emancipated from the iron rule of the Adelantado, and relieved from the ne- cessity of irksome labour, they might lead a life of perfect freedom and indulgence, with 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 dis- solute habits. His followers acceded with joy to his proposition : so, putting himself at their head, he marched away for Xaragua. Scarcely had the rebels departed, when fresh insurrections broke out among the Indians of the vega. The cacique Guarionex, moved by the in- stigations of Roldan, and forgetful of his gratitude to Don Bartholomew, entered into a new league to destroy the Spaniards, and surprise Fort Con- ception. The plot exploded before its time, and was defeated ; and Guarionex, hearing that the Adelantado was on the march for the vega, fled to the mountains of Ciguay, with his family, and a small band of faithful followers. The inhabitants of these mountains were the most robust and hardy tribe of the island, and the same who had skir- mished with the Spaniards in the Gulf of Samana, in the course of the first voyage of Columbus. The reader may remember the frank and confiding faith with which their cacique trusted himself on board of the caravel of the admiral, the day after the skirmish. It was to this same cacique, named 232 COLUMBUS. [1498. Mayonabex, that the fugitive chieftain of the vega applied for refuge, and he received a promise of protection. Indignant at finding his former clemency of no avail, the Adelantado pursued Guarionex to the mountains, at the head of ninety men, a few cavalry, and a body of Indians. It was a rugged and dif- ficult enterprise ; the troops had to climb rocks, wade rivers, and make their way through tangled forests, almost impervious to men in armour, en- cumbered with targets, crossbows, and lances. They were continually exposed, also, to tlie am- bushes of the Indians, who would rush forth with furious yells, discharge their weapons, and then take refuge again among rocks and thickets, where it was in vain to follow them. Don Bartholomew arrived at length in the neighbourhood of Cape Cabron, the residence of Mayonabex, and sent a messenger, demanding the surrender of Guarionex, promising friendship in case of compliance, but threatening to lay waste his territory with fire and sword, in case of refusal. ' Tell the Spaniards,' said the cacique in reply, ' that they are tyrants, usurpers, and shedders of innocent blood, and I de- sire not their friendship. Guarionex is a good man, and my friend. He has fled to me for refuge ; I have promised him protection, and I will keep my word.* The cacique, in fact, adhered to his promise with admirable faith. His villages were burnt, his ter- ritories were ravaged, himself and his family driven to dens and caves of the mountains, and his sub- jects assailed him with clamours, urging him to give up the fugitive who was bringing such ruin upon 1498.] CAPTURE OF GUARIONEX. 233 their tribe. It was all in vain. He was ready, he declared, to abide all evils, rather than it should ever be said Mayonabex betrayed his guest. For three months the Adelantado hunted these caciques among the mountains, during which time he and his soldiers were almost worn out with toil and hunger, and exposures of all kind. The retreat ' of Mayonabex was at length discovered. Twelve Spaniards, disguising themselves as Indians, and wrapping their swords in palm leaves, came upon him secretly, and surprised and captured him, with his wife and children, and a few attendants. The Adelantado returned, with his prisoners, to Fort Conception, where he afterwards released them all, excepting the cacique, whom he detained as a hos- tage for the submission of his tribe. The unfor- tunate Guarionex still lurked among the caverns of the mountains, but was driven, by hunger, to venture down occasionally into the plain, in quest of food. His haunts were discovered, he was way- laid and captured by a party of Spaniards, and brought in chains to Fort Conception. After his repeated insurrections, and the extraordinary zeal displayed in his pursuit, he anticipated death from the vengeance of the Adelantado. Don Bartholo- mew, however, though stern in his policy, was neither. vindictive nor cruel; he contented himself with detaining him a prisoner, to ensure the tran- quillity of the vega3 and then returned to San Domingo, where, shortly afterwards, he had the happiness of welcoming the arrival of his brother, the admiral, after a separation of nearly two years and a half. 234 COLUMBUS. [1498. CHAPTER XXXI. REBELLION OF ROLDAN. [1498.] One of the first measures of Columbus, on his ar- rival, was to issue a proclamation, approving of all that the Adelantado had done, and denouncing Roldan and his associates. That turbulent man had proceeded to Xaragua, where he had been kindly- received by the natives. A circumstance occurred to add to his party and his resources. The three caravels detached by Columbus from the Canary Islands, and freighted with supplies, having been carried far west of their reckoning by the currents, arrived on the coast of Xaragua. The rebels were at first alarmed lest they should be vessels despatched in pursuit of them. Roldan, who was as sagacious as he was bold, soon divined the truth. Enjoining the utmost secrecy on his men, he went on board, and pretending to be in command at that end of the island, succeeded in procuring a supply of arms and military stores, and in making partisans among the crews, many of whom were criminals and vaga- bonds from Spanish prisons, shipped in compliance with the admiral's ill-judged proposition. It was not until the third day that Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, the most intelligent of the three captains, 1498.] REBELLION OF ROLDAN. 235 discovered the real character of the guests he had entertained, but the mischief was then effected. As the ships were detained by contrary winds, it was arranged among the captains that a large num- ber of the people should be conducted by land to San Domingo by Juan Antonio Colombo, captain of one of the caravels, and a relation of the admiral. He accordingly landed with forty men, well armed, but was astonished to find himself suddenly deserted by all his party excepting eight. The deserters joined the rebels, who received them with shouts of ex- ultation. Juan Antonio, grieved and disconcerted, returned on board with the few who remained faithful. Fearing further desertions, the ships im- mediately put to sea; but Carvajal, giving his vessel in charge to liis officers, landed and remained with the rebels, fancying he had perceived signs of waver- ing in Roldan and some of his associates, and that, by earnest persuasion, he might induce them to re- turn to their allegiance. The certainty that Co- lumbus was actually on the way to the island, with additional forces, and augmented authority, had, in fact, operated strongly on their minds ; but all at- tempts to produce immediate submission was in vain. Roldan promised that the moment he heard of the arrival of Columbus, he would repair to the neigh- bourhood of San Domingo, to be at hand to state his grievances, and to enter into a negotiation for the adjustment of all differences. He wrote a letter to the same purport to be delivered to the admiral. With this Carvajal departed, and was escorted to within six leagues of San Domingo by six of the rebels. On reaching that place he found Columbus already arrived, and delivered to him the 236 COLUMBUS. [1498. letter of Holdan, expressing at the same time an opinion, that the insurgents might easily be brought to tlieir allegiance by an assurance of amnesty. In fact, the rebels soon began to assemble at the village of Bonao, in a fine valley of the same name, about twenty leagues from San Domingo, and ten from Fort Conception. Here they made their head- quarters at the house of Pedro Reguelme, one of the ringleaders. Columbus immediately wrote to Miguel Bal- lester, the commander of Fort Conception, advising 'i him to be on his guard. He empowered him to have an interview with Roldan, to offer him full pardon on condition of his immediate return to duty, and to invite him to repair to San Domingo to treat with the admiral, under a solemn, and, if required, a written assurance of personal safety. At the same time he issued a proclamation, offering free passage to all who wished to return to Spain, in five vessels about to put to sea, hoping, by this means, to relieve the colony from all the idle and disaff'ected. Ballester was an old and venerable man, gray- headed, and of a soldier-like demeanour ; he was loyal, frank, and virtuous, of a serious disposition, and great simplicity of heart. His appearance and character commanded the respect of the rebels ; but they treated the proffbred pardon with contempt ; made many demands of an arrogant nature, and de- clared that, in all further negotiations, they would treat with no mediator but Carvajal, having had proofs of his fairness and impartiality in the course of their late communications with him at Xaragua. This insolent reply was totally different from REBELLION OF ROLDAN. 237 what tlie admiral had been taught to expect. He now 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 ; some of the inhabitants had relations, others friends, among the followers of Roldan ; almost all were disaffected to the service ; not above seventy men appeared under arms ; one affected to be ill, another lame ; there were not forty to be relied upon. Columbus saw that a resort to arms would only serve to betray his own weakness and the power of the rebels ; it was necessary to temporize, there- fore, however humiliating such conduct might be deemed. His first care was to despatch the five ships which he had detained in port, until he should receive the reply of Roldan. He was anxious that as many as possible of the discontented colonists should sail for Spain, before any commotion should take place. He wrote to the sovereigns an account of his late voyage, giving an enthusiastic descrip- tion of the newly discovered continent, accom- panied by a chart of the coast, and specimens of the pearls which he had procured from the natives. He informed the sovereigns, also, of the rebellion of Roldan ; and as the latter pretended it was only a quarrel between him and the Adelantado, he begged the matter might be investigated by their majesties, or by persons friendly to both parties. Among other judicious requests, he entreated that a man learned and experienced in the law might be sent out to officiate as judge over the island. 238 COLUMBUS. [1498. By this opportunity Roldan and his friends like- wise sent letters to Spain^ endeavouring to justify their rebellion, by charging Columbus and his bro- thers with oppression and injustice, and painting their whole conduct in the blackest colours. It would naturally be supposed, that the representa- tions 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 relations in Spain to back them ; Columbus was a foreigner, without influence in the court, and with active enemies near the sovereigns, ever ready to place his conduct in an unfavourable light. The ships being despatched, the admiral resumed his negotiation with the rebels. As the burden of their complaint was the strict rule of liis brother, who was accused of dealing out justice with a rigorous hand, he resolved to try the alternative of extreme lenity, and wrote a letter to Roldan, calling to mind past kindnesses, and entreating him for the sake of his own reputation, which stood well with the sovereigns, not to persist in his present insubordination. He again repeated his assurance, that he and his companions might come to treat with him at San Domingo, 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 mediator but Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal. Strong suspicions existed in the minds of many as to the integrity of that officer, from his transactions with the rebels at Xaragua, and his standing so high in their favour. Columbus, how- 1498.] ARRANGEMENT WITH THE REBELS. 239 ever, discarded all those suspicions, and confided implicitly in Carvajal, nor had he ever any cause to repent of his confidence. A painful and humiliating negotiation v^as now carried on for several days, in the course of which Roldan had an interview with Columbus at San Domingo, and several letters passed between them. The rebels felt their power, and presumed, in consequence, to demand the most extravagant con- cessions. Miguel Ballester wrote at the same time to the admiral, advising him to agree to whatever they might demand. He represented their forces as continually augmenting, and that the soldiers of his garrison were daily deserting to them, and gave it as his opinion, that unless some compro- mise were speedily effected, and the rebels shipped off for Spain, not merely the authority, but even the person of the admiral would be in danger ; for though the hidalgos and the immediate officers and servants about him would doubtless die in his service, yet he feared that the common people were but little to be depended upon. Thus urged by veteran counsel, and compelled by circumstances, Columbus at length made an ar- rangement with the rebels, by which it was agreed, that Roldan and his followers should embark for Spain, from the port of Xaragua, in two ships which should 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 them, as had been given to colonists, in consideration of services performed ; and that such as had wives, natives of the island, 240 COLUMBUS. [1498, | might take tliem with them in place of slaves ; that i satisfaction should be made for property of some of the company which had been sequestrated, and for live stock which had belonged to Francis Roldan. It was a grievous circumstance to Columbus, that the vessels which should have borne his brother to explore the newly discovered continent, had to be devoted to the transportation of this turbulent and worthless rabble ; but he consoled himself with the idea that, the faction being once shipped off, the island would again be restored to tranquillity. The articles of arrangement being signed, Roldan and his followers departed for Xaragua, to await the arrival of the ships ; and Columbus, putting his brother Don Diego in temporary command, set off with the Adelantado on a tour to visit the various fortresses, and restore every thing to order. In the meanwhile, unavoidable delays took place in fitting out the ships, and they encountered violent storms in their vovage from San Domingo to Xaragua, so as to arrive there long after the stipulated time, and that in a damaged condition. The followers of Roldan seized upon this as a pre- text to refuse to embark, affirming that the ships had been purposely delayed, and eventually sent in a state not seaworthy, and short of provisions. New negotiations were therefore set on foot, and new terms demanded. It is probable that Roldan feared to return to Spain, and his followers were loth to give up their riotous and licentious Hfe. In the midst of his perplexities, Columbus received a letter from Spain, in reply to the earnest repre- sentations which he had made of the distracted «tate of the colony, and of the outrages of these 1498.] ARRANGEMENT WITH THE REBELS'. 241 licentious men. It was written by his invidious enemy, the Bishop Fonseca, superintendent of In- dian affairs. It informed him that his representa- tions of the alleged rebellion had been received, but that the matter must be suffered to remain in suspense, as the sovereigns would investigate and remedy it presently. This cold reply had the most disheartening effect upon Columbus, while it increased the insolence of the rebels, who saw that his complaints had little weight with the government. Full of zeal, how- ever, for the prosecution of his discoveries, and of fidelity to the interests of the crown, he resolved, at any sacrifice of pride or comfort, to put an end to the troubles of the island. He departed, there- fore, in the latter part of August, with two cara- vels, to the port of Azna, accompanied by several of the most important personages of the colony, to give Roldan a meeting. The latter, in this inter- view, conducted himself more like a conqueror exacting terms, than a delinquent seeking pardon. Among other things, he demanded that such of his followers as chose to remain in the island should have lands assigned them, and that he should be reinstated in his office of alcalde mayor, or chief judge. The mind grows wearied and impatient with recording, and the heart of the generous reader must burn with indignation at perusing, this pro- tracted and ineffectual struggle, of a man of the exalted merits and matchless services of Columbus, in the toils of such contemptible miscreants. Sur- rounded by doubt and danger, a foreigner among a jealous people, an unpopular commander in a mutinous island, distrusted and slighted by the R 242 COLUMBUS. [1498. government he was seeking to serve, and creating suspicions by his very services, he knew not where to look for faitliful advice, efficient aid, or candid judgment. He was alarmed, too, by symptoms of seditions among his own people, who talked of following the example of the rebels, and seizing upon the province of Higuey. Thus critically situated, he signed a humiliating capitulation with the rebels, trusting he should afterwards be able to convince the sovereigns it had been compulsory, and forced from him by the perils that threatened himself and the colony. When Roldan resumed his office of alcalde mayor, he displayed all the arrogance to be expected from one who had intruded himself into power by pro- fligate means. Columbus had a difficult and pain- ful task in bearing with the insolence of this man, and of the shameless rabble that returned, under his auspices, to San Domingo. In compliance with the terms of agreement, he assigned them liberal portions of land, and numerous Indian slaves, taken in the wars, and contrived to distribute them in various places, some in Bonao, others in different parts of the vega. He made an arrangement, also, by which the caciques in their vicinity, instead of paying tribute, should furnish parties of their sub- jects, at stated times, to assist in the cultivation of their lands ; a kind of feudal service, which was the origin of the repartimientos, or distributions of free Indians among the colonists, afterwards gene- rally adopted and shamefully abused throughout the Spanish colonies, and which greatly contri- buted to exterminate the natives from the island of Hispaniola. 1498.] CARAVELS DESPATCHED TO SPAIN. 243 Having obtained such ample provisions for his followers, Roldan was not more modest in making demands for himself. Besides certain lands in the vicinity of Isabella, which he claimed, as having belonged to him before his rebellion, he received a royal farm, called La Esperanza, in the vega, and extensive tracts in Xaragua, with live stock and repartimientos of Indians. One of the first measures of Roldan as alcalde mayor was to appoint Pedro Reguelme, one of his most active confederates, alcalde of Bonao, an ap- pointment which gave great displeasure to Colum- bus, being an assumption of power not vested in the office of Roldan. The admiral received private information also that Reguelme, under pretext of erecting a farm-house, was building a strong edifice on a hill, capable of being converted into a fortress ; this, it was whispered, was done in concert with Roldan, by way of securing a strong hold in case of need. The admiral immediately sent peremptory orders for Reguelme to desist from proceeding with the construction of the edifice. Columbus had proposed to return to Spain, hav- ing experienced the inefficiency of letters in ex- plaining the affairs of the island ; but the feverish state of the colony obliged him to give up the in- tention. The two caravels were despatched in October, taking such of the colonists as chose to return, and among them several of the partisans of Roldan, some of whom took Indian slaves with them, and others carried away the daughters of ca- ciques, whom they had beguiled from their homes and families. Columbus wrote by this opportunity to the sove- R 2 244 COLUMBUS. [1498. reigns, giving it as his opinion that the agreement he had made with the rebels was by no means obli- gatory on the crown, having been, in a manner, extorted by violence. He repeated his request that a learned man might be sent out as judge, and de- sired, moreover, that discreet persons might be ap- pointed to form a council, and others for certain fiscal employments ; entreating, however, that their powers might be so limited and defined as not to interfere with his dignities and privileges. Finding age and infirmity creeping upon him, he began to think of his son Diego as an active coadjutor, being destined to succeed to his oflBces. He was still a page at court, but grown to man's estate, and ca- pable of entering into the important concerns of life ; he begged, therefore, that he might be seut out to assist him. 1499.] EXPEDITION OF ROLDAN. 245 CHAPTER XXXII. VISIT OF OJEDA TO THE WEST END OF THE ISLAND. CONSPI"* RACY OF MOXICA, [1499.] About this time reports were brought to Columbus that four ships had anchored at the western part of the island, a little below Jacquemel, apparently with the design of cutting dye woods and carrying off the natives for slaves. They were commanded by Alonzo de Ojeda, the same hot-headed and bold- hearted cavalier who had distinguished himself by the capture of Caonabo. Knowing the daring and adventurous spirit of this man, the admiral was disturbed at his visiting the island in this clandes- tine manner. To call him to account, however, required a man of spirit and address. No one seemed fitter for the purpose than Roldan. He was as daring as Ojeda, and of a more crafty cha- racter. An expedition of this kind would occupy the attention of himself and his partisans, and di- vert them from any schemes of mischief. Roldan gladly undertook the enterprise. He had nothing further to gain by sedition, and was anxious to secure his ill-gotten possessions by public ser- vices, which should atone for past offences. Depart- ing from St. Domingo, with two caravels, he ar- rived, on the 26th of September, within two leagues 246 COLUMBUS. [1499. of the harbour where the vessels of Ojeda were an- chored. Here, landing with five-and-twenty reso- lute men, he intercepted Ojeda, who was on an ex- cursion several leagues from his ships, and de- manded his motives for landing on that remote and lonely part of the island, 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 obtain pro- visions. On further inquiry it appeared, that Ojeda had happened to be in Spain at the time that the letters arrived from Columbus, giving an account of his discovery of the coast of Paria, accompanied by specimens of the pearls to be found there. Ojeda was a favourite with Bishop Fonseca, and obtained a sight of the letter, and the charts and maps of the route of Columbus. He immediately conceived the idea of an expedition to those parts, in which he was encouraged by Fonseca, who fur- nished him with copies of the papers and charts, and granted him a letter of licence, signed by him- self, but not by the sovereigns. Ojeda fitted ou four ships at Seville, assisted by many eager an wealthy speculators ; and in this squadron saile Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine merchant, wel acquainted with geography and navigation, wh eventually gave his name to the whole of the ne world. The expedition sailed in May, 1499. Th adventurers arrived on the southern continent, an ranged along it, from two hundred leagues east o the Oronoco to the Gulf of Paria. Guided by th charts of Columbus, they passed through this gulf, and through the Boca del Drago, and kept alon westward to Cape de la Vela, visiting the island o Ilnprnved ly J^JFindfn J.omLyi.J'tif'LLffyc'd by John Min-riiy.ieSO. 1499.] MANOEUVRES OF ROLDAN AND OJEDA. 