Preface
　　This book contains a life of Columbus, written with the hope ofinteresting all classes of readers.
　　His life has often been written, and it has sometimes been well written.
　　The great book of our countryman, Washington Irving, is a noble model ofdiligent work given to a very difficult subject. And I think every personwho has dealt with the life of Columbus since Irving's time, has expressedhis gratitude and respect for the author.
　　According to the custom of biographers, in that time and since, heincludes in those volumes the whole history of the West India islands, forthe period after Columbus discovered them till his death. He also thinks ithis duty to include much of the history of Spain and of the Spanish court. Ido not myself believe that it is wise to attempt, in a book of biography, soconsiderable a study of the history of the time. Whether it be wise or not, Ihave not attempted it in this book. I have rather attempted to followclosely the personal fortunes of Christopher Columbus, and, to the historyaround him, I have given only such space as seemed absolutely necessaryfor the illustration of those fortunes.
　　I have followed on the lines of his own personal narrative wherever wehave it. And where this is lost I have used the absolutely contemporaryauthorities. I have also consulted the later writers, those of the nextgeneration and the generation which followed it. But the more one studiesthe life of Columbus the more one feels sure that, after the greatness of hisdiscovery was really known, the accounts of the time were overlaid bywhat modern criticism calls myths, which had grown up in the enthusiasmof those who honored him, and which form no part of real history. If thenthe reader fails to find some stories with which he is quite familiar in thehistory, he must not suppose that they are omitted by accident, but mustgive to the author of the book the credit of having used some discretion inthe choice of his authorities.
　　When I visited Spain in 1882, I was favored by the officers of theSpanish government with every facility for carrying my inquiry as far as a short visit would permit. Since that time Mr. Harrisse has published hisinvaluable volumes on the life of Columbus. It certainly seems as if everydocument now existing, which bears upon the history, had been collatedby him. The reader will see that I have made full use of this treasure-house.
　　The Congress of Americanistas, which meets every year, bringsforward many curious studies on the history of the continent, but it canscarcely be said to have done much to advance our knowledge of thepersonal life of Columbus.
　　The determination of the people of the United States to celebrate fitlythe great discovery which has advanced civilization and changed the faceof the world, makes it certain that a new interest has arisen in the life ofthe great man to whom, in the providence of God, that discovery was due.
　　The author and publishers of this book offer it as their contribution in thegreat celebration, with the hope that it may be of use, especially in thedirection of the studies of the young. EDWARD E. HALE.
　　ROXBURY, MASS., June 1st, 1891.
Chapter 1
　　EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. HIS BIRTH AND BIRTHPLACE--HIS EARLY EDUCATION--HIS EXPERIENCE AT SEA-HIS MARRIAGE AND RESIDENCE IN LISBON--HIS PLANS FORTHE DISCOVERY OF A WESTWARD PASSAGE TO THE INDIES.
　　Christopher Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa. The honorof his birth-place has been claimed by many villages in that Republic, andthe house in which he was born cannot be now pointed out with certainty.
　　But the best authorities agree that the children and the grown people of theworld have never been mistaken when they have said: "America wasdiscovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa." Hisname, and that of his family, is always written Colombo, in the Italianpapers which refer to them, for more than one hundred years before histime. In Spain it was always written Colon; in France it is written asColomb; while in England it has always kept its Latin form, Columbus. Ithas frequently been said that he himself assumed this form, becauseColumba is the Latin word for "Dove," with a fanciful feeling that, incarrying Christian light to the West, he had taken the mission of the dove.
　　Thus, he had first found land where men thought there was ocean, and hewas the messenger of the Holy Spirit to those who sat in darkness. It hasalso been assumed that he took the name of Christopher, "the Christ-bearer," for similar reasons. But there is no doubt that he was baptized"Christopher," and that the family name had long been Columbo. Thecoincidences of name are but two more in a calendar in which poetrydelights, and of which history is full.
　　Christopher Columbus was the oldest son of Dominico Colombo andSuzanna Fontanarossa. This name means Red-fountain. He bad twobrothers, Bartholomew and Diego, whom we shall meet again. Diego isthe Spanish way of writing the name which we call James.
　　It seems probable that Christopher was born in the year 1436, thoughsome writers have said that he was older than this, and some that he wasyounger. The record of his birth and that of his baptism have not beenfound.
　　His father was not a rich man, but he was able to send Christopher, asa boy, to the University of Pavia, and here he studied grammar, geometry,geography and navigation, astronomy and the Latin language. But this wasas a boy studies, for in his fourteenth year he left the university andentered, in hard work, on "the larger college of the world." If the dategiven above, of his birth, is correct, this was in the year 1450, a few yearsbefore the Turks took Constantinople, and, in their invasion of Europe,affected the daily life of everyone, young or old, who lived in theMediterranean countries. From this time, for fifteen years, it is hard totrace along the life of Columbus. It was the life of an intelligent youngseaman, going wherever there was a voyage for him. He says himself, "Ipassed twenty-three years on the sea. I have seen all the Levant, all thewestern coasts, and the North. I have seen England; I have often made thevoyage from Lisbon to the Guinea coast." This he wrote in a letter toFerdinand and Isabella. Again he says, "I went to sea from the most tenderage and have continued in a sea life to this day. Whoever gives himself upto this art wants to know the secrets of Nature here below. It is more thanforty years that I have been thus engaged. Wherever any one has sailed,there I have sailed."Whoever goes into the detail of the history of that century will comeupon the names of two relatives of his--Colon el Mozo (the Boy, or theYounger) and his uncle, Francesco Colon, both celebrated sailors. Thelatter of the two was a captain in the fleets of Louis XI of France, andimaginative students may represent him as meeting Quentin Durward atcourt. Christopher Columbus seems to have made several voyages underthe command of the younger of these relatives. He commanded theGenoese galleys near Cyprus in a war which the Genoese had with theVenetians. Between the years 1461 and 1463 the Genoese were acting asallies with King John of Calabria, and Columbus had a command ascaptain in their navy at that time.
　　"In 1477," he says, in one of his letters, "in the month of February, Isailed more than a hundred leagues beyond Tile." By this he means Thule,or Iceland. "Of this island the southern part is seventy-three degrees fromthe equator, not sixty-three degrees, as some geographers pretend." But here he was wrong. The Southern part of Iceland is in the latitude of sixty-three and a half degrees. "The English, chiefly those of Bristol, carry theirmerchandise, to this island, which is as large as England. When I wasthere the sea was not frozen, but the tides there are so strong that they riseand fall twenty-six cubits."The order of his life, after his visit to Iceland, is better known. He wasno longer an adventurous sailor-boy, glad of any voyage which offered; hewas a man thirty years of age or more. He married in the city of Lisbonand settled himself there. His wife was named Philippa. She was thedaughter of an Italian gentleman named Bartolomeo Muniz de Perestrello,who was, like Columbus, a sailor, and was alive to all the new interestswhich geography then presented to all inquiring minds. This was in theyear 1477, and the King of Portugal was pressing the expeditions which,before the end of the century, resulted in the discovery of the route to theIndies by the Cape of Good Hope.
　　The young couple had to live. Neither the bride nor her husband hadany fortune, and Columbus occupied himself as a draftsman, illustratingbooks, making terrestrial globes, which must have been curiouslyinaccurate, since they had no Cape of Good Hope and no AmericanContinent, drawing charts for sale, and collecting, where he could, thematerial for such study. Such charts and maps were beginning to assumenew importance in those days of geographical discovery. The valueattached to them may be judged from the statement that Vespucius paidone hundred and thirty ducats for one map. This sum would be more thanfive hundred dollars of our time.
　　Columbus did not give up his maritime enterprises. He made voyagesto the coast of Guinea and in other directions.
　　It is said that he was in command of one of the vessels of his relativeColon el Mozo, when, in the Portuguese seas, this admiral, with hissquadron, engaged four Venetian galleys returning from Flanders. Abloody battle followed. The ship which Christopher Columbuscommanded was engaged with a Venetian vessel, to which it set fire.
　　There was danger of an explosion, and Columbus himself, seeing thisdanger, flung himself into the sea, seized a floating oar, and thus gained the shore. He was not far from Lisbon, and from this time made Lisbon hishome for many years.[*]
　　[*] The critics challenge these dates, but there seems to be goodfoundation for the story.
　　It seems. clear that, from the time when he arrived in Lisbon, formore than twenty years, he was at work trying to interest people in his"great design," of western discovery. He says himself, "I was constantlycorresponding with learned men, some ecclesiastics and some laymen,some Latin and some Greek, some Jews and some Moors." Theastronomer Toscanelli was one of these correspondents.
　　We must not suppose that the idea of the roundness of the earth wasinvented by Columbus. Although there were other theories about its shape,many intelligent men well understood that the earth was a globe, and thatthe Indies, though they were always reached from Europe by going to theEast, must be on the west of Europe also. There is a very funny story inthe travels of Mandeville, in which a traveler is represented as havinggone, mostly on foot, through all the countries of Asia, but finallydetermines to return to Norway, his home. In his farthest easterninvestigation, he hears some people calling their cattle by a peculiar cry,which he had never heard before. After he returned home, it was necessaryfor him to take a day's journey westward to look after some cattle he hadlost. Finding these cattle, he also heard the same cry of people callingcattle, which he had heard in the extreme East, and now learned, for thefirst time, that he had gone round the world on foot, to turn and come backby the same route, when he was only a day's journey from home,Columbus was acquainted with such stories as this, and also had theastronomical knowledge which almost made him know that the world wasround, "and, like a ball, goes spinning in the air." The difficulty was topersuade other people that, because of this roundness, it would be possibleto attain Asia by sailing to the West.
　　Now all the geographers of repute supposed that there was not nearlyso large a distance as there proved to be, in truth, between Europe andAsia. Thus, in the geography of Ptolemy, which was the standard book atthat time, one hundred and thirty-five degrees, a little more than one-third of the earth's circumference, is given to the space between the extremeeastern part of the Indies and the Canary Islands. In fact, as we now know,the distance is one hundred and eighty degrees, half the world'scircumference. Had Columbus believed there was any such immensedistance, he would never have undertaken his voyage.
　　Almost all the detailed knowledge of the Indies which the people ofhis time had, was given by the explorations of Marco Polo, a Venetiantraveler of the thirteenth century, whose book had long been in thepossession of European readers. It is a very entertaining book now, andmay well be recommended to young people who like stories of adventure.
　　Marco Polo had visited the court of the Great Khan of Tartary at Pekin, theprince who brought the Chinese Empire into very much the condition inwhich it now is. He had, also, given accounts of Japan or Cipango, whichhe had himself never visited. Columbus knew, therefore, that, well east ofthe Indies, was the island of Cipango, and he aimed at that island, becausehe supposed that that was the nearest point to Europe, as in fact it is. Andwhen finally he arrived at Cuba, as the reader will see, he thought he wasin Japan.
　　Columbus's father-in-law had himself been the Portuguese governor ofthe island of Porto Santo, where he had founded a colony. He, therefore,was interested in western explorations, and probably from him Columbuscollected some of the statements which are known to have influenced him,with regard to floating matters from the West, which are constantly borneupon that island by the great currents of the sea.
　　The historians are fond of bringing together all the intimations whichare given in the Greek and Latin classics, and in later authors, with regardto a land beyond Asia. Perhaps the most famous of them is that of Seneca,"In the later years there shall come days in which Ocean shall loose hischains, and a great land shall appear . . . and Thule shall not be the last ofthe worlds."In a letter which Toscanelli wrote to Columbus in 1474, he inclosed acopy of a letter which he had already sent to an officer of Alphonso V, theKing of Portugal. In writing to Columbus, he says, "I see that you have agreat and noble desire to go into that country (of the East) where the spices come from, and in reply to your letter I send you a copy of that which Iaddressed some years ago to my attached friend in the service of the mostserene King of Portugal. He had an order from his Highness to write meon this subject. . . . If I had a globe in my hand, I could show you what isneeded. But I prefer to mark out the route on a chart like a marine chart,which will be an assistance to your intelligence and enterprise. On thischart I have myself drawn the whole extremity of our western shore fromIreland as far down as the coast of Guinea toward the South, with all theislands which are to be found on this route. Opposite this [that is, theshores of Ireland and Africa] I have placed directly at the West thebeginning of the Indies with the islands and places where you will land.
　　You will see for yourself how many miles you must keep from the arcticpole toward the equator, and at what distance you will arrive at theseregions so fertile and productive of spices and precious stones." InToscanelli's letter, he not only indicates Japan, but, in the middle of theocean, he places the island of Antilia. This old name afterwards gave thename by which the French still call the West Indies, Les Antilles.
　　Toscanelli gives the exact distance which Columbus will have to sail:
　　"From Lisbon to the famous city of Quisay [Hang-tcheou-fou, then thecapital of China] if you take the direct route toward the West, the distancewill be thirty-nine hundred miles. And from Antilia to Japan it will be twohundred and twenty-five leagues." Toscanelli says again, "You see that thevoyage that you wish to attempt is much legs difficult than would bethought. You would be sure of this if you met as many people as I do whohave been in the country of spices."While there were so many suggestions made that it would be possibleto cross the Atlantic, there was one man who determined to do this. Thisman was Christopher Columbus. But he knew well that he could not do italone. He must have money enough for an expedition, he must haveauthority to enlist crews for that expedition, and he must have power togovern those crews when they should arrive in the Indies. In our timessuch adventures have been conducted by mercantile corporations, but inthose times no one thought of doing any such thing without the directassistance and support of some monarch.
　　It is easy now to see and to say that Columbus himself was singularlywell fitted to take the charge of the expedition of discovery. He was anexcellent sailor and at the same time he was a learned geographer and agood mathematician. He was living in Portugal, the kings of whichcountry had, for many years, fostered the exploration of the coast of Africa,and were pushing expeditions farther and farther South.
　　In doing this, they were, in a fashion, making new discoveries. ForEurope was wholly ignorant of the western coast of Africa, beyond theCanaries, when their expeditions began. But all men of learning knew that,five hundred years before the Christian era, Hanno, a Carthaginian, hadsailed round Africa under the direction of the senate of Carthage. Theefforts of the King of Portugal were to repeat the voyage made by Hanno.
　　In 1441, Gonzales and Tristam sailed as far as Sierra Leone. They broughtback some blacks as slaves, and this was the beginning of the slave trade.
　　In 1446 the Portuguese took possession of the Azores, the mostwestern points of the Old World. Step by step they advanced southward,and became familiar with the African coast. Bold navigators were eager tofind the East, and at last success came. Under the king's orders, in August,1477, three caravels sailed from the Tagus, under Bartolomeo Diaz, forsouthern discovery. Diaz was himself brave enough to be willing to go onto the Red Sea, after he made the great discovery of the Cape of GoodHope, but his crews mutinied, after he had gone much farther than hispredecessors, and compelled him to return. He passed the southern cape ofAfrica and went forty miles farther. He called it the Cape of Torments,"Cabo Tormentoso," so terrible were the storms he met there. But whenKing John heard his report he gave it that name of good omen which it hasborne ever since, the name of the "Cape of Good Hope."In the midst of such endeavors to reach the East Indies by the longvoyage down the coast of Africa and across an unknown ocean, Columbuswas urging all people who cared, to try the route directly west. If the worldwas round, as the sun and moon were, and as so many men of learningbelieved, India or the Indies must be to the west of Portugal. The value ofdirect trade with the Indies would be enormous. Europe had alreadyacquired a taste for the spices of India and had confidence in the drugs of India. The silks and other articles of clothing made in India, and thecarpets of India, were well known and prized. Marco Polo and others hadgiven an impression that there was much gold in India; and the pearls andprecious stones of India excited the imagination of all who read histravels.
　　The immense value of such a commerce may be estimated from onefact. When, a generation after this time, one ship only of all the squadronof Magellan returned to Cadiz, after the first voyage round the world, shewas loaded with spices from the Moluccas. These spices were sold by theSpanish government for so large a sum of money that the king wasremunerated for the whole cost of the expedition, and even made a verylarge profit from a transaction which had cost a great deal in its outfit.
　　Columbus was able, therefore, to offer mercantile adventurers thepromise of great profit in case of success; and at this time kings werewilling to take their share of such profits as might accrue.
　　The letter of Toscanelli, the Italian geographer, which has been spokenof, was addressed to Alphonso V, the King of Portugal. To him and hissuccessor, John the Second, Columbus explained the probability ofsuccess, and each of them, as it would seem, had confidence in it. ButKing John made the great mistake of intrusting Columbus's plan to anotherperson for experiment. He was selfish enough, and mean enough, to fit outa ship privately and intrust its command to another seaman, bidding himsail west in search of the Indies, while he pretended that he was on avoyage to the Cape de Verde Islands. He was, in fact, to follow the routeindicated by Columbus. The vessel sailed. But, fortunately for the fame ofColumbus, she met a terrible storm, and her officers, in terror, turned fromthe unknown ocean and returned to Lisbon. Columbus himself tells thisstory. It was in disgust with the bad faith the king showed in thistransaction that he left Lisbon to offer his great project to the King andQueen of Spain.
　　In a similar way, a generation afterward, Magellan, who was in theservice of the King of Portugal, was disgusted by insults which hereceived at his court, and exiled himself to Spain. He offered to theSpanish king his plan for sailing round the world and it was accepted. He sailed in a Spanish fleet, and to his discoveries Spain owes the possessionof the Philippine Islands. Twice, therefore, did kings of Portugal lose forthemselves, their children and their kingdom, the fame and therecompense which belong to such great discoveries.
　　The wife of Columbus had died and he was without a home. He leftLisbon with his only son, Diego, in or near the end of the year 1484.
Chapter 2
　　HIS PLANS FOR DISCOVERY. COLUMBUS LEAVES LISBON,AND VISITS GENOA--VISITS GREAT SPANISH DUKES--FORSIX YEARS IS AT THE COURT OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA-THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA--HIS PETITION IS AT LASTGRANTED --SQUADRON MADE READY.
　　It has been supposed that when Columbus left Lisbon he wasoppressed by debts. At a subsequent period, when King John wanted torecall him, he offered to protect him against any creditors. But on the otherhand, it is thought that at this time he visited Genoa, and made someprovision for the comfort of his father, who was now an old man.
　　Christopher Columbus, himself, according to the usual opinion regardinghis birth, was now almost fifty years old.
　　It is probable that at this time he urged on his countrymen, theGenoese, the importance of his great plan; and tried to interest them tomake the great endeavor, for the purpose of reaching the Indies by awestern route. As it proved, the discovery of the route by the Cape ofGood Hope was, commercially, a great injury to Genoa and the othermaritime cities of Italy. Before this time, the eastern trade of Europe cameby the ports of the eastern Mediterranean, and the Italian cities.
　　Columbus's offer to Genoa was therefore one which, if her statesmencould have foreseen the future, they would have considered eagerly.
　　But Genoa was greatly depressed at this period. In her wars with theTurks she had been, on the whole, not successful. She had lost Caffa, herstation in the Crimea, and her possessions in the Archipelago werethreatened. The government did not accept Columbus's proposals, and hewas obliged to return with them to Spain. He went first to distinguishednoblemen, in the South of Spain, who were of liberal and adventurousdisposition. One was the Duke of Medina Celi, and one the Duke ofMedina Sidonia. Each of these grandees entertained him at their courts,and heard his proposals.
　　The Duke of Medina Celi was so much interested in them, that at onetime he proposed to give Columbus the direction of four vessels which he had in the harbor of Cadiz. But, of a sudden, he changed his mind. Theenterprise was so vast, he said, that it should be under the direction of thecrown. And, without losing confidence in it, he gave to Columbus anintroduction to the king and queen, in which he cordially recommendedhim to their patronage.
　　This king and queen were King Ferdinand of Aragon, and QueenIsabella of Castile. The marriage of these two had united Spain. Theiraffection for each other made the union real, and the energy, courage andwisdom of both made their reign successful and glorious. Of all its gloriesthe greatest, as it has proved, was connected with the life and discoveriesof the sailor who was now to approach them. He had been disloyallytreated by Portugal, he had been dismissed by Genoa. He had notsucceeded with the great dukes. Now he was to press his adventure upon aking and queen who were engaged in a difficult war with the Moors, whostill held a considerable part of the peninsula of Spain.
　　The king and queen were residing at Cordova, a rich and beautiful city,which they had taken from the Moors. Under their rule Cordova had beenthe most important seat of learning in Europe. Here Columbus tarried atthe house of Alonso de Quintinilla, who became an ardent convert to histheory, and introduced him to important friends. By their agency,arrangements were made, in which Columbus should present his views tothe king. The time was not such as he could have wished. All Cordova wasalive with the preparation for a great campaign against the enemy. ButKing Ferdinand made arrangements to hear Columbus; it does not appearthat, at the first hearing, Isabella was present at the interview. ButFerdinand, although in the midst of his military cares, was intereste in theproposals made by Columbus. He liked the man. He was pleased by themodesty and dignity with which he brought forward his proposals.
　　Columbus spoke, as he tells us, as one specially appointed by God Himselfto carry out this discovery. The king did not, however, at once adopt thescheme, but gave out that a council of men of learning should be calledtogether to consider it.
　　Columbus himself says that he entered the service of the sovereignsJanuary 26, 1486. The council to which he was referred was held in the university city of Salamanca, in that year. It gave to him a full opportunityto explain his theory. It consisted of a fair representation of the learning ofthe time. But most of the men who met had formed their opinions on thesubjects involved, and were too old to change them. A part of them werepriests of the church, in the habit of looking to sacred Scripture as theironly authority, when the pope had given no instruction in detail. Of thesesome took literally expressions in the Old Testament, which they supposedto be fatal to the plans of Columbus. Such was the phrase in the 104thPsalm, that God stretches out the heavens like a curtain. The expression inthe book of Hebrews, that the heavens are extended as a tent, was alsoquoted, in the same view.
　　Quotations from the early Fathers of the church were more fatal to thenew plan than those from the Scripture.
　　On the other hand there were men who cordially supportedColumbus's wishes, and there were more when the congress parted thanwhen it met. Its sessions occupied a considerable part of the summer, but itwas not for years that it rendered any decision.
　　The king, queen and court, meanwhile, were occupied in war with theMoors. Columbus was once and again summoned to attend the court, andmore than once money was advanced to him to enable him to do so. Oncehe began new negotiations with King John, and from him he received aletter inviting him to return to Portugal. He received a similar letter fromKing Henry VII of England inviting him to his court. Nothing wasdetermined on in Spain. To this day, the people of that country are thoughtto have a habit of postponement to tomorrow of that which perplexes them.
　　In 1489, according to Ortiz de Zuniga, Columbus fought in battle in theking's army.
　　When, however, in the winter of 1490, it was announced that the armywas to take the field again, never to leave its camp till Grenada had fallen,Columbus felt that he must make one last endeavor. He insisted that hemust have an answer regarding his plans of discovery. The confessor ofthe queen, Fernando da Talavera, was commanded to obtain the definiteanswer of the men of learning. Alas! it was fatal to Columbus's hopes.
　　They said that it was not right that great princes should undertake such enterprises on grounds as weak as those which he relied upon.
　　The sovereigns themselves, however, were more favorable; so was aminority of the council of Salamanca. And the confessor was instructed totell him that their expenses in the war forbade them from sending him outas a discoverer, but that, when that was well over, they had hopes that theymight commission him. This was the end of five years of solicitation, inwhich he had put his trust in princes. Columbus regarded the answer, aswell he might, as only a courtly measure of refusal. And he retired indisgust from the court at Seville.
　　He determined to lay his plans before the King of France. He wastraveling with this purpose, with his son, Diego, now a boy of ten ortwelve years of age, when he arrived at night at the hospitable convent ofSaint Mary of Rabida, which has been made celebrated by that incident. Itis about three miles south of what was then the seaport of Palos, one of theactive ports of commercial Spain. The convent stands on level ground highabove the sea; but a steep road runs down to the shore of the ocean. Someof its windows and corridors look out upon the ocean on the west andsouth, and the inmates still show the room in which Columbus used towrite, and the inkstand which served his purposes while he lived there. Itis maintained as a monument of history by the Spanish government.
　　At the door of this convent he asked for bread and water for his boy.
　　The prior of the convent was named Juan Perez de Marchena. He wasattracted by the appearance of Columbus, still more by his conversation,and invited him to remain as their guest.
　　When he learned that his new friend was about to offer to France theadvantages of a discovery so great as that proposed, he begged him tomake one effort more at home. He sent for some friends, Fernandos, aphysician at Palos, and for the brothers Pinzon, who now appear for thefirst time in a story where their part is distinguished. Together they allpersuaded Columbus to send one messenger more to wait upon theirsovereigns. The man sent was Rodriguez, a pilot of Lepe, who foundaccess to the queen because Juan Perez, the prior, had formerly been herconfessor. She had confidence in him, as she had, indeed, in Columbus.
　　And in fourteen days the friendly pilot came back from Santa Fe with a kind letter from the queen to her friend, bidding him return at once tocourt. Perez de Marchena saddled his mule at once and before midnightwas on his way to see his royal mistress.
　　Santa Fe was half camp, half city. It had been built in what is calledthe Vega, the great fruitful plain which extends for many miles to thewestward of Grenada. The court and army were here as they pressed theirattack on that city. Perez de Marchena had ready access to Queen Isabella,and pressed his suit well. He was supported by one of her favorites, theMarquesa de Moya. In reply to their solicitations, she asked thatColumbus should return to her, and ordered that twenty thousandmaravedis should be sent to him for his traveling expenses.
　　This sum was immediately sent by Perez to his friend. Columbusbought a mule, exchanged his worn clothes for better ones, and started, ashe was bidden, for the camp.
　　He arrived there just after the great victory, by which the king andqueen had obtained their wish--had taken the noble city of Grenada andended Moorish rule in Spain. King, queen, court and army were preparingto enter the Alhambra in triumph. Whoever tries to imagine the scene, inwhich the great procession entered through the gates, so long sealed, or ofthe moment when the royal banner of Spain was first flying out upon theTower of the Vela, must remember that Columbus, elate, at last, withhopes for his own great discovery, saw the triumph and joined in thedisplay.
　　But his success was not immediate, even now. Fernando de Talavera,who had had the direction of the wise council of Salamanca, was nowArchbishop of Grenada, whose see had been conferred on him after thevictory. He was not the friend of Columbus. And when, at what seemedthe final interview with king and queen, he heard Columbus claim theright to one-tenth of all the profits of the enterprise, he protested againstsuch lavish recompense of an adventurer. He was now the confessor ofIsabella, as Juan Perez, the friendly prior, had been before. Columbus,however, was proud and firm. He would not yield to the terms prepared bythe archbishop. He preferred to break off the negotiation, and again retiredfrom court. He determined, as he had before, to lay his plans before the King of France.
　　Spain would have lost the honor and the reward of the great discovery,as Portugal and Genoa had lost them, but for Luis de St. Angel, and thequeen herself. St. Angel had been the friend of Columbus. He was animportant officer, the treasurer of the church revenues of Aragon. He nowinsisted upon an audience from the queen. It would seem that Ferdinand,though King of Aragon, was not present. St. Angel spoke eloquently. Thefriendly Marchioness of Moya spoke eagerly and persuasively. Isabellawas at last fired with zeal. Columbus should go, and the enterprise shouldbe hers.
　　It is here that the incident belongs, represented in the statue by Mr.
　　Mead, and that of Miss Hosmer. The sum required for the discovery of aworld was only three thousand crowns. Two vessels were all thatColumbus asked for, with the pay of their crews. But where were threethousand crowns? The treasury was empty, and the king was now averse toany action. It was at this moment that Isabella said, "The enterprise ismine, for the Crown of Castile. I pledge my jewels for the funds."The funds were in fact advanced by St. Angel, from the ecclesiasticalrevenues under his control. They were repaid from the gold brought in thefirst voyage. But, always afterward, Isabella regarded the Indies as aCastilian possession. The most important officers in its administration,indeed most of the emigrants, were always from Castile.
　　Columbus, meanwhile, was on his way back to Palos, on his mule,alone. But at a bridge, still pointed out, a royal courier overtook him,bidding him return. The spot has been made the scene of more than onepicture, which represents the crisis, in which the despair of one momentchanged to the glad hope which was to lead to certainty.
　　He returned to Isabella for the last time, before that great return inwhich he came as a conqueror, to display to her the riches of the NewWorld. The king yielded a slow and doubtful assent. Isabella took theenterprise in her own hands. She and Columbus agreed at once, andarticles were drawn up which gave him the place of admiral for life on alllands he might discover; gave him one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones,gold, silver, spices and other merchandise to be obtained in his admiralty, and gave him the right to nominate three candidates from whom thegovernor of each province should be selected by the crown. He was to bethe judge of all disputes arising from such traffic as was proposed; and hewas to have one-eighth part of the profit, and bear one-eighth part of thecost of it.
　　With this glad news he returned at once to Palos. The Pinzons, whohad been such loyal friends, were to take part in the enterprise. He carriedwith him a royal order, commanding the people of Palos to fit out twocaravels within ten days, and to place them and their crews at the disposalof Columbus. The third vessel proposed was to be fitted out by him andhis friends. The crews were to be paid four months' wages in advance, andColumbus was to have full command, to do what he chose, if he did notinterfere with the Portuguese discoveries.
　　On the 23rd of May, Columbus went to the church of San Giorgio inPalos, with his friend, the prior of St. Mary's convent, and other importantpeople, and the royal order was read with great solemnity:
　　But it excited at first only indignation or dismay. The expedition wasmost unpopular. Sailors refused to enlist, and the authorities, who hadalready offended the crown, so that they had to furnish these vessels, as itwere, as a fine, refused to do what they were bidden. Other orders fromCourt were necessary. But it seems to have been the courage anddetermination of the Pinzons which carried the preparations through. Afterweeks had been lost, Martin Alonso Pinzon and his brothers said theywould go in person on the expedition. They were well-known merchantsand seamen, and were much respected. Sailors were impressed, by theroyal authority, and the needful stores were taken in the same way. Itseems now strange that so much difficulty should have surrounded anexpedition in itself so small. But the plan met then all the superstition,terror and other prejudice of the time.
　　All that Columbus asked or needed was three small vessels and theirstores and crews. The largest ships engaged were little larger than the largeyachts, whose races every summer delight the people of America. TheGallega and the Pinta were the two largest. They were called caravels, aname then given to the smallest three-masted vessels. Columbus once uses it for a vessel of forty tons; but it generally applied in Portuguese orSpanish use to a vessel, ranging one hundred and twenty to one hundredand forty Spanish "toneles." This word represents a capacity about one-tenth larger than that expressed by our English "ton."The reader should remember that most of the commerce of the timewas the coasting commerce of the Mediterranean, and that it was not wellthat the ships should draw much water. The fleet of Columbus, as it sailed,consisted of the Gallega (the Galician), of which he changed the name tothe Santa Maria, and of the Pinta and the Nina. Of these the first two wereof a tonnage which we should rate as about one hundred and thirty tons.
