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Title: The Life of Columbus

Author: Sir Arthur Helps

Release date: March 12, 2005 [eBook #15336]
                Most recently updated: December 14, 2020

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Don Kostuch


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Produced by Don Kostuch





Transcribers Notes:

Several non-English proper names have been rendered in ASCI, omitting the
proper accents.

Page headers have been moved to the beginning of the appropriate paragraph
and several very long paragraphs have been split to correspond to the page
headers. See the DOC or PDF versions for the original pagination and map
images.

The following glossary provides references and definitions of unfamiliar
(to me) terms and names.

Adelantado
  Governor or commander. Refers to Don Bartholomew Columbus (brother of
  Christopher) in this volume.

Angelic Doctor:
  Thomas Aquinas

Arroba
  In Spanish-speaking countries, a weight of about 25 pounds.
  In Portuguese-speaking countries, about 32 pounds.

Aught
  Anything whatever.

Bartholomew Columbus
  Brother of Christopher Columbus.

Cacique
  Title for an Indian chief in the Spanish West Indies.

Ca da Mosto or Cadamosto
  Alvise Ca' da Mosto, (1432-1488) Venetian explorer and trader who wrote
  early accounts of western African exploration.

Caonabo
  Cacique (chief) who destroyed Columbus's first garrison at La Navidad.

Cave of Adullam
  About 13 miles west of Bethlehem where David gathered "every one that
  was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was
  discontented" (1 Sam. 22:2).

Cipango
  Japan.

Compeer
  Person of equal status; a peer.

Contumely
  Contempt arising from arrogance; insolence.

Cosmography
  Study of the universe, including geography and astronomy.

Diego Columbus
  Son of Columbus and Donna Felipa

Don Diego Columbus
  Brother of Columbus

Donna Felipa Munnis Perestrelo
  Wife of Christopher Columbus. Daughter of the first governor of Porto
  Santo. Only issue was Diego.

Dragon's blood
  Thick red liquid from a palm (Daemonorops draco) in tropical Asia;
  formerly used in varnishes and lacquers.

Encomienda
  A grant entitling Spaniards to land plus the Native American inhabitants
  of that land. The land and its inhabitants.

Fernando Columbus
  Son of Christopher Columbus and Beatrice.

Friesland
  Located in Europe on the North Sea between the Scheldt and Weser rivers.
  Now a province of the northern Netherlands.

Galliot
  Light, swift galley.

Gyve
  Shackle for the leg.

Las Casas
  Bartlome de las Casas is the chief source of information about the
  islands after Columbus arrived. Other historians overlooked the Indian
  slave trade, begun by Columbus; Las Casas denounced it as "among the
  most unpardonable offenses ever committed against God and mankind."

Machiavelli: Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
  Political philosopher, author of The Prince, that focuses on problems of
  a monarch, the foundation of political authority and how to retain
  power, rather than pursue ideals.

Maravedis
  Spanish currency. One million Maravedis (one cuentos) in 1490 is
  equivalent to about 308 English Pounds in 1860, or US$ 48,000 in 2005.

Martyr, Peter
  Peter Martyr d'Anghera wrote early accounts of Columbus, Ojeda, Cortes,
  and other Spanish explorers.
  An Italian humanist from Florence.
  Served as tutor in the Spanish court and had direct access to Columbus.
  Author of "De Orbe Novo" describing the first European contacts with
  native Americans.

Moors
  Arabs

Provence
  Province of southeast France bordering on the Mediterranean.

Pinzon, Martin Alonzo
  Chief shipowner of Palos. Accompanied Columbus as a captain.

Paria, Gulf of
  Between Trinidad and Venezuela.

Repartimiento
  Spanish, from repartir, to divide.
  Distribution of slaves or assessment of taxes.

Tagus
  River on the Iberian Peninsula flowing westward
  through central Portugal into the Atlantic.

Ultima Thule
  Ancient name for northern-most region of the habitable world.