247 Margarita, and the adjacent continent, and dis- covering the Gulf of Venezuela. They subse- quently touched at the Caribbee islands, where they fought with the fierce natives, and made many cap- tures, with the design of selling them in the slave markets of Seville. From thence they sailed for I Hispaniola, to procure supplies, having performed I the most extensive voyage hitherto made along the shore of the new world. Ojeda assured Roldan that he intended, as soon as the ships were ready, to go to San Domingo and pay his homage to the admiral. Trusting to this assurance, and satisfied with the information he had obtained, Roldan sailed for San Domingo to make his report. Nothing, however, was farther from the intention of Ojeda than to keep his promise. As soon as his ships were ready for sea, he sailed round to the coast of Xaragua. Here he was well received by the Spaniards resident in that province, among whom were many of the late comrades of Roldan. Knowing the rash and fearless character of Ojeda, and finding that there were jealousies between him and the admiral, they made clamorous complaints of the injustice of the latter, whom they accused of withholding from them the arrears of their pay. Ojeda, who knew the tottering state of the admiral's favour at court, and felt secure in the powerful protection of Fonseca, immediately pro- posed to put himself at their head, march at once to San Domingo, and oblige the admiral to satisfy their just demands. The proposition was received with transport by some of the rebels ; but others demurred, and a furious brawl ensued, in which several were killed and wounded on both sides : 248 COLUMBUS. [1499. the party for the expedition to San Domingo re- mained triumphant. Fortunately for the peace and safety of the ad- miral, Roldan, who had received news of the move- ments of Ojeda, arrived in the neighbourhood at this critical juncture, with a band of resolute fol- lowers, and was reinforced on the following day by his old confederate, Diego de Escobar, with additional forces. Ojeda retired to his ships ; a long course of manoeuvring took place between these well-matched adversaries, each striving to gain an advantage of the other* Ojeda at length was obliged to abandon the coast, and made sail for some other island, to make up his cargo of Indian slaves. The followers of Roldan took great merit to themselves for their unwonted loyalty in driving Ojeda from the island; and, like all reformed knaves, expected that their good conduct would be amply rewarded. Looking upon their leader as having every thing in his gift, they requested him to share among them the fine province of Cahay, adjoining to Xaragua. Roldan, who was now anxious to establish a character of adherence to the law, declined acceding to their wishes, until sanc- tioned by the admiral ; but, to soothe their im- patient rapacity, he shared among them the lands which had been granted to him in Xaragua. While he was remaining in this neighbourhood, other troubles broke out, and from somewhat of a ro- mantic cause. A young cavalier of noble family, named Hernando de Guevara, cousin to Adrian de Moxica, one of the ringleaders of the late rebellion, was banished from San Domingo for licentious con- duct, and sent to Xaragua, to embark in the ships 1499.] CONSPIRACY OF GUEVARA, 249 of Ojeda, but arrived after tlieir departure. He was treated with indulgence by Roldan, on account of his old comrade, Adrian de Moxica, and was favourably received at the house of the female cacique, Anacaona. That remarkable woman still retained her partiality to the Spaniards, notwith- standing the disgraceful scenes that had passed before her eyes. By her late husband, Caonabo, she had a daughter named Higuenamota, just grown up, and greatly admired for her beauty, Guevara became enamoured of her. He possessed an agreeable person and winning manners, though he was headstrong in his passions, and destitute of principle. His endearments soon won the heart of the simple Indian girl. Anacaona, the mother, pleased with the gallant appearance and ingratiat- ing manners of the youthful cavalier, favoured his attachment ; especially as he sought her daughter in marriage. Roldan was himself attached to the young Indian beauty, and jealous of her preference of his rival. He exerted his authority to separate I the lovers, and banished Guevara to the province ' of Cahay. The latter soon returned, and con- cealed himself in the dwelling of Anacaona. Being ! discovered, and finding Roldan implacable in his opposition to his passion, he now meditated re- venge. He soon made a party among the old com- rades of Roldan, who detested as a magistrate the man they had idolized as a leader. It was concerted to rise suddenly upon him, and either to kill him or put out his eyes. The plot was discovered ; Guevara was seized in the dwelling of Anacaona, in the presence of his intended bride ; seven of his 250 COLUMBUS. [1499. accomplices were likewise arrested, and the prison- ers were sent to the fortress of San Domingo. When Adrian de Moxica heard that his cousin Guevara was arrested, and that too by his former confederate Roldan, he was highly exasperated. He hastened to the old haunt of rebellion at Bonad,' : and claimed the co-operation of Pedro Reguelme, the newly appointed alcalde. It was readily yielded. They went round among their late fellow rebels, who were settled in the vega, and soon mustered a daring body of reckless men, ready with horse and weapon for any desperate enter- prise. Moxica, in his fury, meditated not merely the rescue of his cousin, but the death of Roldan and the admiral. Columbus was at Fort Conception, with an in- considerable force, when he heard of this dangerous plot, concerted in his very neighbourhood. He saw that his safety depended upon prompt and vigorous measures. Taking with him but six or seven trusty servants, and three esquires, all well armed, he came suddenly upon the conspirators in the night, seized Moxica and several of his principal con- federates, and bore them off to Fort Conception. Resolving to set an example that should strike terror into the factious, he ordered that Moxica should be hanged on the top of the fortress. The latter en- treated to be allowed a confessor. A priest was sent for. The miserable culprit, who had been so daring in rebellion, lost all courage at the near approach of death. He delayed, and hesitated in his confession, as if hoping, by whiling away time, to give a chance for rescue. Instead of confessing 1499.] FLIGHT OF THE CONSPIRATORS. 251 his own sins, he began to accuse others, until Co- lumbus, losing all patience, in his mingled indig- nation and scorn ordered the dastard wretch to be flung from the battlements. This sudden act of severity was promptly followed up. Pedro Reguelme was taken with several of his compeers, in his ruffian den at Bonao, and con- veyed to the fortress of San Domingo. The con- spirators fled for the most part to Xaragua^ where they were pursued by the Adelantado, seconded by Roldan, and hunted out of all their old retreats. Thus in a little while the power of faction was completely subdued. Columbus considered this happy event as brought about by the especial intervention of Heaven, and gives in proof of it an instance of one of those visionary fancies by which he seems to have been visited at times, when his mind was distempered by illness or anxiety. In the preceding winter, during the height of his cares and troubles, he had sunk into a state of despondency. In one of his gloomy moods he heard, he says, a voice which thus ad- dressed him : ' Oh man of little faith ! fear no- thing ; be not cast down. I will provide for thee. The seven years of the term of gold are not ex- pired In that, and in all other things, I will take care of thee.' On that very day, he adds, he received intelligence of the discovery of a number of gold mines. The imaginary promise of divine aid appeared to him still to be performing. The * Alluding to his vow, that within seven years he would furnish an army for a crusade, from his share in the gold to be found in the new world. 252 COLUMBUS. [1499. troubles and dangers which had surrounded him were breaking away, and order was coming out of confusion. He now looked forward to the prose- cution of his grand enterprises, the exploring the coast of Paria, and the establishment of a pearl fishery in its waters. How illusive were his hopes \ at this very moment those events were maturing that were to overwhelm him with distress, strip him of his honours, and render him comparatively a wreck for the remainder of his days. 1500.] INTRIGUES AGAINST COLUMBUS. 2^3 CHAPTER XXXIII. INTRIGUES AGAINST COLUMBUS IN THE SPANISH COURT APPOINTMENT OF BOBADILLA AS COMMISSIONER HIS AR- RIVAL AT SAN DOMINGO. [1500.] While Columbus had been involved in a series of difficulties in the factious island of Hispaniola, his enemies had been but too successful in undermining his reputation in the court of Spain. Every vessel that returned from the new world came freighted with complaints, representing the character and conduct of Columbus and his brothers in the most odious point of view, and reiterating the illiberal but mischievous insinuation that they were foreign- ers, who had nothing but their own interest and gratification in view. It was even alleged that Columbus intended to cast off all allegiance ta Spain, and either to make liimself sovereign of the countries he had discovered, or to yield them into the hands of some other power ; a slander, which,, however extravagant, was calculated to startle the jealous mind of Ferdinand. The bishop Fonseca, and other enemies of Columbus who were about the court, having continual access to the sove* reigns, were enabled to place every thing urged against him in the strongest point of view, while they destroyed the force of his vindications. They had a plausible logic by which to convict him 254 COLUMBUS. [1500. either bad management or bad faith. There was an incessant drain upon the mother-country for the support of the colony. Was this compatible, they asked, with the extravagant pictures 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 the riches of king Solomon ? They inferred that he had either deceived the sovereigns by exaggerations, or grossly wronged them by malpractices, or that he was totally incapable of the duties of government. For the purpose of irritating the pride of the king, every repining man who returned from the colony was encouraged to put in claims for arrears of pay withheld by Columbus, or losses sustained in his service. A gang of the disorderly ruffians who had been shipped off to free the island from their seditions found their way to the court at Granada. They followed the king when he rode out, filling the air with complaints, and clamouring for their pay. About fifty of them assembled one day in the main court of the Alhambra, under the royal apart- ments, holding up bunches of grapes, as the meagre diet to which they were reduced by their poverty, and by the cruel deceits of Columbus. Seeing the two sons of the admiral pass by, who were pages to the queen, they followed them with impreca- tions. ' There go,' cried they, ' the whelps of him who discovered the land of vanity and delu- sion, the grave of Spanish hidalgos ! ' The incessant repetition of falsehood will gradu- ally wear its way into the most candid mind. Isa- bella herself began to entertain doubts respecting the conduct of Columbus. If he and his brothers 1500.] INTRIGUES AGAINST COLUMBUS. 255 were upright, they might be injudicious, and mis- chief is oftener produced in government through error of judgment than iniquity of design. Isabella doubted, but the jealous Ferdinand felt convinced. He had never regarded Columbus with real cor- diality; and ever since he had ascertained the importance of his discoveries, had regretted the extensive powers he had vested in his hands. He now resolved to send out some person to investi- gate the affairs of the colony, and, if necessary for its safety, to assume the command. This measure had actually been decided upon, and the papers drawn out, early in 1499 ; but, from various reasons, had been postponed. It is probable Isabella op- posed so harsh a step against a man for whom she entertained an ardent gratitude and high admira- tion. The arrival of the ships with the late fol- lowers of Roldan brought matters to a crisis. The king listened entirely to the representations of the rebels, and a circumstance took place, which, for a time, suspended the friendship of Isabella, the great safeguard of Columbus. The followers of Roldan brought with them a number of slaves, some of which Columbus had been compelled to grant them by the articles of capitulation, others had been conveyed away clan- destinely. Among them were several daughters of caciques, who had been seduced from their homes by these profligates. Some were in a state of preg- nancy, others had new-born infants. The gifts and transfers of these unhappy beings were all repre- sented as voluntary acts of Columbus. The sensi- bility of Isabella as a woman, and her dignity as a queen, were instantly in arms. ' What right,' ex- 256 COLUMBUS. claimed she, indignantly, ' has the admiral to give away my vassals ? ' She immediately ordered all the Indians to be restored to their homes ; nay, more, she commanded that those which had for- merly been sent to Spain by the admiral should be sought out and reshipped to Hispaniola. Unfor- tunately 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 to the welfare of the colony. This con- tributed to heighten the indignation of Isabella, and induced her no longer to oppose the sending out a commissioner to investigate his conduct, and, if necessary, to supersede him in command. The person chosen for this most momentous office was Don Francisco de Bobadilla, an officer of the royal household, and commander of the military and religious order of Calatrava. He is represented by some as a very honest and religious man; by others, and with apparent justice, as needy, passionate, and ambitious— three powerful objections to his acting as judge in a case where the utmost caution and candour were required, and where he was to derive wealth and power from the conviction of one of the parties. Bobadilla arrived at San Domingo on the 23d of August, 1500. Before entering the harbour, he learnt from a canoe which came off from the shore, that the admiral and the Adelantado were absent in the interior of the island, and Don Diego in com- mand. He was told of the recent insurrection of Moxica, and the punishments which had followed. Seven of the rebels had been hanged that weel^, and five more were in the fortress of San Domingo> 1500.] ARRIVAL OF BOBADILLA AT ST. DOMINGO. 257 condemned to suffer the same fate. Among these were Pedro Reguelme, the factious alcalde of Bonao, and Fernando de Guevara, the young- cavalier, whose passion for the daughter of Ana- caona had been the original cause of the rebellion. As the vessels entered the river, Bobadilla beheld on either bank a gibbet, with the body of a Span- iard hanging on it. He considered all these cir- cumstances as conclusive proofs of the alleged cruelty of Columbus. The report had already circulated in the city, that a commissioner had arrived to make inquisi- tion into the late troubles. Many hastened on board the ship to pay early court to this public censor ; and as those who sought to secure his favour were those who had most to fear from his scrutiny, it is evident that the nature of their com- munications were generally unfavourable to the admiral. In fact, before Bobadilla landed, if not before he arrived, the culpability of the admiral was decided in his mind. He acted accordingly. He made proclamations at the church door, in presence of Don Diego and the other persons in authority, of his letters patent, authorizing him to investigate the rebellion, and proceed against de- linquents ; and in virtue of these he demanded that Guevara, Reguelme, and the other prisoners, should be delivered up to him, with the depositions taken in their cases. Don Diego declared he could do nothing of the kind without the authority of the admiral, and requested a copy of the letters patent, that he might send it to his brother. This Bobadilla re- fused, and added, that since the office he proclaimed s 258 COLUMBUS. [1500, appeared to have no weight, he would try what efficacy there was in the name of governor. On the following day, therefore, he caused another royal patent to be read, investing him with the go- vernment of the islands, and of Terra Firma ; an authority which he was only to have assumed on absolute proof of the delinquency of Columbus. This letter being read, he again demanded the prisoners, and was again refused ; Don Diego ob- serving, that they were held in obedience to the admiral, to whom the sovereigns had granted letters of a higher nature. Bobadilla now produced a mandate from the crown, ordering Columbus and his brothers to deliver up all fortresses, ships, and other royal property; and another, ordering that the arrears of wages due to all persons in the royal service should be immediately paid, and the admiral com- pelled to pay the arrears of those to whom he was individually accountable. This last document was received with shouts by the multitude, to many of wliom long arrears were due, in consequence of the poverty of the treasury. Flushed with his growing importance and popularity, Bobadilla again demanded the pri- soners, and receiving the same reply, he proceeded to the fortress, and made a formal demand of them of the Alcayde Miguel Diaz. The latter refused to surrender them to any one but the ad- miral. Upon this, the whole spirit of Bobadilla was aroused. He assembled the sailors of the ships, and the rabble of the place, marched them to the prison, broke open the door, which readily gave way, while some of his myrmidons put up 1500.] BOBADILLA ASSUMES THE COMMAND. 259 ladders to scale the walls. The Alcayde Miguel Diaz, and Don Diego de Alvarado, appeared on the battlements with drawn swords, but offered no resistance. The fortress, having no garrison, was easily carried, and the prisoners were borne off in triumph, and given in custody to an alguazil. Such was the entrance into office of Francisco de Bobadilla, and he continued his career in the same spirit, acting as if he had been sent out to degrade the admiral, not to inquire into his con- duct. He took up his residence in the house of Columbus, seized upon his arms, gold, plate, jewels, horses, books, letters, and most secret manu- scripts, giving no account of the property thus seized, paying out of it the wages of those to whom the admiral was in arrears, and disposing of the rest as if already confiscated to the crown. To increase his favour with the people, he proclaimed a general licence for twenty years, to seek for gold, exacting merely one eleventh for govern- ment, instead of a third, as heretofore. At the same time, he used the most unqualified language in speaking of Columbus, hinted that he was em- ployed to send him home in chains, and declared, that neither he, nor any of his lineage, would ever again be permitted to govern the island. ?60 COLUMBUS [1500. CHAPTER XXXIV. COLUMBUS ARRESTED AND SENT TO SPAIN. [1500.] When Columbus received tidings at Fort Concep- tion of the liigli-handed proceedings of Bobadilla, he considered them the unauthorized act of some rash adventurer ; but the proclamation of his letters patent, which immediately took place throughout the island, soon convinced him he was acting under authority. He endeavoured then to per- suade himself that Bobadilla was sent out to ex- ercise the functions of chief judge, in compliance with the request contained in one of his own letters to the sovereigns, and that he was perhaps in- trusted with provisional powers to inquire into the late troubles of the island. All beyond these powers he tried to believe were mere assumptions, and exaggerations of authority, as in the case of Aguado. His consciousness of his own services and integrity, and his faith in the justice of the sove- reigns, forbade him to think otherwise. He pro- ceeded to act on this idea ; writing temperate and conciliatory letters to Bobadilla, wherein he cau- tioned him against his precipitate measures ; while he endeavoured by counter proclamations to pre- vent the mischief he was producing. Messengers soon arrived, however, who delivered to him a royal letter of credence, commanding him to give 1500.] ARRESTED AND SENT TO SPAIN. 261 implicit faith and obedience to Bobadilla, and they gave him, at the same time, a summons from the latter to appear before him immediately at San Domingo. This laconic letter from the sovereigns struck at once at the root of his dignity and power ; he made no longer any hesitation or demur, but departed alone and almost unattended, to obey the peremptory summons of Bobadilla. The latter, in the mean time, had made a bustle of preparation, and mustered the troops, affecting to believe a vulgar rumour, that Columbus had called on the caciques of the vega, to aid him in resisting the commands of government. He moreover arrested Don Diego, threw him in irons, and confined him on board of a caravel, without assigning any cause for his imprisonment. No sooner did he hear of the arrival of Colum- bus, than he gave orders to put him also in irons, and to confine him in the fortress. This outrage to a person of such dignified and venerable appearance, and such eminent merit, seemed for a time to shock even his enemies. When the irons were brought, every one present shrunk from the task of putting them on him, either out of a sentiment of compassion at so great a reverse of fortune, or out of habitual reverence for his person. To fill the measure of ingratitude meted out to him, it was one of his own servants that volunteered to rivet his fetters. Columbus conducted himself with characteristic magnanimity 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. Co- 262 COLUMBUS [1500. lumbus could not stoop to deprecate the arrogance of a weak and violent man like Bobadilla. He looked beyond this shallow agent, and all his petty tyranny, to the sovereigns who had employed him. It was their injustice and ingratitude alone that 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 in- dignities in silence. He even wrote, at the demand of Bobadilla, a letter to the Adelantado, who was still in Xaragua, at the head of an armed force, exhorting him to submit quietly to the will of the sovereigns. Don Bartholomew immediately com- plied. Relinquishing his command, he hastened peacefully to San Domingo, and on arriving ex- perienced 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 ; and they were kept in total ignorance of the crimes with which they were charged, and the proceedings that were instituted against them. The old scenes of the time of Aguado were now renewed, with tenfold virulence. All the old charges were revived, and others added, still more extra- vagant in their nature. Columbus was accused of having prevented the conversion of the Indians, that they might be sold as slaves ; with having secreted the pearls collected on the coast of Paria, and kept the sovereigns in ignorance of the nature of his discoveries there, in order to exact new pri- 1500.] ARRESTED AND SENT TO SPAIN. 