　　The Nina was much smaller, not more than fifty tons. One writer says thatthey were all without full decks, that is, that such decks as they had did notextend from stem to stern. But the other authorities speak as if the Ninaonly was an open vessel, and the two larger were decked. Columbushimself took command of the Santa Maria, Martin Alonso Pinzon of thePinta, and his brothers, Francis Martin and Vicente Yanez, of the Nina.
　　The whole company in all three ships numbered one hundred and twentymen.
　　Mr. Harrisse shows that the expense to the crown amounted to1,140,000 maravedis. This, as he counts it, is about sixty-four thousanddollars of our money. To this Columbus was to add one-eighth of the cost.
　　His friends, the Pinzons, seem to have advanced this, and to have beenafterwards repaid. Las Casas and Herrera both say that the sum thus addedwas much more than one-eighth of the cost and amounted to half a millionmaravedis.
Chapter 3
　　THE GREAT VOYAGE. THE SQUADRON SAILS--REFITS ATCANARY ISLANDS--HOPES AND FEARS OF THE VOYAGE-THE DOUBTS OF THE CREW--LAND DISCOVERED.
　　At last all was ready. That is to say, the fleet was so far ready thatColumbus was ready to start. The vessels were small, as we think ofvessels, but he was not dissatisfied. He says in the beginning of his journal,"I armed three vessels very fit for such an enterprise." He had left Grenadaas late as the twelfth of May. He had crossed Spain to Palos,[*] and in lessthan three months had fitted out the ships and was ready for sea.
　　[*] Palos is now so insignificant a place that on some important mapsof Spain it will not be found. It is on the east side of the Tinto river; andHuelva, on the west side, has taken its place.
　　The harbor of Palos is now ruined. Mud and gravel, brought down bythe River Tinto, have filled up the bay, so that even small boats cannotapproach the shore. The traveler finds, however, the island of Saltes, quiteoutside the bay, much as Columbus left it. It is a small spit of sand,covered with shells and with a few seashore herbs. His own account of thegreat voyage begins with the words:
　　"Friday, August 3, 1492. Set sail from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock,and proceeded with a strong breeze till sunset sixty miles, or fifteenleagues south, afterward southwest and south by west, which is in thedirection of the Canaries."It appears, therefore, that the great voyage, the most important andsuccessful ever made, began on Friday, the day which is said to be somuch disliked by sailors. Columbus never alludes to this superstition.
　　He had always meant to sail first for the Canaries, which were themost western land then known in the latitude of his voyage. From Lisbonto the famous city of "Quisay," or "Quinsay," in Asia, Toscanelli, hislearned correspondent, supposed the distance to be less than one thousandleagues westward. From the Canary islands, on that supposition, thedistance would be ten degrees less. The distance to Cipango, or Japan,would be much less.
　　As it proved, the squadron had to make some stay at the Canaries. Therudder of the Pinta was disabled, and she proved leaky. It was suspectedthat the owners, from whom she had been forcibly taken, had intentionallydisabled her, or that possibly the crew had injured her. But Columbus saysin his journal that Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, was a manof capacity and courage, and that this quieted his apprehensions. From theninth of August to the second of September, nearly four weeks were spentby the Pinta and her crew at the Grand Canary island, and she wasrepaired. She proved afterwards a serviceable vessel, the fastest of thefleet. At the Canaries they heard stories of lands seen to the westward, towhich Columbus refers in his journal. On the sixth of September theysailed from Gomera and on the eighth they lost sight of land. Nor did theysee land again for thirty-three days. Such was the length of the greatvoyage. All the time, most naturally, they were wishing for signs, not ofland perhaps, but which might show whether this great ocean were reallydifferent from other seas. On the whole the voyage was not a dangerousone.
　　According to the Admiral's reckoning--and in his own journalColumbus always calls himself the Admiral--its length was one thousandand eighty-nine leagues. This was not far from right, the real distancebeing, in a direct line, three thousand one hundred and forty nautical miles,or three thousand six hundred and twenty statute miles.[*] It would not beconsidered a very long voyage for small vessels now. In general the coursewas west. Sometimes, for special reasons, they sailed south of west. Ifthey had sailed precisely west they would have struck the shore of theUnited States a little north of the spot where St. Augustine now is, aboutthe northern line of Florida.
　　[*] The computations from Santa Cruz, in the Canaries, to SanSalvador give this result, as kindly made for us by Lieutenant Mozer, ofthe United States navy.
　　Had the coast of Asia been, indeed, as near as Toscanelli andColumbus supposed, this latitude of the Canary islands would have beenquite near the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang river, in China, which waswhat Columbus was seeking. For nearly a generation afterwards he and his followers supposed that the coast of that region was what they had found.
　　It was on Saturday, the eighth of September, that they lost sight ofTeneriffe. On the eleventh they saw a large piece of the mast of a shipafloat. On the fourteenth they saw a "tropic-bird," which the sailorsthought was never seen more than twenty-five leagues from land; but itmust be remembered, that, outside of the Mediterranean, few of the sailorshad ever been farther themselves. On the sixteenth they began to meet"large patches of weeds, very green, which appeared to have been recentlywashed away from land." This was their first knowledge of the "Sargassosea," a curious tract in mid-Atlantic which is always green with floatingseaweeds. "The continent we shall find farther on," wrote the confidentAdmiral.
　　An observation of the sun on the seventeenth proved what had beensuspected before, that the needles of the compasses were not pointingprecisely to the north. The variation of the needle, since that time, hasbeen a recognized fact. But this observation at so critical a time firstdisclosed it. The crew were naturally alarmed. Here was evidence that, inthe great ocean, common laws were not to be relied upon. But they hadgreat respect for Columbus's knowledge of such subjects. He told themthat it was not the north which had changed, nor the needle, which wastrue to the north, but the polar star revolved, like other stars, and for thetime they were satisfied.
　　The same day they saw weeds which he was sure were land weeds.
　　From them he took a living crab, whose unintentional voyage eastwardwas a great encouragement to the bolder adventurer westward. Columbuskept the crab, saying that such were never found eighty leagues from land.
　　In fact this poor crab was at least nine hundred and seventy leagues fromthe Bahamas, as this same journal proves. On the eighteenth the Pinta ranahead of the other vessels, Martin Alonso was so sure that he should reachland that night. But it was not to come so soon.
　　Columbus every day announced to his crew a less distance as theresult of the day than they had really sailed. For he was afraid of theirdistrust, and did not dare let them know how far they were from home.
　　The private journal, therefore, has such entries as this, "Sailed more than fifty-five leagues, wrote down only forty-eight." That is, he wrote on thedaily log, which was open to inspection, a distance some leagues less thanthey had really made.
　　On the twentieth pelicans are spoken of, on the twenty-first "suchabundance of weeds that the ocean seemed covered with them," "the seasmooth as a river, and the finest air in the world. Saw a whale, anindication of land, as they always keep near the coast." To later times, thisnote, also, shows how ignorant Columbus then was of mid-ocean.
　　On the twenty-second, to the Admiral's relief, there was a head wind;for the crew began to think that with perpetual east winds they wouldnever return to Spain. They had been in what are known as the trade winds.
　　On the twenty-third the smoother water gave place to a rough sea, and hewrites that this "was favorable to me, as it happened formerly to Moseswhen he led the Jews from Egypt."The next day, thanks to the headwinds, their progress was less. On thetwenty-fifth, Pinzon, of the Pinta, felt sure that they were near the outerislands of Asia as they appeared on the Toscanelli map, and at sunsetcalled out with joy that he saw land, claiming a reward for such news. Thecrews of both vessels sang "Glory to God in the highest," and the crew ofthe little Nina were sure that the bank was land. On this occasion theychanged from a western course to the southwest. But alas! the land was afog-bank and the reward never came to Martin Pinzon. On the twenty-sixth, again "the sea was like a river." This was Wednesday. In three daysthey sailed sixty-nine leagues. Saturday was calm. They saw a bird called"Rabihorcado," which never alights at sea, nor goes twenty leagues fromland," wrote the confident Columbus; "Nothing is wanting but the singingof the nightingale," he says.
　　Sunday, the thirtieth, brought "tropic-birds" again, "a very clear sign ofland." Monday the journal shows them seven hundred and seven leaguesfrom Ferro. Tuesday a white gull was the only visitor. Wednesday they hadpardelas and great quantities of seaweed. Columbus began to be sure thatthey had passed "the islands" and were nearing the continent of Asia.
　　Thursday they had a flock of pardelas, two pelicans, a rabihorcado and agull. Friday, the fifth of October, brought pardelas and flying-fishes.
　　We have copied these simple intimations from the journal to show howconstantly Columbus supposed that he was near the coast of Asia. On thesixth of October Pinzon asked that the course might be changed to thesouthwest. But Columbus held on. On the seventh the Nina was ahead,and fired a gun and hoisted her flag in token that she saw land. But againthey were disappointed. Columbus gave directions to keep close order atsunrise and sunset. The next day he did change the course to westsouthwest, following flights of birds from the north which went in thatdirection. On the eighth "the sea was like the river at Seville," the weedswere very few and they took land birds on board the ships. On the ninththey sailed southwest five leagues, and then with a change of wind wentwest by north. All night they heard the birds of passage passing.
　　On the tenth of October the men made remonstrance, which has beenexaggerated in history into a revolt. It is said, in books of authority, thatColumbus begged them to sail west only three days more. But in theprivate journal of the tenth he says simply: "The seamen complained ofthe length of the voyage. They did not wish to go any farther. The Admiraldid his best to renew their courage, and reminded them of the profitswhich would come to them. He added, boldly, that no complaints wouldchange his purpose, that he had set out to go to the Indies, and that withthe Lord's assistance he should keep on until he came there." This is theonly passage in the journal which has any resemblance to the account ofthe mutiny.
　　If it happened, as Oviedo says, three days before the discovery, itwould have been on the eighth of October. On that day the entry is,"Steered west southwest, and sailed day and night eleven or twelveleagues--at times, during the night, fifteen miles an hour--if the log can berelied upon. Found the sea like the river at Seville, thanks to God. The airwas as soft as that of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was deliciousto breathe it. The weeds appeared very fresh. Many land birds, one ofwhich they took, flying towards the southwest, also grajaos, ducks and apelican were seen."This is not the account of a mutiny. And the discovery of Columbus'sown journal makes that certain, which was probable before, that the romantic account of the despair of the crews was embroidered on thenarrative after the event, and by people who wanted to improve the story.
　　It was, perhaps, borrowed from a story of Diaz's voyage. We havefollowed the daily record to show how constantly they supposed, on theother hand, that they were always nearing land.
　　With the eleventh of October, came certainty. The eleventh issometimes spoken of as the day of discovery, and sometimes the twelfth,when they landed on the first island of the new world.
　　The whole original record of the discovery is this: "Oct. 11, course towest and southwest. Heavier sea than they had known, pardelas and agreen branch near the caravel of the Admiral. From the Pinta they see abranch of a tree, a stake and a smaller stake, which they draw in, andwhich appears to have been cut with iron, and a piece of cane. Besidesthese, there is a land shrub and a little bit of board. The crew of the Ninasaw other signs of land and a branch covered with thorns and flowers.
　　With these tokens every-one breathes again and is delighted. They sailtwenty-seven leagues on this course.
　　"The Admiral orders that they shall resume a westerly course at sunset.
　　They make twelve miles each hour; up till two hours after midnight theymade ninety miles.
　　"The Pinta, the best sailer of the three, was ahead. She makes signals,already agreed upon, that she has discovered land. A sailor named Rodrigode Triana was the first to see this land. For the Admiral being on the castleof the poop of the ship at ten at night really saw a light, but it was so shutin by darkness that he did not like to say that it was a sign of land. Still hecalled up Pedro Gutierrez, the king's chamberlain, and said to him thatthere seemed to be a light, and asked him to look. He did so and saw it. Hesaid the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, who had been sent by theking and queen as inspector in the fleet, but he saw nothing, being indeedin a place where he could see nothing.
　　"After the Admiral spoke of it, the light was seen once or twice. It waslike a wax candle, raised and lowered, which would appear to few to be asign of land. But the Admiral was certain that it was a sign of land.
　　Therefore when they said the "Salve," which all the sailors are used to say and sing in their fashion, the Admiral ordered them to look out well fromthe forecastle, and he would give at once a silk jacket to the man who firstsaw land, besides the other rewards which the sovereigns had ordered,which were 10,000 maravedis, to be paid as an annuity forever to the manwho saw it first.
　　"At two hours after midnight land appeared, from which they wereabout two leagues off."This is the one account of the discovery written at the time. It is worthcopying and reading at full in its little details, for it contrasts curiouslywith the embellished accounts which appear in the next generation. Thusthe historian Oviedo says, in a dramatic way:
　　"One of the ship boys on the largest ship, a native of Lepe, cried 'Fire!'
　　'Land!' Immediately a servant of Columbus replied, 'The Admiral had saidthat already.' Soon after, Columbus said, 'I said so some time ago, and thatI saw that fire on the land.' " And so indeed it happened that Thursday, attwo hours after midnight, the Admiral called a gentleman namedEscobedos, officer of the wardrobe of the king, and told him that he sawfire. And at the break of day, at the time Columbus had predicted the daybefore, they saw from the largest ship the island which the Indians callGuanahani to the north of them.
　　"And the first man to see the land, when day came, was Rodrigo ofTriana, on the eleventh day of October, 1492." Nothing is more certainthan that this was really on the twelfth.
　　The reward for first seeing land was eventually awarded to Columbus,and it was regularly paid him through his life. It was the annual paymentof 10,000 maravedis. A maravedi was then a little less than six cents of ourcurrency. The annuity was, therefore, about six hundred dollars a year.
　　The worth of a maravedi varied, from time to time, so that thecalculations of the value of any number of maravedis are very confusing.
　　Before the coin went out of use it was worth only half a cent.
Chapter 4
　　THE LANDING ON THE TWELFTH OF OCTOBER--THENATIVES AND THEIR NEIGHBORS--SEARCH FOR GOLD-CUBA DISCOVERED--COLUMBUS COASTS ALONG ITSSHORES.
　　It was on Friday, the twelfth of October, that they saw this island,which was an island of the Lucayos group, called, says Las Casas, "in thetongue of the Indians, Guanahani." Soon they saw people naked, and theAdmiral went ashore in the armed boat, with Martin Alonzo Pinzon and,Vicente Yanez, his brother, who was captain of the Nina. The Admiralunfurled the Royal Standard, and the captain's two standards of the GreekCross, which the Admiral raised on all the ships as a sign, with an F. and aY.; over each letter a crown; one on one side of the {"iron cross symbol"}
　　and the other on the other. When they were ashore they saw very greentrees and much water, and fruits of different kinds.
　　"The Admiral called the two captains and the others who went ashore,and Rodrigo Descovedo, Notary of the whole fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchezof Segovia, and he said that they must give him their faith and witnesshow he took possession before all others, as in fact he did take possessionof the said island for the king and the queen, his lord and lady. . . . Soonmany people of the island assembled. These which follow are the verywords of the Admiral, in his book of his first navigation and discovery ofthese Indies."October 11-12. "So that they may feel great friendship for us, andbecause I knew that they were a people who would be better delivered andconverted to our Holy Faith by love than by force, I gave to some of themred caps and glass bells which they put round their necks, and many otherthings of little value, in which they took much pleasure, and they remainedso friendly to us that it was wonderful.
　　"Afterwards they came swimming to the ship's boats where we were.
　　And they brought us parrots and cotton-thread in skeins, and javelins andmany other things. And they bartered them with us for other things, whichwe gave them, such as little glass beads and little bells. In short, they took everything, and gave of what they had with good will. But it seemed to methat they were a people very destitute of everything.
　　"They all went as naked as their mothers bore them, and the women aswell, although I only saw one who was really young. And all the men Isaw were young, for I saw none more than thirty years of age; very wellmade, with very handsome persons, and very good faces; their hair thicklike the hairs of horses' tails, and cut short. They bring their hair abovetheir eyebrows, except a little behind, which they wear long, and never cut.
　　Some of them paint themselves blackish (and they are of the color of theinhabitants of the Canaries, neither black nor white), and some paintthemselves white, and some red, and some with whatever they can get.
　　And some of them paint their faces, and some all their bodies, and someonly the eyes, and some only the nose.
　　"They do not bear arms nor do they know them, for I showed themswords and they took them by the edge, and they cut themselves throughignorance. They have no iron at all; their javelins are rods without iron,and some of them have a fish's tooth at the end, and some of them otherthings. They are all of good stature, and good graceful appearance, wellmade. I saw some who had scars of wounds in their bodies, and I madesigns to them [to ask] what that was, and they showed me how peoplecame there from other islands which lay around, and tried to take themcaptive and they defended themselves. And I believed, and I [still] believe,that they came there from the mainland to take them for captives.
　　"They would be good servants, and of good disposition, for I see thatthey repeat very quickly everything which is said to them. And I believethat they could easily be made Christians, for it seems to me that they haveno belief. I, if it please our Lord, will take six of them to your Highnessesat the time of my departure, so that they may learn to talk. No wildcreature of any sort have I seen, except parrots, in this island."All these are the words of the Admiral, says Las Casas. The journal ofthe next day is in these words:
　　Saturday, October 13. "As soon as the day broke, many of these mencame to the beach, all young, as I have said, and all of good stature, a veryhandsome race. Their hair is not woolly, but straight and coarse, like horse hair, and all with much wider foreheads and heads than any other people Ihave seen up to this time. And their eyes are very fine and not small, andthey are not black at all, but of the color of the Canary Islanders. Andnothing else could be expected, since it is on one line of latitude with theIsland of Ferro, in the Canaries.
　　"They came to the ship with almadias,[*] which are made of the trunkof a tree, like a long boat, and all of one piece--and made in a verywonderful manner in the fashion of the country--and large enough forsome of them to hold forty or forty-five men. And others are smaller,down to such as hold one man alone. They row with a shovel like a baker's,and it goes wonderfully well. And if it overturns, immediately they all goto swimming and they right it, and bale it with calabashes which theycarry.
　　[*] Arabic word for raft or float; here it means canoes.
　　"They brought skeins of spun cotton, and parrots, and javelins, andother little things which it would be wearisome to write down, and theygave everything for whatever was given to them.
　　"And I strove attentively to learn whether there were gold. And I sawthat some of them had a little piece of gold hung in a hole which they havein their noses. And by signs I was able to understand that going to thesouth, or going round the island to the southward, there was a king therewho had great vessels of it, and had very much of it. I tried to persuadethem to go there; and afterward I saw that they did not understand aboutgoing.[*]
　　[*] To this first found land, called by the natives Guanahani, Columbusgave the name of San Salvador. There is, however, great doubt whetherthis is the island known by that name on the maps. Of late years theimpression has generally been that the island thus discovered is that nowknown as Watling's island. In 1860 Admiral Fox, of the United States navy,visited all these islands, and studied the whole question anew, visiting theislands himself and working backwards to the account of Columbus'ssubsequent voyage, so as to fix the spot from which that voyage began.
　　Admiral Fox decides that the island of discovery was neither San Salvadornor Watling's island, but the Samana island of the same group. The subject is so curious that we copy his results at more length in the appendix.
　　"I determined to wait till the next afternoon, and then to start for thesouthwest, for many of them told me that there was land to the south andsouthwest and northwest, and that those from the northwest came often tofight with them, and so to go on to the southwest to seek gold and preciousstones.
　　"This island is very large and very flat and with very green trees, andmany waters, and a very large lake in the midst, without any mountain.
　　And all of it is green, so that it is a pleasure to see it. And these people areso gentle, and desirous to have our articles and thinking that nothing canbe given them unless they give something and do not keep it back. Theytake what they can, and at once jump [into the water] and swim [away].
　　But all that they have they give for whatever is given them. For they bartereven for pieces of porringus, and of broken glass cups, so that I sawsixteen skeins of cotton given for three Portuguese centis, that is a blancaof Castile, and there was more than twenty-five pounds of spun cotton inthem. This I shall forbid, and not let anyone take [it]; but I shall have it alltaken for your Highnesses, if there is any quantity of it.
　　"It grows here in this island, but for a short time I could not believe itat all. And there is found here also the gold which they wear hanging totheir noses; but so as not to lose time I mean to go to see whether I canreach the island of Cipango.
　　"Now as it was night they all went ashore with their almadias."Sunday, October 14. "At daybreak I had the ship's boat and the boatsof the caravels made ready, and I sailed along the island, toward the north-northeast, to see the other port, * * * * what there was [there], and also tosee the towns, and I soon saw two or three, and the people, who all werecoming to the shore, calling us and giving thanks to God. Some brought uswater, others things to eat. Others, when they saw that I did not care to goashore, threw themselves into the sea and came swimming, and weunderstood that they asked us if we had come from heaven. And an oldman came into the boat, and others called all [the rest] men and women,with a loud voice: 'Come and see the men who have come from heaven;bring them food and drink.'
　　"There came many of them and many women, each one withsomething, giving thanks to God, casting themselves on the ground, andraising their heads toward heaven. And afterwards they called us withshouts to come ashore.
　　"But I feared [to do so], for I saw a great reef of rocks which encirclesall that island. And in it there is bottom and harbor for as many ships asthere are in all Christendom, and its entrance very narrow. It is true thatthere are some shallows inside this ring, but the sea is no rougher than in awell.
　　"And I was moved to see all this, this morning, so that I might be ableto give an account of it all to your Highnesses, and also [to find out] whereI might make a fortress. And I saw a piece of land formed like an island,although it is not one, in which there were six houses, which could be cutoff in two days so as to become an island; although I do not see that it isnecessary, as this people is very ignorant of arms, as your Highnesses willsee from seven whom I had taken, to carry them off to learn our speechand to bring them back again. But your Highnesses, when you direct, cantake them all to Castile, or keep them captives in this same island, for withfifty men you can keep them all subjected, and make them do whateveryou like.
　　"And close to the said islet are groves of trees, the most beautiful Ihave seen, and as green and full of leaves as those of Castile in the monthsof April and May, and much water.
　　"I looked at all that harbor and then I returned to the ship and set sail,and I saw so many islands that I could not decide to which I should go first.
　　And those men whom I had taken said to me by signs that there were sovery many that they were without number, and they repeated by namemore than a hundred. At last I set sail for the largest one, and there Idetermined to go. And so I am doing, and it will be five leagues from theisland of San Salvador, and farther from some of the rest, nearer to others.
　　They all are very flat, without mountains and very fertile, and all inhabited.
　　And they make war upon each other although they are very simple, and[they are] very beautifully formed."Monday, October 15, Columbus, on arriving at the island for which he had set sail, went on to a cape, near which he anchored at about sunset. Hegave the island the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion.[*]
　　[*] This is supposed to be Caico del Norte.
　　"At about sunset I anchored near the said cape to know if there weregold there, for the men whom I had taken at the Island of San Salvadortold me that there they wore very large rings of gold on their legs and arms.
　　I think that all they said was for a trick, in order to make their escape.
　　However, I did not wish to pass by any island without taking possession ofit. "And I anchored, and was there till today, Tuesday, when at the breakof day I went ashore with the armed boats, and landed.
　　"They [the inhabitants], who were many, as naked and in the samecondition as those of San Salvador, let us land on the island, and gave uswhat we asked of them.
　　* * * "I set out for the ship. And there was a large almadia which hadcome to board the caravel Nina, and one of the men from we Island of SanSalvador threw himself into the sea, took this boat, and made off; and thenight before, at midnight, another jumped out. And the almadia went backso fast that there never was a boat which could come up with her, althoughwe had a considerable advantage. It reached the shore, and they left thealmadia, and some of my company landed after them, and they all fled likehens.
　　"And the almadia, which they had left, we took to the caravel Nina, towhich from another headland there was coming another little almadia,with a man who came to barter a skein of cotton. And some of the sailorsthrew themselves into the sea, because he did not wish to enter the caravel,and took him. And I, who was on the stern of the ship, and saw it all, sentfor him and gave him a red cap and some little green glass beads which Iput on his arm, and two small bells which I put at his ears, and I had hisalmadia returned, * * * and sent him ashore.
　　And I set sail at once to go to the other large island which I saw at thewest, and commanded the other almadia to be set adrift, which the caravelNina was towing astern. And then I saw on land, when the man landed, towhom I had given the above mentioned things (and I had not consented totake the skein of cotton, though he wished to give it to me), all the others went to him and thought it a great wonder, and it seemed to them that wewere good people, and that the other man, who had fled, had done us someharm, and that therefore we were carrying him off. And this was why Itreated the other man as I did, commanding him to be released, and gavehim the said things, so that they might have this opinion of us, and so thatanother time, when your Highnesses send here again, they may be welldisposed. And all that I gave him was not worth four maravedis."Columbus had set sail at ten o'clock for a "large island" he mentions,which he called Fernandina, where, from the tales of the Indian captives,he expected to find gold. Half way between this island and Santa Maria,he met with "a man alone in an almadia which was passing" [from oneisland to the other], "and he was carrying a little of their bread, as big asone's fist, and a calabash of water and a piece of red earth made into dust,and then kneaded, and some dry leaves, which must be a thing muchvalued among them, since at San Salvador they brought them to me as apresent.[*] And he had a little basket of their sort, in which he had a stringof little glass bells and two blancas, by which I knew that he came fromthe Island of San Salvador. * * * He came to the ship; I took him on board,for so he asked, and made him put his almadia in the ship, and keep all hewas carrying. And I commanded to give him bread and honey to eat, andsomething to drink.
　　[*] Was this perhaps tobacco?
　　"And thus I will take him over to Fernandina, and I will give him allhis property so that he may give good accounts of us, so that, if it pleaseour Lord, when your Highnesses send there, those who come may receivehonor, and they may give us of all they have."Columbus continued sailing for the island he named Fernandina, nowcalled Inagua Chica. There was a calm all day and he did not arrive in timeto anchor safely before dark. He therefore waited till morning, andanchored near a town. Here the man had gone, who had been picked upthe day before, and he had given such good accounts that all night long theship had been boarded by almadias, bringing supplies. Columbus directedsome trifle to be given to each of the islanders, and that they should begiven "honey of sugar" to eat. He sent the ship's boat ashore for water and the inhabitants not only pointed it out but helped to put the water-casks onboard.
　　"This people," he says, "is like those of the aforesaid islands, and hasthe same speech and the same customs, except that these seem to me asomewhat more domestic race, and more intelligent. * * * And I saw alsoin this island cotton cloths made like mantles. * * *"It is a very green island and flat and very fertile, and I have no doubtthat all the year through they sow panizo (panic-grass) and harvest it, andso with everything else. And I saw many trees, of very different form fromours, and many of them which had branches of many sorts, and all on onetrunk. And one branch is of one sort and one of another, and so differentthat it is the greatest wonder in the world. * * * One branch has its leaveslike canes, and another like the lentisk; and so on one tree five or six ofthese kinds; and all so different. Nor are they grafted, for it might be saidthat grafting does it, but they grow on the mountains, nor do these peoplecare for them. * * *"Here the fishes are so different from ours that it is wonderful. Thereare some like cocks of the finest colors in the world, blue, yellow, red andof all colors, and others painted in a thousand ways. And the colors are sofine that there is no man who does not wonder at them and take greatpleasure in seeing them. Also, there are whales. As for wild creatures onshore, I saw none of any sort, except parrots and lizards; a boy told methat he saw a great snake. Neither sheep nor goats nor any other animaldid I see; although I have been here a very short time, that is, half a day,but if there had been any I could not have failed to see some of them." * **Wednesday, October 17. He left the town at noon and prepared to sailround the island. He had meant to go by the south and southeast. But asMartin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, had heard, from one of theIndians he had on board, that it would be quicker to start by the northwest,and as the wind was favorable for this course, Columbus took it. He founda fine harbor two leagues further on, where he found some friendlyIndians, and sent a party ashore for water. "During this time," he says, "Iwent [to look at] these trees, which were the most beautiful things to see which have been seen; there was as much verdure in the same degree as inthe month of May in Andalusia, and all the trees were as different fromours as the day from the night. And so [were] the fruits, and the herbs, andthe stones and everything. The truth is that some trees had a resemblanceto others which there are in Castile, but there was a very great difference.
　　And other trees of other sorts were such that there is no one who could * ** liken them to others of Castile. * * *"The others who went for water told me how they had been in theirhouses, and that they were very well swept and clean, and their beds andfurniture [made] of things which are like nets of cotton.[*] Their housesare all like pavilions, and very high and good chimneys.[**] [*] They arecalled Hamacas.
　　[**] Las Casas says they were not meant for smoke but as a crown, forthey have no opening below for the smoke.
　　"But I did not see, among many towns which I saw, any of more thantwelve or fifteen houses. * * * And there they had dogs. * * * And therethey found one man who had on his nose a piece of gold which was likehalf a castellano, on which there were cut letters.[*] I blamed them for notbargaining for it, and giving as much as was asked, to see what it was, andwhose coin it was; and they answered me that they did not dare to barterit."[*] A castellano was a piece of gold, money, weighing about one-sixthof an ounce.
　　He continued towards the northwest, then turned his course to theeast-southeast, east and southeast. The weather being thick and heavy, and"threatening immediate rain. So all these days since I have been in theseIndies it has rained little or much."Friday, October 19. Columbus, who had not landed the day before,now sent two caravels, one to the east and southeast and the other to thesouth-southeast, while he himself, with the Santa Maria, the SHIP, as hecalls it, went to the southeast. He ordered the caravels to keep theircourses till noon, and then join him. This they did, at an island to the east,which he named Isabella, the Indians whom he had with him calling itSaomete. It has been supposed to be the island now called Inagua Grande.
　　"All this coast," says the Admiral, "and the part of the island which Isaw, is all nearly flat, and the island the most beautiful thing I ever saw,for if the others are very beautiful this one is more so." He anchored at acape which was so beautiful that he named it Cabo Fermoso, the BeautifulCape, "so green and so beautiful," he says, "like all the other things andlands of these islands, that I do not know where to go first, nor can I wearymy eyes with seeing such beautiful verdure and so different from ours.
　　And I believe that there are in them many herbs and many trees, which areof great value in Spain for dyes [or tinctures] and for medicines of spicery.
　　But I do not know them, which I greatly regret. And as I came here to thiscape there came such a good and sweet odor of flowers or trees from theland that it was the sweetest thing in the world."He heard that there was a king in the interior who wore clothes andmuch gold, and though, as he says, the Indians had so little gold thatwhatever small quantity of it the king wore it would appear large to them,he decided to visit him the next day. He did not do so, however, as hefound the water too shallow in his immediate neighborhood, and then hadnot enough wind to go on, except at night.
　　Sunday morning, October 21, he anchored, apparently more to thewest, and after having dined, landed. He found but one house, from whichthe inhabitants were absent; he directed that nothing in it should betouched. He speaks again of the great beauty of the island, even greaterthan that of the others he had seen. "The singing of the birds," he says,"seems as if a man would never seek to leave this place, and the flocks ofparrots which darken the sun, and fowls and birds of so many kinds and sodifferent from ours that it is wonderful. And then there are trees of athousand sorts, and all with fruit of their kinds. And all have such an odorthat it is wonderful, so that I am the most afflicted man in the world not toknow them."They killed a serpent in one of the lakes upon this island, which LasCasas says is the Guana, or what we call the Iguana.