End of Transcribers Note





The Life of Columbus



GEORGE BELL & SONS,
LONDON: YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN
NEW YORK: 66, FIFTH AVENUE, AND
BOMBAY: 53, ESPLANADE ROAD
CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.


THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS


CHIEFLY BY
SIR ARTHUR HELPS K.C.B.
AUTHOR OF "THE SPANISH CONQUEST IN AMERICA"
"FRIENDS IN COUNCIL" ETC.

LONDON
GEORGE BELL AND SONS
1897



First published 1868.
Reprinted 1869, 1873, 1874, 1877, 1878, 1881,
1883, 1887, 1890, 1892.
Included in Bohn's Standard Library, 1896,
Reprinted 1897.



TO
WILLIAM HENRY STONE,
THIS LIFE OF COLUMBUS
IS DEDICATED
WITH SINCERE ESTEEM AND REGARD
BY HIS AFFECTIONATE.
FRIEND,
ARTHUR HELPS.
London, October, 1868



PREFACE.

This Life of Columbus is one of a series of biographies prepared under my
superintendence, and for the most part taken verbatim from my "History of
the Spanish Conquest in America."

That work was written chiefly with a view to illustrate the history of
slavery, and not to give full accounts of the deeds of the discoverers and
conquerors of the New World, much less to give a condensed memoir of each
of them.

It has, therefore, been necessary to rearrange and add considerably to
these materials, and for this assistance I am indebted to the skill and
research of Mr. Herbert Preston Thomas.

Perhaps there are few of the great personages in history who have been
more talked about and written about than Christopher Columbus, the
discoverer of America. It might seem, therefore, that there is very little
that is new to be said about him. I do not think, however, that this is
altogether the case. Absorbed in, and to a certain extent overcome by the
contemplation of the principal event, we have sometimes, perhaps, been
mistaken as to the causes which led to it. We are apt to look upon
Columbus as a person who knew that there existed a great undiscovered
continent, and who made his way directly to the discovery of that
continent--springing at one bound from the known to the unknown. Whereas,
the dream of Columbus's life was to make his way by an unknown route to
what was known, or to what he considered to be known. He wished to find
out an easy pathway to the territories of Kublai Khan, or Prester-John.

Neither were his motives such as have been generally supposed. They were,
for the most part, purely religious. With the gold gained from potentates
such as Kublai Khan, the Holy Sepulchre was to be rebuilt, and the
Catholic Faith was to be spread over the remotest parts of the earth.

Columbus had all the spirit of a crusader, and, at the same time, the
investigating nature of a modern man of science. The Arabs have a proverb
that a man is more the son of the age in which he lives than of his own
father. This was not so with Columbus; he hardly seems to belong at all to
his age. At a time when there was never more of worldliness and
self-seeking; when Alexander Borgia was Pope; when Louis the Eleventh
reigned in France, Henry the Seventh in England, and Ferdinand the
Catholic in Arragon and Castille--about the three last men in the world to
become crusaders--Columbus was penetrated with the ideas of the twelfth
century, and would have been a worthy companion of Saint Louis in that
pious king's crusade.

Again, at a time when Aristotle and "the Angelic Doctor" ruled the minds
of men with an almost unexampled tyranny: when science was more dogmatic
than theology; when it was thought a sufficient and satisfactory
explanation to say that bodies falling to the earth descended because it
is their nature to descend--Columbus regarded natural phenomena with the
spirit of inductive philosophy that would belong to a follower of Lord
Bacon.

Perhaps it will be found that a very great man seldom does belong to his
period, as other men do to theirs. Machiavelli [1] says that the way to
renovate states is always to go back to first principles, especially to
the first principles upon which those states were founded. The same law,
if law it be, may hold good as regards the renovation of any science, art,
or mode of human action. The man who is too closely united in thought and
feeling with his own age, is seldom the man inclined to go back to these
first principles.

  [Footnote 1: Machiavelli was contemporary with Columbus. No two men
  could have been more dissimilar; and Machiavelli was thoroughly a
  product of his age, and a man who entirely belonged to it.]