263 vileges from them. Even the late tumults were turned into matters of accusation, and the rebels admitted as evidence. The well-merited punish- ments inflicted upon certain of the ringleaders were cited as proofs of a cruel and revengeful disposition, and a secret hatred of Spaniards. Guevara, Re- guelme, and their fellow convicts, were discharged almost without the form of a trial. Roldan, from the very first, had been treated with confidence by Bobadilla ; all the others, whose conduct had ren- dered them liable to justice, received either a special acquittal or a general pardon. Bobadilla had now collected testimony sufl^cient, as he thought, to ensure the condemnation of the prisoners, and his own continuance in command. He determined, therefore, to send home the admiral and his brothers in chains, in the vessels which were ready for sea, with the inquest taken in their case, and private letters enforcing the charges made against them. San Domingo now swarmed with miscreants, just delivered from the dungeon and the gibbet. Every base spirit which had been overawed by Columbus and his brothers, when in power, now hastened to revenge itself upon them when in chains. The most injurious slanders were loudly proclaimed in the streets, pasquinades and libels were posted up at the corners, and horns blown in the neighbourhood of their prisons, to taunt them with the exultings of the rabble. The charge of conducting the prisoners to Spain was given to Alonzo de Villejo, an officer who was in the employ of Bishop Fonseca. He was in- structed, on arriving at Cadiz, to deliver his 264 COLUMBUS [1500. prisoners into the hands of the bishop, which circumstance has caused a belief that Fonseca was the secret instigator of all these violent proceedings. Villejo, however, was a man of honourable cha- racter, and generous feelings, and 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 deep despondency. So violently had the latter been treated, and so savage were tlie passions let loose against him, that he had begun to fear he should be sacrificed without an oppor- tunity of being heard, and that his name would go down to posterity sullied with imputed crimes. When the officer entered with the guard, he thought it was to conduct him to the scaffold. ' Yillejo,' said he mournfully, ' whither are you taking me?' ' To the ship, your Excellency, to embark,' replied the other. ' To embark !' re- peated 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 comforted, and felt as one restored from death to life. The caravels set sail early in October, bearing off Columbus shackled like the vilest of culprits, amidst the scoffs and shouts of a miscreant rabble, who took a brutal joy in heaping insults on his venerable head, and sent curses after him from the island he had so recently added to the civilized world. For- tunately the voyage was favourable and of moderate duration, and was rendered less irksome to Co- lumbus, by the conduct of those to whom he was given in custody. The worthy Villejo, as well as 1500.] ARRESTED AND SENT TO SPAIN. 265 Andreas Martin, the master of the caravel, felt deeply grieved at his situation, and always treated him 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 afterwards preserve them as relics and memorials of the reward of my services.' ' He did so,' adds his son Fernando, in his his- tory ; ' I saw them always hanging in his cabinet, and he requested that when he died they might be buried with him ! ' 266 COLUMBUS [1500. CHAPTER XXXV. ARRIVAL OF COLUMBUS IN SPAIN HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE SOVEREIGNS APPOINTMENT OF OVANDO TO THE GOVERN- MENT OF HISPANIOLA. [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. A general burst of indignation arose in Cadiz, and in the powerful and opulent Seville, which was immediately echoed throughout all Spain. No one stopped to reason on the subject. It was sufficient to be told that Columbus was brought home in chains from the world he had discovered. The tidings reached the court of Granada, and filled the halls of the alhambra with murmurs of astonishment. On the arrival of the ships at Cadiz, Andreas Martin, the captain, had permitted Co- lumbus to send off letters privately by express. The admiral, full of his wrongs, but ignorant how far they had been authorized by the sovereigns, forbore to write to them. He sent a long letter, however, to a lady of the court, high in favour with the queen, and who had been nurse to Prince Juan. It contained an ample vindication of his conduct, couched in eloquent, and dignified, and touching language. When it was read to the noble-minded Isabella, and she found how grossly Columbus had been wronged, and the royal authority abused, her 1500J APPEARS AT COURT. 267 heart was filled with mingled sympathy and in- dignation. However Ferdinand might have secretly felt dis- posed against Columbus, the momentary tide of public sentiment was not to be resisted. He joined with his generous queen in her reprobation of the treatment of the admiral. Without waiting to receive any documents that might arrive from Bo- badilla, they sent orders to Cadiz that the prisoners should be instantly set at liberty, and treated with all distinction, and that two thousand ducats should be advanced to Columbus to defray the expenses of his journey to court. They wrote him a letter at the same time, expressing their grief at all that he had suffered, and inviting him to Granada. The loyal heart of Columbus was cheered by this letter from his sovereigns. He appeared at court, not as a man ruined and disgraced, but richly dressed, and with an honourable retinue. He was received by their majesties with unqualified favour and distinction. When the queen beheld this ve- nerable man approach, and thought on all he had deserved, and all that he had suffered, she was moved to tears. Columbus had borne up firmly against the stern 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, and beheld tears in the benign eyes of Isabella, his long suppressed feelings burst forth ; he threw himself upon 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 endeavoured to encourage him by the most gracious expressions. As soon as he regained 268 COLUMBUS his self-possession, lie entered into an eloquent and high-minded vindication of his loyalty, and the zeal he had ever felt for the glory and advantage of the Spanish crown ; if, at any time, he had erred, it had been, he said, through inexperience in the art of governing, and through the extraordinary dif- ficulties by which he had been surrounded. There was no need of vindication on his part. He stood in the presence of his sovereigns a deeply injured man, and it remained for them to vindicate themselves to the world, from the charge of ingra-- titude tov/ards their most deserving subject. They expressed their indignation at the proceedings of Bobadilla, which they disavowed as contrary to his instructions ; they promised that he should be im- mediately dismissed from his command, and Colum- bus reinstated in all his privileges and dignities, and indemnified for the losses he had sustained. The latter expected, of course, to be immediately sent back in triumph to San Domingo, as viceroy and admiral of the Indies ; but in this he was doomed to experience a disappointment, which threw a gloom over the remainder of his days. The fact was, that Ferdinand, however he might have disapproved of the violence of Bobadilla, was secretly well pleased with its effects. It had produced a temporary exclusion of Columbus from his high offices, and the politic mo- narch determined, in his heart, that he should never be restored to them. He had long repented having vested such great powers and prerogatives in any subject, particularly in a foreigner ; but at the time of granting them he had no idea of the extent of the countries over which they would be exercised. Recent discoveries, made by various individuals, showed them to be almost boundless. Vincente 1500.] APPEARS AT COURT. 269 Yanez Pinson, one of the brave and intelligent fa- mily of navigators that had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage, had lately crossed the line and explored the shores of the southern continent, as far as Cape St. Augustine. Diego Lepe, another bold navigator of Palos, had doubled that cape, and be- held the continent stretching away out of sight, to the south-west. The report of every discovery put it beyond a doubt that these countries must be in- exhaustible in wealth, as they appeared to be bound- less in extent. Yet over all these Columbus was to be viceroy, with a share in their productions, and in the profits of their trade, that must yield him an incalculable revenue. The selfish monarch ap- peared almost to consider himself outwitted in the arrangement he had made ; and every new dis- covery, instead of increasing his feeling of grati- tude to Columbus, seemed only to make him re- pine at the growing magnitude of his reward. Another grand consideration with the monarch was, that 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 navi- gators had sprung up under his auspices, who 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, there- fore, 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 jealous and selfish policy which actuated Ferdinand in forbearing to reinstate Columbus in those dignities and privileges which had been so- 270 COLUMBUS. [1500. lemnly granted to him by treaty, and which it was acknowledged he had never forfeited by misconduct.* Plausible reasons, however, were given for delay- ing his re-appointment. It was observed that the elements of those factions which had recently been in arms yet existed in the island, and might pro- duce fresh troubles should Columbus return imme- diately. It was represented as advisable, therefore, to send some officer of talent and discretion to su- percede Bobadilla, and to hold the government for two years, by which time 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 this arrangement the admiral was obliged to content himself. The person chosen to supersede Bobadilla was Don Nicholas de Ovando, commander of Lares, of the order of Alcantara. He is described as being of the middle size, with a fair complexion, a red beard, a modest look, yet a tone of authority ; fluent in speech, courteous in manners, prudent, just, tem- perate, and of great humility. Such is the picture drawn of him by some of his contemporaries ; yet he appears, from his actions, to have been plausible and subtle, as well as fluent and courteous ; his humility concealed a great love of command ; he was a merciless scourge to the Indians, and in his dealings with Columbus he was both ungenerous and unjust. While the departure of Ovando was delayed by various circumstances, every arrival brought intel- ligence of the disastrous state of the island, under the administration of Bobadilla. The latter was not so much a bad, as an imprudent and a weak 1500.] CONDUCT OF BOBADILLA. 271 man. Imagining rigorous rule to be tlie rock on which his predecessors had split, he had, at the very- outset, relaxed the reins of justice and morality, and, of course, had lost all command over the com- munity. In a little while such disorder and licen- tiousness ensued, that many, even of the opponents of Columbus, looked back with regret to the strict but wholesome rule of himself and the Adelantado. One dangerous indulgence granted to the colo- nists called for another, and each was ceded, in its turn, by Bobadilla. He sold the farms and estates of the crown at low prices, and granted universal permission to work the mines, on paying only an eleventh of the produce to government. To pre- vent any diminution in the revenues, it became necessary to increase the quantity of gold collected. He enforced, therefore, the repartimientos, by which the caciques were obliged to furnish parties of their subjects to work for the Spaniards in the field and in the mine. To carry these into more complete effect, he made an enumeration of the natives of the island, reduced them into classes, and distri- buted them, according to his favour or caprice, among the colonists. His constant exhortation to the Spaniards was, to produce large quantities of gold. ' 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 than had ever been produced by the third, under the government of Columbus. In the mean time the unhappy Indians sunk under the toils imposed upon them, and the severities by which they were enforced. A capricious 272 COLUMBUS. [1500. tyranny was exercised over tliem by worthless men, numbers of whom had been transported convicts from the dungeons of Castile. TheseVretches as- sumed the tone of grand cavaliers, and insisted upon being attended by trains of servants : they took the daughters and female relatives of caciques for their servants or their concubines. In travelling, they obliged the natives to transport them on their shoulders in litters or hammocks, while others held umbrellas of palm leaves over their heads, and cooled them with fans of feathers. Sometimes the backs and shoulders of the unfortunate Indians who bore the litters were raw and bleeding from the task. When these arrogant upstarts arrived at an Indian village, they capriciously seized upon and lavished the provisions of the inhabitants, and obliged the cacique and his subjects to dance for their amuse- ment. They never addressed the natives but in the most degrading terms ; and for the least offence, or in a mere freak of ill humour, they would in- flict blows and lashes, and even death itself. The tidings of these abuses, and of the wrongs of the natives, grieved the spirit of Isabella, and induced her to urge the departure of Ovando. He was empowered to assume the command imme- diately on his arrival, and to send home Bobadilla by the return of the fleet. Hispaniola was to be the metropolis of the colonial government, which was to extend over the islands and Terra Firma. Ovando was to correct the late abuses, to revoke the improper licences granted by Bobadilla, to lighten the burdens imposed upon the Indians, and to promote their religious instruction. He was, at the same time, to ascertain the injury sustained by Columbus in his late arrest and imprisonment, and 1500.] OVANDO DEPARTS FOR HISPANIOLA. 273 the arrears of revenue that were clue to him, that he might receive ample redress and compensation. The admiral was to be allowed a resident agent in the island, to attend to his affairs and guard his interests, to which office Columbus immediately- appointed Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal. Among various decrees on this occasion, we find the first trace of negro slavery in the new world It was permitted to transport to the colony negro slaves born in Spain, the children and descendants of natives brought from Guinea, where the slave trade had for some time been carried on 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 instance of awful retribution. The fleet appointed to convey Ovando to his go- vernment put to sea on the 13th of February, 1502. It was the largest armament that had yet sailed to the new world, consisting of thirty sail, of various sizes, provided with all kinds of supphes for the colony. Twenty- five hundred souls embarked in this fleet, many of them persons of rank, with their families. Ovando was allowed a brilliant retinue, a body guard of horsemen, and the use of silks, bro- cades, and precious stones, at that time forbidden by the sumptuary laws of Spain. Such was the style in which a favourite of Ferdinand, a native subject of rank, was fitted out to enter upon the government withheld from Columbus. T 274 COLUMBUS. [1500. CHAPTER XXXVI. PROPOSITION OF COLUMBUS FOR A CRUSADE HIS PREPARA- TIONS FOR A FOURTH VOYAGE. [1500—1501.] Columbus remained in the city of Granada up- wards of nine months, awaiting employment, and endeavouring to retrieve his affairs from the con- fusion into which they had been thrown. During this gloomy period, he called to mind his vow to furnish, within seven years from the time of his discovery of the new world, an army of fifty thou- sand foot and five thousand horse, for the recovery of the holy sepulchre. The time had elapsed, the vow remained unfulfilled, and the expected trea- sures that were to pay the army had never been realized. Destitute, therefore, of the means of ac- complishing his pious purpose, he considered it his duty to incite the sovereigns to the enterprise ; and he felt emboldened to do so, from having originally proposed it as the great object to which the profits of his discoveries should be directed. He set to work, therefore, with his accustomed zeal, to pre- pare arguments for the purpose. Aided by a Car- thusian friar, he collected into a manuscript volume all the passages in the sacred scriptures and in the writings of the fathers, which he conceived to con- tain mystic portents and prophecies of the discovery 1500.] PROPOSITION FOR A CRUSADE. 275 of the new world, the conversion of the gentiles, and the recovery of the holy sepulchre ; three great events which he considered as destined to succeed each other, and to be accomplished through his agency. He prepared, at the same time, a long letter to the sovereigns, written with his usual fervour of spirit and simplicity of heart, urging them to set on foot a crusade for the conquest of Jerusalem. It is a singular composition, which lays open the visionary part of his character, and shows the mystic and spe- culative reading with which he was accustomed to nurture his solemn and soaring imagination It must be recollected that this was a scheme me- ditated in melancholy and enthusiastic moods, in the courts of the alhambra, among the splendid re- mains of Moorish grandeur, where, but a few years before, he had beheld the standard of the faith ele- vated in triumph above the symbols of infidelity. It was in unison with the temper of the times, when the cross and sword frequently went together, and religion was made the pretext for the most desolating wars. Whether Columbus ever pre- sented this book to the sovereigns is uncertain ; it is probable that he did not, as his thoughts suddenly returned, with renewed ardour, to their wonted channels, and he conceived a leading object for another enterprise of discovery, Vasco de Gama had recently accomplished the long attempted navigation to India by the Cape of Good Hope ; and Pedro Alvarez Cabral, following in his track, had returned with his vessels laden * The manuscript volume, including the letter, still exists in the Columbian library of the cathedral of Seville, and has been in- spected with great interest by the writer of this history. T 2 276 COLUMBUS, with the precious merchandise of the East. The riches of Calicut were now the theme of every tongue. The discoveries of the savage regions of the new world had as yet brought but little revenue to Spain, but this route to the East Indies was pouring in immediate wealth upon Portugal. Columbus was roused to emulation, and trusted he could discover a route to those oriental regions more easy and direct than that of Vasco de Gama. According to his own observations, and the re- ports of other navigators, the coast of Terra Firma stretched far to the westward. The southern coast of Cuba, which he considered a part of the Asiatic continent, stretched onward towards the same points I The currents of the Caribbean sea must pass be- tween these lands. He was persuaded, therefore, that a strait must exist somewhere thereabout, opening into the Indian sea. The situation in which he placed his conjectural strait was some- - where about what is at present 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 countries of the old, he | felt that he should make a magnificent close to his labours. He unfolded his plan to the sovereigns, and, though it met with some narrow-minded opposi- tion on the part of certain of the royal councillors, it was promptly adopted, and he was empowered to fit out an armament to carry it into effect. He accordingly departed for Seville in the autumn of 1501, to make the necessary preparations; but such were the delays caused by the artifices of Fonseca and his agents, that it was not until the 1501.] FOURTH VOYAGE. 277 following month of May that he was able to put to sea. Before sailing, he took measures to provide against any misfortune that might happen to him- self in so distant and perilous an expedition. He caused copies to be made and authenticated, of all the royal letters patent of his dignities and privi- leges ; of his letter to the nurse of Prince Juan, containing a vindication of his conduct ; and of two letters assigning to the bank of St. George, at Genoa, a tenth of his revenues, to be employed in diminishing the duties on provisions in his native city. These two sets of documents he sent by different hands to his friend, Doctor Nicolo Odo- rigo, who had been Genoese ambassador to the court of Spain, requesting him to deposit them in some safe place at Genoa, and to apprize his son Diego of the same. He wrote also to Pope Alexander VII., men- tioning his vow to furnish an army for a crusade, but informing him of his being prevented from ful- filling it by being divested of his government. He promised his holiness, however, on his return from his present voyage, to repair immediately to Rome, and render him an account of all his expeditions* 278 COLUMBUS. [1502. CHAPTER XXXVII. COLUMBUS SAILS ON HIS FOURTH VOYAGE EVENTS AT THE ISLAND OF HISPANIOLA HIS SEARCH AFTER AN IMA- GINARY STRAIT. [1502.] Age was rapidly making its advances upon Colum- bus, when he undertook his fourth voyage of dis- covery. He was now about sixty-six years old. His constitution, originally vigorous in the extreme, had been impaired by hardships and exposures in every clime, and by the mental sufferings he had undergone. His intellectual powers alone retained their wonted energy, prompting him, at a period of life when most men seek repose, to sally forth, with youthful ardour, on the most toilsome and adven- turous of enterprises. In this arduous voyage he was accompanied by his brother Don Bartholomew, who commanded one of the vessels, and by his son Fernando, then in his fourteenth year. Columbus sailed from Cadiz on the 9th of May, 1502. His squadron consisted of four caravels, the largest of but seventy tons burthen, the smallest of fifty ; the crews amounted in all to one hundred and fifty men. With this little armament, and these slender barks, he undertook the search after a strait, which, if found, must conduct him into the most remote seas, and lead to a complete circum- 1502.] ARRIVAL AT ST. DOMINGO. 