　　In seeking for good water, the Spaniards found a town, from which theinhabitants were going to fly. But some of them rallied, and one of themapproached the visitors. Columbus gave him some little bells and glass beads, with which he was much pleased. The Admiral asked him for water,and they brought it gladly to the shore in calabashes.
　　He still wished to see the king of whom the Indians had spoken, butmeant afterward to go to "another very great island, which I believe mustbe Cipango, which they call Colba." This is probably a mistake in themanuscript for Cuba, which is what is meant. It continues, "and to thatother island which they call Bosio" (probably Bohio) "and the otherswhich are on the way, I will see these in passing. * * * But still, I amdetermined to go to the mainland and to the city of Quisay and to giveyour Highnesses' letters to the Grand Khan, and seek a reply and comeback with it."He remained at this island during the twenty-second and twenty-thirdof October, waiting first for the king, who did not appear, and then for afavorable wind. "To sail round these islands," he says, "one needs manysorts of wind, and it does not blow as men would like." At midnight,between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth, he weighed anchor in order tostart for Cuba.
　　"I have heard these people say that it was very large and of greattraffic," he says, "and that there were in it gold and spices, and great shipsand merchants. And they showed me that I should go to it by the west-southwest, and I think so. For I think that if I may trust the signs which allthe Indians of these islands have made me, and those whom I am carryingin the ships, for by the tongue I do not understand them, it (Cuba) is theIsland of Cipango,[*] of which wonderful things are told, and on theglobes which I have seen and in the painted maps, it is in this district."[*] This was the name the old geographers gave to Japan.
　　The next day they saw seven or eight islands, which are supposed tobe the eastern and southern keys of the Grand Bank of Bahama. Heanchored to the south of them on the twenty-sixth of October, and on thenext day sailed once more for Cuba.
　　On Sunday, October 28, he arrived there, in what is now called thePuerto de Nipe; he named it the Puerto de San Salvador. Here, as he wenton, he was again charmed by the beautiful country. He found palms "ofanother sort," says Las Casas, "from those of Guinea, and from ours." He found the island the "most beautiful which eyes have seen, full of verygood ports and deep rivers," and that apparently the sea is never roughthere, as the grass grows down to the water's edge. This greenness to thesea's edge is still observed there. "Up till that time," says Las Casas, ,hehad not experienced in all these islands that the sea was rough." He hadoccasion to learn about it later. He mentions also that the island ismountainous.
Chapter 5
　　LANDING ON CUBA--THE CIGAR AND TOBACCO-CIPANGO AND THE GREAT KHAN--FROM CUBA TO HAYTI-ITS SHORES AND HARBORS.
　　When Columbus landed, at some distance farther along the coast, hefound the best houses he had yet seen, very large, like pavilions, and veryneat within; not in streets but set about here and there. They were all builtof palm branches. Here were dogs which never barked (supposed to be thealmiqui), wild birds tamed in the houses and "wonderful arrangements ofnets,[*] and fish-hooks and fishing apparatus. There were also carvedmasks and other images. Not a thing was touched." The inhabitants hadfled.
　　[*] These were probably hammocks.
　　He went on to the northwest, and saw a cape which he named Cabode Palmas. The Indians on board the Pinta said that beyond this cape was ariver and that at four days' journey from this was what they called "Cuba."Now they had been coasting along the Island of Cuba for two or three days.
　　But Martin Pinzon, the captain of the Pinta, understood this Cuba to be acity, and that this land was the mainland, running far to the north.
　　Columbus until he died believed that it was the mainland.
　　Martin Pinzon also understood that the king of that land was at warwith the Grand Khan, whom they called Cami. The Admiral determined togo to the river the Indians mentioned, and to send to the king the letter ofthe sovereigns. He meant to send with it a sailor who had been to Guinea,and some of the Guanahani Indians. He was encouraged, probably, by thename of Carni, in thinking that he was really near the Grand Khan.
　　He did not, however, send off these messengers at once, as the windand the nature of the coast proved unfit for his going up the river theIndians had spoken of. He went back to the town where he had been twodays before.
　　Once more he found that the people had fled, but "after a good while aman appeared," and the Admiral sent ashore one of the Indians he hadwith him. This man shouted to the Indians on shore that they must not be afraid, as these were good people, and did harm to no man, nor did theybelong to the Grand Khan, but they gave, of what they had, in manyislands where they had been. He now jumped into the sea and swamashore, and two of the inhabitants took him in their arms and brought himto a house where they asked him questions. When he had reassured them,they began to come out to the ships in their canoes, with "spun cotton andothers of their little things." But the Admiral commanded that nothingshould be taken from them, so that they might know that he was seekingnothing but gold, or, as they called it, nucay.
　　He saw no gold here, but one of them had a piece of wrought silverhanging to his nose. They made signs, that before three days manymerchants would come from the inland country to trade with the Spaniards,and that they would bring news from the king, who, according to theirsigns, was four days' journey away. "And it is certain" says the Admiral,"that this is the mainland, and that I am before Zayto and Quinsay, ahundred leagues more or less from both of them, and this is clearly shownby the tide, which comes in a different manner from that in which it hasdone up to this time; and yesterday when I went to the northwest I foundthat it was cold."Always supposing that he was near Japan, which they called Cipango,Columbus continued to sail along the northern coast of Cuba and exploredabout half that shore. He then returned to the east, governed by theassurances of the natives that on an island named Babegue he would findmen who used hammers with which to beat gold into ingots. This gold, ashe understood them, was collected on the shore at night, while the peoplelighted up the darkness with candles.
　　At the point where he turned back, he had hauled his ships up on theshore to repair them. From this point, on the second of November, he senttwo officers inland, one of whom was a Jew, who knew Chaldee, Hebrewand a little Arabic, in the hope that they should find some one who couldspeak these languages. With them went one of the Guanahani Indians, andone from the neighborhood.
　　They returned on the night between the fifth and sixth of November.
　　Twelve leagues off they had found a village of about fifty large houses, made in the form of tents. This village had about a thousand inhabitants,according to the explorers. They had received the ambassadors withcordial kindness, believing that they had descended from heaven.
　　They even took them in their arms and thus carried them to the finesthouse of all. They gave them seats, and then sat round them on the groundin a circle. They kissed their feet and hands, and touched them, to makesure whether they were really men of flesh and bone.
　　It was on this expedition that the first observation was made of thatgift of America to the world, which has worked its way so deep and farinto general use. They met men and women who "carried live coals, so asto draw into their mouths the smoke of burning herbs." This was theaccount of the first observers. But Las Casas says that the dry herbs werewrapped in another leaf as dry. He says that "they lighted one end of thelittle stick thus formed, and sucked in or absorbed the smoke by the other,with which," he says, "they put their flesh to sleep, and it nearlyintoxicates them, and thus they say that they feel no fatigue. Thesemosquetes, as we should call them, they call tobacos. I knew Spaniards onthis Island of Hispaniola who were accustomed to take them, who, onbeing reproved for it as a vice, replied that it was not in their power (intheir hand) to leave off taking them. I do not know what savour or profitthey found in them." This is clearly a cigar.
　　The third or fourth of November, then, 1892, with the addition of ninedays to change the style from old to new, may be taken by lovers oftobacco as the fourth centennial of the day when Europeans first learnedthe use of the cigar.
　　On the eleventh of November the repairs were completed.
　　He says that the Sunday before, November 11 it had seemed to himthat it would be good to take some persons, from those of that river, tocarry to the sovereigns, so that "they might learn our tongue, so as to knowwhat there is in the country, and so that when they come back they may betongues to the Christians, and receive our customs and the things of thefaith. Because I saw and know," says the Admiral, "that this people has noreligion (secta) nor are they idolaters, but very mild and without knowingwhat evil is, nor how to kill others, nor how to take them, and without arms, and so timorous that from one of our men ten of them fly, althoughthey do sport with them, and ready to believe and knowing that there is aGod in heaven, and sure that we have come from heaven; and very readyat any prayer which we tell them to repeat, and they make the sign of thecross.
　　"So your Highnesses should determine to make them Christians, for Ibelieve that if they begin, in a short time they will have accomplishedconverting to our holy faith a multitude of towns." "Without doubt thereare in these lands the greatest quantities of gold, for not without cause dothese Indians whom I am bringing say that there are places in these isleswhere they dig out gold and wear it on their necks, in their ears and ontheir arms and legs, and the bracelets are very thick.
　　"And also there are stones and precious pearls, and unnumbered spices.
　　And in this Rio de Mares, from which I departed last night, without doubtthere is the greatest quantity of mastic, and there might be more if morewere desired. For the trees, if planted, take root, and there are many ofthem and very great and they have the leaf like a lentisk, and their fruit,except that the trees and the fruit are larger, is such as Pliny describes, andI have seen in the Island of Chios in the Archipelago.
　　"And I had many of these trees tapped to see if they would send outresin, so as to draw it out. And as it rained all the time I was at the saidriver, I could not get any of it, except a very little which I am bringing toyour Highnesses. And besides, it may be that it is not the, time to tap them,for I believe that this should be done at the time when the trees begin toleave out from the winter and seek to send out their flowers, and now theyhave the fruit nearly ripe.
　　"And also here there might be had a great store of cotton, and I believethat it might be sold very well here without taking it to Spain, in the greatcities of the Great Khan, which will doubtless be discovered, and manyothers of other lords, who will then have to serve your Highnesses. Andhere will be given them other things from Spain, from the lands of the East,since these are ours in the West.
　　"And here there is also aloes everywhere, although this is not a thingto make great account of, but the mastic should be well considered, because it is not found except in the said island of Chios, and I believe thatthey get from it quite 50,000 ducats if I remember aright. And this is thebest harbor which I have seen thus far--deep and easy of access, so thatthis would be a good place for a large town."The notes in Columbus's journals are of the more interest and value,because they show his impressions at the moment when he wrote.
　　However mistaken those impressions, he never corrects them afterwards.
　　Although, while he was in Cuba, he never found the Grand Khan, he neverrecalls the hopes which he has expressed.
　　He had discovered the island on its northern side by sailing southwestfrom the Lucayos or Bahamas. From the eleventh of November until thesixth of December he was occupied in coasting along the northern shore,eventually returning eastward, when he crossed the channel which partsCuba from Hayti.
　　The first course was east, a quarter southeast, and on the sixteenth,they entered Port-au-Prince, and took possession, raising a cross there. AtPort-au-Prince, to his surprise, he found on a point of rock two large logs,mortised into each other in the shape of a cross, so "that you would havesaid a carpenter could not have proportioned them better."On the nineteenth the course was north-northeast; on the twenty-firstthey took a course south, a quarter southwest, seeking in these changes theisland of "Babeque," which the Indians had spoken of as rich with gold.
　　On the day last named Pinzon left the Admiral in the Pinta, and they didnot meet again for more than a month.
　　Columbus touched at various points on Cuba and the neighboringislands. He sought, without success, for pearls, and always pressed hisinquiries for gold. He was determined to find the island of Bohio, greatlyto the terror of the poor Indians, whom he had on board: they said that itsnatives had but one eye, in the middle of their foreheads, and that theywere well armed and ate their prisoners.
　　He landed in the bay of Moa, and then, keeping near the coast, sailedtowards the Capo del Pico, now called Cape Vacz. At Puerto Santo he wasdetained some days by bad weather. On the fourth of December hecontinued his eastward voyage, and on the next day saw far off the mountains of Hayti, which was the Bohio he sought for.
Chapter 6
　　DISCOVERY OF HAYTI OR HISPANIOLA--THE SEARCHFOR GOLD--HOSPITALITY AND INTELLIGENCE OF THENATIVES--CHRISTMAS DAY--A SHIPWRECK--COLONY TO BEFOUNDED--COLUMBUS SAILS EAST AND MEETS MARTINPINZON--THE TWO VESSELS RETURN TO EUROPE --STORM-THE AZORES--PORTUGAL--HOME.
　　On the sixth of December they crossed from the eastern cape of Cubato the northwestern point of the island, which we call Hayti or SanDomingo. He says he gave it this name because "the plains appeared tohim almost exactly like those of Castile, but yet more beautiful."He coasted eastward along the northern side of the island, hoping thatit might be the continent, and always inquiring for gold when he landed;but the Indians, as before, referred him to yet another land, still furthersouth, which they still called Bohio. It was not surrounded by water, theysaid. The word "caniba," which is the origin of our word "cannibal," andrefers to the fierce Caribs, came often into their talk. The sound of thesyllable can made Columbus more sure that he was now approaching thedominions of the Grand Khan of eastern Asia, of whom Marco Polo hadinformed Europe so fully.
　　On the twelfth of the month, after a landing in which a cross had beenerected, three sailors went inland, pursuing the Indians. They captured ayoung woman whom they brought to the fleet. She wore a large ring ofgold in her nose. She was able to understand the other Indians whom theyhad on board. Columbus dressed her, gave her some imitation pearls, ringsand other finery, and then put her on shore with three Indians and three ofhis own men.
　　The men returned the next day without going to the Indian village.
　　Columbus then sent out nine men, with an Indian, who found a town of athousand huts about four and a half leagues from the ship. They thoughtthe population was three thousand. The village in Cuba is spoken of ashaving twenty people to a house. Here the houses were smaller or thecount of the numbers extravagant. The people approached the explorers carefully, and with tokens of respect. Soon they gained confidence andbrought out food for them: fish, and bread made from roots, "which tastedexactly as if it were made of chestnuts."In the midst of this festival, the woman, who had been sent back fromthe ship so graciously, appeared borne on the shoulders of men who wereled by her husband.
　　The Spaniards thought these natives of St. Domingo much whiter thanthose of the other islands. Columbus says that two of the women, ifdressed in Castilian costume, would be counted to be Spaniards. He saysthat the heat of the country is intense, and that if these people lived in acooler region they would be of lighter color.
　　On the fourteenth of December he continued his voyage eastward, andon the fifteenth landed on the little island north of Hayti, which he calledTortuga, or Turtle island. At midnight on the sixteenth he sailed, andlanded on Hispaniola again. Five hundred Indians met him, accompaniedby their king, a fine young man of about twenty years of age. He hadaround him several counselors, one of whom appeared to be his tutor. Tothe steady questions where gold could be found, the reply as steady wasmade that it was in "the Island of Babeque." This island, they said, wasonly two days off, and they pointed out the route. The interview ended inan offer by the king to the Admiral of all that he had. The explorers neverfound this mysterious Babeque, unless, as Bishop Las Casas guessed,Babeque and Jamaica be the same.
　　The king visited Columbus on his ship in the evening, and Columbusentertained him with European food. With so cordial a beginning ofintimacy, it was natural that the visitors should spend two or three dayswith these people. The king would not believe that any sovereigns ofCastile could be more powerful than the men he saw. He and those aroundhim all believed that they came direct from heaven.
　　Columbus was always asking for gold. He gave strict orders that itshould always be paid for, when it was taken. To the islanders it wasmerely a matter of ornament, and they gladly exchanged it for the glassbeads, the rings or the bells, which seemed to them more ornamental. Oneof the caciques or chiefs, evidently a man of distinction and authority, had little bits of gold which he exchanged for pieces of glass. It proved that hehad clipped them off from a larger piece, and he went back into his cabin,cut that to pieces, and then exchanged all those in trade for the white man'scommodities. Well pleased with his bargain, he then told the Spaniardsthat he would go and get much more and would come and trade with themagain.
　　On the eighteenth of December, the wind not serving well, they waitedthe return of the chief whom they had first seen. In the afternoon heappeared, seated in a palanquin, which was carried by four men, andescorted by more than two hundred of his people. He was accompanied bya counselor and preceptor who did not leave him. He came on board theship when Columbus was at table. He would not permit him to leave hisplace, and readily took a seat at his side, when it was offered. Columbusoffered him European food and drink; he tasted of each, and then gavewhat was offered to his attendants. The ceremonious Spaniards found aremarkable dignity in his air and gestures. After the repast, one of hisservants brought a handsome belt, elegantly wrought, which he presentedto Columbus, with two small pieces of gold, also delicately wrought.
　　Columbus observed that this cacique looked with interest on thehangings of his ship-bed, and made a present of them to him, in return forhis offering, with some amber beads from his own neck, some red shoesand a flask of orange flower water.
　　On the nineteenth, after these agreeable hospitalities, the squadronsailed again, and on the twentieth arrived at a harbor which Columbuspronounced the finest he had ever seen. The reception he met here and theimpressions he formed of Hispaniola determined him to make a colony onthat island. It may be said that on this determination the course of his afterlife turned. This harbor is now known as the Bay of Azul.
　　The men, whom he sent on shore, found a large village not far fromthe shore, where they were most cordially received. The natives beggedthe Europeans to stay with them, and as it proved, Columbus accepted theinvitation for a part of his crew. On the first day three different chiefscame to visit him, in a friendly way, with their retinues. The next day morethan a hundred and twenty canoes visited the ship, bringing with them such presents as the people thought would be acceptable. Among thesewere bread from the cassava root, fish, water in earthen jars, and the seedsof spices. These spices they would stir in with water to make a drinkwhich they thought healthful.
　　On the same day Columbus sent an embassy of six men to a large townin the interior. The chief by giving his hand "to the secretary" pledgedhimself for their safe return.
　　The twenty-third was Sunday. It was spent as the day before had been,in mutual civilities. The natives would offer their presents, and say "take,take," in their own language. Five chiefs were among the visitors of theday. From their accounts Columbus was satisfied that there was much goldin the island, as indeed, to the misery and destruction of its inhabitants,there proved to be. He thought it was larger than England. But he wasmistaken. In his journal of the next day he mentions Civao, a land to thewest, where they told him that there was gold, and again he thought hewas approaching Cipango, or Japan.
　　The next day he left these hospitable people, raising anchor in themorning, and with a light land wind continued towards the west. At elevenin the evening Columbus retired to rest. While he slept, on Christmas Day,there occurred an accident which changed all plans for the expedition sofar as any had been formed, and from which there followed theestablishment of the ill-fated first colony. The evening was calm whenColumbus himself retired to sleep, and the master of the vessel followedhis example, entrusting the helm to one of the boys. Every person on theship, excepting this boy, was asleep, and he seems to have been awake tolittle purpose.
　　The young steersman let the ship drift upon a ridge of rock, although,as Columbus says, indignantly, there were breakers abundant to show thedanger. So soon as she struck, the boy cried out, and Columbus was thefirst to wake. He says, by way of apology for himself, that for thirty-sixhours he had not slept until now. The master of the ship followed him. Butit was too late. The tide, such as there was, was ebbing, and the SantaMaria was hopelessly aground. Columbus ordered the masts cut away, butthis did not relieve her.
　　He sent out his boat with directions to carry aft an anchor and cable,but its crew escaped to the Nina with their tale of disaster. The Nina'speople would not receive them, reproached them as traitors, and in theirown vessel came to the scene of danger. Columbus was obliged to transferto her the crew of the Santa Maria.
　　So soon as it was day, their friendly ally, Guacanagari, came on board.
　　With tears in his eyes, he made the kindest and most judicious offers ofassistance. He saw Columbus's dejection, and tried to relieve him byexpressions of his sympathy. He set aside on shore two large houses toreceive the stores that were on the Santa Maria, and appointed as manylarge canoes as could be used to remove these stores to the land. Heassured Columbus that not a bit of the cargo or stores should be lost, andthis loyal promise was fulfilled to the letter.
　　The weather continued favorable. The sea was so light that everythingon board the Santa Maria was removed safely. Then it was that Columbus,tempted by the beauty of the place, by the friendship of the natives, and bythe evident wishes of his men, determined to leave a colony, which shouldbe supported by the stores of the Santa Maria, until the rest of the partycould go back to Spain and bring or send reinforcements. The king waswell pleased with this suggestion, and promised all assistance for the plan.
　　A vault was dug and built, in which the stores could be placed, and on thisa house was built for the home of the colonists, so far as they cared to livewithin doors.
　　The chief sent a canoe in search of Martin Pinzon and the Pinta, to tellthem of the disaster. But the messengers returned without finding them. Atthe camp, which was to be a city, all was industriously pressed, with theassistance of the friendly natives. Columbus, having no vessel but the littleNina left, determined to return to Europe with the news of his discovery,and to leave nearly forty men ashore.
　　It would appear that the men, themselves, were eager to stay. Theluxury of the climate and the friendly overtures of the people delightedthem, They had no need to build substantial houses. So far as houses wereneeded, those of the natives were sufficient. All the preparations whichColumbus thought necessary were made in the week between the twenty sixth of December and the second of January. On that day he expected tosail eastward, but unfavorable winds prevented.
　　He landed his men again, and by the exhibition of a pretended battlewith European arms, he showed the natives the military force of their newneighbors. He fired a shot from an arquebuse against the wreck of theSanta Maria, so that the Indians might see the power of his artillery. TheIndian chief expressed his regret at the approaching departure, and theSpaniards thought that one of his courtiers said that the chief had orderedhim to make a statue of pure gold as large as the Admiral.
　　Columbus explained to the friendly chief that with such arms as thesovereigns of Castile commanded they could readily destroy the dreadedCaribs. And he thought he had made such an impression that the islanderswould be the firm friends of the colonists.
　　"I have bidden them build a solid tower and defense, over a vault. Notthat I think this necessary against the natives, for I am satisfied that with ahandful of people I could conquer the whole island, were it necessary,although it is, as far as I can judge, larger than Portugal, and twice asthickly peopled." In this cheerful estimate of the people Columbus waswholly wrong, as the sad events proved before the year had gone by.
　　He left thirty-nine men to be the garrison of this fort; and the colonywhich was to discover the mine of gold. In command he placed Diego daArana, Pedro Gutierres and Rodrigo de Segovia. To us, who have moreexperience of colonies and colonists than he had had, it does not seem topromise well that Rodrigo was "the king's chamberlain and an officer ofthe first lord of the household." Of these three, Diego da Arana was to bethe governor, and the other two his lieutenants. The rest were all sailors,but among them there were Columbus's secretary, an alguazil, or personcommissioned in the civil service at home, an "arquebusier," who was alsoa good engineer, a tailor, a ship carpenter, a cooper and a physician. So thelittle colony had its share of artificers and men of practical skill. They allstaid willingly, delighted with the prospects of their new home.
　　On the third of January Columbus sailed for Europe in the little Nina.
　　With her own crew and the addition she received from the Santa Maria,she must have been badly crowded. Fortunately for all parties, on Sunday, the third day of the voyage, while they were still in sight of land, the Pintacame in sight. Martin Pinzon came on board the Nina and offered excusesfor his absence. Columbus was not really satisfied with them, but heaffected to be, as this was no moment for a quarrel. He believed thatPinzon had left him, that, in the Pinta, he might be alone when hediscovered the rich gold-bearing island of Babeque or Baneque. Althoughthe determination was made to return, another week was spent in slowcoasting, or in waiting for wind. It brought frequent opportunities formeeting the natives, in one of which they showed a desire to take some oftheir visitors captive. This would only have been a return for a capturemade by Pinzon of several of their number, whom Columbus, on hismeeting Pinzon, had freed. In this encounter two of the Indians werewounded, one by a sword, one by an arrow. It would seem that he did notshow them the power of firearms.
　　This was in the Bay of Samana, which Columbus called "The Bay ofArrows," from the skirmish or quarrel which took place there. They thensailed sixty-four miles cast, a quarter northeast, and thought they saw theland of the Caribs, which he was seeking. But here, at length, his authorityover his crew failed. The men were eager to go home;--did not, perhaps,like the idea of fight with the man-eating Caribs. There was a goodwestern wind, and on the evening of the sixteenth of January Columbusgave way and they bore away for home.
　　Columbus had satisfied himself in this week that there were manyislands east of him which he had not hit upon, and that to the easternmostof these, from the Canaries, the distance would prove not more than fourhundred leagues. In this supposition he was wholly wrong, though a chainof islands does extend to the southeast.
　　He seems to have observed the singular regularity by which the tradewinds bore him steadily westward as he came over. He had no wish tovisit the Canary Islands again, and with more wisdom than could havebeen expected, from his slight knowledge of the Atlantic winds, he borenorth. Until the fourteenth of February the voyage was prosperous anduneventful. One day the captive Indians amused the sailors by swimming.
　　There is frequent mention of the green growth of the Sargasso sea. But on the fourteenth all this changed. The simple journal thus describes theterrible tempest which endangered the two vessels, and seemed, at themoment, to cut off the hope of their return to Europe.
　　"Monday, February 14.--This night the wind increased still more; thewaves were terrible. Coming from two opposite directions, they crossedeach other, and stopped the progress of the vessel, which could neitherproceed nor get out from among them; and as they began continually tobreak over the ship, the Admiral caused the main-sail to be lowered. Sheproceeded thus during three hours, and made twenty miles. The seabecame heavier and heavier, and the wind more and more violent. Seeingthe danger imminent, he allowed himself to drift in whatever direction thewind took him, because he could do nothing else. Then the Pinta, of whichMartin Alonzo Pinzon was the commander, began to drift also; but shedisappeared very soon, although all through the night the Admiral madesignals with lights to her, and she answered as long as she could, till shewas prevented, probably by the force of the tempest, and by her deviationfrom the course which the Admiral followed." Columbus did not see thePinta again until she arrived at Palos. He was himself driven fifty-fourmiles towards the northeast.
　　The journal continues. "After sunrise the strength of the windincreased, and the sea became still more terrible. The Admiral all this timekept his mainsail lowered, so that the vessel might rise from among thewaves which washed over it, and which threatened to sink it. The Admiralfollowed, at first, the direction of east-northeast, and afterwards duenortheast. He sailed about six hours in this direction, and thus made sevenleagues and a half. He gave orders that every sailor should draw lots as towho should make a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Guadeloupe, to carry hera five-pound wax candle. And each one took a vow that he to whom the lotfell should make the pilgrimage.
　　"For this purpose, he gave orders to take as many dry peas as therewere persons in the ship, and to cut, with a knife, a cross upon one of them,and to put them all into a cap, and to shake them up well. The first whoput his hand in was the Admiral. He drew out the dry pea marked with thecross; so it was upon him that the lot fell, and he regarded himself, after that, as a pilgrim, obliged to carry into effect the vow which he had thustaken. They drew lots a second time, to select a person to go as pilgrim toOur Lady of Lorette, which is within the boundaries of Ancona, making apart of the States of the Church: it is a place where the Holy Virgin hasworked and continues to work many and great miracles. The lot havingfallen this time upon a sailor of the harbor of Santa Maria, named Pedro deVilla, the Admiral promised to give him all the money necessary for theexpenses. He decided that a third pilgrim should be sent to watch onenight at Santa Clara of Moguer, and to have a mass said there. For thispurpose, they again shook up the dry peas, not forgetting that one whichwas marked with the cross, and the lot fell once again to the Admiralhimself. He then took, as did all his crew, the vow that, on the first shorewhich they might reach, they would go in their shirts, in a procession, tomake a prayer in some church in invocation of Our Lady.""Besides the general vows, or those taken by all in common, each manmade his own special vow, because nobody expected to escape. The stormwhich they experienced was so terrible, that all regarded themselves aslost; what increased the danger was the circumstance that the vessel lackedballast, because the consumption of food, water and wine had greatlydiminished her load. The hope of the continuance of weather as fine asthat which they had experienced in all the islands, was the reason why theAdmiral had not provided his vessel with the proper amount of ballast.
　　Moreover, his plan had been to ballast it in the Women's Island, whither hehad from the first determined to go. The remedy which the Admiralemployed was to fill with sea water, as soon as possible, all the emptybarrels which had previously held either wine or fresh water. In this waythe difficulty was remedied.
　　"The Admiral tells here the reasons for fearing that our Saviour wouldallow him to become the victim of this tempest, and other reasons whichmade him hope that God would come to his assistance, and cause him toarrive safe and sound, so that intelligence such as that which he wasconveying to the king and queen would not perish with him. The strongdesire which he had to be the bearer of intelligence so important, and toprove the truth of all which he had said, and that all which he had tried to discover had really been discovered, seemed to contribute precisely toinspire him with the greatest fear that he could not succeed. He confessed,himself, that every mosquito that passed before his eyes was enough toannoy and trouble him. He attributed this to his little faith, and his lack ofconfidence in Divine Providence. On the other hand, he was re-animatedby the favors which God had shown him in granting to him so great atriumph as that which he had achieved, in all his discoveries, in fulfillingall his wishes, and in granting that, after having experienced in Castile somany rebuffs and disappointments, all his hopes should at last be morethan surpassed. In one word, as the sovereign master of the universe, had,in the outset, distinguished him in granting all his requests, before he hadcarried out his expedition for God's greatest glory, and before it hadsucceeded, he was compelled to believe now that God would preserve himto complete the work which he had begun." Such is Las Casas'sabridgment of Columbus's words.
　　"For which reasons he said he ought to have had no fear of the tempestthat was raging. But his weakness and anguish did not leave him amoment's calm. He also said that his greatest grief was the thought ofleaving his two boys orphans. They were at Cordova, at their studies.
　　What would become of them in a strange land, without father or mother?
　　for the king and queen, being ignorant of the services he had renderedthem in this voyage, and of the good news which he was bringing to them,would not be bound by any consideration to serve as their protectors.
　　"Full of this thought, he sought, even in the storm, some means ofapprising their highnesses of the victory which the Lord had granted him,in permitting him to discover in the Indies all which he had sought in hisvoyage, and to let them know that these coasts were free from storms,which is proved, he said, by the growth of herbage and trees even to theedge of the sea. With this purpose, that, if he perished in this tempest, theking and queen might have some news of his voyage, he took a parchmentand wrote on it all that he could of his discoveries, and urgently beggedthat whoever found it would carry it to the king and queen. He rolled upthis parchment in a piece of waxed linen, closed this parcel tightly, andtied it up securely; he had brought to him a large wooden barrel, within which he placed it, without anybody's knowing what it was. Everybodythought the proceeding was some act of devotion. He then caused it to bethrown into the sea."[*]
　　[*] Within a few months, in the summer of 1890, a well knownEnglish publisher has issued an interesting and ingenious edition, of whatpretended to be a fac simile of this document. The reader is asked tobelieve that the lost barrel has just now been found on the western coast ofEngland. But publishers and purchasers know alike that this is only anamusing suggestion of what might have been.
　　The sudden and heavy showers, and the squalls which followed sometime afterwards, changed the wind, which turned to the west. They had thewind thus abaft, and he sailed thus during five hours with the foresail only,having always the troubled sea, and made at once two leagues and a halftowards the northeast. He had lowered the main topmast lest a wave mightcarry it away.
　　With a heavy wind astern, so that the sea frequently broke over thelittle Nina, she made eastward rapidly, and at daybreak on the fifteenththey saw land. The Admiral knew that he had made the Azores, he hadbeen steadily directing the course that way; some of the seamen thoughtthey were at Madeira, and some hopeful ones thought they saw the rock ofCintra in Portugal. Columbus did not land till the eighteenth, when he sentsome men on shore, upon the island of Santa Maria. His news of discoverywas at first received with enthusiasm.