279 navigation of the globe. After touching at the Canaries, he had a prosperous voyage to the Ca- ribbee islands, arriving on the 15th of June at Mantinino, at present called Martinique. He had originally intended to steer to Jamaica, and from thence for the continent in search of the supposed strait ; but one of his vessels proving a dull sailer, he bore away for Hispaniola, to exchange it for one of the fleet which had recently taken out Ovando. This was contrary to his orders, which had expressly forbade him to touch at Hispaniola, until his return homewards, lest his presence should cause some agitation in the island ; he trusted, however, the circumstances of the case would plead his excuse. Columbus arrived off the harbour of San Do- mingo at an unpropitious moment. The place was filled with the most virulent of his enemies, many of whom were in a high state of exasperation from recent proceedings which had taken place against them. The fleet which had brought out Ovando lay in the harbour ready to put to sea, and was to take out Roldan, and many of his late adherents, some of whom were under arrest, and to be tried in Spain. Bobadilla was to embark in the principal ship, on board of which he had put an immense amount of gold, the revenue collected for the go- vernment during his administration, and which he confidently expected would atone for all his faults. Among the presents he intended for the sovereigns was one mass of virgin gold, which is famous in the old Spanish chronicles. It was said to weigh three thousand six hundred castillanos. Large quantities of gold had also been shipped in the fleet by the followers of Roldan, and other adventurers; the 280 COLUMBUS [1502. wealth gained by the sufferings of the unhappy- natives. It was on the 29 th of June that Columbus ar- rived at the mouth of the river, and sent an officer on shore to explain to the governor the purpose of his visit ; he requested permission, moreover, to shelter his squadron in the river, as he apprehended an approaching storm. His request was refused by Ovando, who probably had orders from the sove^ reigns to that effect, and perhaps was further swayed by prudent considerations. Columbus then sent a second message, entreating that the sailing of the fleet might be delayed, as there were indubitable signs of an approaching tempest. This request was as fruitless as the preceding ; the weather, to an inexperienced eye, was fair and tranquil, and the warning of the admiral was treated with ridicule, as the prediction of a false prophet. Columbus retired from the river, indignant at being denied relief, and refused shelter in the very island which he had discovered. His crew mur- mured loudly at being excluded from a port of their own nation, where even strangers, under similar circumstances, would be admitted, and they repined at having embarked with a commander who was liable to such treatment. Columbus, feeling con- fident that a storm was at hand, kept his feeble squadron close to shore, and sought for shelter in some wild bay or river of the island. In the mean time, the fleet of Bobadilla set sail from San Domingo, and stood out confidently to sea. Within two days the predictions of Columbus were verified. One of those tremendous storms which sometimes sweep those latitudes, gradually 1502.] EXPOSED TO A VIOLENT STORM. 281 gathered up and began to blow. The little squa- dron of Columbus remained for a time tolerably well sheltered by the land, but the tempest increasing, and the night coming on with unusual darkness, the ships lost sight of each other, and were separated. The admiral still kept close to the shore, and sus- tained no damage. The three other vessels ran out for sea room, and for several days were driven about at the mercy of wind and wave, fearful each moment of shipwreck, and giving up each other as lost. The Adelantado, who commanded the worst vessel of the squadron, ran the most imminent hazard, and nothing but his consummate seamanship enabled him to keep her afloat ; he lost his long boat, and all the other vessels sustained more or less injury. At length, after various vicissitudes, they all arrived safe at Port Hermoso, to the west of San Domingo. A different fate befel the other armament. The ship on board of which were Bobadilla, Roldan, and a number of the most inveterate enemies of Columbus, was swallowed up with all its crew, and with the celebrated mass of gold, and the principal part of the ill-gotten treasure gained by the miseries of the Indians. Many of the other ships were en- tirely lost, some returned to San Domingo in shat- tered condition, and only one was enabled to con- tinue her voyage to Spain. That one, it is said, was the weakest of the fleet, and had on board of it four thousand pieces of gold, the property of the admiral, remitted to Spain by his agent Carvajal. Both Fernando Columbus and the venerable histo- rian Las Casas looked upon this event as one of those awful judgments which seem at times to deal forth temporal retribution. They notice the cir- 282 COLUMBUS. L1502, cum stance, that while the enemies of the admiral were thus, as it were, before his eyes, swallowed up in the raging sea, the only ship enabled to pursue her voyage was the frail bark freighted with his property. Many of the superstitious seamen, who, from the sagacity displayed by Columbus, in judgr. ing of the signs of the elements, and his variety of scientific knowledge, looked upon him as endowed with supernatural powers, fancied he had conjured up this storm by magic spells, for the destruction of his enemies. The evils in this, as in most of the cases called temporal judgments, overwhelmed the. innocent with the guilty. In the same ship with Bobadilla and Roldan, perished the captive Gua- rionex, the unfortunate cacique of the vega. After repairing the damages sustained by his ships in the storm, Columbus steered for Terra Firma, but the weather falling perfectly calm, he was swept away to the north-west by the currents, until he arrived on the southern coast of Cuba. The wind springing up fair, he resumed his course, and standing to the south-west was enabled on the 30th of July to make the island of Guanaga, a few leagues distant from the coast of Honduras. While the Adelantado was on shore at this island, a canoe arrived of an immense size, on board of which sat a cacique with his wives and children, under an awning of palm leaves. The canoe was paddled by twenty-five Indians, and freighted with various merchandise, the rude manufactures and natural productions of the adjacent countries. There were hatchets and other utensils of copper, with a kind of crucible for the melting of that metal ; various vessels neatly formed of clay, marble, and hard 1502.] COASTING OF HONDURAS. 283 wood ; mantles of cotton, worked and dyed with various colours ; and many other articles which in- dicated a superior degree of art and civilization than had hitherto been discovered in the new world. The Indians, as far as they could be understood, informed the admiral that they had come from a country rich, cultivated, and industrious, situated to the west, and urged him to steer in that direc- tion. Well would it have been for Columbus had he followed their advice. Within a day or two he would have arrived at Yucatan ; the discovery of Mexico, and the other opulent countries of New Spain, would have necessarily followed ; the South- ern Ocean would have been disclosed to him, and a succession of splendid discoveries would have shed fresh glory on his declining age, instead of its sinking amidst gloom, neglect, and disappointment. The admiral's whole mind, however, was at pre- sent intent upon discovering the supposed strait that was to lead him to the Indian Ocean. He stood, therefore, southwardly for some mountains which he descried not many leagues distant, and made Cape Honduras, and from thence proceeded eastwardly, beating against contrary winds, and struggling with the currents which sweep that coast. There was an almost incessant tempest, with heavy rain and awful thunder and lightning. His vessels were strained so that their seams opened; the sails and rigging were rent, and the provisions damaged by the rain and the leakage. The sailors were exhausted with fatigue, and harassed with terror. Several times they confessed their sins to each other, and prepared for death. During a great part of this time, Columbus suffered extremely ^84 COLUMBUS. [1502. from the gout, and liis complaint was aggravated by watchfulness and anxiety. His illness did not prevent his attending to his duties ; he had a small cabin or round house constructed on the stern, from 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, and his anxious mind was distressed at the thoughts that his brother Don Bartholomew, and his son Fernando were exposed to the same dangers and hardships. Often, too, his thoughts reverted to his son Diego, and the cares and misfortunes into which his death might plunge him. At length, after struggling for up- wards of forty days to make a distance of about seventy leagues, he arrived, on the 14th of Sep- tember, at a cape where the coast made a sudden bend, and turned directly south. Doubling this cape, he had immediately an easy wind, and swept off with flowing sail, in consequence of which he gave it the name of Gracias a Dios, or Thanks to God. For three weeks he continued coasting what is at present called the Mosquito shore, in the course of which a boat with its crew was swallowed up by the sudden swelling of a river. He had occasional interviews with the natives, but a mutual distrust prevailed between them and the Spaniards. The Indians were frightened at seeing a notary of the fleet take out pen, ink, and paper, and proceed to write down the information they were communi- cating ; they supposed he was working some magic spell, and to counteract it, they scattered a fragrant powder in the air, and burnt it so that the smoke J 502.] COSTA RICA AND VERAGUA, 285 should be borne towards the Spaniards. The super- stitious seamen looked upon these counter charms with equal distrust. They suspected the people of this coast to be great enchanters, and that all the delays and hardships they had experienced were in consequence of the ships being under some evil spell, wrought by their magic arts. Even Colum- bus, and his son and historian Fernando appear to have been tinctured with this superstition, which indeed is characteristic of the age. On the 5th of October, Columbus arrived at what is at present called Costa Eica (or the Rich Coast), from the gold and siver mines found in after years among its mountains. Here he began to find ornaments of pure gold among the natives. These increased in quantity when he came to what has since been called the coast of Veragua, where he was assured that the richest mines were to be found. In sailing along these coasts he received repeated accounts of a great kingdom in the west, called Ciguare, at the distance of several days' journey, where, as far as he could understand the imperfect explanations of his interpreters, the in- habitants wore crowns and bracelets and anklets of gold, and employed it in embroidering their garments, and ornamenting and embossing their furniture. They were armed also like the Span- iards, with swords, bucklers, and cuirasses, and were mounted on horses. The country was de- scribed also as being commercial, with seaports, in which ships arrived armed with cannon. Above all, Columbus understood that the sea continued round to this kingdom of Ciguare, and that ten days beyond it was the Ganges. ! 286 COLUMBUS. [1502. These were evidently rumours of the distant kingdom of Mexico, imperfectly interpreted to Columbus, and shaped and coloured by his imagi- nation. He concluded that this country must be some province belonging to the Grand Khan, and must lie on the opposite side of a peninsula, and that he would soon arrive at a strait leading into the Indian Sea which washed its shores. The sup- posed vicinity of the Ganges caused no surprise, as he had adopted the opinion of certain ancient philosophers, who gave the world a smaller cir- cumference than was generally imagined, and but fifty-six miles and two -thirds to a degree of the equinoctial line. With these erroneous but ingenious ideas, Co- lumbus continued to press forward in search of the imaginary strait, contending with adverse winds and currents, and meeting with great hostility from the natives ; for the Indians of these coasts were fierce and warlike, and many of the tribes are supposed to have been of Carib origin. At sight of the ships, the forests would resound with yells and war whoops, with wooden drums, and the blast of conch s, and on landing the shores would be lined with savage warriors armed with clubs, and lances, and swords of palm wood. At length, having discovered and named Puerto Bello, and continued beyond Cape Nombre de Dios, Columbus arrived at a small and narrow harbour to which he gave the name of El Retrete, or The Cabinet. Here he had reached the point, to which Bastides, an enterprising voyager, coast- ing from the eastward, had recently explored. Whether Columbus knew or not of the voyage of 1502.] RETURN TO VERAGUA. 287 this discoverer does not clearly appear, but here he was induced to give up all further attempt to find the strait. The seamen were disheartened by the constant opposition of the winds and currents, and by the condition of the ships, which were pierced on all parts by the teredo or worm, so destructive in the tropical seas. They considered themselves still under an evil spell, worked by the Indian sorcerers, and the commanders remon- strated against forcing their way any farther in spite of the elements, with ships so crazed and leaky. Columbus yielded to their solicitations, and determined to return to the coast of Veragua, and search for the mines which were said to abound there. Here then ended the lofty anticipations which had elevated him above all mercenary views in his struggle along these perilous coasts, and had given an heroic character to the early part of his 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. The subsequent dis- covery of the Pacific Ocean bathing the opposite shores of that narrow isthmus, has proved that a great part of his theory was well founded. 288 COLUMBUS, [150!?. CHAPTER XXXVIII. RETURN TO THE COAST OF VERAGUA — CONTESTS WITH THE NATIVES. [1502.] On the 5th of December, Columbus sailed from El Eetrete, to return westward in search of the gold mines of Veragua. He had not proceeded far, however, when the wind suddenly veered to the west, the point from whence, for three months, he had been wishing it to blow, but from whence it now came only to contradict him. In a little while it became so variable and furious as to baffle all seamanship. For nine days the vessels were tossed about at the mercy of a raging tempest, in an unknown sea, and often exposed to the awful perils of a lee shore. The sea, according to the description of Columbus, boiled at times like a caldron ; at other times it ran in mountain waves, covered with foam. At night the raging billows sparkled with luminous particles which made them resemble great surges of flame. For a day and a night the heavens glowed like a furnace with inces- sant flashes of lightning ; while the loud claps of thunder were often mistaken by the mariners for signal guns of distress from their foundering com- panions. During the whole time there was such a deluge of rain, that the seamen were almost drowned in their open vessels. 1502.] RETURN TO VERAGUA. 289 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 co- lumn, which rapidly approached the ^hips, spinning along the surface of the deep, and drawing up the waters with a rushing sound. The affrighted ma- riners, when they beheld this waterspout advancing towards them, despaired of averting it by human means, and began to repeat certain passages from St. John the Evangelist. The waterspout passed close by their ships without injuring them, and they attributed their escape to the miraculous efficacy of their quotations from the scriptures. An interval of calm succeeded, but even this afforded but little consolation to the tempest-tost mariners ; they looked upon it as deceitful, and beheld with alarm great numbers of sharks, so abundant and ravenous in those latitudes, roaming about the ships. Among the superstitions of the seas is the belief that these voracious fish have not only the faculty of smelling dead bodies at a dis- tance, but have a presentiment of their prey, and keep about vessels which have sick persons on board, or which are in danger of being wrecked. For three weeks longer they continued to be driven to and fro, by changeable and tempestuous winds, endeavouring to make a distance of merely tliirty leagues, insomuch that Columbus gave this line of sea-bord^ the name of La costa de los Con- trastes, or the coast of contradictions. At length, to his great joy, he arrived on the day of Epiphany u 290 COLUMBUS. [1502. (the 6tli of January) on the coast of Veragua, and anchored in a river to which, in honour of the day, he gave the name of Belen or Bethlehem. The natives of the neighbourhood manifested the same fierce and warHke character that generally prevailed along this coast. They were soon con- ciliated, however, and brought many ornaments of fine gold to traffic ; but assured the admiral that the mines lay near the river Veragua, which was about two leagues distant. The Adelantado had an intervie\y with Quibian, the cacique of Veragua, who afterwards visited the ships. He was a stern, warrior, of tall and powerful frame, and taciturn and cautious character. A few days afterwards, the Adelantado, attended by sixty-eight men, well armed, proceeded to explore the Veragua, and seek its reputed mines. They ascended the river about a league and a half to the village of Quibian, which was situated on a hill. The cacique descended with a numerous train of his subjects, unarmed, and took his seat on a great stone, which one of his attendants drew out of the river. He received his guests with courtesy, for the lofty, vigorous, and iron form of the Adelantado, and his resolute demeanour, were calculated to inspire awe and respect in an Indian warrior. Though his jealousy was evidently awakened by the intrusion of the Spaniards into his territories, yet he readily fur- nished Don Bartholomew with guides, to conduct him to the mines. These guides led the Adelan- tado and his men about six leagues into the inte- rior, among thick forests of lofty and magnificent trees, where they told them the mines were situ- ated. In fact, the whole soil appeared impregnated 1502.] SETTLEMENT ON THE BELEN. 291 with gold, and the Spaniards collected a consider- able quantity from the surface of the earth, and from among the roots of the trees. From hence the Adelantado was conducted to the summit of a high hill, which overlooked an immense extent of country, with various villages, and the guides as- sured him that the whole land, to the distance of twenty days journey westward, abounded in gold. Another expedition of Don Bartholomew along the coast, westward, was equally satisfactory ; and the reports which he brought of golden tracts of country, together with the rumours of a rich and civilized kingdom in the interior, and the erroneous idea with respect to the vicinity of the Ganges, all concurred to produce a new illusion in the ardent mind of Columbus. He fancied that he had actu- ally arrived at the Aurea Chersonesus, from whence, according to Josephus, the gold had been procured for the building of the temple of Jerusa- lem. Here, then, was a place at which to found a colony, and establish a mart, which should become an emporium of the wealth of a vast region of mines. His brother, Don Bartholomew, concurred with him in opinion, and agreed to remain here with the greater part of the people, while the ad- miral should return to Spain for supplies and re- inforcements. They immediately proceeded to carry their plan into operation. Eighty men were selected to re- main. Houses of wood, thatched with palm leaves, were erected on the high bank of a creek, about a bow- shot within the mouth of the river Belen. A storehouse was built to receive part of the ammunition, artillery, and stores ; the rest was u 2 292 COLUMBUS. [1502. put on board of one of the caravels, which was to be left for the use of the colony. The houses being sufficiently finished to be ha- bitable, the admiral prepared for his departure, when he found to his surprise that the river, which on his arrival had been swollen by rain, had sub- sided to such a degree that there was not above half a fathom of water, on the bar. Though his vessels were small, it was impossible to draw them over the sands at the mouth of the river, on ac- count of a heavy surf. He was obliged, therefore, to wait until the rains should again swell the riveir. In the mean time, Quibian beheld with secret indignation these strangers intruding themselves into his dominions. Columbus had sought to se- cure his friendship by various presents, but in vain. The cacique, ignorant of the vast superiority of the Europeans in the art of war, thought it easy to overwhelm and destroy them. He sent messen- gers around, and ordered all his fighting men to assemble at his residence, under pretext of making war upon a neighbouring province. The move- ments of the Indians awakened the suspicions of one Diego Mendez, chief notary of the armament. He was a man of zeal and spirit, of a shrewd and prying character, and entirely devoted to the ad- miral. He mingled among the Indians, and ob- served circumstances which satisfied him that they were meditating an attack. The admiral was loth to believe it, and was desirous of clearer inform^a- tion, before he took any step that might interrupt the pacific intercourse that yet prevailed. The in- defatigable Mendez now undertook a service of life and death. Accompanied by a single com- 1502.] CONSPIRACY OF THE NATIVES. 