　　But there followed a period of disagreeable negotiation with Castaneda,the governor of the Azores. Pretending great courtesy and hospitality, butreally acting upon the orders of the king of Portugal, he did his best todisable Columbus and even seized some of his crew and kept themprisoners for some days. When Columbus once had them on board again,he gave up his plans for taking ballast and water on these inhospitableislands, and sailed for Europe.
　　He had again a stormy passage. Again they were in imminent danger.
　　"But God was good enough to save him. He caused the crew to draw lotsto send to Notre Dame de la Cintra, at the island of Huelva, a pilgrim whoshould come there in his shirt. The lot fell upon himself. All the crew, including the Admiral, vowed to fast on bread and water on the firstSaturday which should come after the arrival of the vessel. He hadproceeded sixty miles before the sails were torn; then they went undermasts and shrouds on account of the unusual strength of the wind, and theroughness of the sea, which pressed them almost on all sides. They sawindications of the nearness of the land; they were in fact, very nearLisbon."At Lisbon, after a reception which was at first cordial, the Portugueseofficers showed an inhospitality like that of Castaneda at the Azores. Butthe king himself showed more dignity and courtesy. He received thestorm-tossed Admiral with distinction, and permitted him to refit hisshattered vessel with all he needed. Columbus took this occasion to writeto his own sovereigns.
　　On the thirteenth he sailed again, and on the fifteenth entered the bayand harbor of Palos, which he had left six months and a half before. Hehad sailed on Friday. He had discovered America on Friday. And on Fridayhe safely returned to his home.
　　His journal of the voyage ends with these words: "I see by this voyagethat God has wonderfully proved what I say, as anybody may convincehimself, by reading this narrative, by the signal wonders which he hasworked during the course of my voyage, and in favor of myself, who havebeen for so long a time at the court of your Highnesses in opposition andcontrary to the opinions of so many distinguished personages of yourhousehold, who all opposed me, treating my project as a dream, and myundertaking as a chimera. And I hope still, nevertheless, in our Lord, thisvoyage will bring the greatest honor to Christianity, although it has beenperformed with so much ease."
Chapter 7
　　COLUMBUS IS CALLED TO MEET THE KING AND QUEEN-HIS MAGNIFICENT RECEPTION--NEGOTIATIONS WITH THEPOPE AND WITH THE KING OF PORTUGAL--SECONDEXPEDITION ORDERED--FONSECA--THE PREPARATIONS ATCADIZ.
　　The letter which Columbus sent from Lisbon to the king and queenwas everywhere published. It excited the enthusiasm first of Spain andthen of the world. This letter found in the earlier editions is now one of themost choice curiosities of libraries. Well it may be, for it is the first publicannouncement of the greatest event of modern history.
　　Ferdinand and Isabella directed him to wait upon them at once at court.
　　It happened that they were then residing at Barcelona, on the eastern coastof Spain, so that the journey required to fulfill their wishes carried himquite across the kingdom. It was a journey of triumph. The people cametogether in throngs to meet this peaceful conqueror who brought with himsuch amazing illustrations of his discovery.
　　The letter bearing instructions for him to proceed to Barcelona wasaddressed "To Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean Sea,Viceroy and Governor of the islands discovered in the Indies." So far washe now raised above the rank of a poor adventurer, who had for sevenyears attended the court in its movements, seeking an opportunity toexplain his proposals.
　　As he approached Barcelona he was met by a large company of people,including many persons of rank. A little procession was formed of theparty of the Admiral. Six Indians of the islands who had survived thevoyage, led the way. They were painted according to their custom invarious colors, and ornamented with the fatal gold of their countries,which had given to the discovery such interest in the eyes of those wholooked on.
　　Columbus had brought ten Indians away with him, but one had died onthe voyage and he had left three sick at Palos. Those whom he brought toBarcelona, were baptized in presence of the king and queen.
　　After the Indians, were brought many curious objects which had comefrom the islands, such as stuffed birds and beasts and living paroquets,which perhaps spoke in the language of their own country, and rare plants,so different from those of Spain. Ornaments of gold were displayed, whichwould give the people some idea of the wealth of the islands. Last of allcame Columbus, elegantly mounted and surrounded by a brilliantcavalcade of young Spaniards. The crowd of wondering people pressedaround them. Balconies and windows were crowded with women lookingon. Even the roofs were crowded with spectators.
　　The king and queen awaited Columbus in a large hall, where they wereseated on a rich dais covered with gold brocade. It was in the palaceknown as the "Casa de la Deputacion" which the kings of Aragon madetheir residence when they were in Barcelona. A body of the mostdistinguished lords and ladies of Spain were in attendance. As Columbusentered the hall the king and queen arose. He fell on his knee that he mightkiss their hands but they bade him rise and then sit and give an account ofhis voyage.
　　Columbus spoke with dignity and simplicity which commandedrespect, while all listened with sympathy. He showed some of the treasureshe had brought, and spoke with certainty of the discoveries which hadbeen made, as only precursors of those yet to come. When his shortnarrative was ended, all the company knelt and united in chanting the "TeDeum," "We Praise Thee, O God." Las Casas, describing the joy and hopeof that occasion says, "it seems as if they had a foretaste of the joys ofparadise."It would seem as if those whose duty it is to prepare fit celebrations ofthe periods of the great discovery, could hardly do better than to produceon the twenty-fourth of April, 1893, a reproduction of the solemn pageantin which, in Barcelona, four centuries before, the Spanish courtcommemorated the great discovery.
　　From this time, for several weeks, a series of pageants and festivitiessurrounded him. At no other period of his life were such honors paid tohim. It was at one of the banquets, at which he was present, that theincident of the egg, so often told in connection with the great discovery, took place. A flippant courtier--of that large class of people who stay athome when great deeds are done, and afterwards depreciate the doers ofthem--had the impertinence to ask Columbus, if the adventure so muchpraised was not, after all, a very simple matter. He probably said "a shortvoyage of four or five weeks; was it anything more?" Columbus replied bygiving him an egg which was on the table, and asking him if he couldstand it on one end. He said he could not, and the other guests said thatthey could not. Columbus tapped it on the table so as to break the end ofthe shell, and the egg stood erect. "It is easy enough," he said, "when anyone has shown you how."It is well to remember, that if after years showed that the ruler of Spainwearied in his gratitude, Columbus was, at the time, welcomed with theenthusiasm which he deserved. From the very grains of gold brought homein this first triumph, the queen, Isabella, had the golden illuminationwrought of a most beautiful missal-book.
　　Distinguished artists decorated the book, and the portraits ofsovereigns then on the throne appear as the representations of King David,King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and other royal personages. This bookshe gave afterwards to her grandson, Charles V, of whom it has been saidthat perhaps no man in modern times has done the world more harm.
　　This precious book, bearing on its gilded leaves the first fruits ofAmerica, is now preserved in the Royal Library at Madrid.
　　The time was not occupied merely in shows and banquets. There wasno difficulty now, about funds for a second expedition. Directions weregiven that it might be set forward as quickly as possible, and on animposing scale. For it was feared at court that King John of Portugal, thesuccessful rival of Spain, thus far, in maritime adventure, might anticipatefurther discovery. The sovereigns at once sent an embassy to the pope, notsimply to announce the discovery, but to obtain from him a decreeconfirming similar discoveries in the same direction. There was at leastone precedent for such action. A former pope had granted to Portugal allthe lands it might discover in Africa, south of Cape Bojador, and theSpanish crown had assented by treaty to this arrangement. Ferdinand andIsabella could now refer to this precedent, in asking for a grant to them of their discoveries on the western side of the Atlantic. The pope nowreigning was Alexander II. He had not long filled the papal chair. He wasan ambitious and prudent sovereign--a native of Spain--and, although hewould gladly have pleased the king of Portugal, he was quite unwilling todisplease the Spanish sovereigns. The Roman court received with respectthe request made to them. The pope expressed his joy at the hopes thrownout for the conversion of the heathen, which the Spanish sovereigns hadexpressed, as Columbus had always done. And so prompt were theSpanish requests, and so ready the pope's answer, that as early as May 3,1493, a papal bull was issued to meet the wishes of Spain.
　　This bull determined for Spain and for Portugal, that all discoveriesmade west of a meridian line one hundred leagues west of the Azoresshould belong to Spain. All discoveries east of that line should belong toPortugal. No reference was made to other maritime powers, and it does notseem to have been supposed that other states had any rights in suchmatters. The line thus arranged for the two nations was changed by theirown agreement, in 1494, for a north and south line three hundred and fiftyleagues west of the Cape de Verde Islands. The difference between the twolines was not supposed to be important.
　　The decision thus made was long respected. Under a mistakenimpression as to the longitude of the Philippine Islands in the East Indies,Spain has held those islands, under this line of division, ever since theirdiscovery by Magellan. She considered herself entitled to all the islandsand lands between the meridian thus drawn in the Atlantic and the similarmeridian one hundred and eighty degrees away, on exactly the other sideof the world.
　　Under the same line of division, Portugal held, for three centuries andmore, Brazil, which projects so far eastward into the Atlantic as to crossthis line of division.
　　Fearful, all the time, that neither the pope's decree, nor any diplomacywould prevent the king of Portugal from attempting to seize lands at thewest, the Spanish court pressed with eagerness arrangements for a secondexpedition. It was to be on a large and generous scale and to take out athousand men. For this was the first plan, though the number afterwards was increased to fifteen hundred. To give efficiency to all the measures ofcolonization, what we should call a new department of administration wasformed, and at the head of it was placed Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca.
　　Fonseca held this high and responsible position for thirty years. Heearly conceived a great dislike of Columbus, who, in some transactionsbefore this expedition sailed, appealed to the sovereigns to set aside adecision of Fonseca's, and succeeded. For all the period while he managedthe Indian affairs of Spain, Fonseca kept his own interests in sight moreclosely than those of Spain or of the colonists; and not Columbus only, butevery other official of Spain in the West Indies, had reason to regret theappointment.
　　The king of Portugal and the sovereigns of Spain began complicatedand suspicious negotiations with each other regarding the new discoveries.
　　Eventually, as has been said, they acceded to the pope's proposal anddecree. But, at first, distrusting each other, and concealing their realpurposes, in the worst style of the diplomacy of that time, they attemptedtreaties for the adjustment between themselves of the right to lands not yetdiscovered by either. Of these negotiations, the important result was thatwhich has been named,--the change of the meridian of division from thatproposed by the pope. It is curious now to see that the king of Portugalproposed a line of division, which would run east and west, so that Spainshould have the new territories north of the latitude of the Grand Canary,and Portugal all to the south.
　　In the midst of negotiation, the king and queen and Columbus knewthat whoever was first on the ground of discovery would have the greatadvantage. There was a rumor in Spain that Portugal had already sent outvessels to the west. Everything was pressed with alacrity at Cadiz. Theexpedition was to be under Columbus's absolute command. Seamen ofreputation were engaged to serve under him. Seventeen vessels were totake out a colony. Horses as well as cattle and other domestic animalswere provided. Seeds and plants of different kinds were sent out, and tothis first colonization by Spain, America owes the sugar-cane, and perhapssome other of her tropical productions.
　　Columbus remained in Barcelona until the twenty-third of May. But before that time, the important orders for the expedition had been given.
　　He then went to Cadiz himself, and gave his personal attention to thepreparations. Applications were eagerly pressed, from all quarters, forpermission to go. Young men of high family were eager to try the greatadventure. It was necessary to enlarge the number from that at firstproposed. The increase of expense, ordered as the plans enlarged, did notplease Fonseca. To quarrels between him and Columbus at this time havebeen referred the persecutions which Columbus afterwards suffered. Inthis case the king sustained Columbus in all his requisitions, and Fonsecawas obliged to answer them.
　　So rapidly were all these preparations made, that, in a little more thana year from the sailing of the first expedition, the second, on a scale somuch larger, was ready for sea.
Chapter 8
　　THE SECOND EXPEDITION SAILS FROM CADIZ ATCANARY ISLANDS--DISCOVERY OF DOMINICA ANDGUADELOUPE--SKIRMISHES WITH THE CARIBS--PORTORICO DISCOVERED--HISPANIOLA--THE FATE OF THECOLONY AT LA NAVIDAD.
　　There is not in history a sharper contrast, or one more dramatic, thanthat between the first voyage of Columbus and the second. In the firstvoyage, three little ships left the port of Palos, most of the men of theircrews unwilling, after infinite difficulty in preparation, and in the midst ofthe fears of all who stayed behind.
　　In the second voyage, a magnificent fleet, equipped with all that theroyal service could command, crowded with eager adventurers who areexcited by expectations of romance and of success, goes on the very sameadventure.
　　In the first voyage, Columbus has but just turned the corner after thestruggles and failures of eight years. He is a penniless adventurer who hasstaked all his reputation on a scheme in which he has hardly any support.
　　In the second case, Columbus is the governor-general, for aught he knows,of half the world, of all the countries he is to discover; and he knowsenough, and all men around him know enough, to see that his domain maybe a principality indeed.
　　Success brings with it its disadvantages. The world has learned since,if it did not know it then, that one hundred and fifty sailors, used to thehard work and deprivations of a seafaring life, would be a much moreefficient force for purposes of discovery, than a thousand and morecourtiers who have left the presence of the king and queen in the hope ofpersonal advancement or of romantic adventure. Those dainty people, whowould have been soldiers if there were no gunpowder, are not men tofound states; and the men who have lived in the ante-chambers of courtsare not people who co-operate sympathetically with an experienced manof affairs like Columbus.
　　From this time forward this is to be but a sad history, and the sadness, nay, the cruelty of the story, results largely from the composition of thebody of men whom Columbus took with him on this occasion. It is nolonger coopers and blacksmiths and boatswains and sailmakers whosurround him. These were officers of court, whose titles even cannot betranslated into modern language, so artificial were their habits and soconventional the duties to which they had been accustomed. Such men itwas, who made poor Columbus endless trouble. Such men it was, who, atthe last, dragged him down from his noble position, so that he diedunhonored, dispirited and poor. To the same misfortune, probably, do weowe it that, for a history of this voyage, we have no longer authority socharming as the simple, gossipy journal which Columbus kept through thefirst voyage, of which the greater part has happily been preserved. It maybe that he was too much pressed by his varied duties to keep up such ajournal. For it is alas! an unfortunate condition of human life, that men aremost apt to write journals when they have nothing to tell, and that in themidst of high activity, the record of that activity is not made by the actor.
　　In the present case, a certain Doctor Chanca, a native of Seville, had beentaken on board Columbus's ship, perhaps with the wish that he should bethe historian of the expedition. It may be that in the fact that his journalwas sent home is the reason why the Admiral's, if he kept one, has neverbeen preserved. Doctor Chanca's narrative is our principal contemporaryaccount of the voyage. From later authorities much can be added to it, butall of them put together are not, for the purposes of history, equal to thesimple contemporaneous statement which we could have had, hadColumbus's own journal been preserved.
　　The great fleet sailed from Cadiz on the twenty-fifth day of September,in the year 1493, rather more than thirteen months after the sailing of thelittle fleet from Palos of the year before. They touched at the GrandCanary as before, but at this time their vessels were in good condition andthere was no dissatisfaction among the crews. From this time the voyageacross the ocean was short. On the third day of November, 11 the Sundayafter All Saints Day had dawned, a pilot on the ship cried out to thecaptain that he saw land. So great was the joy among the people, that itwas marvellous to hear the shouts of pleasure on all hands. And for this there was much reason because the people were so much fatigued by thehard life and by the water which they drank that they all hoped for landwith much desire."The reader will see that this is the ejaculation of a tired landsman; onemight say, of a tired scholar, who was glad that even the short voyage wasat an end. Some of the pilots supposed that the distance which they hadrun was eight hundred leagues from Ferro; others thought it was sevenhundred and eighty. As the light increased, there were two islands in sightthe first was mountainous, being the island of "Dominica," which stillretains that name, of the Sunday when it was discovered; the other, theisland of Maria Galante, is more level, but like the first, as it is describedby Dr. Chanca, it was well wooded. The island received its name from theship that Columbus commanded. In all, they discovered six islands on thisday.
　　Finding no harbor which satisfied him in Dominica, Columbus landedon the island of Maria Galante, and took possession of it in the name ofthe king and queen. Dr. Chanca expresses the amazement which everyonehad felt on the other voyage, at the immense variety of trees, of fruits andof flowers, which to this hour is the joy of the traveller in the West Indies.
　　"In this island was such thickness of forest that it was wonderful, andsuch a variety of trees, unknown to anyone, that it was terrible, some withfruit, some with flowers, so that everything was green. * * * There werewild fruits of different sorts, which some not very wise men tried, and, onmerely tasting them, touching them with their tongues, their faces swelledand they had such great burning and pain that they seemed to rage (or tohave hydrophobia). They were cured with cold things." This fruit issupposed to have been the manchireel, which is known to produce sucheffects.
　　They found no inhabitants on this island and went on to another, nowcalled Guadeloupe. It received this name from its resemblance to aprovince of the same name in Spain. They drew near a mountain upon itwhich "seemed to be trying to reach the sky," upon which was a beautifulwaterfall, so white with foam that at a distance some of the sailors thoughtit was not water, but white rocks. The Admiral sent a light caravel to coast along and find harbor. This vessel discovered some houses, and thecaptain went ashore and found the inhabitants in them. They fled at once,and he entered the houses. There he found that they had taken nothingaway. There was much cotton, "spun and to be spun," and other goods oftheirs, and he took a little of everything, among other things, two parrots,larger and different from what had been seen before. He also took four orfive bones of the legs and arms of men. This last discovery made theSpaniards suppose that these islands were those of Caribs, inhabited by thecannibals of whom they had heard in the first voyage.
　　They went on along the coast, passing by some little villages, fromwhich the inhabitants fled, "as soon as they saw the sails." The Admiraldecided to send ashore to make investigations, and next morning "certaincaptains" landed. At dinnertime some of them returned, bringing withthem a boy of fourteen, who said that he was one of the captives of thepeople of the island. The others divided, and one party "took a little boyand brought him on board." Another party took a number of women, someof them natives of the island, and others captives, who came of their ownaccord. One captain, Diego Marquez, with his men, went off from theothers and lost his way with his party. After four days he came out on thecoast, and by following that, he succeeded in coming to the fleet. Theirfriends supposed them to have been killed and eaten by the Caribs, as,since some of them were pilots and able to set their course by the pole-star,it seemed impossible that they should lose themselves.
　　During the first day Columbus spent here, many men and womencame to the water's edge, "looking at the fleet and wondering at such anew thing; and when any boat came ashore to talk with them, saying,'tayno, tayno,' which means good. But they were all ready to run whenthey seemed in danger, so that of the men only two could be taken byforce or free-will. There were taken more than twenty women of thecaptives, and of their free-will came other women, born in other islands,who were stolen away and taken by force. Certain captive boys came to us.
　　In this harbor we were eight days on account of the loss of the saidcaptain."They found great quantities of human bones on shore, and skulls hanging like pots or cups about the houses. They saw few men. Thewomen said that this was because ten canoes had gone on a robbing orkidnapping expedition to other islands. "This people," says Doctor Chanca,"appeared to us more polite than those who live in the other islands wehave seen, though they all have straw houses." But he goes on to say thatthese houses are better made and provided, and that more of both men'sand women's work appeared in them. They had not only plenty of spunand unspun cotton, but many cotton mantles, "so well woven that theyyield in nothing (or owe nothing) to those of our country."When the women, who had been found captives, were asked who thepeople of the island were, they replied that they were Caribs. When theyheard that we abhorred such people for their evil use of eating men's flesh,they rejoiced much." But even in the captivity which all shared, theyshowed fear of their old masters.
　　"The customs of this people, the Caribs," says Dr. Chanca, "arebeastly;" and it would be difficult not to agree with him, in spite of the"politeness" and comparative civilization he has spoken of.
　　They occupied three islands, and lived in harmony with each other, butmade war in their canoes on all the other islands in the neighborhood.
　　They used arrows in warfare, but had no iron. Some of them used arrowheads of tortoise shell, others sharply toothed fish-bones, which could do agood deal of damage among unarmed men. "But for people of our nation,they are not arms to be feared much."These Caribs carried off both men and women on their robbingexpeditions. They slaughtered and ate the men, and kept the women asslaves; they were, in short, incredibly cruel. Three of the captive boys ranaway and joined the Spaniards.
　　They had twice sent out expeditions after the lost captain, DiegoMarquez, and another party had returned without news of him, on the veryday on which he and his men came in. They brought with them tencaptives, boys and women. They were received with great joy. "He andthose that were with him, arrived so DESTROYED BY THE MOUNTAIN,that it was pitiful to see them. When they were asked how they had lostthemselves, they said that it was the thickness of the trees, so great that they could not see the sky, and that some of them, who were mariners, hadclimbed up the trees to look at the star (the Pole-star) and that they nevercould see it."One of the accounts of this voyage[*] relates that the captive women,who had taken refuge with the Spaniards, were persuaded by them toentice some of the Caribs to the beach. "But these men, when they hadseen our people, all struck by terror, or the consciousness of their evildeeds, looking at each other, suddenly drew together, and very lightly, likea flight of birds, fled away to the valleys of the woods. Our men then, nothaving succeeded in taking any cannibals, retired to the ships and brokethe Indians' canoes."[*] That of Peter Martyr.
　　They left Guadeloupe on Sunday, the tenth of November. Theypassed several islands, but stopped at none of them, as they were in hasteto arrive at the settlement of La Navidad in Hispaniola, made on the firstvoyage. They did, however, make some stay at an island which seemedwell populated. This was that of San Martin. The Admiral sent a boatashore to ask what people lived on the island, and to ask his way, although,as he afterwards found, his own calculations were so correct that he didnot need any help. The boat's crew took some captives, and as it was goingback to the ships, a canoe came up in which were four men, two womenand a boy. They were so astonished at seeing the fleet, that they remained,wondering what it could be, "two Lombard-shot from the ship," and didnot see the boat till it was close to them. They now tried to get off, butwere so pressed by the boat that they could not. "The Caribs, as soon asthey saw that flight did not profit them, with much boldness laid hands ontheir bows, the women as well as the men. And I say with much boldness,because they were no more than four men and two women, and ours morethan twenty-five, of whom they wounded two. To one they gave twoarrow-shots in the breast, and to the other one in the ribs. And if we hadnot had shields and tablachutas, and had not come up quickly with the boatand overturned their canoe, they would have shot the most of our menwith their arrows. And after their canoe was overturned, they remained inthe water swimming, and at times getting foothold, for there were some shallow places there. And our men had much ado to take them, for theystill kept on shooting as they could. And with all this, not one of themcould be taken, except one badly wounded with a lance-thrust, who died,whom thus wounded they carried to the ships." Another account of thisfight says that the canoe was commanded by one of the women, whoseemed to be a queen, who had a son "of cruel look, robust, with a lion'sface, who followed her." This account represents the queen's son to havebeen wounded, as well as the man who died. "The Caribs differed from theother Indians in having long hair; the others wore theirs braided and ahundred thousand differences made in their heads, with crosses and otherpaintings of different sorts, each one as he desires, which they do withsharp canes." The Indians, both the Caribs and the others, were beardless,unless by a great exception. The Caribs, who had been taken prisonershere, had their eyes and eyebrows blackened, "which, it seems to me, theydo as an ornament, and with that they appear more frightful." They heardfrom these prisoners of much gold at an island called Cayre.
　　They left San Martin on the same day, and passed the island of SantaCruz, and the next day (November 15) they saw a great number of islands,which the Admiral named Santa Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins.
　　This seemed "a country fit for metals," but the fleet made no stay there.
　　They did stop for two days at an island called Burenquen. The Admiralnamed it San Juan Bautista (Saint John Baptist). It is what we now callPorto Rico. He was not able to communicate with any of the inhabitants,as they lived in such fear of the Caribs that they all fled. All these islandswere new to the Admiral and all "very beautiful and of very good land, butthis one seemed better than all of them."On Friday, the twenty-second of November, they landed at the islandof Hispaniola or Hayti which they so much desired. None of the party whohad made the first voyage were acquainted with this part of the island; butthey conjectured what it was, from what the Indian captive women toldthem.
　　The part of the island where they arrived was called Hayti, anotherpart Xamana, and the third Bohio. "It is a very singular country," says Dr.
　　Chanca, "where there are numberless great rivers and great mountain ridges and great level valleys. I think the grass never dries in the wholeyear. I do not think that there is any winter in this (island) nor in the others,for at Christmas are found many birds' nests, some with birds, and somewith eggs." The only four-footed animals found in these islands were whatDr. Chanca calls dogs of various colors, and one animal like a youngrabbit, which climbed trees. Many persons ate these last and said theywere very good. There were many small snakes, and few lizards, becausethe Indians were so fond of eating them. "They made as much of a feast ofthem as we would do of pheasants.""There are in this island and the others numberless birds, of those ofour country, and many others which never were seen there. Of ourdomestic birds, none have ever been seen here, except that in Zuruquiathere were some ducks in the houses, most of them white as snow, andothers black."They coasted along this island for several days, to the place where theAdmiral had left his settlement. While passing the region of Xamana, theyset ashore one of the Indians whom they had carried off on the first voyage.
　　They "gave him some little things which the Admiral had commanded himto give away." Another account adds that of the ten Indian men who hadbeen carried off on the first voyage, seven had already died on account ofthe change of air and food. Two of the three whom the Admiral wasbringing back, swam ashore at night. "The Admiral cared for this but little,thinking that he should have enough interpreters among those whom hehad left in the island, and whom he hoped to find there again." It seemscertain that one Indian remained faithful to the Spaniards; he was namedDiego Colon, after the Admiral's brother.
　　On the day that the captive Indian was set ashore, a Biscayan sailordied, who had been wounded by the Caribs in the fight between the boat'screw and the canoe. A boat's crew was sent ashore to bury him, and as theycame to land there came out "many Indians, of whom some wore gold atthe neck and at the ears. They sought to come with the christians to theships, and they did not like to bring them, because they had not hadpermission from the Admiral." The Indians then sent two of their numberin a little canoe to one of the caravels, where they were received kindly, and sent to speak with the Admiral.""They said, through an interpreter, that a certain king sent them toknow what people we were, and to ask that we might be kind enough toland, as they had much gold and would give it to him, and of what theyhad to eat. The Admiral commanded silken shirts and caps and other littlethings to be given them, and told them that as he was going whereGuacanagari was, he could not stop, that another time he would be able tosee him. And with that, they (the Indians) went away."They stopped two days at a harbor which they called Monte Christi, tosee if it were a suitable place for a town, for the Admiral did not feelaltogether satisfied with the place where the settlement of La Navidad hadbeen made on the first voyage. This Monte Christi was near "a great riverof very good water" (the Santiago). But it is all an inundated region, andvery unfit to live in.
　　"As they were going along, viewing the river and land, some of ourmen found, in a place close by the river, two dead men, one with: a cord(lazo) around his neck, and the other with one around his foot. This wasthe first day. On the next day following, they found two other dead menfarther on than these others. One of these was in such a position that itcould be known that he had a plentiful beard. Some of our men suspectedmore ill than good, and with reason, as the Indians are all beardless, as Ihave said."This port was not far from the port where the Spanish settlement hadbeen made on the first voyage, so that there was great reason for theseanxieties. They set sail once more for the settlement, and arrived oppositethe harbor of La Navidad on the twenty-seventh of November. As theywere approaching the harbor, a canoe came towards them, with five or sixIndians on board, but, as the Admiral kept on his course without waitingfor them, they went back.
　　The Spaniards arrived outside the port of La Navidad so late that theydid not dare to enter it that night. "The Admiral commanded twoLombards to be fired, to see if the christians replied, who had been leftwith the said Guacanagari, (this was the friendly cacique Guacanagari ofthe first voyage), for they too had Lombards," "They never replied, nor did fires nor signs of houses appear in that place, at which the people weremuch discouraged, and they had the suspicion that was natural in such acase.""Being thus all very sad, when four or five hours of the night hadpassed, there came the same canoe which they had seen the evening before.
　　The Indians in it asked for the Admiral and the captain of one of thecaravels of the first voyage. They were taken to the Admiral's ship, butwould not come on board until they had "spoken with him and seen him."They asked for a light, and as soon as they knew him, they entered theship. They came from Guacanagari, and one of them was his cousin.
　　They brought with them golden masks, one for the Admiral andanother for one of the captains who had been with him on the first voyage,probably Vicente Yanez Pinzon. Such masks were much valued among theIndians, and are thought to have been meant to put upon idols, so that theywere given to the Spaniards as tokens of great respect. The Indian partyremained on board for three hours, conversing with the Admiral andapparently very glad to see him again. When they were asked about thecolonists of La Navidad, they said that they were all well, but that some ofthem had died from sickness, and that others had been killed in quarrelsamong themselves. Their own cacique, Guacanagari, had been attacked bytwo other chiefs, Caonabo and Mayreni. They had burned his village, andhe had been wounded in the leg, so that he could not come to meet theSpaniards that night. As the Indians went away, however, they promisedthat they would bring him to visit them the next day. So the explorersremained "consoled for that night."Next day, however, events were less reassuring. None of last night'sparty came back and nothing was seen of the cacique. The Spaniards,however, thought that the Indians might have been accidentally overturnedin their canoe, as it was a small one, and as wine had been given themseveral times during their visit.
　　While he was still waiting for them, the Admiral sent some of his mento the place where La Navidad had stood. They found that the strong fortwith a palisade was burned down and demolished. They also found somecloaks and other clothes which had been carried off by the Indians, who seemed uneasy, and at first would not come near the party.
　　"This did not appear well" to the Spaniards, as the Admiral had toldthem how many canoes had come out to visit him in that very place on theother voyage. They tried to make friends, however, threw out to themsome bells, beads and other presents, and finally a relation of the caciqueand three others ventured to the boat, and were taken on board ship.
　　These men frankly admitted that the "christians" were all dead. TheSpaniards had been told so the night before by their Indian interpreter, butthey had refused to believe him. They were now told that the King ofCanoaboa[*] and the King Mayreni had killed them and burned thevillage.
　　[*] "Canoaboa" was thought to mean "Land of Gold."They said, as the others had done, that Guacanagari was wounded inthe thigh and they, like the others, said they would go and summon him.
　　The Spaniards made them some presents, and they, too, disappeared.
　　Early the next morning the Admiral himself, with a party, including Dr.
　　Chanca, went ashore.
　　"And we went where the town used to be, which we saw all burnt, andthe clothes of the christians were found on the grass there. At that time wesaw no dead body. There were among us many different opinions, somesuspecting that Guacanagari himself was (concerned) in the betrayal ordeath of the christians, and to others it did not appear so, as his town wasburnt, so that the thing was very doubtful."The Admiral directed the whole place to be searched for gold, as hehad left orders that if any quantity of it were found, it should be buried.
　　While this search was being made, he and a few others went to look for asuitable place for a new settlement. They arrived at a village of seven oreight houses, which the inhabitants deserted at once. Here they foundmany things belonging to the christians, such as stockings, pieces of cloth,and "a very pretty mantle which had not been unfolded since it wasbrought from Castile." These, the Spaniards thought, could not have beenobtained by barter. There was also one of the anchors of the ship whichhad gone ashore on the first voyage.