293 panion, he penetrated as a spy to the very residence of Quibian, who they heard had been wounded in the leg by an arrow. Mendez gave himself out as a surgeon come to cure the wound, and made his way to the mansion of the grim warrior, which was situated on the crest of a hill, and surrounded by three hundred heads, on stakes; dismal trophies of the enemies he had vanquished in battle. Un- dismayed by this sight, Mendez endeavoured to enter, but was met at the threshold by the son of the cacique, who repulsed him with a violent blow, that made him recoil several paces. He managed to pacify the furious young savage by taking out a box of ointment, and assuring him that he only came for the purpose of curing his father's wounds. He then made him presents of a comb, scissors, and mirror, taught him and his Indians the use of them in cutting and arranging their hair, and thus ingratiated himself with them by administering to their vanity. It was impossible, however, to gain admittance to the cacique ; but Mendez saw enough to convince him that the attack was about to be carried into effect, and that it was merely delayed by the wound of the cacique ; he hastened back, therefore, to Columbus with the intelligence. An Indian interpreter, a native of the neigh- bourhood, corroborated the report of Mendez. He informed the admiral that Quibian intended to come secretly in the dead of the night, with all his warriors, to set fire to the ships and houses, and massacre the Spaniards. When the Adelantado heard of this plot he con- ceived a counterplot to defeat it, which he carried into effect with his usual promptness and resolu- tion. Taking with him seventy- four men, well 294 COLUMBUS. [1502. armed, among whom was Diego Mendez, and be- ing accompanied by the Indian interpreter who had revealed the conspiracy, he set off in boats to the mouth of the Veragua, ascended it rapidly, and landed in the night at the village of the cacique before the Indians could have notice of his ap- proach. Lest Quibian should take the alarm and fly, he ascended to his house, accompanied only by Diego Mendez, and four other men, ordering the rest to come on gradually and secretly, and at the discharge of an arquebus, to rush up and surround the house, and suffer no one to escape. The cacique, hearing of his approach, came forth, and seating himself in the portal, desired him to advance singly. Don Bartholomew complied, ordering Diego Mendez and his four companions to remain at a little distance, but to rush to his aid at a concerted signal. He then advanced, ad- dressed the cacique by means of the interpreter, inquired about his wound, and pretending to exa- mine it, took him by the arm. This was the sig- nal, at which four of the Spaniards rushed forward, the fifth discharged the arquebus. A violent struggle ensued between Don Bartholomew and the cacique, who were both men of great muscular force ; but, with the assistance of Diego Mendez and his companions, Quibian was overpowered, and bound hand and foot. In the mean time the main body of the Spaniards surrounded the house, and captured the wives and children of the cacique, and several of his principal subjects. The pri- soners were sent off to the ships, while the Ade- lantado, with a part of his men, remained on shore to pursue the Indians who had escaped. ihe cacique was conveyed to the boats by Juan. 1502.] CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF QUIBIAN. 295 Sanchez, the principal pilot of the squadron, a powerful and spirited man. The Adelantado charged him to be on his guard against any attempt at rescue or escape. The sturdy pilot replied, that if the cacique escaped from his clutches he would give them leave to pluck out his beard hair by hair. On arriving at the boat he secured his pri- soner 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 pain- fulness of his bonds, until the rough heart of the pilot was touched with compassion. He loosened the cord, therefore, by which Quibian was tied to the bench, keeping the end of it in his hand. The wily Indian now watched his opportunity, and plunged suddenly into the water, with such vio- lence, 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 pre- venting the escape of the other prisoners, rendered it impossible to pursue the cacique, or even to ascertain his fate. Juan Sanchez hastened 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, but on the following morning, seeing the wild and rugged nature of the country, he gave up all further pursuit of the Indians, and returned to the ships with the spoils of the cacique's mansion, consisting of bracelets, anklets, and massive plates of gold, and two golden coronets. One-fifth of the booty was set apart for the crown, the residue was shared among those concerned in the enterprise, and one of the coronets was assigned to the Adelantado as a trophy of his exploit. 295 COLUMBUS. [1503-. CHAPTER XXXIX. DISASTERS OF THE SETTLEMENT. [1503.] Satisfied that tlie vigorous measure of the Ade- lantado had struck terror into the Indians, and crushed their hostile designs, Columbus took ad- vantage of a swelling of the river, to pass the bar with three of his caravels, leaving the fourth for the use of the settlement. He then anchored within a league of the shore, until a favourable wind should spring up for Hispaniola. The cacique Quibian had not perished in the river, as some had supposed. Plunging to the bot- tom, he swam for some distance below the surface, and then emerging escaped to the shore. His home, however, was desolate, and to complete his despair, he saw the vessels standing out to sea, bearing away his wives and children captives. Fu- rious for revenge, he gathered together a great number of his warriors, and assailed the settlement when the Spaniards were scattered and off their guard. The Indians launched their javelins through the roofs of the houses, which were of palm leaves, or hurled them in at the windows, or thrust them between the logs which composed the walls, and wounded several of the Spaniards. On the first 1503.] DISASTERS OF THE SETTLEMENT. 297 alarm, the Adelantado seized a lance, and sallied forth with seven or eight of his men ; Diego Mendez brought several others to his assistance. They had a short skirmish ; one Spaniard was killed and eight wounded ; the Adelantado received a thrust in the breast with a javelin ; but they succeeded in re- pulsing the Indians, with considerable loss, and driving them into the forest. During the skirmish,;^ boat came on shore from the ships, to procure wood and water. It was commanded by Diego Tristan, a captain of one of the caravels. When the Indians were put to flight he proceeded up the river in quest of fresh water, disregarding the warning counsels of those on shore. The boat had ascended about a league above the village, to a part of the river overshadowed by lofty banks and spreading trees. Suddenly the forests resounded with yells and war-whoops, and the blasts of conchs. A shower of missiles was rained from the shores, and canoes darted out from creeks and coves, filled with warriors brandishing their weapons. The Spaniards, losing all presence of mind, neglected to use their fire-arms, and only sought to shelter themselves with their bucklers. The captain, Diego Tristan, though covered with wounds, endeavoured to animate his men, when a javelin pierced his right eye, and struck him dead. The canoes now closed upon the boat, and mas- sacred the crew. One Spaniard alone escaped, who having fallen overboard, dived to the bottom, swam under water, and escaped unperceived to shore, bearing tidings of the massacre to the set- tlement. The Spaniards were so alarmed at the intelligence, and at the thoughts of the dangers that were thickening around them, that, notwith- 298 COLUMBUS. [1503. standing the remonstrances of the Adelantado, they determined to embark in the caravel, and abandon the place altogether. On making the attempt, however, they found that the torrents having sub- sided, the river was again shallow, and it was im- possible for the caravel to pass over the bar. A high sea and boisterous surf also prevented their sending off a boat to the admiral, with intelligence of their danger. While thus cut off from all re- treat or succour, horrors increased upon them. — The mangled bodies of Diego Tristan and his men came floating down the stream, and drifted about the harbour, with flights of crows and other carrion birds feeding on them, and hovering and scream- ing, and fighting about their prey. In the mean time the dismal sound of conchs and war drums was heard in every direction in the bosom of the surrounding forest, showing that the enemy was augmenting in number, and preparing for further hostilities. The Adelantado, therefore, deemed it unsafe to remain in the village, whichs was adjacent to the woods. He chose an open place on the shore, where he caused a kind of bulwark to be made of the boat of the caravel, and of casks and sea-chests. Two places were left open as em- brasures, in which were mounted a couple of fal- conets, or small pieces of artillery. In this little fortress the Spaniards shut themselves up, and kept the Indians at a distance by the terror of their fire arms ; but they were exhausted by watching an by incessant alarms, and looked forward with de spondency to the time when their ammunitio' should be exhausted, or they should be driven fort by hunger to seek for food. While the Spaniards were exposed to such im 1503.] DISASTERS OF THE SETTLEMENT. 299 minent 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 that some disaster had befallen them. But one boat remained for the service of the ships, and they dared not risk it, in the rough sea and heavy surf, to send it on shore for intelligence. A circumstance occurred to increase the anxiety of the crews. The Indian prisoners were confined in the forecastle of one of the caravels. In the night they suddenly burst open the hatch, and several flung themselves into the sea, and swam to the shjre; the rest were secured and forced back into the forecastle, but such was their unconquerable spirit and their despair, that they hanged or strangled themselves with ends of cords, which lay about in their prison, and in the morning were all found dead. The escape of some of the prisoners gave great uneasiness to the admiral, fearing they would sti- mulate their countrymen to some new act of ven- geance. Still it was impossible to send a boat on shore. At length one Pedro Ledesma, a man of great strength and resolution, volunteered, if the boat would take him to the edge of the surf, to plunge into the sea, swim to the shore, and bring off intelligence. He succeeded, and, on his return, informed the admiral of all the disasters of the set- tlement, the attack by the Indians, and the massacre of Diego Tristan and his boat's crew. He found the Spaniards in their forlorn fortress in a complete state of insubordination. They were preparing canoes to take them to the ships when the weather should moderate. They threatened that, if the admiral refused to take them on board, they would 300 COLUMBUS. [1503. embark in the remaining caravel, as soon as it could be extricated from the river, and would abandon themselves to the mercy of the seas, rather than continue on that fatal coast. The admiral was deeply afflicted at this intelli- gence, but there appeared no alternative but to embark all the people, abandon the settlement for the present, and return at a future day, with a force competent to take secure possession of the country. The state of the weather rendered the execution even of this plan doubtful. The high wind and bois- terous waves still prevented communication, and the situation of those at sea, in crazy and feebly manned ships, on a lee-shore, was scarcely less perilous than that of their comrades on the land. Every hour increased the anxiety of the admiral. Days of constant perturbation, and nights of sleep- less anguish, preyed upon a constitution broken by age and hardships. Amidst the acute maladies of the body, and the fever of the mind, he appears to have, been visited by partial delirium. In a letter to the sovereigns, he gives an account of a kind of vision, which comforted him when full of despondency, and tossing upon a couch of pain. In the silence of the night, when, wearied and sighing, he had fallen into a slumber, he thought he heard a voice re- proaching him with his want of confidence in God. ' Oh fool, and slow to believe thy God ! ' exclaimed the voice, ' what did he more for Moses, or for his servant David ? From the time that thou wert born he has ever taken care of thee. When he saw thee of a fitting age, he made thy nam.e to resound mar- vellously throughout the world. The Indies, those rich parts of the earth, he gave thee for thine own. 1303.] RELIEF OF THE SETTLEMENT. 301 and empowered thee to dispose of them to othars according to thy pleasure. He delivered thee the keys of the gates of the ocean sea, shut up by such mighty chains, and thou wert obeyed in many lands, and didst acquire honourable fame among Christians. Thou dost call despondingly for suc- cour. Answer, Who has afflicted thee ? God, or the world ? The privileges and promises which God has made thee, he has never broken. He fulfils all that he promises, and with increase. Thy present troubles are the reward of the toils and perils thou hast endured in serving others.' Amidst its reproaches the voice mingled promises of fur- ther protection, and assurances that his age should be no impediment to any great undertaking. Such is the vision which Columbus circumstan- tially relates in a letter to the sovereigns. The words here spoken by a supposed voice, are truths which dwelt upon his mind, and agitated his spirit in his waking hours; it w^as natural, therefore, that they should recur vividly in his feverish ilreams. He had a solemn belief that he was a peculiar instrument in the hands of Providence, which, together with a deep tinge of superstition, common to the age, made him prone to mistake every striking dream for a revelation. His error was probably confirmed by subse- quent circumstances. Immediately after the sup- posed vision, and after nine days of boisterous weather, the wind subsided, the sea became calm, and the Adelantado and his companions were happily rescued from their perilous situation, and embarked on board of the ships. Every thing of 302 COLUMBUS. [1503. value was likewise brought on board, and no- thing remained but the hull of the caravel, which could not be extricated from the river. Diego Mendez was extremely efficient in bringing off the people and the property ; and in reward of his zeal and services, the admiral gave him the command of the caravel, vacant by the death of the unfortunate Diego Tristan. 1503.] DEPARTURE FROM VERAGUA. 303: CHAPTER XL. VOYAGE TO JAMAICA TRANSACTIONS AT THAT ISLAND. [isos.-j Towards the end of April, Columbus set sail from the disastrous coast of Veragua. The wretched condition of his ships, the enfeebled state of his crews, and the scarcity of provisions, determined him to make the best of his way for Hispaniola : but it was necessary, before standing across for that island, to gain a considerable distance to the east, to avoid being swept away far below their destined port by the currents. The pilots and mariners, who had not studied the navigation of these seas with an equally experienced and obser- vant eye, fancied, when Columbus stood along the coast to the east, that he intended to proceed im- mediately to Spain, and murmured loudly at the madness of attempting so long a voyage, with ships destitute of stores and consumed by the worms. The admiral did not impart his reasons, for he was disposed to make a mystery of his routes, seeing the number of private adventurers daily crowding into his track. Continuing along the coast eastward, he was obliged to abandon one of the caravels in the harbour of Puerto Bello, being so pierced by the teredo that it was impossible to keep her afloat. He then proceeded about ten leagues beyond Point 304 COLUMBUS. [1503. Bias, near to what is at present called the gulf of Darien, and which he supposed to be the province of Mangi, in the territories of the Grand Khan. Here he bade farewell to the main land, and stood northward, on the first of May, in quest of Hispa- niola. Notwithstanding all his precautions, how- ever he was carried so far west by the currents, as to arrive, on the 30th of May, among the cluster of islands called the Queen's Gardens, on the south side of Cuba. During this time, his crews suffered excessively from hunger and fatigue. They were crowded into two caravels, little better than mere wrecks, and which were scarcely kept afloat by incessant labour at the pump. They were en- feebled by scanty diet, and dejected by a variety of hardships. A violent storm on the coast of Cuba drove the vessels upon each other, and shat- tered them to such a degree, that the admiral, after struggling as far as Cape Cruz, gave up all further attempt to navigate them to Hispaniola, and stood over, in search of a secure port, on the island of Jamacia. Here, on the 24th of June, they anchored in a harbour, to which the admiral gave the name of Port San Gloria. Seeing that his ships were no longer capable of standing the sea, and were in danger of foundering even in port, Columbus ran them aground, within bowshot of the shore, where they were fastened to- gether side by side. They soon filled with water. Thatched cabins were then erected at the prow and stern to shelter the crews, and the wreck was placed in the best possible state of defence. Thus castled in the sea, Columbus trusted to be able to repel any sudden attack of the natives, and at the same time 1503.] TRANSACTIONS AT JAMAICA. 305 to keep his men under proper restraint. No one was permitted to go on shore without especial licence, and the utmost precaution was taken to prevent any offence being given to the Indians, who soon swarmed to the harbour with provisions, as any exasperation of them might be fatal to the Spaniards in their present forlorn situation. Two persons were appointed to superintend all bar- gains, and the provisions thus obtained were di- vided every evening among the people. As the immediate neighbourhood, however, might soon be exhausted, the zealous and intrepid Diego Mendez made a tour in the interior, accompanied by three men, and made arrangements for the ca- ciques at a distance to furnish daily supplies at the harbour, in exchange for European trinkets. He returned in triumph, in a canoe which he had purchased from the Indians, and which he had freighted with provisions, and through his able ar- rangement the Spaniards were regularly supplied. 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 were beyond the possibility of repair, and there was no hope of a chance sail arriving to his relief, on the shores of a savage island, in an unfrequented sea. At length, a mode of relief occurred to him, through the means of this same Diego Mendez, whose courage and loyalty he had so often proved. He took him aside to sound him on the subject, and Mendez himself has written an account of this interesting conversation, which is full of character. ' Diego Mendez, my son,' said the venerable X 306 COLUMBUS. [1503. admiral, ' of all those who are here, you and I alone know the great peril in which we are placed. We are few in number, and these savage Indians are many, and of fickle and irritable natures. On the least provocation they may throw firebrands from the shore, and consume us in our straw- thatched cabins. The arrangement which you have made for provisions, and which at present they fulfil so cheerfully, they may capriciously break to-morrow, and may refuse to bring us any- thing ; nor have we the means of compelling them. I have thought of a remedy, if it meets your views. In this canoe, which you have purchased, some one may pass over to Hispaniola, and procure a ship, by which we shall all be delivered from this great peril. Tell me your opinion on the matter.' ' Senor/ replied Diego Mendez, ' I well know, our danger to be far greater than is easily con- ceived ; but as to passing 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 impetuous, and seldom in repose. I know not who there is would venture upon so extreme a peril.' Columbus made no reply ; but from his looks, and the nature of his silence, Mendez plainly per- ceived himself to be the person whom the admiral had in view. Resuming, therefore, the conversa- tion, ' Senor,' »aid he, ' I have many times put my life in peril to save you and my comrades, and God has hitherto preserved me in a miraculous manner. There are, nevertheless, murmurers, who say that your Excellency intrusts to me every 1503.] TRANSACTIONS AT JAMAICA. 307 affair wherein honour is to be gained, while there are others in company who would execute them as I well as I. I beg, therefore, that you would assem- ble the people, and propose this enterprise, to see if any one will undertake it, which I doubt. If all decline, I will then come forward and risk my life in your service, as I have many times done already.' The admiral willingly humoured the wishes of the worthy Mendez ; for never was simple vanity accompanied by more generous and devoted zeal. On the following morning the crew was accord- ingly assembled, and the proposition made. Every one drew back, pronouncing it the height of rash- ness. 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 the expedition. Drawing his canoe on shore, he put on a false keel, and nailed weather-boards along the bow and stern, to prevent the sea from breaking over it. He then 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 while Columbus wrote a letter to Ovando, governor of Hispaniola, begging that a ship might immediately be sent to bring him and his men to Hispaniola ; and he wrote another to the sovereigns, entreating for a ship to convey them from Hispaniola to Spain. In this letter he gave a comprehensive account of his voyage, and X 2 308 COLUMBUS. [i5oa. expressed his opinion that Veragua was the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients. He supposed himself to have reached the confines of the dominions of the grand Khan, and offered, if he lived to return to Spain, to conduct a mission thither to instruct that potentate in the christian faith. What an instance of soaring enthusiasm and irrepressible enterprise is here exhibited ! At the time he was indulging 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. The despatches being ready, Diego Mendez embarked, with his Spanish comrade and his six Indians, and coasted the island eastward. Their voyage was toilsome and perilous. When arrived at the end of the island, they were suddenly sur- rounded and taken prisoners by the Indians, who carried them three leagues into the interior, where they determined to kill them. A dispute arising- about the division of the spoils, they agreed to settle it after the Indian fashion, by a game of ball. While thus engaged, Diego Mendez escaped, regained his canoe, and made his way back to the harbour in it alone, after fifteen days' absence. Nothing daunted by the perils and hardships he had undergone, he offered to depart immediately on a second attempt, provided he could be escorted to the end of the island by an armed force. His offer was accepted, and Bartholomew Fiesco, a Genoese, who had commanded one of the caravels, and was strongly attached to the admiral, was associated with him in this second expedition. Each. 2503.] EXPEDITION OF MENDEZ AND FIESCO. 309 had a canoe, with six Spaniards and ten Indians under his command. On reaching Hispaniola, Fiesco was to return immediately to Jamaica, to bring tidings to the admiral of the safe arrival of his messenger ; while Diego Mendez was to pro- ceed to San Domingo, and, after purchasing and despatching a ship, was to depart for Spain with the letter to the sovereigns. All arrangements being made, the Indians placed in the canoes a supply of cassava bread, and each his calabash of water. The Spaniards, beside their provisions, had each his sword and target. The Adelantado, with an armed band, kept pace with them along the coast, until they reached the end of the island, where, waiting for three days, until the weather was perfectly serene, they launched forth on the broad bosom of the sea. The Adelantado remained watching them until they became mere specks on the ocean, and the evening hid them from his view, and then returned to the harbour. 