　　When they returned to the site of La Navidad they found many Indians, who had become bold enough to come to barter gold. They had shown theplace where the bodies of eleven Spaniards lay "covered already by thegrass which had grown over them." They all "with one voice" said thatCanoaboa and Mayreni had killed them. But as, at the same time, theycomplained that some of the christians had taken three Indian wives, andsome four, it seemed likely that a just resentment on the part of theislanders had had something to do with their death.
　　The next day the Admiral sent out a caravel to seek for a suitable placefor a town, and he himself went out to look for one in a different direction.
　　He found a secure harbor and a good place for a settlement, But hethought it too far from the place where he expected to find a gold mine.
　　On his return, he found the caravel he had sent out. As it was coastingalong the island, a canoe had come out to it, with two Indians on board,one of whom was a brother of Guacanagari. This man begged the party tocome and visit the cacique. The "principal men" accordingly went onshore, and found him in bed, apparently suffering from his wounded thigh,which he showed them in bandages. They judged from appearances that hewas telling them the truth.
　　He said to them, "by signs as best be could," that since he was thuswounded, they were to invite the Admiral to come to visit him. As theywere going away, he gave each of them a golden jewel, as each "appearedto him to deserve it." "This gold," says Dr. Chanca, "is made in verydelicate sheets, like our gold leaf, because they use it for making masksand to plate upon bitumen. They also wear it on the head and for earringsand nose-rings, and therefore they beat it very thin as they only wear it forits beauty and not for its value."The Admiral decided to go to the cacique on the next day. He wasvisited early in the day by his brother, who hurried on the visit. TheAdmiral went on shore and all the best people (gente de pro) with him,handsomely dressed, as would be suitable in a capital city." They carriedpresents. with them, as they had already received gold from him.
　　"When we arrived, we found him lying in his bed, according to theircustom, hanging in the air, the bed being made of cotton like a net. He didnot rise, but from the bed made a semblance of courtesy, as best he knew how. He showed much feeling, with tears in his eyes, at the death of thechristians, and began to talk of it, showing, as best he could, how somedied of sickness, and how others had gone to Canoaboa to seek for thegold mine, and that they had been killed there, and how the others hadbeen killed in their town."He presented to the Admiral some gold and precious stones. One of theaccounts says that there were eight hundred beads of a stone called ciba,one hundred of gold, a golden coronet, and three small calabashes filledwith gold dust. Columbus, in return, made him a present.
　　"I and a navy surgeon were there," says Dr. Chanca. "The Admiralnow said that we were learned in the infirmities of men, and asked if hewould show us the wound. He replied that it pleased him to do so. I saidthat it would be necessary, if he could, for him to go out of the house,since with the multitudes of people it was dark, and we could not see well.
　　He did it immediately, as I believe, more from timidity than from choice.
　　The surgeon came to him and began to take off the bandage. Then he saidto the Admiral that the injury was caused by ciba, that is, by a stone. Whenit was unbandaged we managed to examine it. It is certain that he was nomore injured in that leg than in the other, although he pretended that it wasvery painful."The Spaniards did not know what to believe. But it seemed certain thatan attack of some enemy upon these Indians had taken place, and theAdmiral determined to continue upon good terms with them. Nor did hechange this policy toward Guacanagari. How far that chief had tried toprevent the massacre will never be known. The detail of the story wasnever fully drawn from the natives. The Spaniards had been cruel andlicentious in their dealing with the Indians. They had quarrelled amongthemselves, and the indignant natives, in revenge, had destroyed them all.
Chapter 9
　　THE NEW COLONY--EXPEDITIONS OF DISCOVERY-GUACANAGARI --SEARCH FOR GOLD--MUTINY IN THECOLONY--THE VESSELS SENT HOME--COLUMBUS MARCHESINLAND--COLLECTION OF GOLD--FORTRESS OF ST.
　　THOMAS--A NEW VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY--JAMAICAVISITED--THE SOUTH SHORE OF CUBA EXPLORED--RETURN--EVANGELISTA DISCOVERED--COLUMBUS FALLS SICK-RETURN TO ISABELLA.
　　Columbus had hoped, with reason, to send back a part of the vesselswhich made up his large squadron, with gold collected in the year by thecolonists at La Navidad. In truth, when, in 1501, the system of gold-washing-had been developed, the colony yielded twelve hundred poundsof gold in one year. The search for gold, from the beginning, broke up allintelligent plans for geographical discovery or for colonization. In thiscase, it was almost too clear that there was nothing but bad news to sendback to Spain. Columbus went forward, however, as well as he could, withthe establishment of a new colony, and with the search for gold.
　　He sent out expeditions of discovery to open relations with the natives,and to find the best places for washing and mining for gold. MelchiorMeldonado commanded three hundred men, in the first of theseexpeditions. They came to a good harbor at the mouth of a river, wherethey saw a fine house, which they supposed might be the home ofGuacanagari. They met an armed party of one hundred Indians; but thesemen put away their weapons when signals of peace were made, andbrought presents in token of good-will.
　　The house to which they went was round, with a hemispherical roof ordome. It was thirty-two paces in diameter, divided by wicker work intodifferent rooms. Smaller houses, for persons of rank lower than the chiefs,surrounded it. The natives told the explorers that Guacanagari himself hadretired to the hills.
　　On receiving the report of these explorers Columbus sent out Ojedawith a hundred men, and Corvalan with a similar party in different directions. These officers, in their report, described the operation of gold-washing, much as it is known to explorers in mining regions to-day. Thenatives made a deep ditch into which the gold bearing sand should settle.
　　For more important work they had flat baskets in which they shook thesand and parted it from the gold. With the left hand they dipped up sand,handled this skilfully or "dextrously" with the right hand, so that in a fewminutes they could give grains of gold to the gratified explorers. Ojedabrought home to Columbus one nugget which weighed nine ounces.
　　They also brought tidings of the King of Canoaboa, of whom they hadheard before, and he is called by the name of Caunebo himself.[*] He wasafterwards carried, as a prisoner or as a hostage, on the way to Spain; butdied on the passage.
　　[*] The name is spelled in many different ways.
　　Columbus was able to dispatch the returning ships, with theencouraging reports brought in by Meldonado and Ojeda, but with verylittle gold. But he was obliged to ask for fresh supplies of food for thecolony--even in the midst of the plenty which he described; for he hadfound already what all such leaders find, the difficulty of training men touse food to which they were not accustomed. He sent also his Caribprisoners, begging that they might be trained to a knowledge of thechristian religion and of the Spanish language. He saw, already, how muchhe should need interpreters. The fleet sailed on the second of February,and its reports were, on the whole, favorably received.
　　Columbus chose for the new city an elevation, ten leagues east ofMonte Christi, and at first gave to his colony the name of Martha. It is theIsabella of the subsequent history.
　　The colonists were delighted with the fertility of the soil under thetropical climate. Andalusia itself had not prepared them for it. Theyplanted seeds of peas, beans, lettuces, cabbages and other vegetables, anddeclared that they grew more in eight days than they would have grown intwenty at home. They had fresh vegetables in sixteen days after theyplanted them; but for melons, pumpkins and other fruits of that sort, theyare generous enough to allow thirty days.
　　They had carried out roots and suckers of the sugar-cane. In fifteen days the shoots were a cubit high. A farmer who had planted wheat in thebeginning of February had ripe grain in the beginning of April; so thatthey were sure of, at least, two crops in a year.
　　But the fertility of the soil was the only favorable token which theisland first exhibited. The climate was enervating and sickly. The labor onthe new city was hard and discouraging. Columbus found that his colonistswere badly fitted for their duty, or not fitted for it at all. Court gentlemendid not want to work. Priests expected to be put on better diet than anyother people. Columbus--though he lost his own popularity--insisted onputting all on equal fare, in sharing the supplies he had brought from Spain.
　　It did not require a long time to prove that the selection of the site of thecolony was unfortunate. Columbus himself gave way to the generaldisease. While he was ill, a mutiny broke out which he had to suppress bystrong measures.
　　Bornal Diaz, who ranked as comptroller of the expedition, and FerminCedo, an assayer, made a plot for seizing the remaining ships and sailingfor Europe. News of the mutiny was brought to Columbus. He found adocument in the writing of Diaz, drawn as a memorial, accusingColumbus himself of grave crimes. He confined Diaz on board a ship to besent to Spain with the memorial. He punished the mutineers of lower rank.
　　He took the guns and naval munitions from four of the vessels, andentrusted them all to a person in whom he had absolute confidence.
　　On the report of the exploring parties, four names were given to asmany divisions of the island. Junna was the most western, Attibunia themost eastern, Jachen the northern and Naiba the southern. Columbushimself, seeing the fortifications of the city well begun, undertook, inMarch, an exploration, of the island, with a force of five hundred men.
　　It was in the course of this exploration that one of the natives broughtin a gold-bearing stone which weighed an ounce. He was satisfied with alittle bell in exchange. He was surprised at the wonder expressed by theSpaniards, and showing a stone as large as a pomegranate, he said that hehad nuggets of gold as large as this at his home. Other Indians brought ingold-bearing stones which weighed more than an ounce. At their homes,also, but not in sight, alas, was a block of gold as large as an infant's head.
　　Columbus himself thought it best to take as many men as he could intothe mountain region. He left the new city under the care of his brother,Diego, and with all the force of healthy men which he could muster,making a little army of nearly five hundred men, he marched away fromthe sickly seaboard into the interior. The simple natives were astonishedby the display of cavalry and other men in armor. After a few days of adelightful march, in the beauty of spring in that country, he entered uponthe long sought Cibao. He relinquished his first idea of founding anothercity here, but did build a fortress called St. Thomas, in joking reference toCedo and others, who had asserted that these regions produced no gold.
　　While building this fortress, as it was proudly called, he sent a youngcavalier named Luxan for further exploration.
　　Luxan returned with stories even greater than they had heard of before,but with no gold, "because he had no orders to do so." He had found ripegrapes. And at last they had found a region called Cipangi, cipansignifying stone. This name recalled the memory of Cipango, or Japan.
　　With tidings as encouraging as this, Columbus returned to his city. Heappointed his brother and Pedro Margarita governors of the city, and leftwith three ships for the further exploration of Cuba, which he had left onlypartly examined in his first voyage. He believed that it was the mainlandof Asia. And as has been said, such was his belief till he died, and that ofhis countrymen. Cuba was not known to be an island for many yearsafterwards. He was now again in the career which pleased him, and forwhich he was fitted. He was always ill at ease in administering a colony,or ruling the men who were engaged in it. He was happy and contentedwhen he was discovering. He had been eager to follow the southern coastof Cuba, as he had followed the north in his first voyage. And now he hadhis opportunity. Having commissioned his brother Diego and Margaritaand appointed also a council of four other gentlemen, he sailed to explorenew coasts, on the twenty-fourth of April.
　　He was soon tempted from his western course that he might examineJamaica, of which he saw the distant lines on the south. "This island," saysthe account of the time, "is larger than Sicily. It has only one mountain,which rises from the coast on every side, little by little, until you come to the middle of the island and the ascent is so gradual that, whether you riseor descend, you hardly know whether you are rising or descending."Columbus found the island well peopled, and from what he saw of thenatives, thought them more ingenious, and better artificers, than anyIndians he had seen before. But when he proposed to land, they generallyshowed themselves prepared to resist him. He therefore deferred a fullexamination of the island to his return, and, with the first favorable wind,pressed on toward the southern coast of Cuba. He insisted on calling thisthe "Golden Chersonesus" of the East. This name had been given by theold geographers to the peninsula now known as Malacca.
　　Crossing the narrow channel between Jamaica and Cuba, he begancoasting that island westward. If the reader will examine the map, he willfind many small keys and islands south of Cuba, which, before any surveyhad been made, seriously retarded his westward course. In every case hewas obliged to make a separate examination to be sure where the realcoast of the island was, all the time believing it was the continent of Asia.
　　One of the narratives says, with a pardonable exaggeration, that in all thisvoyage he thus discovered seven hundred islands. His own estimate wasthat he sailed two hundred and twenty-two leagues westward in theexploration which now engaged him.
　　The month of May and the beginning of June were occupied with suchexplorations. The natives proved friendly, as the natives of the northernside of Cuba had proved two years before. They had, in general, heard ofthe visit of the Spaniards ; but their wonder and admiration seem to havebeen none the less now that they saw the reality.
　　On one occasion the hopes of all the party, that they should findthemselves at the court of the Grand Khan, were greatly quickened. ASpaniard had gone into a forest alone, hunting. Suddenly he saw a manclothed in white, or thought he did, whom he supposed to be a friar of theorder of Saint Mary de Mercedes, who was with the expedition. But,almost immediately, ten other friars dressed in the same costume, appeared,and then as many as thirty. The Spaniard was frightened at themultiplication of their number, it hardly appears why, as they were all menof peace, or should have been, whatever their number. He called out to his companions, and bade them escape. But the men in white called out to him,and waved their hands, as if to assure him that there was no danger. He didnot trust them, however, but rushed back to the shore and the ship, as fastas he could, to report what he had seen to the Admiral.
　　Here, at last, was reason for hope that they had found one of theAsiatic missions of the Church. Columbus at once landed a party,instructing them to go forty miles inland, if necessary, to find people. Butthis party found neither path nor roadway, although the country was richand fertile. Another party brought back rich bunches of grapes, and othernative fruits. But neither party saw any friars of the order of Saint Mary.
　　And it is now supposed that the Spaniard saw a peaceful flock of whitecranes. The traveller Humboldt describes one occasion, in which the townof Angostura was put to alarm by the appearance of a flock of cranesknown as soldados, or "soldiers," which were, as people supposed, a bandof Indians.
　　In his interviews with the natives at one point and another, upon thecoast, Columbus was delighted with their simplicity, their hospitality, andtheir kindly dealing with each other. On one occasion, when the Mass wascelebrated, a large number of them were present, and joined in the service,as well as they could, with respect and devotion. An old man as much aseighty years old, as the Spaniards thought, brought to the Admiral a basketfull of fruit, as a present. Then he said, by an interpreter:
　　"We have heard how you have enveloped, by your power, all thesecountries, and how much afraid of you the people have been. But I have toexhort you, and to tell you that there are two ways when men leave thisbody. One is dark and dismal; it is for those who have injured the race ofmen. The other is delightful and pleasant; it is for those who, while alive,have loved peace and the repose of mankind. If, then, you remember thatyou are mortal, and what these retributions are, you will do no harm to anyone."Columbus told him in reply that he had known of the two roads afterdeath, and that he was well pleased to find that the natives of these landsknew of them; for he had not expected this. He said that the king andqueen of Spain had sent him with the express mission of bringing these tidings to them. In particular, that he was charged with the duty ofpunishing the Caribs and all other men of impure life, and of rewardingand honoring all pure and innocent men. This statement so delighted theold prophet that he was eager to accompany Columbus on a mission sonoble, and it was only by the urgent entreaty of his wife and children thathe stayed with them. He found it hard to believe that Columbus wasinferior in rank or command to any other sovereign.
　　The beauty of the island and the hospitality of the natives, however,were not enough to dispose the crews to continue this exploration further.
　　They were all convinced that they were on the coast of Asia. Columbusdid not mean that afterwards any one should accuse him of abandoning thediscovery of that coast too soon. Calling to their attention the distance theyhad sailed, he sent round a written declaration for the signature of everyperson on the ships. Every man and boy put his name to it. It expressedtheir certainty that they were on the cape which made the end of theeastern Indies, and that any one who chose could proceed thence westwardto Spain by land. This extraordinary declaration was attested officially bya notary, and still exists.
　　It was executed in a bay at the extreme southwestern corner of Cuba. Ithas been remarked by Munoz, that at that moment, in that place, a shipboy at the masthead could have looked over the group of low islands andseen the open sea, which would have shown that Cuba was an island.
　　The facts, which were controlling, were these, that the vessels wereleaky and the crews sick and discontented. On the thirteenth of June,Columbus stood to the southeast. He discovered the island now known asthe Island of Pines. He called it Evangelista. He anchored here and took inwater. In an interview, not unlike that described, in which the old Cubanexpressed his desire to return with Columbus, it is said that anEvangelistan chief made the same offer, but was withheld by theremonstrances, of his wife and children. A similar incident is reported inthe visit to Jamaica, which soon followed. Columbus made a carefulexamination of that island. Then he crossed to Hispaniola, where, from theIndians, he received such accounts from the new town of Isabella asassured him that all was well there.
　　With his own indomitable zeal, he determined now to go to the Caribislands and administer to them the vengeance he had ready. But his ownframe was not strong enough for his will. He sank exhausted, in a sort oflethargy. The officers of his ship, supposing he was dying, put about thevessels and the little squadron arrived, none too soon as it proved, atIsabella.
　　He was as resolute as ever in his determination to crush the Caribs,and prevent their incursions upon those innocent islanders to whom he hadmade so many promises of protection. But he fell ill, and for a short timeat least was wholly unconscious. The officers in command took occasionof his illness, and of their right to manage the vessels, to turn back to thecity of Isabella. He arrived there "as one half dead," and his explorationsand discoveries for this voyage were thus brought to an end. To his greatdelight he found there his brother Bartholomew, whom he had not seen foreight years. Bartholomew had accompanied Diaz in the famous voyage inwhich he discovered the Cape of Good Hope. Returning to Europe in 1488he had gone to England, with a message from Christopher Columbus,asking King Henry the Seventh to interest himself in the great adventurehe proposed.
　　The authorities differ as to the reception which Henry gave to thisgreat proposal. Up to the present time, no notice has been found of hisvisit in the English archives. The earliest notice of America, in the paperspreserved there, is a note of a present of ten pounds "to hym that found thenew land," who was Cabot, after his first voyage. Bartholomew Columbuswas in England on the tenth of February, 1488; how much later is notknown. Returning from England he staid in France, in the service ofMadama de Bourbon. This was either Anne of Beaujeu, or the widow ofthe Admiral Louis de Bourbon. Bartholomew was living in Paris when heheard of his brother's great discovery.
　　He had now been appointed by the Spanish sovereigns to command afleet of three vessels, which had been sent out to provision the new colony.
　　He had sailed from Cadiz on the thirtieth of April, 1494, and he arrived atIsabella on St. John's Day of the same year.
　　Columbus welcomed him with delight, and immediately made him his first-lieutenant in command of the colony. There needed a strong hand forthe management of the colony, for the quarrels which had existed beforeColumbus went on his Cuban voyage had not diminished in his absence.
　　Pedro Margarita and Father Boil are spoken of as those who had made themost trouble. They had come determined to make a fortune rapidly, andthey did not propose to give up such a hope to the slow processes ofordinary colonization. Columbus knew very well that those who hadreturned to Spain had carried with them complaints as to his own course.
　　He would have been glad on some accounts to return, himself, at once; buthe did not think that the natives of the islands were sufficiently under thepower of the new colony to be left in safety.
　　First of all he sent back four caravels, which had recently arrived fromEurope, with five hundred Indians whom he had taken as slaves. Heconsigned them to Juan de Fonseca's care. He was eager himself to saythat he sent them out that they might be converted, to Christianity, and thatthey might learn the Spanish language and be of use as interpreters. But, atthe same time, he pointed out how easy it would be to make a source ofrevenue to the Crown from such involuntary emigration. To Isabella'scredit it is to be said, that she protested against the whole thingimmediately; and so far as appears, no further shipments were made inexactly the same way. But these poor wretches were not sent back to theislands, as she perhaps thought they were. Fonseca did not hesitate to sellthem, or apprentice them, to use our modern phrase, and it is said byBernaldez that they all died. His bitter phrase is that Fonseca took no morecare of them than if they had been wild animals.
　　Columbus did not recover his health, so as to take a very active part inaffairs for five months after his arrival at San Domingo. He was wellaware that the Indians were vigorously organized, with the intention ofdriving his people from the island, or treating the colony as they hadtreated the colony of Navidad. He called the chief of the Cipangi, namedGuarionexius, for consultation. The interpreter Didacus, who had servedthem so faithfully, married the king's sister, and it was hoped that thiswould be a bond of amity between the two nations.
　　Columbus sent Ojeda into the gold mountains with fifty armed men to make an alliance with Canabao. Canabao met this party with a good dealof perplexity. He undoubtedly knew that he had given the Spaniards goodreason for doubting him. It is said that he had put to death twentySpaniards by treasonable means, but it is to be remembered that this is thestatement of his enemies. He, however, came to Columbus with a largebody of his people, all armed. When he was asked why he brought so largea force with him, he said that so great a king as he, could not go anywherewithout a fitting military escort. But Ojeda did not hesitate to take himprisoner and carry him into Isabella, bound. As has been said, he waseventually sent to Spain, but he died on the passage.
　　Columbus made another fortress, or tower, on the border of KingGuarionexius's country, between his kingdom and Cipango. He gave tothis post the name of the "Tower of the Conception," and meant it to be arallying point for the miners and others, in case of any uprising of thenatives against them. This proved to be an important centre for miningoperations. From this place, what we should call a nugget of gold, whichone of the chiefs brought in, was sent to Spain. It weighed twenty ounces.
　　A good deal of interest attached also to the discovery of amber, one massof which weighed three hundred pounds. Such discoveries renewed theinterest and hope which had been excited in Spain by the first accounts ofHispaniola.
　　Columbus satisfied himself that he left the island really subdued; andin this impression he was not mistaken. Certain that his presence in Spainwas needed, if he would maintain his own character against the attacks ofthe disaffected Spaniards who had gone before him, he set sail on the Ninaon the tenth of March, taking with him as a consort a caravel which hadbeen built at Isabella. He did not arrive in Cadiz till the eleventh of June,having been absent from Spain two years and nine months.
　　His return to Spain at this time gave Isabella another opportunity toshow the firmness of her character, and the determination to which alonebelongs success.
　　The excitement and popularity which attended the return from the firstvoyage had come to an end. Spain was in the period of reaction. Thedisappointment which naturally follows undue expectations and extravagant prophecies, was, in this instance, confirmed by the return ofdiscontented adventurers. Four hundred years have accustomed the worldto this reflex flow of disappointed colonists, unable or unwilling to work,who come back from a new land to say that its resources have beenexaggerated. In this case, where everything was measured by the standardof gold, it was certainly true that the supply of gold received from theislands was very small as compared with the expenses of the expeditionwhich had been sent out.
　　Five hundred Indians, who came to be taught the language, enteringSpain as slaves, were but a poor return for the expenses in which thenation, not to say individuals, had been involved. The people of Spain,therefore, so far as they could show their feeling, were prejudiced againstColumbus and those who surrounded him. They heard with incredulity theaccounts of Cuba which he gave, and were quite indifferent to thegeographical theories by which he wanted to prove that it was a part ofAsia. He believed that the rich mines, which he had really found inHispaniola, were the same as those of Ophir. But after five years ofwaiting, the Spanish public cared but little for such conjectures.
　　As he arrived in Cadiz, he found three vessels, under Nino, about tosail with supplies. These were much needed, for the relief of the precedingyear, sent out in four vessels, had been lost by shipwreck. Columbus wasable to add a letter of his own to the governor of Isabella, begging him toconform to the wishes expressed by the king and queen in the dispatchestaken by Nino. He recommended diligence in exploring the new mines,and that a seaport should be founded in their neighborhood. At the sametime he received a gracious letter from the king and queen, congratulatinghim on his return, and asking him to court as soon as he should recoverfrom his fatigue.
　　Columbus was encouraged by the tone of this letter. He had chosen toact as if he were in disgrace, and dressed himself in humble garb, as if hewere a Franciscan monk, wearing his beard as the brethren of those ordersdo. Perhaps this was in fulfillment of one of those vows which, as weknow, he frequently made in periods of despondency.
　　He went to Burgos, where Ferdinand and Isabella were residing, and on the way made such a display of treasure as he had done on thecelebrated march to Barcelona. Canabao, the fierce cacique of Hispaniola,had died on the voyage, but his brother and nephew still lived, and he tookthem to the king and queen, glittering on state occasions with goldenornaments. One chain of gold which the brother wore, is said to have beenworth more than three thousand dollars of our time. In the processionColumbus carried various masks and other images, made by the Indians infantastic shapes, which attracted the curiosity which in all nationssurrounds the idols of a foreign creed.
　　The sovereigns received him cordially. No reference was made to thecomplaints of the adventurers who had returned. However the sovereignsmay have been impressed by these, they were still confident in Columbusand in his merits, and do not seem to have wished to receive the partialaccounts of his accusers. On his part, he pressed the importance of a newexpedition, in order that they might annex to their dominions the easternpart of Asia. He wanted for this purpose eight ships. He was willing toleave two in the island of Hispaniola, and he hoped that he might have sixfor a voyage of discovery. The sovereigns assented readily to his proposal,and at the time probably intended to carry out his wishes.
　　But Spain had something else to do than to annex Asia or to discoverAmerica; and the fulfillment of the promises made so cordially in 1496,was destined to await the exigencies of European war and diplomacy. Infact, he did not sail upon the third expedition for nearly two years after hisarrival in Cadiz.
　　In the autumn of 1496, an order was given for a sum amounting tonearly a hundred thousand dollars of our time, for the equipment of thepromised squadron. At the same time Columbus was relieved from thenecessity by which he was bound in his original contract, to furnish atleast one-eighth of the money necessary in any of these expeditions. Thisburden was becoming too heavy for him to bear. It was agreed, however,that in the event of any profit resulting to the crown, he should be entitledto one-eighth of it for three ensuing years. This concession must beconsidered as an evidence that he was still in favor. At the end of threeyears both parties were to fall back upon the original contract.
　　But these noble promises, which must have been so encouraging tohim, could not be fulfilled, as it proved. For the exigencies of war, theparticular money which was to be advanced to Columbus was used for therepair of a fortress upon the frontier. Instead of this, Columbus was toreceive his money from the gold brought by Nino on his return. Alas, itproved that a report that he had returned with so much gold, meant that hehad Indian prisoners, from the sale of whom he expected to realize thismoney. And poor Columbus was virtually consigned to building andfitting out his ship from the result of a slave-trade, which was condemnedby Isabella, and which he knew was wretchedly unprofitable.
　　A difficulty almost equally great resulted from the unpopularity of theexpedition. People did not volunteer eagerly, as they had done, the mindsof men being poisoned by the reports of emigrants, who had gone out inhigh hope, and had returned disappointed. It even became necessary tocommute the sentences of criminals who had been sentenced tobanishment, so that they might be transported into the new settlements,where they were to work without pay. Even these expedients did not muchhasten the progress of the expedition.
　　Fonseca, the steady enemy of Columbus, was placed in commandagain at this time. The queen was overwhelmed with affliction by thedeath of Prince Juan; and it seemed to Columbus and his friends that everypetty difficulty was placed in the way of preparation. When at length sixvessels were fitted for sea, it was only after the wear and tear of constantopposition from officials in command; and the expedition, as it proved,was not what Columbus had hoped for, for his purposes.
　　On the thirtieth of May, however, in 1498, he was able to sail. As thiswas the period when the Catholic church celebrates the mystery of theTrinity, he determined and promised that the first land which hediscovered should receive that sacred name. He was well convinced of theexistence of a continent farther south than the islands among which he hadcruised, and intended to strike that continent, as in fact he did, in the outsetof his voyage.
Chapter 10
　　THE THIRD VOYAGE. LETTER TO THE KING AND QUEEN-DISCOVERY OF TRINIDAD AND PARIA--CURIOUSSPECULATION AS TO THE EARTHLY PARADISE--ARRIVAL ATSAN DOMINGO--REBELLIONS AND MUTINIES IN THATISLAND--ROLDAN AND HIS FOLLOWERS--OJEDA AND HISEXPEDITION--ARRIVAL OF BOBADILLA--COLUMBUS APRISONER.
　　For the narrative of the third voyage, we are fortunate in having oncemore a contemporary account by Columbus himself. The more importantpart of his expedition was partly over when he was able to write a carefulletter to the king and queen, which is still preserved. It is lighted up bybursts of the religious enthusiasm which governed him from the beginning.
　　All the more does it show the character of the man, and it impresses uponus, what is never to be forgotten, the mixture in his motive of theenthusiasm of a discoverer, the eager religious feeling which might havequickened a crusader, and the prospects of what we should call businessadventure, by which he tries to conciliate persons whose views are lessexalted than his own.
　　In addressing the king and queen, who are called "very high and verypowerful princes," he reminds them that his undertaking to discover theWest Indies began in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which appointedhim as a messenger for this enterprise. He asks them to remember that hehas always addressed them as with that intention.
　　He reminds them of the seven or eight years in which he was urginghis cause and that it was not enough that he should have showed thereligious side of it, that he was obliged to argue for the temporal view aswell. But their decision, for which he praises them indirectly, was made,he says, in the face of the ridicule of all, excepting the two priests,Marcheza and the Archbishop of Segovia. "And everything will pass awayexcepting the word of God, who spoke so clearly of these lands by thevoice of Isaiah in so many places, affirming that His name should bedivulged to the nations from Spain." He goes on in a review of the earlier voyages, and after this preface gives his account of the voyage of 1498.
　　They sailed from Santa Lucca the thirtieth of May, and went down toMadeira to avoid the hostile squadron of the French who were awaitinghim at Cape St. Vincent. In the history by Herrara, of another generation,this squadron is said to be Portuguese. From Maderia, they passed to theCanary Islands, from which, with one ship and two caravels, he makes hisvoyage, sending the other three vessels to Hispaniola. After making theCape de Verde Islands, he sailed southwest. He had very hot weather foreight days, and in the hope of finding cooler weather changed his course tothe westward.
　　On the thirty-first of July, they made land, which proved to be the capenow known as Galeota, the southeastern cape of the island of Trinidad.
　　The country was as green at this season as the orchards of Valencia inMarch. Passing five leagues farther on, he lands to refit his vessels andtake on board wood and water. The next day a large canoe from the east,with twenty-four men, well armed, appeared.
　　The Admiral wished to communicate with them, but they refused,although he showed them basins and other things which he thought wouldattract them. Failing in this effort, he directed some of the boys of the crewto dance and play a tambourine on the poop of the ship. But thisconciliatory measure had as little success as the other. The natives strungtheir bows, took up their shields and began to shoot the dancers. Columbusstopped the entertainment, therefore, and ordered some balls shot at them,upon which they left him. With the other vessel they opened more friendlycommunication, but when the pilot went to Columbus and asked leave toland with them, they went off, nor were any of them or theirs seen again.
　　On his arrival at Punta de Icacocos, at the southern point of Trinidad,he observes the very strong currents which are always noticed by voyagers,running with as much fury as the Guadalquiver in time of flood. In thenight a terrible wave came from the south, "a hill as high as a ship," so thateven in writing of it he feels fear. But no misfortune came from it.
　　Sailing the next day, he found the water comparatively fresh. He is, infact, in the current produced by the great river Orinoco, which affects, in aremarkable way, all the tide-flow of those seas. Sailing north, he passes different points of the Island of Trinidad, and makes out the Punta de laPena and the mainland. He still observes the freshness of the water and theseverity of the currents.
　　As he sails farther westward, he observes fleets, and he sends hispeople ashore. They find no inhabitants at first, but eventually meet peoplewho tell him the enemy of this country is Paria. Of these he took on boardfour. The king sent him an invitation to land, and numbers of the peoplecame in canoes, many of whom wore gold and pearls. These pearls cameto them from the north. Columbus did not venture to land here because theprovisions of his vessels were already failing him.
　　He describes the people, as of much the same color as those who havebeen observed before, and were ready for intercourse, and of goodappearance. Two prominent persons came to meet them, whom he thoughtto be father and son. The house to which the Spaniards were led was large,with many seats. An entertainment was brought forward, in which therewere many sorts of fruits, and wine of many kinds. It was not made fromgrapes, however, and he supposed it must be made of different sorts offruits.
　　A part of the entertainment was of maize, "which is a sort of cornwhich grows here, with a spike like a spindle." The Indians and theirguests parted with regret that they could not understand each other'sconversation. All this passed in the house of the elder Indian. The youngerthen took them to his house, where a similar collation was served, andthey then returned to the ship, Columbus being in haste to press on, bothon account of his want of supplies and the failure of his own health. Hesays he was still suffering from diseases which he had contracted on thelast voyage, and with blindness. "That then his eyes did not give him asmuch pain, nor were they bloodshot as much as they are now."He describes the people whom they at first visited as of fine stature,easy bearing, with long straight hair, and wearing worked handkerchiefson their heads. At a little distance it seemed as if these were made of silk,like the gauze veil with which the Spaniards were familiar, from Moorishusage.
　　"Others," he says, "wore larger handkerchiefs round their waists, like the panete of the Spaniards." By this phrase he means a full garmenthanging over the knees, either trousers or petticoats. These people werewhiter in color than the Indians he had seen before. They all woresomething at the neck and arms, with many pieces of gold at the neck. Thecanoes were much larger than he had seen, better in build and lighter; theyhad a cabin in the middle for the princes and their women.
　　He made many inquiries for gold, but was told he must go farther on,but he was advised not to go there, because his men would be in danger ofbeing eaten. At first, Columbus supposed that this meant that theinhabitants of the gold-bearing countries were cannibals, but he satisfiedhimself afterwards that the natives meant that they would be eaten bybeasts. With regard to pearls, also, he got some information that he shouldfind them when he had gone farther west and farther north.
　　After these agreeable courtesies, the little fleet raised its anchors andsailed west. Columbus sent one caravel to investigate the river. Findingthat he should not succeed in that direction, and that he had no availableway either north or south, he leaves by the same entrance by which he hadentered. The water is still very fresh, and he is satisfied, correctly as weknow, that these currents were caused by the entrance of the great river ofwater.
　　On the thirteenth of August he leaves the island by what he calls thenorthern mouth of the river [Boca Grande], and begins to strike salt wateragain.
　　At this part of Columbus's letter there is a very curious discussion oftemperature, which shows that this careful observer, even at that time,made out the difference between what are called isothermal curves and thecurves of latitude. He observes that he cannot make any estimate of whathis temperature will be on the American coast from what he has observedon the coast of Africa.
　　He begins now to doubt whether the world is spherical, and is disposedto believe that it is shaped like a pear, and he tries to make a theory of thedifference of temperature from this suggestion. We hardly need to followthis now. We know he was entirely wrong in his conjecture. "Pliny andothers," he says, "thought the world spherical, because on their part of it it was a hemisphere." They were ignorant of the section over which he wassailing, which he considers to be that of a pear cut in the wrong way. Hisdemonstration is, that in similar latitudes to the eastward it is very hot andthe people are black, while at Trinidad or on the mainland it is comfortableand the people are a fine race of men, whiter than any others whom he hasseen in the Indies. The sun in the constellation of the Virgin is over theirheads, and all this comes from their being higher up, nearer the air thanthey would have been had they been on the African coast.
　　With this curious speculation he unites some inferences from Scripture,and goes back to the account in the Book of Genesis and concludes thatthe earthly Paradise was in the distant east. He says, however, that if hecould go on, on the equinoctial line, the air would grow more temperate,with greater changes in the stars and in the water. He does not think itpossible that anyone can go to the extreme height of the mountain wherethe earthly Paradise is to be found, for no one is to be permitted to enterthere but by the will of God, but he believes that in this voyage he isapproaching it.
　　Any reader who is interested in this curious speculation of Columbusshould refer to the "Divina Comedia" of Dante, where Dante himself helda somewhat similar view, and describes his entrance into the terrestrialparadise under the guidance of Beatrice. It is a rather curious fact, whichdiscoverers of the last three centuries have established, that the point, onthis world, which is opposite the city of Jerusalem, where all theseenthusiasts supposed the terrestrial Paradise would be found, is in truth inthe Pacific Ocean not far from Pitcairn's Island, in the very region whereso many voyagers have thought that they found the climate and soil whichto the terrestrial Paradise belong.
　　Columbus expresses his dissent from the recent theory, which was thatof Dante, supposing that the earthly Paradise was at the top of a sharpmountain. On the other hand, he supposes that this mountain rises gently,but yet that no person can go to the top.
　　This is his curious "excursion," made, perhaps, because Columbus hadthe time to write it.
　　The journal now recurs to more earthly affairs. Passing out from the mouth of the "Dragon," he found the sea running westward and the windgentle. He notices that the waters are swept westward as the trade windsare. In this way he accounts for there being so many islands in that part ofthe earth, the mainland having been eaten away by the constant flow of thewaves. He thinks their very shape indicates this, they being narrow fromnorth to south and longer from east to west. Although some of the islandsdiffer in this, special reasons maybe given for the difference. He brings inmany of the old authorities to show, what we now know to be entirelyfalse, that there is much more land than water on the surface of the globe.
　　All this curious speculation as to the make-up of the world encourageshim to beg their Highnesses to go on with the noble work which they havebegun. He explains to them that he plants the cross on every cape andproclaims the sovereignty of their Majesties and of the Christian religion.
　　He prays that this may continue. The only objection to it is the expense,but Columbus begs their Highnesses to remember how much more moneyis spent for the mere formalities of the elegancies of the court. He begsthem to consider the credit attaching to plans of discovery and quickenstheir ambition by reference to the efforts of the princes of Portugal.
　　This letter closes by the expression of his determination to go on withhis three ships for further discoveries.
　　This letter was written from San Domingo on the eighth of October.
　　He had already made the great discovery of the mainland of SouthAmerica, though he did not yet know that he had touched the continent.
　　He had intentionally gone farther south than before, and had thereforestruck the island of Trinidad, to which, as he had promised, he gave thename which it still bears. A sailor first saw the summits of three mountains,and gave the cry of land. As the ships approached, it was seen that thesethree mountains were united at the base. Columbus was delighted by theomen, as he regarded it, which thus connected his discovery with the vowwhich he had made on Trinity Sunday.
　　As the reader has seen, he first passed between this great island andthe mainland. The open gulf there described is now known as the Gulf ofParia. The observation which he made as to the freshness of the watercaused by the flow of the Orinoco, has been made by all navigators since.
　　It may be said that he was then really in the mouth of the Orinoco.
　　Young readers, at least, will be specially interested to remember that itwas in this region that Robinson Crusoe's island was placed by Defoe; andif they will carefully read his life they will find discussions there of theflow of the "great River Orinoco." Crossing this gulf, Columbus hadtouched upon the coast of Paria, and thus became the first discoverer ofSouth America. It is determined, by careful geographers, that thediscovery of the continent of North America, had been made before thistime by the Cabots, sailing under the orders of England.
　　Columbus was greatly encouraged by the discovery of fine pearlsamong the natives of Paria. Here he found one more proof that he was onthe eastern coast of Asia, from which coast pearls had been brought by thecaravans on which, till now, Europe had depended for its Asiatic supplies.
　　He gave the name "Gulf of Pearls" to the estuary which makes the mouthof the River Paria.
　　He would gladly have spent more time in exploring this region; but thesea-stores of his vessel were exhausted, he was suffering from a difficultywith his eyes, caused by overwatching, and was also a cripple from gout.
　　He resisted the temptation, therefore, to make further explorations on thecoast of Paria, and passed westward and northwestward. He made manydiscoveries of islands in the Caribbean Sea as he went northwest, and hearrived at the colony of San Domingo, on the thirtieth of August. He hadhoped for rest after his difficult voyage; but he found the island inconfusion which seemed hopeless.
　　His brother Bartholomew, from all the accounts we have, would seemto have administered its affairs with justice and decision; but the problemhe had in hand was one which could not be solved so as to satisfy all thecritics. Close around him he had a body of adventurers, almost all ofwhom were nothing but adventurers. With the help of these adventurers,he had to repress Indian hostilities, and to keep in order the natives whohad been insulted and injured in every conceivable way by the settlers.
　　He was expected to send home gold to Spain with every vessel; heknew perfectly well that Spain was clamoring with indignation because hedid not succeed in doing so. But on the island itself he had to meet, from day to day, conspiracies of Spaniards and what are called insurrections ofnatives. These insurrections consisted simply in their assertion of suchrights as they had to the beautiful land which the Spaniards were takingaway from them.
　　At the moment when Columbus landed, there was an instant oftranquility. But the natives, whom he remembered only six years ago as sohappy and cheerful and hospitable, had fled as far as they could. Theyshowed in every way their distrust of those who were trying to becometheir masters. On the other hand, soldiers and emigrants were eager toleave the island if they could. They were near starvation, or if they did notstarve they were using food to which they were not accustomed. Theeagerness with which, in 1493, men had wished to rush to this land ofpromise, was succeeded by an equal eagerness, in 1498, to go home fromit.
　　As soon as he arrived, Columbus issued a proclamation, approving ofthe measures of his brother in his absence, and denouncing the rebels withwhom Bartholomew had been contending. He found the difficulties whichsurrounded him were of the most serious character. He had not forceenough to take up arms against the rebels of different names. He offeredpardon to them in the name of the sovereigns, and that they refused.
　　Columbus was obliged, in order to maintain any show of authority, topropose to the sovereigns that they should arbitrate between his brotherand Roldan, who was the chief of the rebel party. He called to the minds ofFerdinand and Isabella his own eager desire to return to San Domingosooner, and ascribed the difficulties which had arisen, in large measure, tohis long delay. He said he should send home the more worthless men byevery ship.
　　He asked that preachers might be sent out to convert the Indians and toreform the dissolute Spaniards. He asked for officers of revenue, and for alearned judge. He begged at the same time that, for two years longer, thecolony might be permitted to employ the Indians as slaves, but hepromised they would only use such as they captured in war andinsurrections.
　　By the same vessel the rebels sent out letters charging Columbus and his brother with the grossest oppression and injustice. All these letterscame to court by one messenger. Columbus was then left to manage asbest he could, in the months which must pass, before he could receive ananswer.
　　He was not wholly without success. That is to say, no actual battlestook place between the parties before the answer returned. But when itreturned, it proved to be written by his worst enemy, Fonseca. It was agenuine Spanish answer to a letter which required immediate decision.
　　That is to say, Columbus was simply told that the whole matter must beleft in suspense till the sovereigns could make such an investigation asthey wished. The hope, therefore, of some help from home was whollydisappointed.
　　Roldan, the chief of the rebels, was encouraged by this news to takehigher ground than even he had ventured on before. He now proposed thathe should send fifteen of his company to Spain, also that those whoremained should not only be pardoned, but should have lands grantedthem; third, that a public proclamation should be made that all chargesagainst him had been false; and fourth, that he should hold the office ofchief judge, which he had held before the rebellion.
　　Columbus was obliged to accede to terms as insolent as these, and therebels even added a stipulation, that if he should fail in fulfilling either ofthese articles, they might compel him to comply, by force or any othermeans. Thus was he hampered in the very position where, by the king'sorders, and indeed, one would say, by the right of discovery, he was thesupreme master.
　　For himself, he determined to return with Bartholomew to Spain, andhe made some preparations to do so. But at this time he learned, from thewestern part of the island, that four strange ships had arrived there. Hecould not feel that it was safe to leave the colony in such a condition oflatent rebellion as he knew it to be in; he wrote again to the sovereigns,and said directly that his capitulation with the rebels had been extorted byforce, and that he did not consider that the sovereigns, or that he himself,were bound by it. He pressed some of the requests which he had madebefore, and asked that his son Diego, who was no longer a boy, might be sent out to him.
　　It proved that the ships which had arrived at the west of the islandwere under the command of Ojeda, who will be remembered as a boldcavalier in the adventures of the second voyage. Acting under a generalpermission which had been given for private adventurers, Ojeda hadbrought out this squadron, and, when Columbus communicated with him,was engaged in cutting dye-woods and shipping slaves.
　　Columbus sent Roldan, who had been the head of the rebels, to inquireon what ground he was there. Ojeda produced a license signed by Fonseca,authorizing him to sail on a voyage of discovery. It proved thatColumbus's letters describing the pearls of Paria had awakened curiosityand enthusiasm, and, while the crown had passed them by so coldly, Ojedaand a body of adventurers had obtained a license and had fitted out fourships for adventure. The special interest of this voyage for us, is that it issupposed that Vespucci, a Florentine merchant, made at this time his firstexpedition to America.
　　Vespucci was not a professional seaman, but he was interested ingeography, and had made many voyages before this time. So soon as itwas announced that Ojeda was on the coast, the rebels of San Domingoselected him as a new leader. He announced to Columbus, rather coolly,that he could probably redress the grievances which these men had. Heundoubtedly knew that he had the protection of Fonseca at home.
　　Fortunately for Columbus, Roldan did not mean to give up his place as"leader of the opposition;" and it may be said that the difficulty betweenthe two was a certain advantage to Columbus in maintaining his authority.
　　Meanwhile, all wishes on his part to continue his discoveries werefutile, while he was engaged in the almost hopeless duty of reconcilingvarious adventurers and conciliating people who had no interests but theirown. In Spain, his enemies were doing everything in their power toundermine his reputation. His statements were read more and more coldly,and at last, on the twenty-first and twenty-sixth of May, 1499, letters werewritten to him instructing him to deliver into the hands of Bobadilla, a newcommandant, all the fortresses any ships, houses and other royal propertywhich he held, and to give faith and obedience to any instructions given by Bobadilla. That is to say, Bobadilla was sent out as a commander who wasto take precedence of every one on the spot. He was an officer of the royalhousehold, probably a favorite at court, and was selected for the difficulttask of reconciling all difficulties, and bringing the new colony into loyalallegiance to the crown. He sailed for San Domingo in the middle of July,1500, and arrived on the twenty-third of August.
　　On his arrival, he found that Columbus and his brother Bartholomewwere both absent from the city, being in fact engaged in efforts to set whatmay be called the provinces in order. The young Diego Columbus wascommander in their absence. The morning after he arrived, Bobadillaattended mass, and then, with the people assembled around the door of thechurch, he directed that his commission should be read. He was toinvestigate the rebellion, he was to seize the persons of delinquents andpunish them with rigor, and he was to command the Admiral to assist himin these duties.
　　He then bade Diego surrender to him certain prisoners, and orderedthat their accusers should appear before him. To this Diego replied that hisbrother held superior powers to any which Bobadilla could possess; heasked for a copy of the commission, which was declined, until Columbushimself should arrive. Bobadilla then took the oath of office, and produced,for the first time, the order which has been described above, orderingColumbus to deliver up all the royal property. He won the popular favorby reading an order which directed him to pay all arrears of wages due toall persons in the royal service.
　　But when he came before the fortress, he found that the commanderdeclined to surrender it. He said he held the fortress for the king by thecommand of the Admiral, and would not deliver it until he should arrive.
　　Bobadilla, however, "assailed the portal;" that is to say, he broke open thegate. No one offered any opposition, and the commander and his first-lieutenant were taken prisoners. He went farther, taking up his residence inColumbus's house, and seizing his papers. So soon as Columbus receivedaccount of Bobadilla's arrival, he wrote to him in careful terms,welcoming him to the island. He cautioned him against precipitatemeasures, told him that he himself was on the point of going to Spain, and that he would soon leave him in command, with everything explained.
　　Bobadilla gave no answer to these letters; and when Columbus receivedfrom the sovereigns the letter of the twenty-sixth of May, he made nolonger any hesitation, but reported in person at the city of San Domingo.
　　He traveled without guards or retinue, but Bobadilla had made hostilepreparations, as if Columbus meant to come with military force. Columbuspreferred to show his own loyalty to the crown and to remove suspicion.
　　But no sooner did he arrive in the city than Bobadilla gave orders that heshould be put in irons and confined in the fortress. Up to this moment,Bobadilla had been sustained by the popular favor of those around him;but the indignity, of placing chains upon Columbus, seems to have made achange in the fickle impressions of the little town.
　　Columbus, himself, behaved with magnanimity, and made nocomplaint. Bobadilla asked him to bid his brother return to San Domingo,and he complied. He begged his brother to submit to the authority of thesovereigns, and Bartholomew immediately did so. On his arrival in SanDomingo he was also put in irons, as his brother Diego had been, and wasconfined on board a caravel. As soon as a set of charges could be made upto send to Spain with Columbus, the vessels, with the prisoners, set sail.
　　The master of the caravel, Martin, was profoundly grieved by thesevere treatment to which the great navigator was subjected. He wouldgladly have taken off his irons, but Columbus would not consent. "I wascommanded by the king and queen," he said, "to submit to whateverBobadilla should order in their name. He has put these chains on me bytheir authority. I will wear them until the king and queen bid me take themoff. I will preserve them afterwards as relics and memorials of the rewardof my services." His son, Fernando, who tells this story, says that he did so,that they were always hanging in his cabinet, and that he asked that theymight be buried with him when he died.
　　From this expression of Fernando Columbus, there has arisen, whatMr. Harrisse calls, a "pure legend," that the chains were placed in thecoffin of Columbus. Mr. Harrisse shows good reason for thinking that thiswas not so. "Although disposed to believe that, in a moment of justindignation, Columbus expressed the wish that these tokens of the ingratitude of which he had been the victim should be buried, with him, Ido not believe that they were ever placed in his coffin."It will thus be seen that the third voyage added to the knowledge of thecivilized world the information which Columbus had gained regardingParia and the island of Trinidad. For other purposes of discovery, it wasfruitless.
Chapter 11
　　SPAIN, 1500, 1501. A CORDIAL RECEPTION IN SPAIN-COLUMBUS FAVORABLY RECEIVED AT COURT--NEWINTEREST IN GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY--HIS PLANS FORTHE REDEMPTION OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE-PREPARATIONS FOR A FOURTH EXPEDITION.
　　Columbus was right in insisting on wearing his chains. They becamerather an ornament than a disgrace. So soon as it was announced in Spainthat the great discoverer had been so treated by Bobadilla, a wave ofpopular indignation swept through the people and reached the court.
　　Ferdinand and Isabella, themselves, had never intended to give suchpowers to their favorite, that he should disgrace a man so much hissuperior.
　　They instantly sent orders to Cadiz that Columbus should be receivedwith all honor. So soon as he arrived he had been able to send, to DonaJuana de la Torre, a lady high in favor at court, a private letter, in which hemade a proud defense of himself. This letter is still preserved, and it is ofthe first interest, as showing his own character, and as showing what werethe real hardships which he had undergone.
　　The Lady Juana read this letter to Isabella. Her own indignation, whichprobably had been kindled by the general news that Columbus had beenchained, rose to the highest. She received him, therefore, when he arrivedat court, with all the more cordiality. Ferdinand was either obliged topretend to join with her in her indignation, or he had really felt distressedby the behavior of his subordinate.
　　They did not wait for any documents from Bobadilla. As has been said,they wrote cordially to Columbus; they also ordered that two thousandducats should be paid him for his expenses, and they bade him appear atGrenada at court. He did appear there on the seventeenth of December,attended by an honorable retinue, and in the proper costume of agentleman in favor with the king and queen.
　　When the queen met him she was moved to tears, and Columbus,finding himself so kindly received, threw himself upon his knees. For some time he could not express himself except by tears and sobs. Hissovereigns raised him from the ground and encouraged him by graciouswords. So soon as he recovered his self-possession he made such anaddress as he had occasion to make more than once in his life, and showedthe eloquence which is possible to a man of affairs. He could well boast ofhis loyalty to the Spanish crown; and he might well say that, whether hewere or were not experienced in government, he had been surrounded bysuch difficulties in administration as hardly any other man had had to gothrough. But really, it was hardly necessary that he should vindicatehimself.
　　The stupidity of his enemies, had injured their cause more than anycarelessness of Columbus could have done. The sovereigns expressed theirindignation at Bobadilla's proceedings, and, indeed, declared at once thathe should be dismissed from command. They never took any public noticeof the charges which he had sent home; on the other hand, they receivedColumbus with dignity and favor, and assured him that he should bereinstated in all his privileges.
　　The time at which he arrived was, in a certain sense, favorable for hisfuture plans, so far as he had formed any. On the other hand, the conditionof affairs was wholly changed from what it was when he began his greatdiscoveries, and the changes were in some degree unfavorable. Vasco daGama had succeeded in the great enterprise by which he had doubled theCape of Good Hope, had arrived at the Indies by the route of the Indianocean, and his squadron had successfully returned.
　　This great adventure, with the commercial and other results whichwould certainly follow it, had quickened the mind of all Europe, as thediscovery by Columbus had quickened it eight years before. So far, anyplan for the discoveries over which Columbus was always brooding,would be favorably received. But, on the other hand, in eight years sincethe first voyage, a large body of skillful adventurers had entered upon thecareer which then no one chose to share with him. The Pinzon brotherswere among these; Ojeda, already known to the reader, was another; andVespucci, as the reader knows, an intelligent and wise student, hadengaged himself in such discoveries.
　　The rumors of the voyages of the Cabots, much farther north thanthose made by Columbus, had gone through all Europe. In a word,Columbus was now only one of several skilful pilots and voyagers, and hisplans were to be considered side by side with those which were comingforward almost every day, for new discoveries, either by the eastern route,of which Vasco da Gama had shown the practicability, or by the westernroute, which Columbus himself had first essayed.
　　It is to be remembered, as well, that Columbus was now an old man,and, whatever were his successes as a discoverer, he had not succeeded asa commander. There might have been reasons for his failure; but failure isfailure, and men do not accord to an unsuccessful leader the honors whichthey are ready to give to a successful discoverer. When, therefore, heoffered his new plans at court, he should have been well aware that theycould not be received, as if he were the only one who could makesuggestions. Probably he was aware of this. He was also obliged, whetherhe would or would not, to give up the idea that he was to be thecommander of the regions which he discovered.
　　It had been easy enough to grant him this command before there wasso much as an inch of land known, over which it would make him themaster. But now that it was known that large islands, and probably a partof the continent of Asia, were to be submitted to his sway if he had it,there was every reason why the sovereigns should be unwilling tomaintain for him the broad rights which they had been willing to givewhen a scratch of the pen was all that was needful to give them.
　　Bobadilla was recalled; so far well. But neither Ferdinand nor Isabellachose to place Columbus again in his command. They did choose DonNicola Ovando, a younger man, to take the place of Bobadilla, to send himhome, and to take the charge of the colony.
　　From the colony itself, the worst accounts were received. If Columbusand his brother had failed, Bobadilla had failed more disgracefully. Indeed,he had begun by the policy of King Log, as an improvement on the policyof King Stork. He had favored all rebels, he had pardoned them, he hadeven paid them for the time which they had spent in rebellion; and thenatural result was utter disorder and license.
　　It does not appear that he was a bad man; he was a man wholly unusedto command; he was an imprudent man, and was weak. He hadcompromised the crown by the easy terms on which he had rented andsold estates; he had been obliged, in order to maintain the revenue, towork the natives with more severity than ever. He knew very well that thesystem, under which he was working could not last long. One of hismaxims was, "Do the best with your time," and he was constantlysacrificing future advantages for such present results as he could achieve.
　　The Indians, who had been treated badly enough before, were worsetreated now. And during his short administration, if it may be called anadministration,--during the time when he was nominally at the head ofaffairs--he was reducing the island to lower and lower depths. He didsucceed in obtaining a large product of gold, but the abuses of hisgovernment were not atoned for by such remittances. Worst of all, thewrongs of the natives touched the sensitiveness of Isabella, and she waseager that his successor should be appointed, and should sail, to put an endto these calamities.
　　The preparations which were made for Ovando's expedition, for therecall of Bobadilla, and for a reform, if it were possible, in theadministration of the colony, all set back any preparations for a newexpedition of discovery on the part of Columbus. He was not forgotten;his accounts were to be examined and any deficiencies made up to him; hewas to receive the arrears of his revenue; he was permitted to have anagent who should see that he received his share in future. To this agencyhe appointed Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, and the sovereigns gave ordersthat this agent should be treated with respect.
　　Other preparations were made, so that Ovando might arrive with astrong reinforcement for the colony. He sailed with thirty ships, the size ofthese vessels ranging from one hundred and fifty Spanish toneles to onebark of twenty-five. It will be remembered that the Spanish tonele is largerby about ten per cent than our English ton. Twenty-five hundred personsembarked as colonists in the vessels, and, for the first time, men took theirfamilies with them.
　　Everything was done to give dignity to the appointment of Ovando, and it was hoped that by sending out families of respectable character,who were to be distributed in four towns, there might be a better basisgiven to the settlement. This measure had been insisted upon byColumbus.
　　This fleet put to sea on the thirteenth of February, 1502. It met, at thevery outset, a terrible storm, and one hundred and twenty of the passengerswere lost by the foundering of a ship. The impression was at first given inSpain that the whole fleet had been lost; but this proved to be a mistake.
　　The others assembled at the Canaries, and arrived in San Domingo on thefifteenth of April.
　　Columbus himself never lost confidence in his own star. He was surethat he was divinely sent, and that his mission was to open the way to theIndies, for the religious advancement of mankind. If Vasco de Gama haddiscovered a shorter way than men knew before, Christopher Columbusshould discover one shorter still, and this discovery should tend to theglory of God. It seemed to him that the simplest way in which he couldmake men understand this, was to show that the Holy Sepulchre might,now and thus, be recovered from the infidel.
　　Far from urging geographical curiosity as an object, he proposed ratherthe recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. That is, there was to be a new and lastcrusade, and the money for this enterprise was to be furnished from thegold of the farthest East. He was close at the door of this farthest East; andas has been said, he believed that Cuba was the Ophir of Solomon, and hesupposed, that a very little farther voyaging would open all the treasureswhich Marco Polo had described, and would bring the territory, which hadmade the Great Khan so rich, into the possession of the king of Spain.
　　He showed to Ferdinand and Isabella that, if they would once more lethim go forward, on the adventure which had been checked untimely by thecruelty of Bobadilla, this time they would have wealth which would placethem at the head of the Christian sovereigns of the world.
　　While he was inactive at Seville, and the great squadron was beingprepared which Ovando was to command, he wrote what is known as the"Book of Prophecies," in which he attempted to convince the Catholickings of the necessity of carrying forward the enterprise which he proposed. He urged haste, because he believed the world was only to last ahundred and fifty-five years longer; and, with so much before them to bedone, it was necessary that they should begin.
　　He remembered an old vow that he had undertaken, that, within sevenyears of the time of his discovery, he would furnish fifty thousand footsoldiers and five thousand horsemen for the recovery of the HolySepulchre. He now arranged in order prophecies from the Holy Scripture,passages from the writings of the Fathers, and whatever else suggesteditself, mystical and hopeful, as to the success of an enterprise by which thenew world could be used for the conversion of the Gentiles and for theimprovement of the Christianity of the old world.
　　He had the assistance of a Carthusian monk, who seems to have beenskilled in literary work, and the two arranged these passages in order,illustrated them with poetry, and collected them into a manuscript volumewhich was sent to the sovereigns.
　　Columbus accompanied the Book of Prophecies with one of his ownlong letters, written with the utmost fervor. In this letter he begins, as Peterthe Hermit might do, by urging the sovereigns to set on foot a crusade. Ifthey are tempted to consider his advice extravagant, he asks them how hisfirst scheme of discovery was treated. He shows that, as heaven hadchosen him to discover the new world, heaven has also chosen him todiscover the Holy Sepulchre. God himself had opened his eyes that hemight make the great discovery, which has reflected such honor upon themand theirs.
　　"If his hopes had been answered," says a Catholic writer, the modernquestion of holy places, which is the Gordian knot of the religious politicsof the future, would have been solved long ago by the gold of the newworld, or would have been cut by the sword of its discoverer. We shouldnot have seen nations which are separated from the Roman communion,both Protestant and Pantheistic governments, coming audaciously intocontest for privileges, which, by the rights of old possession, by the rightsof martyrdom and chivalry, belong to the Holy Catholic Church, theApostolic Church, the Roman Church, and after her to France, her oldestdaughter."Columbus now supposed that the share of the western wealth whichwould belong to him would be sufficient for him to equip and arm ahundred thousand infantry and ten thousand horsemen.
　　At the moment when the Christian hero made this pious calculation hehad not enough of this revenue with which to buy a cloak," This is theremark of the enthusiastic biographer from whom we have already quoted.
　　It is not literally true, but it is true that Columbus was living in themost modest way at the time when he was pressing his ambitious schemesupon the court. At the same time, he wrote a poem with which heundertook to press the same great enterprise upon his readers. It was called"The End of Man," "Memorare novissima tua, et non peccabis ineternum."In his letter to the king and queen he says, "Animated as by a heavenlyfire, I came to your Highnesses; all who heard of my enterprise mocked it;all the sciences I had acquired profited me as nothing; seven years did Ipass in your royal court, disputing the case with persons of great authorityand learned in all the arts, and in the end they decided that all was vain. Inyour Highnesses alone remained faith and constancy. Who will doubt thatthis light was from the Holy Scriptures, illumining you, as well as myself,with rays of marvellous brightness."It is probable that the king and queen were, to a certain extent,influenced by his enthusiasm. It is certain that they knew that somethingwas due to their reputation and to his success. By whatever motive led,they encouraged him with hopes that he might be sent forward again, thistime, not as commander of a colony, but as a discoverer. Discovery wasindeed the business which he understood, and to which alone he shouldever have been commissioned.
　　It is to be remembered that the language of crusaders was not then amatter of antiquity, and was not used as if it alluded to bygone affairs. Itwas but a few years since the Saracens had been driven out of Spain, andall men regarded them as being the enemies of Christianity and of Europe,who could not be neglected. More than this, Spain was beginning toreceive very large and important revenues from the islands.
　　It is said that the annual revenues from Hispaniola already amounted to twelve millions of our dollars. It was not unnatural that the king andqueen, willing to throw off the disgrace which they had incurred fromBobadilla's cruelty, should not only send Ovando to replace him, butshould, though in an humble fashion, give to Columbus an opportunity toshow that his plans were not chimerical.