310 COLUMBUS. 11603. CHAPTER XLI. MUTINY OF PORRAS ECLIPSE OF THE MOON STRATAGEM O^ COLUMBUS TO PROCURE SUPPLIES FROM THE INDIANS, [1503.] Months elapsed, and nothing was heard of Men- dez and Fiesco. The Spaniards, enfeebled by past sufferings, crowded in close quarters, in a moist and sultry climate, and reduced to a vegetable diet, to which they were unaccustomed, became ex- tremely sickly, and their maladies were heightened by anxiety and suspense. Day after day, and week after week, they kept a wistful look-out upon the sea for the expected return of Fiesco, flattering themselves that every Indian canoe, gliding at a distance, might be the harbinger of deliverance. It was all in vain ; and at length they began to fear that their messengers had perished. Some gradually sank into despondency ; others became peevish and impatient, and, in their unreasonable heat, railed at their venerable and infirm com- mander as the cause of all their misfortunes. Among the officers of Columbus were two bro- thers, Francisco and Diego Porras, relations of the royal treasurer Morales. To gratify the latter, the admiral had appointed one of them captain of a ca- ravel, and the other notary and accountant-general of the expedition. They were vain and insolent 1503.] MUTINY OF PORRAS. 311 men, and, like many others whom Columbus had benefited, requited his kindness with the blackest ingratitude. Mingling with the people, they as- sured them that Columbus had no intention of re- turning to Spain, having in reality been banished thence by the sovereigns. Hispaniola, they said, was equally closed against him, and it was his de- sign to remain in Jamaica, until his friends could make interest at court to procure his recall. As to Mendez and Fiesco, they had been sent to Spain by Columbus on his own private concerns ; if this were not the case, why did not the promised ship arrive ? or why did not Fiesco return ? Or if the canoes had really been sent for succour, the long time that had elapsed without tidings gave reason to believe that they had perished by the way. In such case, their only alternative would be to take Indian canoes, and endeavour to reach Hispaniola : but there was no hope of persuading the admiral to do this ; he was too old, and too infirm, to un- dertake such a voyage. By these insidious suggestions, they gradually prepared the people for revolt, assuring them of the protection of their own relatives in Spain, and of the countenance of Ovando and Fonseca, if not of the favour of the sovereigns themselves, who had shewn their ill-will towards Columbus by strip- jk ping him of part of his dignities and privileges. K On the 2d of January, 1504, the mutiny broke m out. Francisco Porras suddenly entered the cabin I where Columbus was confined to his bed by the B gout, reproached him vehemently with keeping W them in that desolate place to perish, and accused him of having no intention to return to Spain. Ik 312 COLUMBUS. [1503. The admiral raised himself in bed, and, maintain- ing his calmness, endeavoured to reason with the traitor; but Porras was deaf to all argument. ' Embark immediately, or remain, in God's name 1 ' cried he, with a voice that resounded all over the wreck. ' For my part, I am for Castile 1 those who choose may follow me ! ' This was the signal, ' For Castile 1 for Castile ! ' was heard on every side. The mutineers sprang up on the most conspicuous parts of the vessel, brandishing their weapons, and amidst the up- roar the voices of some desperadoes were heard menacing the life of the admiral. Columbus, ill and infirm as he was, leaped out of bed, and tottered forth to pacify the muti- neers, but was forced back into his cabin by some of his faithful adherents. The Adelantado sallied forth lance in hand, and planted himself in a situa- tion to take the whole brunt of the assault. It was with the greatest difficulty that several of the loyal part of the crew could restrain his fury, and prevail upon him to relinquish his weapon, and retire to the cabin of his brother. The mutineers being entirely unopposed, took ten canoes, which the admiral had purchased from the Indians ; others, who had not been concerned in the mutiny, joined them, through fear of re- maining behind, when so reduced in number: in this way forty-eight abandoned the admiral. Many of the sick crawled fortli from their cabins, and beheld their departure with tears and lamentations, and would gladly liave accompanied them had their strength permitted. Porras coasted with his squadron of canoes to 1503.] MUTINY OF PORRAS. 313 the eastward, landing occasionally and robbing the natives, pretending to act under the authority of Columbus, that he might draw on him their hos- tility. Arrived at the east end of the island, he procured several Indians to manage the canoes, and then set out on his voyage across the gulf. The Spaniards had scarcely proceeded four leagues, when the wind came ahead, with a swell of the sea, that threatened to overwhelm the deeply laden canoes. They immediately turned for land, and in their alarm threw overboard the greater part of their effects. The danger still continuing, they drew their swords, and compelled most of the In- dians to leap into the sea. The latter were skilful swimmers, but the distance to land was too great for their strength ; if however they at any time took hold of the canoes to rest themselves and recover breath, the Spaniards, fearful of their over- turning the slight barks, would stab them or cut off their hands. Some were thus slain by the sword, others sank exhausted beneath the waves ; eigh- teen perished miserably, and none survived but a few who had been retained to manage the canoes. Having reached the shore in safety, Porras and his men waited until the weather became favour^ able, and then made another effort to cross to Hispaniola, but with no better success. They then abandoned the attempt in despair, and returned westward towards the harbour, roving from village to village, living upon the provisions of the Indians, which they took by force if not readily given, and conducting themselves in the most licentious man- ner. If the natives remonstrated, they told them to seek redress at the hands of the admiral, whom, at the same time, they represented as the impla- 314 COLUMBUS. [1503. cable foe of the Indian race, and bent upon gaining a tyrannical sway over their island. In the mean time, Columbus when abandoned by the mutineers, and left in the wreck with a mere handful of sick and desponding men, exerted himself to the utmost to restore this remnant to an efficient state of health and spirits. He ordered that the small stock of biscuit which remained, and the most nourishing articles of the provisions furnished by the Indians, should be appropriated to the invalids : he visited them individually, cheered them with hopes of speedy deliverance, and pro- mised that on his return to Spain he would inter- cede with the sovereigns, that their loyalty might be munificently rewarded. In this way, by kind and careful treatment and encouraging words, he succeeded in restoring them from a state of sick-» . ness and despondency, and rendering them once:^ more fit for service. Scarcely, however, had the little garrison of the ' wreck recovered from the shock of the mutiny, when it was menaced by a new and appalling evil. The scanty number of the Spaniards prevented them from foraging abroad for provisions, and rendered them dependent on the voluntary supplies of the natives. The latter began to grow negligent. The European trinkets, once so inestimable in their eyes, had sunk in value, by becoming common, and were now almost treated with indifference. The arrange- ments made by Diego Mendez were irregularly attended to, and at length entirely disregarded. Many of the caciques had been incensed by the conduct of Porras and his followers, which they supposed justified by the admiral ; others had been secretly instigated by the rebels to withhold pro^ 1503.] STRATAGEM TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES. 315 visions, in hopes of starving Columbus and his people, or of driving them from the island. The horrors of famine began to threaten the ter- rified crew, when a fortunate idea presented itself to Columbus. From his knowledge of astronomy, he ascertained that within three days there would be a total eclipse of the moon, in the early part of the night. He summoned, therefore, the principal caciques to a grand conference, appointing for it the day of the eclipse. When all were assembled, he told them by his interpreter, that he and his followers were worshippers of a Deity who lived in the skies, and held them under his protection ; that this great Deity was incensed against the Indians, who had refused or neglected to furnish his faithful worshippers with provisions, and intended to chas- tise them wth famine and pestilence. Lest they should disbelieve this warning, a signal would be given that very night in the heavens. They would behold the moon change its colour, and gradually lose its light ; a token of the fearful punishment which awaited them. Many of the Indians were alarmed at the so- lemnity of this prediction, others treated it with derision ; all, however, awaited with solicitude the coming of the night. When they beheld a black shadow stealing over the moon, and a mysterious gloom gradually covering the whole face of nature, they were seized with the utmost consternation. Hurrying with provisions to the ships, and throw- ing themselves at the feet of Columbus, they im- plored him to intercede with his God to withhold the threatened calamities, assuring him that thence- forth they would bring him whatever he required. 316 COLUMBUS. [1503. Columbus retired to his cabin, under pretence of communing with the Deity, the forests and shores all the while resounding with the bowlings of the savages. He returned shortly, and informed the natives that the Deity had deigned to pardon them, on condition of their fulfilling their promises, in sign of which he would withdraw the darkness from the moon. When the Indians saw that planet restored presently to its brightness, and rolling in all its beauty through the firmament, they over- whelmed the admiral with thanks for his interces- sion. They now regarded him with awe and re- verence, as one enjoying the peculiar favour and confidence of the Deity, since he knew upon earth what was passing in the heavens. They hastened to propitiate him with gifts ; supplies again arrived daily at the harbour, and from that time forward there was no want of provisions. 1504.] MISSION OF ESCOBAR. 317 CHAPTER XLII. ARRIVAL OF DIEGO DE ESCOBAR AT THE HARBOUR WITH THE REBELS. [1504.] Eight months had now elapsed since the departure of Mendez and Fiesco, yet no tidings had been re- ceived of their fate. The hopes of the most san- guine were nearly extinct, and many, considering themselves abandoned and forgotten by the world, grew wild and desperate in their plans. Another conspiracy, similar to that of Porras, was on the point of breaking out, when one evening, towards dusk, a sail was seen standing towards the harbour. It was a small caravel, which kept out at sea, and sent its boat on shore. In this came Diego de Esco- bar, one of the late confederates of Roldan, who had been condemned to death under the administration of Columbus, and pardoned by his successor. Bo- badilla. There was bad omen in such a messenger. Escobar vvas the bearer of a mere letter of com- pliment and condolence from Ovando, accompanied by a barrel of wine and a side of bacon. The go- vernor expressed great concern at his misfortunes, and regret at not having in port a vessel of suffi- cient size to bring off himself and people, but pro- mised to send one as soon as possible. Escobar — BATTLE 318 COLUMBUS. drew off with the boat, and kept at a distance from the wreck, awaiting any letters the admiral might have to send in reply, and holding no conversation with any of the Spaniards. Columbus hastened to write to Ovando, depicting the horrors of his situation, and urging the promised relief As soon as Escobar received this letter, he returned on board of his caravel, which made all sail, and dis- appeared in the gathering gloom of the night. The mysterious conduct of Escobar caused great wonder and consternation among the people. Co- lumbus sought to dispel their uneasiness, assuring them that vessels would soon arrive to take them i away. In confidence of this, he said, he had de- clined to depart with Escobar, because his vessel was too small to take the whole, and had de- spatched him in such haste, that no time might be lost in sending the requisite ships. These assur- ances, and the certainty that their situation was known in San Domingo, cheered the hearts of the people, and put an end to the conspiracy. Columbus, however, was secretly indignant at the conduct of Ovando, believing that he had purposely delayed sending relief, in the hopes that he would perish on the island, being apprehensive that, should he return in safety, he would be reinstated in the government of Hispaniola. He considered Escobar merely as a spy, sent by the governor to ascertain whether he and his crew were yet in existence. Still he endeavoured to turn the event to some ad- vantage with the rebels. He sent two of his people to inform them of the promise of Ovando to send ships for his relief, and he offered them a free par- 1504.] OVERTURES OF COLUMBUS. &1§ don, and a passage to Hispaniola, on condition of their immediate return to obedience. On the approach of the ambassadors, Porras came forth to meet them, accompanied solely by a few of the ringleaders of his party, and prevented their holding any communication with the mass of his people. In reply to the generous offer of the admiral, they refused to return to the wreck, but agreed to conduct themselves peaceably and ami- cably, on receiving a solemn promise that, should two vessels arrive, they should have one to depart in ; should but one arrive, the half of it should be granted to them ; and that, in the mean time, the admiral should share with them the sea stores and articles of Indian traffic which remained in his pos- session. When it was observed that these demands were extravagant and inadmissible, they replied, that if they were not peaceably conceded, they would take them by force ; and with this menace they dismissed the ambassadors. The conference was not conducted so privately but that the rest of the rebels learned the whole purport of the mission. Porras seeing them moved by the offer of pardon and deliverance, resorted to the most desperate falsehoods to delude them. He told them that these offers of the admiral were all deceitful, and that he only sought to get them into his power, that he might wreak on them his ven- geance. As to the pretended caravel which had visited the harbour, he assured them that it was a mere phantasm, conjured up by the admiral, who was deeply versed in magic. In proof of this, he adverted to its arriving in the dusk of the evening, 320 COLUMBUS. [1504, its holding communication with no one but the admiral, and its sudden disappearance in the night. Had it been a real caravel, said he, the crew would have sought to converse with their countrymen ; the admiral, his son, and brother, would have eagerly embarked on board; at any rate, it would have remained a little while in port, and not have vanished so suddenly and mysteriously. By these and similar delusions Porras succeeded in working upon the feelings and credulity of his followers ; and persuaded them that, if they per- sisted in their rebellion, they would ultimately triumph, and perhaps send home the admiral in irons, as had once before been done from Hispa- niola. To involve them beyond hope of pardon, he marched them one day towards the harbour, with an intention of seizing upon the stores remaining in the wreck, and getting the admiral in his power. Columbus heard of their approach, but being confined by his infirmities, sent Don Bartholomew^^ to reason with them, and endeavour to win them to obedience. The Adelantado, who was generally a man rather of deeds than words, took with him fifty men well armed. Arriving near the rebels, he sent messengers to treat with them ; but Porras forbade them to approach. The latter cheered his followers by pointing, with derision, to the pale countenances of their opponents, who were ema- ciated by recent sickness and long confinement in the wreck ; wliereas his men, for the most part, were hardy sailors, rendered robust by living in the open air. He assured them the followers of the Adelantado were mere household men, fair weather 1504.] CAPTURE OF PORRAS. 321 troops, who could never stand before them. He did not reflect, that with such men pride and spirit often more than supply the place of bodily force, and that his adversaries had the incalculable ad- vantage of justice and law upon their side. Deluded by his words into a transient glow of courage, the rebels did not wait to be attacked, but rushed' with shouts upon the enemy. Six of them had made a league to assault the Adelantado, but were so well received, that he laid several of them dead at his feet, among whom was Juan Sanchez, the same powerful mariner who had car- ried off the cacique Quibian. In the midst of the affray, the Adelantado was assailed by Francisco de Porras, who, with a blow of his sword, cleft his buckler, and wounded the hand which grasped it. The sword remained wedged in the shield, and be- fore it could be withdrawn, the Adelantado closed upon Porras, grappled him, and, being assisted by others, succeeded in taking him prisoner. The rebels, seeing their leader a captive, fled in confusion, but were not pursued, through fear of an attack from the Indians, who had remained drawn up in battle array, gazing with astonishment at this fight between white men, but without of- fering to aid either party. The Adelantado re- turned in triumph to the wreck, with Porras and several other prisoners. Only two of his own men had been wounded, one of whom died. On the fol- lowing day, the rebels sent a letter to the admiral, signed with all their names, confessing their mis- deeds, imploring pardon, and making a solemn oath of obedience ; imprecating the most awful Y 322 COLUMBUS. [1504, curses on their heads should they break it. The admiral saw, by the abject nature of the letter, ' how completely the spirit of these misguided men was broken ; with his wonted magnanimity, he pardoned their offences, merely retaining their ringleader, Francisco Porras, a prisoner, to be*, tried in Spain for his misdeeds. 1504.] VOYAGE OF MENDEZ AND FIESCO. 323 CHAPTER XLIII. VOYAGE OF DIEGO MENDEZ TO HISPANIOL.A— DELIVERANCE OF COLUMBUS FROM THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA. [1504.] It is proper here to give some account of the mis- sion of Diego Mendez and Bartholomew Fiesco. When they had taken leave of the Adelantado at the east end of the island of Jamaica, they con- tinued all day in a direct course ; there was no wind, the sky was without a cloud, and the sea like a mirror reflecting the burning rays of the sun. The Indians who paddled the canoes would often leap into the water to cool their glowing bodies, and refresh themselves from their toil. At the going down of the sun, they lost sight of .land. During the night the Indians took turns, one half to row while the others slept. The Spaniards, in like manner, divided their forces ; while some took repose, the others sat with their weapons in their hands, 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 excessively fatigued on the fol- lowing day ; and to add to their distress, they began to experience the torments of thirst, for the Indians, parched with heat, had already drained the contents of their calabashes. In proportion as y 2 324 COLUMBUS. [1504. the sun rose, tlieir misery mereased, and was irri- tated by the prospect around them — nothing but water, while they were perishing with thirst. About midday, when their strength was faihng them, the commanders produced two small kegs of water, which they had probably reserved in secret for such an extremity. Administering a cooling mouthful occasionally, they enabled the Indians to resumxC their toils. They held out the hopes of soon arriving at a small island, called Navasa, which lay directly in tlieir way, about eight leagues distant from Hispaniola. Here they would find water to assuage their thirst, and would be able to take repose. The night closed upon them without any sight of the island ; they feared that they had deviated from their course ; if so, they should miss the island entirely, and perish with thirst before they could reach Hispaniola. One of the Indians died of the accumulated sufferings of labour, heat, and raging thirst ; others lay panting and gasping at the bottom of the canoes. Their companions were scarcely able to continue their toils. Sometimes they endeavoured to cool their parched palates by taking sea water in their mouths, but its briny bitterness only increased their thirst. One after another gave up, and it seemed impossible that they should live to reach Hispaniola. The commanders, by admirable management, had hitherto kept up this weary struggle with suf- fering and despair ; but they too began to despond. Diego Mendez sat watching the horizon, which was gradually lighting up with those faint rays which precede the rising of the moon. As that 1504.] VOYAGE OF MENDEZ AND FIESCO. 