Chapter 12
　　FOURTH VOYAGE. THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN FOR THEVOYAGE--HE IS TO GO TO THE MAINLAND OF THE INDIES--ASHORT PASSAGE--OVANDO FORBIDS THE ENTRANCE OFCOLUMBUS INTO HARBOR--BOBADILLA'S SQUADRON ANDITS FATE--COLUMBUS SAILS WESTWARD--DISCOVERSHONDURAS, AND COASTS ALONG ITS SHORES--THE SEARCHFOR GOLD--COLONY ATTEMPTED AND ABANDONED--THEVESSELS BECOME UNSEAWORTHY--REFUGE AT JAMAICA-MUTINY LED BY THE BROTHERS PORRAS--MESSAGES TOSAN DOMINGO--THE ECLIPSE--ARRIVAL OF RELIEF-COLUMBUS RETURNS TO SAN DOMINGO, AND TO SPAIN.
　　It seems a pity now that, after his third voyage, Columbus did notremain in Spain and enjoy, as an old man could, the honors which he hadearned and the respect which now waited upon him. Had this been so, theworld would have been spared the mortification which attends the thoughtthat the old man to whom it owes so much suffered almost everything inone last effort, failed in that effort, and died with the mortification offailure. But it is to be remembered that Columbus was not a man tocultivate the love of leisure. He had no love of leisure to cultivate. His lifehad been an active one. He had attempted the solution of a certain problemwhich he had not solved, and every day of leisure, even every occasion ofeffort and every word of flattery, must have quickened in him new wishesto take the prize which seemed so near, and to achieve the possibilitywhich had thus far eluded him.
　　From time to time, therefore, he had addressed new memorials to thesovereigns proposing a new expedition; and at last, by an instructionwhich is dated on the fourteenth of March, in the year 1502, a fourthvoyage was set on foot at the charge of the king and queen,--an instructionnot to stop at Hispaniola, but, for the saving of time, to pass by that island.
　　This is a graceful way of intimating to him that he is not to mix himself upwith the rights and wrongs of the new settlement.
　　The letter goes on to say, that the sovereigns have communicated with the King of Portugal, and that they have explained to him that Columbus ispressing his discoveries at the west. and will not interfere with those of thePortuguese in the east. He is instructed to regard the Portuguese explorersas his friends, and to make no quarrel with them. He is instructed to takewith him his sons, Fernando and Diego. This is probably at his request.
　　The prime object of the instruction is still to strike the mainland of theIndies. All the instructions are, "You will make a direct voyage, if theweather does not prevent you, for discovering the islands and the mainlandof the Indies in that part which belongs to us." He is to take possession ofthese islands and of this mainland, and to inform the sovereigns in regardto his discoveries, and the experience of former voyages has taught themthat great care must be taken to avoid private speculation in "gold, silver,pearls, precious stones, spices and other things of different quality." Forthis purpose special instructions are given.
　　Of this voyage we have Columbus's own official account.
　　There were four vessels, three of which were rated as caravels. Thefourth was very small. The chief vessel was commanded by Diego Tristan;the second, the Santiago, by Francisco de Porras; the third, the Viscaina(Biscayan), by Bartholomew de Fiesco; and the little Gallician by Pedrode Torreros. None of these vessels, as the reader will see, was ever toreturn to Spain. From de Porras and his brother, Columbus and theexpedition were to receive disastrous blows.
　　It must be observed that he is once more in his proper position of adiscoverer. He has no government or other charge of colonies entrusted tohim. His brother Bartholomew and his youngest son Fernando, sail withhim.
　　The little squadron sailed from the bay of Cadiz on the eleventh ofMay, 1502. They touched at Sicilla,--a little port on the coast of Morocco,-to relieve its people, a Portuguese garrison, who had been besieged by theMoors. But finding them out of danger, Columbus went at once to theGrand Canary island, and had a favorable passage.
　　From the Grand Canary to the island which he calls "the first island ofthe Indies," and which he named Martinino, his voyage was onlyseventeen days long. This island was either the St. Lucia or the Martinique of today. Hence he passed to Dominica, and thence crossed to SanDomingo, to make repairs, as he said. For, as has been said, he had beenespecially ordered not to interfere in the affairs of the settlement.
　　He did not disobey his orders. He says distinctly that he intended topass along the southern shore of San Domingo, and thence take adeparture for the continent. But he says, that his principal vessel sailedvery ill--could not carry much canvas, and delayed the rest of the squadron.
　　This weakness must have increased after the voyage across the ocean. Forthis reason he hoped to exchange it for another ship at San Domingo.
　　But he did not enter the harbor. He sent a letter to Ovando, now thegovernor, and asked his permission. He added, to the request he made, astatement that a tempest was at hand which he did not like to meet in theoffing. Ovando, however, refused any permission to enter. He was, in fact,just dispatching a fleet to Spain, with Bobadilla, Columbus's old enemy,whom Ovando had replaced in his turn.
　　Columbus, in an eager wish to be of use, by a returning messengerbegged Ovando to delay this fleet till the gale had passed. But the seamenridiculed him and his gale, and begged Ovando to send the fleet home.
　　He did so. Bobadilla and his fleet put to sea. In ten days a West Indiahurricane struck them. The ship on which Columbus's enemies, Bobadillaand Roldan, sailed, was sunk with them and the gold accumulated foryears. Of the whole fleet, only one vessel, called the weakest of all,reached Spain. This ship carried four thousand pieces of gold, which werethe property of the Admiral. Columbus's own little squadron, meanwhile-thanks probably to the seamanship of himself and his brother--weatheredthe storm, and he found refuge in the harbor which he had himself named"the beautiful," El Hermoso, in the western part of San Domingo.
　　Another storm delayed him at a port which he called Port Brasil. Theword Brasil was the name which the Spaniards gave to the red log-wood,so valuable in dyeing, and various places received that name, where thiswood was found. The name is derived from "Brasas,"--coals,--in allusion,probably, to the bright red color of the dye.
　　Sailing from this place, on Saturday, the sixteenth of June, they madesight of the island of Jamaica, but he pressed on without making any examination of the country, for four days sailing west and south-west. Hethen changed his course, and sailed for two days to the northwest andagain two days to the north.
　　On Sunday, the twenty fourth of July, they saw land. This was the keynow known as Cuyago, and they were at last close upon the mainland.
　　After exploring this island they sailed again on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh, southwest and quarter southwest about ninety miles, and againthey saw land, which is supposed to be the island of Guanaja or Bonacca,near the coast of Honduras.
　　The Indians on this island had some gold and some pearls. They hadseen whites before. Columbus calls them men of good stature. Sailingfrom this island, he struck the mainland near Truxillo, about ten leaguesfrom the island of Guanaja. He soon found the harbor, which we still knowas the harbor of Truxillo, and from this point Columbus began a carefulinvestigation of the coast.
　　He observed, what all navigators have since observed, the lack ofharbors. He passed along as far as the river now known as the Tinto, wherehe took possession in the name of the sovereigns, calling this river theRiver of Possession. He found the natives savage, and the country of littleaccount for his purposes. Still passing southward, he passed what we callthe Mosquito Coast, to which he found the natives gave the name ofCariay.
　　These people were well disposed and willing to treat with them. Theyhad some cotton, they had some gold. They wore very little clothing, andthey painted their bodies, as most of the natives of the islands had done.
　　He saw what he thought to be pigs and large mountain cats.
　　Still passing southward, running into such bays or other harbors asthey found, he entered the "Admiral's Bay," in a country which had thename of Cerabaro, or Zerabora. Here an Indian brought a plate of gold andsome other pieces of gold, and Columbus was, encouraged in his hopes offinding more.
　　The natives told him that if he would keep on he would find anotherbay which they called Arburarno, which is supposed to be the LagunaChiriqui. They said the people, of that country, lived in the mountains.
　　Here Columbus noticed the fact,--one which has given to philologists oneof their central difficulties for four hundred years since,--that as he passedfrom one point to another of the American shores, the Indians did notunderstand each other's language. "Every ten or twenty leagues they didnot understand each other." In entering the river Veragua, the Indiansappeared armed with lances and arrows, some of them having gold also.
　　Here, also, the people did not live upon the shore, but two or three leaguesback in the interior, and they only came to the sea by their canoes upon therivers.
　　The next province was then called Cobraba, but Columbus made nolanding for want of a proper harbor. All his courses since he struck thecontinent had been in a southeasterly direction. That an expedition forwestward discovery should be sailing eastward, seemed in itself acontradiction. What irritated the crews still more was, that the windseemed always against them.
　　From the second to the ninth of November, 1502, the little fleet lay atanchor in the spacious harbor, which he called Puerto Bello, "the beautifulharbor." It is still known by that name. A considerable Spanish city grewup there, which became well known to the world in the last century by theattack upon it by the English in the years 1739 and 1742.
　　The formation of the coast compelled them to pass eastward as theywent on. But the currents of the Gulf flow in the opposite direction. Herethere were steady winds from the east and the northeast. The ships werepierced by the teredo, which eats through thick timbers, and is sodestructive that the seamen of later times have learned to sheath the hullsof their vessels with copper.
　　The seamen thought that they were under the malign influence of someadverse spell. And after a month Columbus gave way to theirremonstrances, and abandoned his search for a channel to India. He wasthe more ready to do this because he was satisfied that the land by whichhe lay was connected with the coast which other Spaniards had alreadydiscovered. He therefore sailed westward again, retracing his course toexplore the gold mines of Veragua.
　　But the winds could change as quickly as his purposes, and now for nearly a fortnight they had to fight a tropical tempest. At one moment theymet with a water-spout, which seemed to advance to them directly. Thesailors, despairing of human help, shouted passages from St. John, and totheir efficacy ascribed their escape. It was not until the seventeenth thatthey found themselves safely in harbor. He gave to the whole coast thename of "the coast of contrasts," to preserve the memory of hisdisappointments.
　　The natives proved friendly, as he had found them before; but they toldhim that he would find no more gold upon the coast; that the mines werein the country of the Veragua. It was, on the tenth day of January that, aftersome delay, Columbus entered again the river of that name.
　　The people told him where he should find the mines, and were allready to send guides with his own people to point them out. He gave tothis river, the name of the River of Belen, and to the port in which heanchored he gave the name of Santa Maria de Belen, or Bethlehem.
　　His men discovered the mines, so called, at a distance of eight leaguesfrom the port. The country between was difficult, being mountainous andcrossed by many streams. They were obliged to pass the river of Veraguathirty-nine times. The Indians themselves were dexterous in taking outgold. Columbus added to their number seventy-five men.
　　In one day's work, they obtained "two or three castellianos" withoutmuch difficulty. A castelliano was a gold coin of the time, and the meaningof the text is probably that each man obtained this amount. It was one ofthe "placers," such as have since proved so productive in different parts ofthe world.
　　Columbus satisfied himself that there was a much larger populationinland. He learned from the Indians that the cacique, as he always calls thechief of these tribes, was a most important monarch in that region. Hishouses were larger than others, built handsomely of wood, covered withpalm leaves.
　　The product of all the gold collected thus far is stated precisely in theofficial register. There were two hundred and twenty pieces of gold, largeand small. Altogether they weighed seventy-two ounces, seven-eighths ofan ounce and one grain. Besides these were twelve pieces, great and small, of an inferior grade of gold, which weighed fourteen ounces, three-eighthsof an ounce, and six tomienes, a tomiene weighing one-third part of ourdrachm. In round numbers then, we will say that the result in gold of thiscruising would be now worth $1,500.
　　Columbus collected gold in this way, to make his expedition popular athome, and he had, indeed, mortgaged the voyage, so to speak, by pledgingthe pecuniary results, as a fund to bear the expense of a new crusade. But,for himself, the prime desire was always discovery.
　　Eventually the Spaniards spent two months in that region, pressingtheir explorations in search of gold. And so promising did the tokens seemto him, that he determined to leave his brother, to secure the country andwork the mines, while he should return to Spain, with the gold he hadcollected, and obtain reinforcements and supplies. But all these fond hopes.
　　were disappointed.
　　The natives, under a leader named Quibian, rallied in large numbers,probably intending to drive the colonists away. It was only by the boldestmeasures that their plans were met. When Columbus supposed that he hadsuppressed their enterprise, he took leave of his brother, as he hadintended, leaving him but one of the four vessels.
　　Fortunately, as it proved, the wind did not serve. He sent back a boat tocommunicate with the settlement, but it fell into the hands of the savages.
　　Doubtful as to the issue, a seaman, named Ledesma, volunteered to swimthrough the surf, and communicate with the settlement. The brave fellowsucceeded. By passing through the surf again, he brought back the newsthat the little colony was closely besieged by the savages.
　　It seemed clear that the settlement must be abandoned, thatColumbus's brother and his people must be taken back to Spain. Thiscourse was adopted. With infinite difficulty, the guns and stores which hadbeen left with the colony were embarked on the vessels of the Admiral.
　　The caravel which had been left for the colony could not be taken from theriver. She was completely dismantled, and was left as the only memorialof this unfortunate colony.
　　At Puerto Bello he was obliged to leave another vessel, for she hadbeen riddled by the teredo. The two which he had were in wretched condition. "They were as full of holes as a honey-comb." On the southerncoast of Cuba, Columbus was obliged to supply them with cassava bread.
　　The leaks increased. The ships' pumps were insufficient, and the menbailed out the water with buckets and kettles. On the twentieth of June,they were thankful to put into a harbor, called Puerto Bueno, on the coastof Jamaica, where, as it proved, they eventually left their worthless vessels,and where they were in exile from the world of civilization for twelvemonths.
　　Nothing in history is more pathetic than the memory that such a wasteof a year, in the closing life of such a man as Columbus, should have beenpermitted by the jealousy, the cruelty, or the selfish ambition of inferiormen.
　　He was not far from the colony at San Domingo. As the reader will see,he was able to send a message to his countrymen there. But thosecountrymen left him to take his chances against a strong tribe of savages.
　　Indeed, they would not have been sorry to know that he was dead.
　　At first, however, he and his men welcomed the refuge of the harbor. Itwas the port which he had called Santa Gloria, on his first visit there. Hewas at once surrounded by Indians, ready to barter with them and bringthem provisions. The poor Spaniards were hungry enough to be glad ofthis relief.
　　Mendez, a spirited sailor, had the oversight of this trade, and in onenegotiation, at some distance from the vessels, he bought a good canoe ofa friendly chief. For this he gave a brass basin, one of his two shirts, and ashort jacket. On this canoe turned their after fortunes. Columbus refittedher, put on a false keel, furnished her with a mast and sail.
　　With six Indians, whom the chief had lent him, Diego Mendez,accompanied by only one Spanish companion, set sail in this little craft forSan Domingo. Columbus sent by them a letter to the sovereigns, whichgives the account of the voyage which the reader has been following.
　　When Mendez was a hundred miles advanced on his journey, he met aband of hostile savages. They had affected friendship until they had theadventurers in their power, when they seized them all. But while thesavages were quarreling about the spoils, Mendez succeeded in escaping to his canoe, and returned alone to his master after fifteen days.
　　It was determined that the voyage should be renewed. But this time,another canoe was sent with that under the command of Mendez. Hesailed again, storing his boats with cassava bread and calabashes of water.
　　Bartholomew Columbus, with his armed band, marched along the coast, asthe two canoes sailed along the shore.
　　Waiting then for a clear day, Mendez struck northward, on the passage,which was long for such frail craft, to San Domingo. It was eight monthsbefore Columbus heard of them. Of those eight months, the history is ofdismal waiting, mutiny and civil war. It is pathetic, indeed, that a littlebody of men, who had been, once and again, saved from death in the mostremarkable way, could not live on a fertile island, in a beautiful climate,without quarrelling with each other.
　　Two officers of Columbus, Porras and his brother, led the sedition.
　　They told the rest of the crew that the Admiral's hope of relief fromMendez was a mere delusion. They said that he was an exile from Spain,and that he did not dare return to Hispaniola. In such ways they sought torouse his people against him and his brother. As for Columbus, he wassick on board his vessel, while the two brothers Porras were workingagainst him among his men.
　　On the second of January, 1504, Francesco de Porras broke into thecabin. He complained bitterly that they were kept to die in that desolateplace, and accused the Admiral as if it were his fault. He told Columbus,that they had determined to go back to Spain; and then, lifting his voice,he shouted, "I am for Castile; who will follow me?" The mutinous crewinstantly replied that they would do so. Voices were heard whichthreatened Columbus's life.
　　His brother, the Adelantado, persuaded Columbus to retire from thecrowd and himself assumed the whole weight of the assault. The loyal partof the crew, however, persuaded him to put down his weapon, and on theother hand, entreated Porras and his companions to depart. It was clearenough that they had the power, and they tried to carry out their plans.
　　They embarked in ten canoes, and thus the Admiral was abandoned byforty-eight of his men. They followed, to the eastward, the route which Mendez had taken. In their lawless way they robbed the Indians of theirprovisions and of anything else that they needed. As Mendez had done,they waited at the eastern extremity of Jamaica for calm weather. Theyknew they could not manage the canoes, and they had several Indians tohelp them.
　　When the sea was smooth they started; but they had hardly gone fourleagues from the land, when the waves began to rise under a contrary wind.
　　Immediately they turned for shore, the canoes were overfreighted, and asthe sea rose, frequently shipped water.
　　The frightened Spaniards threw overboard everything they could spare,retaining their arms only, and a part of their provisions. They evencompelled the Indians to leap into the sea to lighten the boats, but, thoughthey were skillful swimmers, they could not pretend to make land byswimming. They kept to the canoes, therefore, and would occasionallyseize them to recover breath. The cruel Spaniards cut off their hands andstabbed them with their swords. Thus eighteen of their Indian comradesdied, and they had none left, but such as were of most help in managingthe canoes. Once on land, they doubted whether to make another effort orto return to Columbus.
　　Eventually they waited a month, for another opportunity to go toHispaniola; but this failed as before, and losing all patience, they returnedwestward, to the commander whom they had insulted, living on the island"by fair means or foul," according as they found the natives friendly orunfriendly.
　　Columbus, meanwhile, with his half the crew, was waiting. He hadestablished as good order as he could between his men and the natives, buthe was obliged to keep a strict watch over such European food as he stillhad, knowing how necessary it was for the sick men in his number. On theother hand, the Indians, wholly unused to regular work, found it difficultto supply the food which so many men demanded.
　　The supplies fell off from day to day; the natives no longer presseddown to the harbor; the trinkets, with which food had been bought, hadlost their charm; the Spaniards began to fear that they should starve on theshore of an island which, when Columbus discovered it, appeared to be the abode of plenty. It was at this juncture, when the natives were becomingmore and more unfriendly, that Columbus justified himself by the tyrant'splea of necessity, and made use of his astronomical science, to obtain asupernatural power over his unfriendly allies.
　　He sent his interpreter to summon the principal caciques to aconference. For this conference he appointed a day when he knew that atotal eclipse of the moon would take place. The chiefs met as they wererequested. He told them that he and his followers worshipped a God wholived in the heavens; that that God favored such as did well, but punishedall who displeased him.
　　He asked them to remember how this God had protected Mendez andhis companions in their voyage, because they went obedient to the orderswhich had been given them by their chief. He asked them to rememberthat the same God had punished Porras and his companions with all sortsof affliction, because they were rebels. He said that now this great Godwas angry with the Indians, because they refused to furnish food to hisfaithful worshippers; that he proposed to chastise them with famine andpestilence.
　　He said that, lest they should disbelieve the warning which he gave, asign would be given, in the heavens that night, of the anger of the greatGod. They would see that the moon would change its color and would loseits light. They might take this as a token of the punishment which awaitedthem.
　　The Indians had not that confidence in Columbus which they once had.
　　Some derided what he said, some were alarmed, all waited with anxietyand curiosity. When the night came they saw a dark shadow begin to stealover the moon. As the eclipse went forward, their fears increased. At lastthe mysterious darkness covered the face of the sky and of the world,when they knew that they had a right to expect the glory of the full moon.
　　There were then no bounds to their terror. They, seized on all theprovisions that they had, they rushed to the ships, they threw themselves atthe feet of Columbus and begged him to intercede with his God, towithhold the calamity which he had threatened. Columbus would notreceive them; he shut himself up in his cabin and remained there while the eclipse increased, hearing from within, as the narrator says, the howls andprayers of the savages.
　　It was not until he knew the eclipse was about to diminish, that hecondescended to come forth, and told them that he had interceded withGod, who would pardon them if they would fulfil their promises. In tokenof pardon, the darkness would be withdrawn from the moon.
　　The Indians saw the fulfilment of the promise, as they had seen thefulfilment of the threat. The moon reappeared in its brilliancy. Theythanked the Admiral eagerly for his intercession, and repaired to theirhomes. From this time forward, having proved that he knew on earth whatwas passing in the heavens, they propitiated him with their gifts. Thesupplies came in regularly, and from this time there was no longer anywant of provisions.
　　But no tales of eclipses would keep the Spaniards quiet. Anotherconspiracy was formed, as the eight remaining months of exile passed by,among the survivors. They meant to seize the remaining canoes, and withthem make their way to Hispaniola. But, at the very point of the outbreakof the new mutiny, a sail was seen standing toward the harbor.
　　The Spaniards could see that the vessel was small. She kept the offing,but sent a boat on shore. As the boat drew near, those who waited soeagerly recognized Escobar, who had been condemned to death, inIsabella, when Columbus was in administration, and was pardoned by hissuccessor Bobadilla. To see this man approaching for their relief was nothopeful, though he were called a Christian, and was a countryman of theirown.
　　Escobar drew up to the ships, on which the Spaniards still lived, andgave them a letter from Ovando, the new governor of Hispaniola, withsome bacon and a barrel of wine, which were sent as presents to theAdmiral. He told Columbus, in a private interview, that the governor hadsent him to express his concern at his misfortune, and his regret that hehad not a vessel of sufficient size to bring off all the people, but that hewould send one as soon as possible. He assured him that his concerns inHispaniola were attended to faithfully in his absence; he asked him towrite to the governor in reply, as he wished to return at once.
　　This was but scant comfort for men who had been eight monthswaiting to be relieved. But Escobar was master of the position. Columbuswrote a reply at once to Ovando, pointed out that the difficulties of hissituation had been increased by the rebellion of the brothers Porras. He,however, expressed his reliance on his promise, and said he would remainpatiently on his ships until relief came. Escobar took the letter, returned tohis vessel, and she made sail at once, leaving the starving Spaniards indismay, to the same fate which hung over them before.
　　Columbus tried to reassure them. He professed himself satisfied withthe communications from Ovando, and told them that vessels large enoughfor them would soon arrive. He said that they could see that he believedthis, because he had not himself taken passage with Escobar, preferring toshare their lot with them. He had sent back the little vessel at once, so thatno time might be lost in sending the necessary ships.
　　With these assurances he cheered their hearts. In truth, however, hewas very indignant at Ovando's cool behavior. That he should have leftthem for months in danger and uncertainty, with a mere tantalizingmessage and a scanty present of food--all this naturally made the greatleader indignant. He believed that Ovando hoped that he might perish onthe island.
　　He supposed that Ovando thought that this would be favorable for hisown political prospects, and he believed that Escobar was sent merely as aspy. This same impression is given by Las Casas, the historian, who wasthen at San Domingo. He says that Escobar was chosen simply because ofhis enmity to Columbus, and that he was ordered not to land, nor to holdconversation with any of the crew, nor to receive letters from any exceptthe Admiral.
　　After Escobar's departure, Columbus sent an embassy on shore tocommunicate with the rebel party, who were living on the island. Heoffered to them free pardon, kind treatment, and a passage with him in theships which he expected from Ovando, and, as a token of good will, hesent them a part of the bacon which Escobar had brought them.
　　Francesco de Porras met these ambassadors, and replied that they hadno wish to return to the ships, but preferred living at large. They offered to engage that they would be peaceable, if the Admiral would promise themsolemnly, that, in case two vessels arrived, they should have one to departin; that if only one vessel arrived they should have half of it, and that theAdmiral would now share with them the stores and articles of traffic,which he had left in the ship. But these demands Columbus refused toaccept.
　　Porras had spoken for the rebels, but they were not so well satisfiedwith the answer. The incident gave occasion for what was almost anoutbreak among them. Porras attempted to hold them in hand, by assuringthem that there had been no real arrival of Escobar. He told them that therehad been no vessel in port; that what had been seen was a mere phantasmconjured up by Columbus, who was deeply versed in necromancy.
　　He reminded them that the vessel arrived just in the edge of theevening; that it communicated with Columbus only, and then disappearedin the night. Had it been a real vessel would he not have embarked, withhis brother and his son? Was it not clear that it was only a phantom, whichappeared for a moment and then vanished?
　　Not satisfied, however, with his control over his men, he marchedthem to a point near the ships, hoping to plunder the stores and to take theAdmiral prisoner. Columbus, however, had notice of the approach of thismarauding party, and his brother and fifty followers, of whose loyalty hewas sure, armed themselves and marched to meet them. The Adelantadoagain sent ambassadors, the same whom he had sent before with the offerof pardon, but Porras and his companions would not permit them toapproach.
　　They determined to offer battle to the fifty loyal men, thinking toattack and kill the Adelantado himself. They rushed upon him and hisparty, but at the first shock four or five of them were killed.
　　The Adelantado, with his own hand, killed Sanchez, one of the mostpowerful men among the rebels. Porras attacked him in turn, and with hissword cut his buckler and wounded his hand. The sword, however, waswedged in the shield, and before Porras could withdraw it, the Adelantadoclosed upon him and made him prisoner. When the rebels saw this resultof the conflict, they fled in confusion.
　　The Indians, meanwhile, amazed at this conflict among men who haddescended from heaven, gazed with wonder at the battle. When it was over,they approached the field, and looked with amazement on the dead bodiesof the beings whom they had thought immortal. It is said, however, that atthe mere sound of a groan from one of the wounded they fled in dismay.
　　The Adelantado returned in triumph to the ships. He brought with himhis prisoners. Only two of his party had been wounded, himself and hissteward. The next day the remaining fugitives sent in a petition to theAdmiral, confessing their misdeeds and asking for pardon.
　　He saw that their union was broken; he granted their prayer, on thesingle condition that Francesco de Porras should remain a prisoner. He didnot receive them on board the ships, but put them under the command of aloyal officer, to whom he gave a sufficient number of articles for trade, topurchase food of the natives.
　　This battle, for it was such, was the last critical incident in the longexile of the Spaniards, for, after a year of hope and fear, two vessels wereseen standing into the harbor. One of them was a ship equipped, atColumbus's own expense, by the faithful Mendez; the other had beenfitted out afterwards by Ovando, but had sailed in company with the firstvessel of relief.
　　It would seem that the little public of Isabella had been made indignantby Ovando's neglect, and that he had been compelled, by public opinion tosend another vessel as a companion to that sent by Mendez. Mendezhimself, having seen the ships depart, went to Spain in the interest of theAdmiral.
　　With the arrival at Puerto Bueno, in Jamaica, of the two relief vessels,Columbus's chief sufferings and anxiety were over. The responsibility, atleast, was in other hands. But the passage to San Domingo consumed sixtedious weeks. When he arrived, however, it was to meet one of histriumphs. He could hardly have expected it.
　　But his sufferings, and the sense of wrong that he had suffered, had, intruth, awakened the regard of the people of the colony. Ovando took himas a guest to his house. The people received him with distinction.
　　He found little to gratify him, however. Ovando, had ruled the poor natives with a rod of iron, and they were wretched. Columbus's ownaffairs had been neglected, and he could gain no relief from the governor.
　　He spent only a month on the island, trying, as best he could, to bringsome order into the administration of his own property; and then, on thetwelfth of September, 1504, sailed for Spain.
　　Scarcely had the ship left harbor when she was dismasted in a squall.
　　He was obliged to cross to another ship, under command of his brother,the Adelantado. She also was unfortunate. Her mainmast was sprung in astorm, and she could not go on until the mast was shortened.
　　In another gale the foremast was sprung, and it was only on theseventh of November that the shattered and storm-pursued vessel arrivedat San Lucar. Columbus himself had been suffering, through the voyage,from gout and his other maladies. The voyage was, indeed, a harshexperience for a sick man, almost seventy years old.
　　He went at once to Seville, to find such rest as he might, for body andmind.
Chapter 13
　　TWO SAD YEARS--ISABELLA'S DEATH--COLUMBUS ATSEVILLE --HIS ILLNESS--LETTERS TO THE KING--JOURNEYSTO SEGOVIA, SALAMANCA, AND VALLADOLID--HIS SUITTHERE--PHILIP AND JUANA--COLUMBUS EXECUTES HISWILL--DIES--HIS BURIAL AND THE REMOVAL OF HIS BODY-HIS PORTRAITS--HIS CHARACTER.
　　Columbus had been absent from Spain two years and six months. Hereturned broken in health, and the remaining two years of his life are onlythe sad history of his effort to relieve his name from dishonor and to leaveto his sons a fair opportunity to carry forward his work in the world.
　　Isabella, alas, died on the twenty-sixth day of November, only a shorttime after his arrival. Ferdinand, at the least, was cold and hard towardhim, and Ferdinand was now engaged in many affairs other than those ofdiscovery. He was satisfied that Columbus did not know how to bring goldhome from the colonies, and the promises of the last voyage, that theyshould strike the East, had not been fulfilled.
　　Isabella had testified her kindly memory of Columbus, even while hewas in exile at Jamaica, by making him one of the body-guard of heroldest son, an honorary appointment which carried with it a handsomeannual salary. After the return to Spain of Diego Mendez, the loyal friendwho had cared for his interests so well in San Domingo, she had raisedhim to noble rank.
　　It is clear, therefore, that among her last thoughts came in the wish todo justice to him whom she had served so well. She had well done herduty which had been given her to do. She had never forgotten the newworld to which it was her good fortune to send the discoverer, and in herdeath that discoverer lost his best friend.
　　On his arrival in Seville, where one might say he had a right to resthimself and do nothing else, Columbus engaged at once in efforts to seethat the seamen who had accompanied him in this last adventure should beproperly paid. Many of these men had been disloyal to him and unfaithfulto their sovereign, but Columbus, with his own magnanimity, represented eagerly at court that they had endured great peril, that they brought greatnews, and that the king ought to repay them all that they had earned.
　　He says, in a letter to his son written at this period, "I have not a roofover my head in Castile. I have no place to eat nor to sleep excepting atavern, and there I am often too poor to pay my scot." This passage hasbeen quoted as if he were living as a beggar at this time, and the world hasbeen asked to believe that a man who had a tenth of the revenue of theIndies due to him in some fashion, was actually living from hand to mouthfrom day to day. But this is a mere absurdity of exaggeration.
　　Undoubtedly, he was frequently pressed for ready money. He says tohis son, in another letter, "I only live by borrowing." Still he had goodcredit with the Genoese bankers established in Andalusia. In writing to hisson he begs him to economize, but at the same time he acknowledges thereceipt of bills of exchange and considerable sums of money.
　　In the month of December, there is a single transaction in Hispaniolawhich amounts to five thousand dollars of our money. We must not,therefore, take literally his statement that he was too poor to pay for anight's lodging. On the other hand, it is observed in the correspondencethat, on the fifteenth of April, 1505, the king ordered that everythingwhich belonged to Columbus on account of his ten per cent should becarried to the royal treasury as a security for certain debts contracted bythe Admiral.
　　The king had also given an order to the royal agent in Hispaniola thateverything which he owned there should be sold. All these details havebeen carefully brought together by Mr. Harrisse, who says truly that wecannot understand the last order.
　　When at last the official proceedings relating to the affairs in Jamaicaarrived in Europe, Columbus made an effort to go to court. A litter wasprovided for him, and all the preparations for his journey made. But hewas obliged once more by his weakness to give up this plan, and he couldonly write letters pressing his claim. Of such letters the misfortune is, thatthe longer they are, and the more of the detail they give, the less likely arethey to be read. Columbus could only write at night; in the daytime hecould not use his hands.
　　He took care to show Ferdinand that his interests had not beenproperly attended to in the islands. He said that Ovando had been carelessas to the king's service, and he was not unwilling to let it be understoodthat his own administration had been based on a more intelligent policythan that of either of the men who followed him.
　　But he was now an old man. He was unable to go to court in person.
　　He had not succeeded in that which he had sailed for--a strait opening tothe Southern Sea. He had discovered new gold mines on the continent, buthe had brought home but little treasure. His answers from the courtseemed to him formal and unsatisfactory. At court, the stories of the Porrasbrothers were told on the one side, while Diego Mendez and Carvajalrepresented Columbus.
　　In this period of the fading life of Columbus, we have eleven lettersaddressed by him to his son. These show that he was in Seville as late asFebruary, 1505. From the authority of Las Casas, we know that he left thatpart of Spain to go to Segovia in the next May, and from that place hefollowed the court to Salamanca and Valladolid, although he was so weakand ill.
　　He was received, as he had always been, with professions of kindness;but nothing followed important enough to show that there was anythinggenuine in this cordiality. After a few days Columbus begged that someaction might be taken to indemnify him for his losses, and to confirm thepromises which had been made to him before. The king replied that hewas willing to refer all points which had been discussed between them toan arbitration. Columbus assented, and proposed the Archbishop Diego deDeza as an arbiter.
　　The reader must remember that it was he who had assisted Columbusin early days when the inquiry was made at Salamanca. The king assentedto the arbitration, but proposed that it should include questions whichColumbus would not consider as doubtful. One of these was hisrestoration to his office of viceroy.
　　Now on the subject of his dignities Columbus was tenacious. Heregarded everything else as unimportant in comparison. He would notadmit that there was any question that he was the viceroy of the Indies, and all this discussion ended in the postponement of all consideration ofhis claims till, after his death, it was too late for them to be considered.
　　All the documents, when read with the interest which we take in hischaracter and fortunes, are indeed pathetic; but they did not seem so to theking, if indeed they ever met his eye.
　　In despair of obtaining justice for himself, Columbus asked that hisson Diego might be sent to Hispaniola in his place. The king wouldpromise nothing, but seems to have attempted to make Columbusexchange the privileges which he enjoyed by the royal promise for aseignory in a little town in the kingdom of Leon, which is named notimproperly "The Counts' Carrion."It is interesting to see that one of the persons whom he employed, inpressing his claim at the court and in the management of his affairs, wasVespucci, the Florentine merchant, who in early life had been known asAlberigo, but had now taken the name of Americo.
　　The king was still engaged in the affairs of the islands. He appointedbishops to take charge of the churches in the colonies, but Columbus wasnot so much as consulted as to the persons who should be sent. WhenPhilip arrived from Flanders, with his wife Juana, who was the heir ofIsabella's fortunes and crown, Columbus wished to pay his court to them,but was too weak to do so in person.
　　There is a manly letter, written with dignity and pathos, in which hepresses his claims upon them. He commissioned his brother, theAdelantado, to take this letter, and with it he went to wait upon the youngcouple. They received him most cordially, and gave flattering hopes thatthey would attend favorably to the suit. But this was too late for Columbushimself. Immediately after he had sent his brother away, his illnessincreased in violence.
　　The time for petitions and for answers to petitions had come to an end.
　　His health failed steadily, and in the month of May he knew that he wasapproaching his death. The king and the court had gone to Villafranca deValcacar.
　　On the nineteenth of May Columbus executed his will, which had beenprepared at Segovia a year before. In this will he directs his son and his successors, acting as administrators, always to maintain "in the city ofGenoa, some person of our line, who shall have a house and a wife in thatplace, who shall receive a sufficient income to live honorably, as beingone of our relatives, having foot and root in the said city, as a native; sincehe will be able to receive from this city aid in favor of the things of hisservice; because from that city I came forth and in that city I was born."This clause became the subject of much litigation as the century went on.
　　Another clause which was much contested was his direction to his sonDiego to take care of Beatriz Enriquez, the mother of Fernando. Diego isinstructed to provide for her an honorable subsistence "as being a personto whom I have great obligation. What I do in this matter is to relieve myconscience, for this weighs much upon my mind. The reason of this cannotbe written here."The history of the litigation which followed upon this will and uponother documents which bear upon the fortunes of Columbus is curious, butscarcely interesting. The present representative of Columbus is DonCristobal Colon de la Cerda, Duke of Veragua and of La Vega, a grandeeof Spain of the first class, Marquis of Jamaica, Admiral and SeneschalMajor of the Indies, who lives at Madrid.
　　Two days after the authentication of the will he died, on the twentyfirst of May, 1506, which was the day of Ascension. His last words werethose of his Saviour, expressed in the language of the Latin Testament, "Inmanus tuas, Pater, commendo spiritum meum,"--"Father, into thy hands Icommend my spirit." The absence of the court from Valladolid took with it,perhaps, the historians and annalists. For this or for some other reason,there is no mention whatever of Columbus's funeral in any of thedocuments of the time.
　　The body was laid in the convent of San Francisco at Valladolid. Suchat least is the supposition of Navarrete, who has collected the originaldocuments relating to Columbus. He supposes that the funeral serviceswere conducted in the church of the parish of Santa Maria de la Antigua.
　　From the church of Saint Francis, not many months after, the body wasremoved to Seville. A new chapel had lately been built there, called SantaMaria de las Cuevas. In this chapel was the body of Columbus entombed.
　　In a curious discussion of the subject, which has occupied much morespace than it is worth, it is supposed that this was in the year 1513, but Mr.
　　Harrisse has proved that this date is not accurate.
　　For at least twenty-eight years, the body was permitted to remainunder the vaults of this chapel. Then a petition was sent to Charles V, forleave to carry the coffin and the body to San Domingo, that it might beburied in the larger chapel of the cathedral of that city. To this the emperorconsented, in a decree signed June 2, 1537. It is not known how soon theremoval to San Domingo was really made, but it took place before manyyears.
　　Mr. Harrisse quotes from a manuscript authority to show, that whenWilliam Penn besieged the city of San Domingo in 1655, all the bodiesburied under the cathedral were withdrawn from view, lest the hereticsshould profane them, and that "the old Admiral's" body was treated likethe rest.
　　Mr. Harrisse calls to mind the fact that the earthquake of the nineteenthof May, 1673, demolished the cathedral in part, and the tombs which itcontained. He says, "the ruin of the colony, the climate, weather, andcarelessness all contributed to the loss from sight and the forgetfulness ofthe bones of Columbus, mingled with the dust of his descendants"; and Mr.
　　Harrisse does not believe that any vestige of them was ever foundafterwards, in San Domingo or anywhere else. This remark, from theperson who has given such large attention to the subject, is interesting. Forit is generally stated and believed that the bones were afterwards removedto Havana in the island of Cuba. The opinion of Mr. Harrisse, as it hasbeen quoted, is entitled to very great respect and authority.
　　A very curious question has arisen in later times as to the actual placewhere the remains now are. On this question there is great discussionamong historians, and many reports, official and unofficial, have beenpublished with regard to it.
　　In the year 1867, the proposal was made to the Holy Father at Rome,that Columbus should receive the honors known in the Roman CatholicChurch as the honors of beatification. In 1877, De Lorgues, theenthusiastic biographer of Columbus, represents that the inquiry had gone so far that these honors had been determined on. One who reads his bookwould be led to suppose that Columbus had already been recognized as onthe way to be made a saint of the Church. But, in truth, though some suchinquiry was set on foot, he never received the formal honors ofbeatification. -------We have one account by a contemporary of the appearance ofColumbus.[*] We are told that he was a robust man, quite tall, of floridcomplexion, with a long face."[*] In the first Decade of Peter Martyr.
　　In the next generation, Oviedo says Columbus was "of good aspect,and above the middle stature. His limbs were strong, his eyes quick, andall the parts of his body well proportioned. His hair was decidedly reddish,and the complexion of his face quite florid and marked with spots of red."Bishop Las Casas knew the admiral personally, and describes him inthese terms: "He was above the middle stature, his face was long andstriking, his nose was aquiline, his eyes clear blue, his complexion light,tending towards a distinct florid expression, his beard and hair blonde inhis youth, but they were blanched at an early age by care.
　　Las Casas says in another place, he was rude in bearing, and carelessas to his language. He was, however, gracious when he chose to be, but hewas angry when he was annoyed."Mr. Harrisse, who has collected these particulars from the differentwriters, says that this physical type may be frequently met now in the cityand neighborhood of Genoa. He adds, "as for the portraits, whetherpainted, engraved, or in sculpture, which appear in collections, in privateplaces, or as prints, there is not one which is authentic. They are all purelyimaginary."For the purpose of the illustration of this volume, we have used thatwhich is best known, and for many reasons most interesting. It ispreserved in the city of Florence, but neither the name of the artist nor thedate of the picture is known. It is generally spoken of as the "Florentineportrait." The engraving follows an excellent copy, made by the order ofThomas Jefferson, and now in the possession of the MassachusettsHistorical Society. We are indebted to the government of this society for permission to use it.[*]
　　[*] The whole subject of the portraits of Columbus is carefullydiscussed in a learned paper presented to the Wisconsin Historical Societyby Dr. James Davie Butler, and published in the Collections of thatSociety, Vol. IX, pp. 79-96.
　　A picture ascribed to Titian, and engraved and circulated by thegeographer, Jomard, resembles closely the portraits of Philip III. Thecostume is one which Columbus never wore.
　　In his youth Columbus was affiliated with a religious brotherhood, thatof Saint Catherine, in Genoa. In after times, on many occasions when itwould have been supposed that he would be richly clothed, he appeared ina grave dress which recalled the recollections of the frock of the religiousorder of Saint Francis. According to Diego Columbus, he died, "dressed inthe frock of this order, to which he had always been attached." -------The reader who has carefully followed the fortunes of the greatdiscoverer understands from the history the character of the man. Hewould not have succeeded in his long suit at the court of Ferdinand andIsabella, had he not been a person of single purpose and iron will.
　　From the moment when he was in command of the first expedition,that expedition went prosperously to its great success, in precisely the waywhich he had foreseen and determined. True, he did not discover Asia, ashe had hoped, but this was because America was in the way. He showed inthat voyage all the attributes of a great discoverer; he deserved the honorswhich were paid to him on his return.
　　As has been said, however, this does not mean that he was a greatorganizer of cities, or that he was the right person to put in charge of anewly founded colony. It has happened more than once in the history ofnations that a great general, who can conquer armies and can obtain peace,has not succeeded in establishing a colony or in governing a city.
　　On the other hand, it is fair to say that Columbus never had a chance toshow what he would have been in the direction of his colonies had theybeen really left in his charge. This is true, that his heart was always ondiscovery; all the time that he spent in the wretched detail of thearrangement of a new-built town was time which really seemed to him wasted.
　　The great problem was always before him, how he should connect hisdiscoveries with the knowledge which Europe had before of the coast ofAsia. Always it seemed to him that the dominions of the Great Khan werewithin his reach. Always he was eager for that happy moment when heshould find himself in personal communication with that great monarch,who had been so long the monarch of the East--who, as he thought, wouldprove to be the monarch of the West.
　　Columbus died with the idea that he had come close to Asia. Even ageneration after his death, the companions of Cortes gave to the peninsulaof California that name because it was the name given in romance to thefarthest island of the eastern Indies.
　　Columbus met with many reverses, and died, one might almost say, abroken-hearted man. But history has been just to him, and has placed himin the foremost rank of the men who have set the world forward. And,outside of the technical study of history, those who like to trace the lawson which human progress advances have been proud and glad to see thathere is a noble example of the triumph of faith.
　　The life of Columbus is an illustration constantly brought forward ofthe success which God gives to those who, having conceived of a greatidea, bravely determine to carry it through.
　　His singleness of purpose, his unselfishness, his determination tosucceed, have been cited for four centuries, and will be cited for centuriesmore, among the noblest illustrations which history has given, of successwrought out by the courage of one man.
Appendix A
　　[The following passages, from Admiral Fox's report, give his reasonsfor believing that Samana, or Atwood's Key, is the island where Columbusfirst touched land. The interest which attaches to this subject at themoment of the centennial, when many voyages will be made by personsfollowing Columbus, induces me to copy Admiral Fox's reasonings indetail. I believe his conclusion to be correct.]
　　This method of applying Columbus's words in detail to refute each ofthe alleged tracks, and the study that I gave to the subject in the winter of1878-79 in the Bahamas, which has been familiar cruising ground to me,has resulted in the selection of Samana or Atwood's Key for the firstlanding place.
　　It is a little island 8.8 miles east and west; 1.6 extreme breadth, andaveraging 1.2 north and south. It has 8.6 square miles. The east end is inlatitude 23 degrees 5' N.; longitude 73 degrees 37' west of Greenwich. Thereef on which it lies is 15 by 2 1/2 miles.
　　On the southeast this reef stretches half a mile from the land, on theeast four miles, on the west two, along the north shore one-quarter to one-half mile, and on the southwest scarcely one-quarter. Turk is smaller thanSamana, and Cat very much larger.
　　The selection of two so unlike in size show that dimension has notbeen considered essential in choosing an island for the first landfall.[*]
　　[*] I am indebted to T. J. McLain, Esq., United States consul at Nassau,for the following information given to him by the captains of this port,who visit Samana or Atwood's Key. The sub-sketch on this chart issubstantially correct: Good water is only obtained by sinking wells. Thetwo keys to the east are covered with guano; white boobies hold the largerone, and black boobies the other; neither intermingles.
　　The island is now uninhabited, but arrow heads and stone hatchets aresometimes found; and in places there are piles of stones supposed to havebeen made by the aborigines. Most of the growth is scrubby, with a fewscattered trees.
　　The Nassau vessels enter an opening through the reef on the south sideof the island and find a very comfortable little harbor with from two to twoand a half fathoms of water. From here they send their boats on shore to"strip" guano, and cut satin, dye woods and bark.
　　When Columbus discovered Guanahani, the journal called it a "littleisland." After landing he speaks of it as "bien grande," "very large," whichsome translate, tolerably, or pretty large. November 20, 1492 (Navarette,first edition, p. 61), the journal refers to Isabella, a larger island thanGuanahani, as "little island," and the fifth of January following (p. 125)San Salvador is again called "little island."The Bahamas have an area of about 37,000 square miles, six per centof which may be land, enumerated as 36 islands, 687 keys, and 2,414rocks. The submarine bank upon which these rest underlies Florida also.
　　But this peninsula is wave-formed upon living corals, whose growth andgradual stretch toward the south has been made known by Agassiz.
　　I had an unsuccessful search for a similar story of the Bahamas, tolearn whether there were any probable changes within so recent a periodas four hundred years.
　　The common mind can see that all the rock there is coral, none ofwhich is in position. The surface, the caves, the chinks, and the numerouspot-holes are compact limestone, often quite crystalline, while beneath it isoolitic, either friable or hard enough to be used for buildings. The hills aresand-blown, not upheaved. On a majority of the maps of the sixteenthcentury there were islands on Mouchoir, and on Silver Banks, where noware rocks "awash;" and the Dutch and the Severn Shoals, which lay to theeast, have disappeared.
　　It is difficult to resist the impression that the shoal banks, and the reefsof the Bahamas, were formerly covered with land; and that for ageological age waste has been going on, and, perhaps, subsidence. Thecoral polyp seems to be doing only desultory work, and that mostly on thenortheast or Atlantic side of the islands; everywhere else it has abandonedthe field to the erosive action of the waves.
　　Columbus said that Guanahani had abundance of water and a verylarge lagoon in the middle of it. He used the word laguna--lagoon, not lago--lake. His arrival in the Bahamas was at the height of the rainy season.
　　Governor Rawson's Report on the Bahamas, 1864, page 92, Appendix 4,gives the annual rainfall at Nassau for ten years, 1855--'64, as sixty-fourinches. From May 1, to November 1 is the wet season, during which 44.7inches fall; the other six months 19.3 only. The most is in October, 8.5inches.
　　Andros, the largest island, 1,600 square miles, is the only one that hasa stream of water. The subdivision of the land into so many islands andkeys, the absence of mountains, the showery characteristic of the rainfall,the porosity of the rock, and the great heat reflected from the white coral,are the chief causes for the want of running water. During the rainy seasonthe "abundance of water" collects in the low places, making ponds andlagoons, that afterward are soaked up by the rock and evaporated by thesun.
　　Turk and Watling have lagoons of a more permanent condition,because they are maintained from the ocean by permeation. The lagoonwhich Columbus found at Guanahani had certainly undrinkable water, orhe would have gotten some for his vessels, instead of putting it off until hereached the third island.
　　There is nothing in the journal to indicate that the lagoon at Guanahaniwas aught but the flooding of the low grounds by excessive rains; andeven if it was one communicating with the ocean, its absence now may bereferred to the effect of those agencies which are working incessantly toreshape the soft structure of the Bahamas.
　　Samana has a range of hills on the southwest side about one hundredfeet high, and on the northeast another, lower. Between them, and alsoalong the north shore, the land is low, and during the season of rains thereis a row of ponds parallel to the shore. On the south side a conspicuouswhite bluff looks to the southward and eastward.
　　The two keys, lying respectively half a mile and three miles east of theisland, and possibly the outer breaker, which is four miles, all might havebeen connected with each other, and with the island, four hundred yearsago. In that event the most convenient place for Columbus to anchor in thestrong northeast trade-wind, was where I have put an anchor on the subsketch of Samana.
　　[In a subsequent passage Admiral Fox says:--]
　　There is a common belief that the first landing place is settled by oneor another of the authors cited here. Nevertheless, I trust to have shown,paragraph by paragraph, wherein their several tracks are contrary to thejournal, inconsistent with the true cartography of the neighborhood, and tothe discredit, measurably, both of Columbus and of Las Casas. Theobscurity and the carelessness which appear in part of the diary throughthe Bahamas offer no obstacle to this demonstration, provided that they donot extend to the "log," or nautical part.
　　Columbus went to sea when he was fourteen years of age, and servedthere almost continuously for twenty-three years. The strain of a sea-faringlife, from so tender an age, is not conducive to literary exactness. Still, forthe very reason of this sea experience, the "log" should be correct.
　　This is composed of the courses steered, distances sailed over,bearings of islands from one another, trend of shores, etc. The recording ofthese is the daily business of seamen, and here the entries were byColumbus himself, chiefly to enable him, on his return to Spain, toconstruct that nautical map, which is promised in the prologue of the firstvoyage.
　　In crossing the Atlantic the Admiral understated to the crew each day'srun, so that they should not know how far they had gone into an unknownocean. Las Casas was aware of this counterfeit "log," but his abridgment isfrom that one which Columbus kept for his own use.
　　If the complicated courses and distances in this were originally wrong,or if the copy of them is false, it is obvious that they cannot be "plotted "upon a correct chart. Conversely, if they ARE made to conform to asuccession of islands among which he is known to have sailed, it isevident that this is a genuine transcript of the authentic "log" of Columbus,and, reciprocally, that we have the true track, the beginning of which is theeventful landfall of October 12, 1492.
　　The student or critical reader, and the seaman, will have to determinewhether the writer has established this conformity. The public, probably,desires to have the question settled, but it will hardly take any interest in a discussion that has no practical bearing, and which, for its elucidation,leans so much upon the jargon or the sea.
　　It is not flattering to the English or Spanish speaking peoples that thefour hundredth anniversary of this great event draws nigh, and is likely tocatch us still floundering, touching the first landing place.
Summary
　　First. There is no objection to Samana in respect to size, position orshape. That it is a little island, lying east and west, is in its favor. Theerosion at the east end, by which islets have been formed, recalls theassertion of Columbus that there it could be cut off in two days and madeinto an island.
　　The Nassau vessels still find a snug anchorage here during thenortheast trades. These blew half a gale of wind at the time of the landfall;yet Navarette, Varnhagen, and Captain Becher anchored the squadron onthe windward sides of the coral reefs of their respective islands, a "leeshore."The absence of permanent lagoons at Samana I have tried to explain.
　　Second. The course from Samana to Crooked is to the southwest,which is the direction that the Admiral said be should steer "tomorrowevening." The distance given by him corresponds with the chart.
　　Third. The second island, Santa Maria, is described as having twosides which made a right angle, and the length of each is given. Thispoints directly to Crooked and Acklin. Both form one island, so fitted tothe words of the journal as cannot be done with any other land of theBahamas.
　　Fourth. The course and distance from Crooked to Long Island is thatwhich the Admiral gives from Santa Maria to Fernandina.
　　Fifth. Long Island, the third, is accurately described. The trend of theshores, "north-northwest and south-southeast;" the "marvelous port" andthe "coast which runs east [and] west," can nowhere be found except at thesoutheast part of Long Island.
　　Sixth. The journal is obscure in regard to the fourth island. The bestway to find it is to "plot" the courses FORWARD from the third island andthe courses and distances BACKWARD from the fifth. These lead toFortune for the fourth.
　　Seventh. The Ragged Islands are the fifth. These he named las islas deArena--Sand Islands.
　　They lie west-southwest from the fourth, and this is the course the Admiral adhered to. He did not "log" all the run made between theseislands; in consequence the "log" falls short of the true distance, as itought to. These "seven or eight islands, all extending from north to south,"and having shoal water "six leagues to the south" of them, are seen on thechart at a glance.
　　Eighth. The course and distance from these to Port Padre, in Cuba, isreasonable. The westerly current, the depth of water at the entrance ofPadre, and the general description, are free of difficulties. The truedistance is greater than the "logged," because Columbus again omits partof his run. It would be awkward if the true distances from the fourth to thefifth islands, and from the latter to Padre, had fallen short of the "log,"since it would make the unexplainable situation which occurs in Irving'scourse and distance from Mucaras Reef to Boca de Caravela.
　　From end to end of the Samana track there are but three discrepancies.
　　At the third island, two leagues ought to be two miles. At the fourth islandtwelve leagues ought to be twelve miles. The bearing between the thirdand fourth islands is not quite as the chart has it, nor does it agree with thecourses he steered. These three are fairly explained, and I think that noothers can be mustered to disturb the concord between this track and thejournal. -------Rev. Mr. Cronan, in his recent voyage, discovered a cave at Watling'sisland, where were many skeletons of the natives. It is thought that a studyof the bones in these skeletons will give some new ethnologicalinformation as to the race which Columbus found, which is now, thanks toSpanish cruelty, entirely extinct.
Appendix B
　　The letter to the Lady Juana, which gives Columbus's own statementof the indignities put upon him in San Domingo, is written in his mostcrabbed Spanish. He never wrote the Spanish language accurately, and theletter, as printed from his own manuscript, is even curious in its infelicities.
　　It is so striking an illustration of the character of the man that we printhere an abstract of it, with some passages translated directly from his ownlanguage.
　　Columbus writes, towards the end of the year 1500, to the formernurse of Don Juan, an account of the treatment he has received. "If mycomplaint of the world is new, its method of abuse is very old," he says.
　　"God has made me a messenger of the new heaven and the new earthwhich is spoken of in the Apocalypse by the mouth of St. John, afterhaving been spoken of by Isaiah, and he showed me the place where itwas." Everybody was incredulous, but the queen alone gave the spirit ofintelligence and zeal to the undertaking. Then the people talked ofobstacles and expense. Columbus says "seven years passed in talk, andnine in executing some noted acts which are worthy of remembrance," buthe returned reviled by all.
　　"If I had stolen the Indies and had given them to the Moors I could nothave had greater enmity shown to me in Spain." Columbus would haveliked then to give up the business if he could have come before the queen.
　　However he persisted, and he says he "undertook a new voyage to the newheaven and the new earth which before had been hidden, and if it is notappreciated in Spain as much as the other countries of India it is notsurprising, because it is all owing to my industry." He "had believed thatthe voyage to Paria would reconcile all because of the pearls and gold inthe islands of Espanola." He says, "I caused those of our people whom Ihad left there to come together and fish for pearls, and arranged that Ishould return and take from them what had been collected, as I understood,in measure a fanega (about a bushel). If I have not written this to theirHighnesses it is because I wished also to have as much of gold. But thatfled before me, as all other things; I would not have lost them and with them my honor, if I could have busied myself with my own affairs.
　　"When I went to San Domingo I found almost half of the colonyuprising, and they made war upon me as a Moor, and the Indians on theother side were no less cruel.
　　"Hojida came and he tried to make order, and he said that theirHighnesses had sent him with promises of gifts and grants and money. Hemade up a large company, for in all Espanola there were few men whowere not vagabonds, and no one lived there who had wife or children."Hojida retired with threats.
　　"Then Vincente Ganez came with four ships. There were outbreaksand suspicions but no damage." He reported that six other ships under abrother of the Alcalde would arrive, and also the death of the queen, butthese were rumors without foundation.
　　"Adrian (Mogica) attempted to go away as before, but our Lord didnot permit him to carry out his bad plan." Here Columbus regrets that hewas obliged to use force or ill-treat Adrian, but says he would have donethe same had his brother wished to kill him or wrest from him thegovernment which the king and queen had given him to guard.
　　"For six months I was ready to leave to take to their Highnesses thegood news of the gold and to stop governing a dissolute people who fearedneither king nor queen, full of meanness and malice. I would have beenable to pay all the people with six hundred thousand maravedis and forthat there were more than four millions of tithes without counting the thirdpart of the gold."Columbus says that be begged before his departure that they wouldsend some one at his expense to take command, and yet again a subjectwith letters, for he says bitterly that he has such a singular reputation thatif he "were building churches and hospitals they would say they were cellsfor stolen goods."Then Bobadilla came to Santo Domingo while Columbus was atLaVega and the Adelantado at Jaragua. "The second day of his arrival hedeclared himself governor, created magistrates, made offices, publishedgrants for gold and tithes, and everything else for a term of twenty years."He said he had come to pay the people, and declared he would send Columbus home in irons. Columbus was away. Letters with favors weresent to others, but none to him. Columbus resorted to methods to gain timeso that their Highnesses could understand the state of things. But he wasconstantly maligned and persecuted by those who were jealous of him. Hesays:
　　"I think that you will remember that when the tempest threw me intothe port of Lisbon, after having lost my sails, I was accused of having theintention to give India to that country. Afterwards their Highnesses knewto the contrary. Although I know but little, I cannot conceive that any onewould suppose me so stupid as not to know that though India mightbelong to me, yet I could not keep it without the help of a prince."Columbus complains that he has been judged as a governor who hasbeen sent to a peaceful, well-regulated province. He says, "I ought to bejudged as a captain sent from Spain to the Indies to conquer a warlikepeople, whose custom and religion are all opposed to ours, where thepeople live in the mountains without regular houses for themselves, andwhere, by the will of God, I have placed under the rule of the king andqueen another world, and by which Spain, which calls itself poor, is todaythe richest empire. I ought to be judged as a captain who for many yearsbears arms incessantly.
　　"I know well that the errors that I have committed have not been withbad intentions, and I think that their Highnesses will believe what I say;but I know and see that they use pity for those who work against them.""If, nevertheless, their Highnesses order that another shall judge me,which I hope will not be, and this ought to be on an examination made inIndia, I humbly beg of them to send there two conscientious andrespectable people, at my expense, which may know easily that one findsfive marcs of gold in four hours. However that may be, it is very necessarythat they should go there."
Appendix C
　　It would have been so natural to give the name of Columbus to thenew world which he gave to Castile and Leon, that much wonder has beenexpressed that America was not called Columbia, and many efforts havebeen made to give to the continent this name. The District of Columbiawas so named at a time when American writers of poetry, were determinedthat "Columbia" should be the name of the continent. The ship Columbia,from which the great river of the West takes that name, had received thisname under the same circumstances about the same time. The city ofColumbia, which is the capital of South Carolina, was named with thesame wish to do justice to the great navigator.
　　Side by side with the discussion as to the name, and sometimesmaking a part of it, is the question whether Columbus himself was reallythe first discoverer of the mainland. The reader has seen that he first sawthe mainland of South America in the beginning of August, 1498. It wason the fifth, sixth or seventh day, according to Mr. Harrisse's accuratestudy of the letters. Was this the first discovery by a European of themainland?
　　It is known that Ojeda, with whom the reader is familiar, also saw thiscoast. With him, as passenger on his vessel, was Alberico Vespucci, and atone time it was supposed that Vespucci had made some claim to be thediscoverer of the continent, on account of this voyage. But in truth Ojedahimself says that before he sailed he had seen the map of the Gulf of Pariawhich Columbus had sent home to the sovereigns after he made thatdiscovery. It also seems to be proved that Alberico Vespucci, as he wasthen called, never made for himself any claim to the great discovery.
　　Another question, of a certain interest to people proud of Englishmaritime science, is the question whether the Cabots did not see themainland before Columbus. It is admitted on all hands that they did notmake their first voyage till they knew of Columbus's first discoveries; butit is supposed that in the first or second voyage of the Cabots, they saw themainland of North America. The dates of the Cabots' voyages areunfortunately badly entangled. One of them is as early as 1494, but this is generally rejected. It is more probable that the king's letters patent,authorizing John Cabot and his three sons to go, with five vessels, underthe English flag, for the discovery of islands and countries yet unknown,"was dated the fifth of March, 1496. Whether, however, they sailed in thatyear or in the next year is a question. The first record of a discovery is inthe account-book of the privy purse of Henry VII, in the words, "August10th, 1497. To him who discovered the new island, ten pounds." This isclearly not a claim on which the discovery of the mainland can be based.
　　A manuscript known as the Cotton Manuscript says that John Cabothad sailed, but had not returned, at the moment when the manuscript waswritten. This period was "the thirteenth year of Henry VII." The thirteenthyear of Henry began on the twenty-second of August, 1497, and ended in1498. On the third of February, 1498, Henry VII granted permission toCabot to take six English ships "to the lands and islands recently found bythe said Cabot, in the name of the king and by his orders." Strictlyspeaking, this would mean that the mainland had then been discovered;but it is impossible to establish the claim of England on these terms.
　　What is, however, more to the point, is a letter from Pasqualigo, aVenetian merchant, who says, writing to Venice, on the twenty-third ofAugust, 1497, that Cabot had discovered the mainland at seven hundredleagues to the west, and had sailed along it for a coast of three hundredleagues. He says the voyage was three months in length. It was made, then,between May and August, 1497. The evidence of this letter seems to showthat the mainland of North America was really first discovered by Cabot.
　　The discussion, however, does not in the least detract from the merit dueto Columbus for the great discovery. Whether he saw an island or whetherhe saw the mainland, was a mere matter of what has been called landfallby the seamen. It is admitted on all hands that he was the leader in allthese enterprises, and that it was on his success in the first voyage that allsuch enterprises followed.
The End