325 planet arose, he perceived it to emerge from be- hind a dark mass elevated above the level of the ocean. It proved to be the island of Navasa, but so low, and small, and distant, that, had it not been thus revealed by the rising moon, he would never have discovered it. He immediately gave the ani- mating cry of ' land.' His almost expiring com- panions were roused to new life, and exerted themselves with feverish impatience. By the dawn of day they sprang on shore, and returned thanks to God for their deliverance. The island was a mere barren mass of rocks, but they found abundance of rain water in hollow places. The Spaniards exercised some degree of caution in their draughts ; but the poor Indians, whose toils had increased the fever of their thirst, gave way to a kind of frantic indulgence, of which several died upon the spot, and others fell dangerously ill. After reposing all day on the island, where they made a grateful repast upon shell-fish gathered along the shore, they set off in the evening for Hispaniola, the mountains of which were distinctly visible, and arrived at Cape Tiburon on the fol- lowing day, the fourth since their departure from Jamaica. Fiesco would now have returned to give the admiral assurance of the safe arrival of his mes- senger, but both Spaniards and Indians refused to encounter the perils of another voyage in the canoes. Parting with his companions, Diego Mendez took six Indians of the island, and set off for San Domingo. After proceeding for eighty leagues against the currents, he was informed that the go- vernor had departed for Xaragua, fifty leagues distant. Still undaunted by fatigues and difficul- 326 COLUMBUS. [1504. ties, he abandoned tlie canoe, and proceeded alone, on foot, through forests and over mountains, until he arrived at Xaragua, achieving one of the most perilous expeditions ever undertaken by a devoted follower for the safety of his commander. He found Ovando completely engrossed by v^ars w^ith the natives. The governor expressed great concern at the unfortunate situation of Columbus, and promised to send him immediate relief ; but Mendez remamed for seven months at Xaragua, vainly urging for that relief, or for permission to go to San Domingo in quest of it. The constant excuse of Ovando was, that there were not ships of sufficient burden in the island to bring off Co- lumbus and his men. At length, by daily impor- tunity, Mendez obtained permission to go to San Domingo, and await the arrival of certain ships which were expected. He immediately set out on foot ; the distance was seventy leagues, and part of his toilsome journey lay through forests and mountains, infested by hostile and exasperated Indians. Immediately after his departure, Ovando despatched from Xaragua the pardoned rebel, Escobar, on that reconnoitring visit which caused so much wonder and suspicion among the com- panions of Columbus. If the governor had really entertained hopes that, during the delay of relief, Columbus might perish in the island, the report brought back by Escobar must have completely disappointed him. No time was now to be lost, if he wished to claim any merit in his deliverance, or to avoid the disgrace of having totally neglected him. His long delay had already roused the public indignation, insomuch 1504.] DEPARTURE FOR SAN DOMINGO. 327 that animadversions had been made upon his con- duct even in the pulpits. Diego Mendez, also, had hired and victualled a vessel at the expense of Columbus, and was on the point of despatching it. The governor, therefore, exerted himself, at the eleventh hour, and fitted out a caravel, which he put under the command of Diego de Salcedo, the agent employed by Columbus to collect his rents in San Domingo. It was these two vessels which arrived at Jamaica shortly after the battle with Porras, and brought relief to the admiral and his faithful adherents, after a long year of dismal con- finement to the wreck*. On the 28th of June, all the Spaniards em- barked, friend and foe, on board of the vessels, and made sail joyfully for San Domingo ; but, from adverse winds and currents, they did not arrive there until the 13th of August. Whatever lurking * Some brief notice of the further fortunes of Diego Mendez may be interesting to the reader. When King Ferdinand heard of his faithful services he bestowed rewards upon him, and permitted him to bear a canoe in his coat of arms, as a memento of his hardy enterprise. He continued devotedly attached to the admiral, serving him zealously after his return to Spain, and during his last illness. Columbus retained a grateful and affectionate sense of his fidelity. On his deathbed, he promised Mendez that he should be appointed principal al- guazil of the island of Hispaniola. The promise, however, was not performed by the heirs of Columbus. Mendez was afterwards engaged in various voyages of discovery, met with many vicissi- tudes, and died poor. In his last will, he requested that his ar- morial bearing of an Indian canoe should be engraved on his tomb- stone, and under it the following words : ' Here lies the honourable Cavalier, Diego Mendez ; who served greatly the royal crown of Spain, in the conquest of the Indies,, with Admiral Christopher Columbus of glorious memory, who made the discovery ) and after- wards by himself, in ships at his own cost. Bestow, in charity, a paternoster and an ave-maria.' 328 COLUMBUS. [1504. enmity there might be to Columbus in the place, it was overpowered by popular sympathy for his late disasters. Whatever had been denied to his merits was granted to his misfortunes ; and even the envious, appeased by his present reverses, seemed to forgive him for having once been so triumphant. The governor and the principal inhabitants came forth to meet him, and received him with signal distinction. He w^as lodged in the house of Ovando, who treated him with the utmost courtesy and at- tention ; but there were too deep causes of jealousy and distrust between them for their intercourse to be cordial. Their powers, too, were so defined in their several patents, as to clash with each other, and to cause questions of jurisdiction. Ovando assumed a right to take cognizance of all trans- actions at Jamaica, as happening within the limits of his government. He set at liberty the traitor Porras, and talked of punishing the followers df Columbus for the deaths of the mutineers whom they had slain in battle. Columbus, on the other hand, asserted the absolute jurisdiction given him by the sovereigns, in his letter of instructions, over all persons who sailed in his expedition, from the time of their departure from Spain until their return. The governor heard him with great courtesy and a smiling countenance, but observed, that the letter gave him no authority within the bounds of his government. He relinquished the idea, however, of trying the faithful adherents of Columbus, and sent Porras to Spain, to be ex- amined by the board which had charge of the affairs of the Indies. 1504] OCCURRENCES AT HISPANIOLA. 329 CHAPTER XLIV. AFFAIRS AT HISPANIOLA DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF OVANDO RETURN OF COLUMBUS TO SPAIN. [1504.] The sojourn of Columbus at San Domingo was but little calculated to yield him satisfaction. He was grieved at the desolation of the island, through the oppressive treatment of the natives, and the horrible massacres which had taken place under the admi- nistration of Ovando ; and here let us turn for a moment from pursuing the story of the admiral, to notice some of the principal occurrences which had taken place in Hispaniola during his absence. A great crowd of adventurers, of various ranks, had thronged the fleet of Ovando, all confidently expecting to make sudden fortunes. They had scarcely landed when they all hurried off to the mines, which were about eight leagues distant. The road swarmed like an ant-hill. Every one had his knapsack of biscuit and flour, and his mining implements on his shoulder. Those hidalgos, or gentlemen who had no servants to carry their burdens, were fain to bear them on their own backs, and lucky was he who had a horse for the expe- dition, for he would be able to bring back the greater load of treasure. They all set ofl" in high spirits, eager who should first reach the golden land ; thinking they had but to arrive at the mines, and 330 COLUMBUS* [1504. gather gold, as easily and readily as fruit from the trees. When they arrived, however, they found, to their dismay, that it required experience to dis- cover the veins of ore ; that the whole process of mining was exceedingly slow and toilsome, and its results precarious. They digged eagerly for a time, but found no ore ; growing hungry, they threw by their imple- ments, sat down to eat, and then returned to work. It was all in vain, ' Their labour,' says Las Casas, ' gave them a keen appetite and quick di- gestion, but no gold/ They soon exhausted their provisions and their patience, and returned mur- muring along the road they had lately trod so exultingly. They arrived at San Domingo half famished, downcast, and desparing. Such is too often the case of those wlio ignorantly engage in mining ; which, of all objects of speculation, is the most brilliant, promising, and fallacious. Poverty soon fell upon these misguided men. Some wasted away, and died broken-hearted ; others were hurried off by raging fevers ; so that there soon perished upwards of a thousand men. Ovando was reputed a man of great prudence and sagacity, and h^ certainly took several judi- cious measures for the regulation of the island and the relief of the colonists ; but his policy was fatal to the natives. When he had been sent out to supersede Bobadilla, the queen, shocked at the cruel bondage which had been inflicted on the Indians, had pronounced them all free. The con- sequence was they immediately refused to labour in] the mines. Ovando, in 1503, represented, that this entire 1504.] OPPRESSION OF THE NATIVES. 331 liberty granted to the natives was not merely ruin- ous to the colony, but detrimental to themselves, as it produced habits of idleness, profligacy, and neglect of all religion. The sovereigns permitted, therefore, that they should be obliged to labour moderately, if essential to their well-being, but that they should be paid regularly and fairly, and instructed in religion on certain days, and that all compulsory measures should be tempered with per- suasion and kindness. Under cover of this hired labour, thus intended for the health of soul and body, more intolerable toil was exacted from them, and more horrible cruelties inflicted, than in the worst days of Bobadilla. Many perished from hunger, or sunk under the lash ; many killed themselves in despair ; and even mothers over- came the powerful instinct of nature, and destroyed the infants at their breasts, to spare them a life of wretchedness. Even those who survived the exacted terms of labour, and were permitted to return to their homes, which were often sixty and eighty leagues distant, were dismissed so worn down by toil and hardship, and so scantily furnished with provisions, that they perished by the way. Some sank down and died 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 on the road,' says the venerable Bishop Las Casas ; ' others gasping under the trees, and others in the pangs of death, faintly crying. Hun- ger ! hunger V The wars of Ovando were equally desolating. To punish a slight insurrection in the province of Higuey, at the eastern end of the island, he sent 332 COLUMBUS. [y>a4. his troops, who ravaged the country with fire and sword, showed no mercy to age or sex, put many to death, with the most wanton, ingenious, and horri- ble tortures, and brought off the brave Cotabanama, one of the five sovereign caciques of the island, in chains to San Domingo, where he was ignomini- ously hanged by Ovando for the crime of defending his territory and his native soil against usurping strangers. But the most atrocious act of Ovando, and one that must heap odium on his name wherever the woes of the gentle natives of Hayti create an in- terest, was the punishment he inflicted on the pro- vince of Xaragua for a pretended conspiracy. The exactions of tribute in this once happy and hos- pitable province had caused occasional quarrels between the inferior caciques and the Spaniards : these were magnified by alarmists, and Ovando was persuaded that there was a deep-laid plot among the natives to rise upon their oppressors. He immediately set out for Xaragua, at the head of nearly four hundred well-armed soldiers, se- venty of whom were steel-clad horsemen. He gave out that he was going on a visit of friendship, to make arrangements about the payment of tribute. Behechio, the ancient cacique of the province, was dead, and his sister, Anacaona, had succeeded to the government. She came forth to meet Ovando, according to the custom of her nation, attended by her most distinguished subjects, and her train of damsels, waving palm branches, and dancing to the cadence of their popular areytos. All her principal caciques had been assembled to do honour to her guests, who for several days were 1504.] MASSACRE AT XARAGUA. 333 entertained with banquets, and national games, and dances. In return for these exhibitions, Ovando invited Anacaona, with her beautiful daughter Hi- guenamota, and her principal subjects, to witness a tilting match by the cavalry in the public square. "When all were assembled, the square crowded with unarmed Indians, Ovando gave a signal, and in- stantly the horsemen rushed into the midst of the naked and defenceless throng, trampling them under foot, cutting them down with their swords, transfixing them with their lances, and sparing neither age nor sex. Above eighty caciques had been assembled in one of the principal houses. It was surrounded by troops, the caciques were bound to the posts which supported the roof, and put to cruel tortures, until, in the extremity of anguish, they were made to admit the truth of the plot with which their queen and themselves had been charged. When self-accusation had thus been tortured from them, a horrible punishment was immediately in- flicted ; fire was set to the house, and they all perished miserably in the flames. As to Anacaona, she was carried to San Do- mingo, where the mockery of a trial was given her, in which she was found guilty, on the con- fessions wrung by torture from her subjects, and on the testimony of their butchers, and she was barbarously hanged by the people whom she had so long and so signally befriended. After the massacre at Xaragua, the destruction of its inhabitants still went on ; they were hunted for six months amidst the fastnesses of the moun- tains, and their country ravaged by horse and foot, until all being reduced to deplorable misery and 334 COLUMBUS. [1504. abject submission, Ovando pronounced the pro- vince restored to order, and, in commemoration of his triumph, founded a town near the lake, which he called Santa Maria de la Verdadera Paz (St. Mary of the True Peace). Such was the tragical fate of the beautiful Ana- caona, once extolled as the Golden Flower of Hayti ; and such the story of the delightful region of Xaragua ; 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. These are but brief and scanty anecdotes of the ruthless system which had been pursued during the absence of the admiral, by the commander Ovando, this man of boasted prudence and moderation, who had been sent to reform 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 as they were in untasked freedom, but it was never cruel or sanguinary. He had fondly hoped, at one time, to render them civilized, industrious, and tributary subjects to the crown, zealous converts to the faith, and to derive from their regular tributes a great and steady revenue. How different had been the event ! The five great tribes which had peopled the mountains and the valleys, at the time of the discovery, and had rendered by their mingled vil- lages and hamlets, 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 and ignominious deaths. * I am informed, ' said he in a letter to the so- 1504.] RETURNS TO SPAIN. 335 vereigns, ' 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, whither they had fled, from not being able to support the labour imposed upon them/ He found his own immediate concerns in great confusion. His rents and arrears were either un- collected, or he could not obtain a clear account and a full liquidation of them ; and he complained that Ovando had impeded his agents in their ma- nagement of his concerns. The continual misun- derstandings which took place between him and the governor, though always qualified on the part of the latter with courtly complaisance, induced Columbus to hasten his departure. He caused the ship in which he had returned from Jamaica to be repaired and fitted out, and another hired, in which he offered a passage to such of his late crews as chose to return. The greater part preferred to remain in San Domingo : as they were in great poverty, he relieved their necessities from his own purse, and advanced money to those who accom- panied him for the expenses of their voyage. All the funds he could collect were exhausted in these disbursements, and many of the men 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 harbour when the mast of his ship was carried away in a sudden squall. He em- barked, therefore, with his family in the other vessel, commanded by the Adelantado, and sent 336 COLUMBUS. [1504. back the damaged ship to port. Fortune continued to persecute him to the end of this his last and most disastrous expedition. Throughout the voy- age he experienced tempestuous weather, suffering at the same time the excruciating torments of the gout, until, on the 7th of November, his crazy and shattered bark anchored in the harbour of San Lucar. From thence he proceeded to Seville, to enjoy a little tranquillity of mind and body, and to recruit his health after his long series of fatigues, anxieties, and hardships. 1504.] EMBARRASSED IN HIS AFFAIRS. 337 CHAPTER XLV. FRUITLESS APPLICATION OF COLUMBUS TO BE REINSTATED IN HIS GOVERNMENT HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. [1504.] The residence of Columbus during the winter at Seville has generally been represented as an inter- val of repose. Never was honourable repose more merited, more desired, and less enjoyed. Care and sorrow were destined to follow him by sea and land ; and in varying the scene, he but varied the nature of his afflictions. Ever since his memora- ble arrest by Bobadilla, his affairs had remained in confusion, and his rents and dues had been but partially and irregularly collected, and were de- tained in intermediate hands. The last voyage had exhausted his finances, and involved him in embarrassments. All that he had been able to collect of the money due to him in Hispaniola had been expended in bringing home many of his late crew, and for the greater part the crown remained his debtor. The world thought him possessed of countless wealth, while, in fact, he was suffering pecuniary want. In letters written at this time to his son Diego, he repeatedly urges to him the necessity of prac- tising extreme economy, until the arrears due to him should be paid. ' I receive nothing of the revenue due to me,' says he, on another occasion, ' but live by borrowing. Little have I profited by z 338 COLUMBUS. [1504. twenty years of toils and perils, since at present I do not own a roof in Spain. I have no resort but an inn, and, for the most times, have not where- withal to pay my bill.' Being unable, from his infirmities, to go to court, he had to communicate with the sovereigns by letter, or through the intervention of friends, and exerted himself strenuously, but ineffectually, to draw their attention to the disastrous state of Hispaniola under the administration of Ovando, to obtain the restitution of his honours, and the pay ment of his arrears, and what seemed to lie equally near his heart, to obtain relief for his unfortunate seamen. His letters were unregarded, or at least unan- swered, his claims remained unsatisfied, and a cold indifference and neglect appeared to prevail to- wards him. All the tidings from the court filled him with uneasiness. Porras, the ringleader of the late faction, had been sent home by Ovando toT appear before the council of the Indies, but the official documents in his cause had not arrived. He went at large, and being related to Morales, the royal treasurer, had access to people in place, and an opportunity of inlisting their opinions and prejudices on his side. Columbus began to fear that the violent scenes in 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 rebel- lion of Roldan. The faithful and indefatigable Diego Mendez was at this time at court, and he trusted to his honest representations to counteract the falsehoods of Porras. Nothing can surpass the aflecting earnestness and simplicity with wliich, I .1504.] ILLI^ESS OF ISABELLA. 33d in one of his letters, he declares his loyalty. ' I have served their majesties,' says he, ' with as much zeal and diligence 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.' Whilst reading this touching appeal, we can scarcely realize the fact, that it was written by Columbus ; the same extraordinary man who, but a few years before, had been idolized at this court as a benefactor, and received with almost royal honours. His anxiety to have a personal interview with the sovereigns became every day more intense ; he felt the ineliicacy of letter writing, and indeed, even that resource began to fail him, for the severity of his malady for a great part of the time deprived him of the use of his hands. He made repeated attempts to set off' for the court ; a litter was once actually at the door to convey him thither, but his increasing infirmities, and the inclemency of the season, obliged him to abandon the journey. In the mean time, the intrigues of his enemies ap- peared to be prevailing ; the cold-hearted Fer- dinand treated all his applications with indiff'er- ence ; on the justice and magnanimity of Isabella alone he relied for the redress of his grievances, but she lay dangerously ill. ' May it please the Holy Trinity,' says he, ' to restore our sovereign queen to health ; for by her will every thing be ad- justed which is now in confusion.' Alas! while writing that letter, his noble benefactress was a corpse ! The health of Isabella had long been under- mined by repeated shocks of domestic calamities. z 2 340 COLUMBUS. [1504 The death of her only son, the Prince Juan, of her "beloved daughter and bosom friend, the Princess Isabella, and of her grandson and prospective heir, Prince Miguel, had been three cruel wounds to her maternal heart. To these were added the constant grief caused by the infirmity of intellect of her daughter Juana, and the domestic unhappiness of that princess with her husband the Archduke Philip. The desolation which walks through pa- laces admits not the familiar sympathies and sweet consolations which alleviate the sorrows of com- mon life. Isabella pined in state, amidst the obse- quious homage of a court, surrounded by the trophies of a glorious and successful reign, and placed at the summit of earthly grandeur. 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 Novern- ber, 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 upon all its pomps and vanities. ' Let my body,' said she, in her will, ' be interred in the monastery of San Francisco, in the alhambra of the city of Granada, in a low sepulchre, with no other monument than a plain stone, and an inscription. But I desire and command, that if the king, my lord, should choose a sepulchre in any church or mo- nastery, in any other part or place of these my kingdoms, that 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 of God, we hope our 1504.] DEATH OF ISABELLA. 341 souls will experience in heaven, may be repre- sented by our bodies in the earth*.' Such was one of several passages in the will of this admirable woman, which bespoke the chas- tened humility of her heart, and in which, as has been well observed, the affections of conjugal love were delicately entwined with fervent religion and the most tender melancholy. 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 inhabi- tants. As it is, her fair name will ever shine with celestial radiance in the early dawning of its history. The news of the death of Isabella reached Co- lumbus while he was writing a letter to his son. He notices it in a postscript or memorandum, writ- ten in the haste and brevity of the moment, but in beautifully touching and mournful terms. ' A me- morial,' 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 pious, 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 * The dying command of Isabella has been obeyed. The author of this work has seen her tomb in the royal chapel of the cathedral of Granada, in which her remains are interred with those of Fer. dinand. 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. 342 COLUMBUS. [1504, and weary world. The next thing is, to watch and labour in all matters for the service of our so- vereign, the king, and to endeavour to alleviate his grief. His majesty is the head of Christendom. Remember the proverb, which says, when the head suffers all the members suffer. Therefore 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 letter without being moved by the simply eloquent yet artless language in which Columbus expresses his tenderness for the memory of his benefactress, his weariness under the gathering cares and ills of life, and his perse- vering and enduring loyalty towards the sovereign who was so ungratefully neglecting him. The death of Isabella was a fatal blow to his fortunes. While she lived, he had everything to anticipate from her high sense of justice, her re- gard for her royal word, her gratitude for his ser- vices, 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 Ferdinand ! During the remainder of the winter, and a great part of the spring, he remained at Seville, detained by painful illness. His brother, the Adelantado, who supported him with his accustomed fondness and devotion through all his trials, proceeded to court to attend to his concerns, 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 1504.] FRUITLESS APPLICATION FOR REDRESS. 343 in years, and inculcates the strongest fraternal at- tachment ; alluding to his own brethren with one of those warm and affecting touches which speak the kindness of his heart. ' To thy brother con- duct 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 describes 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. It was not until the month of May that Columbus was able to accomplish his journey to court, which was at that time at Segovia. He, who but a few years before had entered the city of Barcelona in triumph, attended by the chivalry of Spain, and hailed with rapture by the multitude, now arrived at the gates of Segovia, a way-worn, melancholy, and neglected man ; oppressed even more by sor- rows than by his years and infirmities. When he presented himself at court, he was made lament- ably sensible of the loss of, his protectress, the be- nignant Isabella. He met with none of that dis- tinguished attention, that cordial kindness, that cherishing sympathy, which his unparalleled ser- vices and his recent sufferings had merited. Ferdi- nand, it is true, received him with many profes- sions of kindness ; but with those cold, ineffectual smiles, which pass like wintry sunshine over the countenance, and convey no warmth to the heart. 544 COLUMBUS. [1504. Many months were passed by Columbus in pain- ful and humiliating solicitation. His main object was to obtain the restitution of his high offices as viceroy and governor of the Indies : as to the mere pecuniary claims for revenues and arrears, he con- sidered them of minor importance, and nobly offered to leave them to the disposition of the king ; but his official dignities belonged to his reputation ; they had been granted also, by solemn treaty, and were not to be made a matter of arbitrament. As the latter, however, were precisely the claims which the jealous monarch was the least disposed to grant, they stood continually in the way of all arrange- ment. The whole matter was at one time referred to a tribunal, called the ' Junta de Descargos,' which had charge of the settlement of the affairs of the late queen, but nothing resulted from their deliberations ; the wishes of the king were too well known to be thwarted. Columbus endeavoured to bear these delays with patience; but he had no longer the physical strength, and the glorious anticipations, which had once sustained him through his long application at this court. He was again confined to his bed by a return of the gout, aggravated by the irrita- tions of his spirit. From this couch of anguish, he addressed one more appeal to the justice of the king. He no longer petitioned for himself, but for his son Diego. He entreated that he might be appointed in his place to the government of which he had been so wrongfully deprived. ' This,' said he, ' is a matter which concerns my honour ; as to all the rest, do as your majesty thinks pro- per ; give or withhold, as may be most for your interest, and I shall be content. I believe it is 1504.] ILLNESS OF COLUMBUS. 345 the anxiety caused by the delay of this affair, which is the principal cause of my ill health.' This petition was treated by Ferdinand with his usual evasions; he endeavoured to prevail upon Columbus and his son to waive their claims to pa- ramount dignities in the new world, and accept, in place thereof, titles and estates in Castile. Co- lumbus rejected all proposals of the kind with in- dignation, as calculated to compromise those titles which were the trophies of his achievements. He saw, however, that all further hope of redress from Ferdinand was vain. From the bed to which he was confined, he addressed a letter to his constant friend, Diego de Deza, then archbishop of Seville, expressive of his despair. ' It appears,' said he, * that his majesty does not 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 to the contrarv, 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.' 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 characteristic fervour. He heard with joy of the arrival from Flanders of King Philip and Queen Juana, to take possession of their throne of Castile. In the daughter of Isabella, he trusted to find a patroness and a friend. King Ferdinand and all the court repaired to Loredo, to receive the youthful sovereigns. Columbus sent his brother, the Adelantado, to represent him, and Wrote a letter to the king and queen, lamenting his 346 COLUMBUS. [1604. being prevented by illness from coming in person to manifest his devotion. He expressed a hope that he should receive at their hands a restitution of his honours 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 un- conquerable spirit; which, disregarding age and infirmities, and all past sorrows and disappoint- ments, spoke from his dying bed with all the con- fidence of youthful hope, and talked of still greater enterprises, as if he had a long and vigorous life before him. The Adelantado took an affectionate leave of his brother, whom he was never to behold again, and set out on his mission to the new sove- reigns. He experienced the most gracious recep- tion, and flattering hopes were given him that the claims of the admiral would speedily be satisfied. In the mean time, the cares and troubles of Co- lumbus were drawing to a close. The transient fire which had recently reanimated him was soon quenched by accumulating infirmities. Immedi- ately after the departure of the Adelantado, his illness increased in violence. Finding that his end was approaching, he arranged all his earthly affairs, for the benefit of his successors. In a codicil made on the eve of his decease, he enforced his original testament, constituting his son Diego his universal heir, entailing his honours and estates on the male line of his family, and providing for his brothers Don Bartholomew and Don Diego, and his natural son Don Fernando. In his will he enjoined that a portion of his revenues should be annually de- 1506.] DEATH OF COLUMBUS. 347 posited in the bank of St. George, at ©enoa, until a sufficient sum should be accumulated to set on foot a crusade to the Holy Land ; for the rescue of the holy sepulchre was, to the last, the great object of his ambition, and he left a solemn charge upon his heirs to aid personally in the pious enterprise. Other provisions were made for the foundation of churches — the support of Beatrix Enriquez, the mother of Fernando — the relief of his poor rela- tions, and the payment of the most trivial debts. Having thus scrupulously attended to all the claims of affection, loyalty, and justice upon earth, he turned his thoughts to heaven, confessing him- self, partaking of the holy sacrament, and comply- ing with the other ceremonies of a devout catholic. In his last moments he was attended by his son Diego, and a few faithful followers, among whom was Bartholomew Fiesco, who had accompanied Diego Mendez in the perilous expedition from Ja- maica to Hispaniola. Surrounded by these devoted friends, he expired, with great resignation, on the 20th of May, 1506, being about seventy years of age. His last words were, ' In manus tuas, Do^ mine, commendo spiritum meum.' ' Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.* 348 COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XLVI. OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. Columbus was a man of great and inventive genius. The operations of his mind were energetic, but ir- regular ; bursting forth, at times, with that irre- sistible force which characterizes intellects of such an order. His ambition was lofty and noble, in- spiring him with high thoughts, and an anxiety to distinguish himself by great achievements. He aimed at dignity and wealth in the same elevated spirit with which he sought renown ; they were to rise from the territories he should discover, and be commensurate in importance. The vast gains that he anticipated from his discoveries, he intended to appropriate to princely purposes ; to institutions for the relief of the poor of his native city, to the foundation of churches, and, above all, to crusades for the recovery of the holy sepulchre. He 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 illustrious deeds. Every question of compromise concerning them he repulsed with disdain. ' These things,' said he, nobly, ' concern my honour.' In his testament, he enjoined on his son Diego, and whomsoever after him should inherit his estates, whatever other titles might be granted by the king, CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 349 always to sign himself simply ' The Admiral,' by way of perpetuating in the family the source of its real greatness. His conduct was characterized by the grandeur of his views, and the magnanimity of his spirit. Instead of ravaging the newly found countries like many of his contemporary discoverers, who were intent only on immediate gain, he regarded them with the eyes of a legislator ; he sought to colonize and cultivate them, to civilize the natives, to sub- ject everything to the control of law, order, and religion, and thus to found regular and prosperous empires. That he failed in this was the fault of the dissolute rabble which it was his misfortune to command, with whom all law was tyranny, and all order oppression. 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 Piis heart. The mag- nanimity of his nature shone forth through all the troubles of his stormy career. Though continually outraged in his dignity, braved in his authority^ 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 anguish of body and anxiety of mind, enough to exasperate the most patient, yet he restrained his valiant and indignant spirit, 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,. 350 COLUMBUS. but far greater praise is due to him for the firmness he displayed in governing himself. His piety was genuine and fervent ; 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 devoutly returned thanks to God. The voice of prayer and the melody of praise rose from his ships on discovering the New World, and his first action on landing was to prostrate himself upon the earth, and offer up thanksgivings. Every evening the Salve Regina, and other vesper hymns, were chanted by his crew, and masses were per- formed in the beautiful groves that bordered 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 holy sacrament previous to embarkation. He observed the fes- tivals of the church in the wildest situations. The Sabbath was to him a day of sacred rest, on which he would never sail from a port, unless in case of extreme necessity. The religion thus deeply seated in his soul diffused a sober dignity and a benign composure over his whole deportment ; his very language was pure and guarded, and free from all gross or 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 the nations who did not acknow- ledge the christian faith were destitute of natural rights ; and that the sternest measures might be used for their conversion, and the severest punish- ments inflicted upon them, if obstinate in unbelief. CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 351 In this spirit of bigotry he considered himself jus- tified in making captives of the Indians, and trans- porting 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 doing the latter, he sinned against the natural goodness of his heart, and against the feelings he had originally entertained and expressed towards 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 the unprofitable result of his enterprises. It is but jus- tice to his character to observe, that the enslave- ment of the Indians thus taken in battle was at first openly countenanced by the crown ; and that, when the question of right came to be discussed at the request of the queen, several of the most dis- tinguished jurists and theologians advocated the practice ; so that the question was finally settled in favour of the Indians solely by the humanity of Isabella. As the venerable Bishop Las Casas ob- serves, where the most learned men have doubted, it is not surprising that an unlearned mariner should err. These remarks, in palliation of the conduct of Columbus, are required by candour. It is proper to show him in connexion with the age in which he lived, lest the errors of the times should be con- sidered his individual faults. It is not intended, however, to justify him on a point where it is in- excusable to err. Let it remain a blot on his illus- trious name, and let others derive a lesson from it. A peculiar trait in his rich and varied character remains to be noticed ; namely, that ardent and 352 COLUMBUS, enthusiastic imagination, vvliicli threw a magnifi- cence over his whole course of thought. A poetical temperament is discernible throughout all his writ- ings and in all his actions. We see it in all his descriptions of the beauties of the wild lands he | was discovering ; in the enthusiasm with which he • . ■ extols the verdure of the forests, the grandeur of the mountains, and the crystal clearness of the running streams ; the blandness of the tempera- ture, the purity of the atmosphere, and the fra- Hlj grance of the air, ' full of dew and sweetness.' It spread a golden and glorious world around him, and tinged everything with its own gorgeous co- lours. It betrayed him into visionary speculations, which subjected him to the sneers and cavils 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, and the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients ; and such was the heroic scheme of a crusade, for the recovery of the holy sepulchre. It filled his mind with solemn and visionary medi- ii tations on mystic passages of the scriptures, and on 9 the shadowy portents of the prophecies. It exalted * his own ofiice in his eyes, and made him conceive himself an agent sent forth upon a sublime and awful mission, and subject to mysterious intima- tions 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 uncommon kind, and successful in his dreams. CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 353 The manner in which his ardent imagination and mercurial nature were controlled by a powerful judgment, and directed by an 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 un- known world, as soothsayers were said to read pre- dictions in the stars, and to foretel events from the visions of the night. ' His soul,' observes a Spa- nish writer, ' was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved the great enterprise of traversing a sea which had given rise to so many fables, and of deciphering the mystery of his age.' With all the visionary fervour of his imagination, its fondest dreams fell short of the reality. He died in ignorance of the real grandeur of his discovery ! Until his last breath, he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the East. He supposed Hispa- niola to be the ancient Ophir, which had been vi- sited by the ships of King 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 old world in magnitude, and separated by two vast oceans from all the earth hitherto known by civilized 2 A 354 COLUMBUS. 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 would arise in the beautiful world he had discovered ; and the nations, and tongues, and languages, which were to fill its lands with his renown, and to revere and bless his name to the latest posterity ! APPENDIX. OBSEQUIES OF COLUMBUS. The body of Columbus was deposited in the con- vent of S. Francisco, and his obsequies were cele- brated with funeral pomp in the parochial church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, in Valladolid. His remains were transported, in 1513, to the Carthu- sian convent of Las Cuevas, at Seville, and de- posited in the chapel of Santa Christo. In the year 1536, they were removed to Hispaniola, and interred by the side of the grand altar of the ca- thedral of the city of San Domingo. But even here they did not rest in quiet. On the cession of Hispaniola to the French in 1795, it was de- termined by the Spaniards to bear them off to the island of Cuba as precious relics, connected with the most glorious epoch of Spanish history. Ac- cordingly, on the 20th December, 1795, in the presence of an august assemblage of the dignitaries of the church and the civil and military officers, the vault was opened beside the high altar of the cathedral : 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, secured by an iron lock ; the case 2 A 2 356 APPENDIX, was enclosed in a coffin covered with black velvet, and the whole placed in a temporary mausoleum. On the following day there was another grand convocation at the cathedral : the vigils and masses for the dead were chanted, and a funeral sermon was preached by the archbishop. After these solemn ceremonials in the cathedral, the coffin was transported to the ship, attended by a grand civil, religious, and military procession. The banners were covered with crape ; there were chants and responses, and discharges of artillery ; and the most distinguished persons of the several orders took turns to support the coffin. The reception of the body at Havanna was equally august. There was a splendid procession of boats to conduct it from the ship to the shore. On passing the vessels of war in the harbour, they all paid the honours due to 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 of the military staff. They were then conveyed in 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 were deposited in the wall, on the right side of the grand altar, where they still remain. It is with deep satisfaction that the author of this work is able to close his history with the account of a ceremonial so noble and affecting, and so honourable to the Spanish nation. AVhen we read of the remains of Columbus thus con- veyed from the port of San Domingo, after an interval of nearly three hundred years, as sacred APPENDIX. 357 national relics, with civil and military pomp, and high religious ceremonial, we cannot but reflect that it was from this very port he was carried off loaded with ignominious chains, blasted apparently in fame and fortune, and taunted by the revilings of the rabble: such honours, 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 per- secuted living, encouraging them bravely to bear with present injuries, by shewing them how true merit outlives all calumny, and receives its glorious reward in the admiration of after ages. Note. — While this ahridgment was going to press, the author received a letter from Madrid, mentioning a recent circumstance, which may be of some interest to the reader of this work. The emancipation of the Spanish Colonies in America had stripped the heirs of Columbus of all their property, insomuch that his last direct descendant and re- presentative, the Duke of Veraguas, a young nobleman of worth and talent, was reduced to extreme poverty. He in- stituted a claim upon the government for indemnification, which has just been allowed. A pension of twenty-four thousand dollars has been assigned him on the revenues of Cuba and Porto Rico. It is a circumstance highly to his credit, that, in the time of his greatest distress, he refused sums that were offered him for various dociunents in the archives of his family, and particularly for autographs of his illustrious ancestor. THE END. London : W. Clowes, Printer, Stamford-street. NEW BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MURRAlY. I. A CHRONICLE of the CONQUEST of GRANADA, from the MSS. of Fray Antonio Agapida. By WASH- INGTON IRVING. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s. ** A narrative which in manner reminds us of the rich and storied pages of Froissart- It presents an historical picture which can never cease to claim attention."— ^mer. ^uar* Rev. II. THE SKETCH BOOK of GEOFFREY CRAYON, Gent. 2 vols. 8vo. 24*. 2 vols, post 8vo. 16*. III. BRACEBRIDGE HALL; or, the Humorists. By GEOFFREY CRAYON, Gent. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s.; 2 vols, post 8vo. 16s. IV. TALES of a TRAVELLER. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s. ; 2 vols, post 8vo. 16s. ** It seems probable to us that Mr. Irving might prove no con-i temptible rival to Goldsmith, whose turn of mind he very much in-, herits, and of whose style he particularly reminds us. Like him, too, Mr. Irving possesses the art of setting ludicrous perplexities in the most irresistible point of view, and, we think, equals him in the variety of his humour." — Qmr. Rev. V. KNICKERBOCKER'S HUMOROUS ACCOUNT of NEW YORK, from the beginning of the World to the end of the Dutch Dynasty. 8vo. 10s. 6d, VI. The HISTORY of the LIFE and VOYAGES of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By WASHINGTON IRVING. With a Chart. 4 vols. 8vo. 21. 2s. ** Nothing can be more elegant and pleasant than the style in which the history is written." — Times. This is an excellent book, and we venture to anticipate that it will be an enduring one ; neither do we hazard this prediction lightly, or without a full consciousness of all that it implies. We are perfectly aware that there are but few modern works that are likely to verify it, and that it probably could not be extended with safety to so many as one in a hundred even of those we praise. For we mean not merely that the book will be familiarly known and referred to some twenty or thirty years hence, and will pass in solid binding into every con- siderable collection, but that it will supersede all former works on the same subject, and never be itself superseded." — Edinburgh Review. UNIVERSITY OP ILUN0I8-URBANA 3 0112 046010531