It is very noticeable in Columbus that he was it most dutiful, unswerving,
and un-inquiring son of the Church. The same man who would have taken
nothing for granted in scientific research, and would not have held
himself bound by the authority of the greatest names in science, never
ventured for a moment to trust himself as a discoverer on the perilous sea
of theological investigation.

In this respect Las Casas, though a churchman, was very different from
Columbus. Such doctrines as that the Indians should be somewhat civilized
before being converted, and that even baptism might be postponed to
instruction,--doctrines that would have found a ready acceptance from the
good bishop--would have met with small response from the soldierly
theology of Columbus.

The whole life of Columbus shows how rarely men of the greatest insight
and foresight, and also of the greatest perseverance, attain the exact
ends they aim at. In this respect all such men partake the career of the
alchemists, who did not transmute other metals into gold, but made
valuable discoveries in chemistry. So, with Columbus. He did not rebuild
the Holy Sepulchre; he did not lead a new crusade; he did not find his
Kublai Khan, or his Prester John; but he brought into relation the New
World and the Old.

It is impossible to read without the deepest interest the account from day
to day of his voyages. It has always been a favourite speculation with
historians, and, indeed, with all thinking men, to consider what would
have happened from a slight change of circumstances in the course of
things which led to great events. This may be an idle and a useless
speculation, but it is an inevitable one. Never was there such a field for
this kind of speculation as in the voyages, especially the first one, of
Columbus. The first point of land that he saw, and landed at, is as nearly
as possible the central point of what must once have been the United
Continent of North and South America. The least change of circumstance
might have made an immense difference in the result. The going to sleep of
the helmsman, the unshipping of the rudder, (which did occur in the case
of "The Pinzon,") the slightest mistake in taking an observation, might
have made, and probably did make, considerable change in the event. During
that memorable first voyage of Columbus, the gentlest breeze carried with
it the destinies of future empires. Had he made his first discovery of
land at a point much southward of that which he did discover, South
America might have been colonized by the Spaniards with all the vigour
that belonged to their first efforts at colonization; and, being a
continent, might not afterwards have been so easily wrested from their
sway by the maritime nations.

On the other hand, had some breeze, big with the fate of nations, carried
Columbus northwards, it would hardly have been left for the English, more
than a century afterwards, to found those Colonies which have proved to be
the seeds of the greatest nation that the world is likely to behold.

It was, humanly speaking, singularly unfortunate for Spanish dominion in
America, that the earliest discoveries of the Spaniards were those of the
West India Islands. A multiplicity of governors introduced confusion,
feebleness, and want of system, into colonial government. The numbers,
comparatively few, of the original inhabitants in each island, were
rapidly removed from the scene of action; and the Spaniards lacked, at the
beginning, that compressing force which would have been found in the
existence of a body of natives who could not have been removed by the
outrages of Spanish cruelty, the strength of Spanish liquors, or the
virulence of Spanish diseases.[Footnote 2]

  [Footnote 2: The smallpox, for instance, was a disease introduced by the
  Spaniards, which the comparatively feeble constitution of the Indians
  could not withstand.]

The Monarchs of Spain, too, would have been compelled to treat their new
discoveries and conquests more seriously. To have held the country at all,
they must have held it well. It would not have been Ovandos, Bobadillas,
Nicuesas and Ojedas who could have been employed to govern, discover,
conquer, colonize--and ruin by their folly--the Spanish possessions in the
Indies. The work of discovery and conquest, begun by Columbus, must then
have been entrusted to men like Cortes, the Pizarros, Vasco Nunez, or the
President Gasca; and a colony or a kingdom founded by any of these men
might well have remained a great colony, or a great kingdom, to the
present day.
                                                         ARTHUR HELPS.
London, October, 1868.



CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
  Early Discoveries in the Fifteenth Century

CHAPTER II.
  Early Years of Columbus

CHAPTER III.
  Columbus in Spain

CHAPTER IV.
  First Voyage

CHAPTER V.
  Homeward bound

CHAPTER VI.
  Second Voyage of Discovery

CHAPTER VII.
  Illness; Further Discoveries; Plots against Columbus

CHAPTER VIII.
  Criminals sent to the Indies; Repartimientos; Insurrection

CHAPTER IX.
  Columbus's Third Voyage

CHAPTER X.
  Arrival at Hispaniola; Bad Treatment by Bobadlilla

CHAPTER XI.
  Columbus pleads his Cause at Court; New Enterprise; Ovando

CHAPTER XII.
  Remarkable Despatch; Mutiny;
  Eclipse predicted, and its influence; Mutiny quelled

CHAPTER XIII.
  Falling Fortunes: Conclusion



CHAPTER I. Early Discoveries in the Fifteenth Century.


  LEGENDS OF THE SEA.

Modern familiarity with navigation renders it difficult for us to
appreciate adequately the greatness of the enterprise which was undertaken
by the discoverers of the New World. Seen by the light of science and of
experience, the ocean, if it has some real terrors, has no imaginary ones.
But it was quite otherwise in the fifteenth century. Geographical
knowledge was but just awakening, after ages of slumber; and throughout
those ages the wildest dreams had mingled fiction with fact. Legends
telling of monsters of the deep, jealous of invasion of their territory;
of rocks of lodestone, powerful enough to extract every particle of iron
from a passing ship; of stagnant seas and fiery skies; of wandering saints
and flying islands; all combined to invest the unknown with the terrors of
the supernatural, and to deter the explorer of the great ocean. The
half-decked vessels that crept along the Mediterranean shores were but
ill-fitted to bear the brunt of the furious waves of the Atlantic. The now
indispensable sextant was but clumsily anticipated by the newly invented
astrolabe. The use of the compass had scarcely become familiar to
navigators, who indeed but imperfectly understood its properties. And who
could tell, it was objected, that a ship which might succeed in sailing
down the waste of waters would ever be able to return, for would not the
voyage home be a perpetual journey up a mountain of sea?


  INCITEMENTS TO DISCOVERY.

But the same tradition which set forth the difficulties of reaching the
undiscovered countries promised a splendid reward to the successful
voyager. Rivers rolling down golden sand, mountains shining with priceless
gems, forests fragrant with rich spices were among the substantial
advantages to be expected as the result of the enterprise. "Our quest
there," said Peter Martyr, "is not for the vulgar products of Europe." The
proverb "Omne ignotum pro magnifico" [Transcribers's note: Everything
unknown is taken for magnificent.] was abundantly illustrated. And there
was another object, besides gain, which was predominant in the minds of
almost all the early explorers, namely, the spread of the Christian
religion. This desire of theirs, too, seems to have been thoroughly
genuine and deep-seated; and it may be doubted whether the discoveries
would have been made at that period but for the impulse given to them by
the most religious minds longing to promote, by all means in their power,
the spread of what, to them, was the only true and saving faith. "I do
not," says a candid historian [Faria y Sousa] of that age, "imagine that
I shall persuade the world that our intent was only to be preachers; but
on the other hand the world must not fancy that our intent was merely to
be traders," There is much to blame in the conduct of the first
discoverers in Africa and America; it is, however, but just to acknowledge
that the love of gold was by no means the only motive which urged them to
such endeavours as theirs. To appreciate justly the intensity of their
anxiety for the conversion of the heathen, we must keep in our minds the
views then universally entertained of the merits and efficacy of mere
formal communion with the Church, and the fatal consequences of not being
within that communion.


  EARLY ADVENTURERS.

This will go a long way towards explaining the wonderful inconsistency, as
it seems to us, of the most cruel and wicked men believing themselves to
be good Christians and eminent promoters of the faith, if only they
baptized, before they slew, their fellow-creatures. And the maintenance of
such church principles will altogether account for the strange oversights
which pure and high minds have made in the means of carrying out those
principles, fascinated as they were by the brilliancy and magnitude of the
main object they had in view.

But while piety, sometimes debased into religious fanaticism, had a large
part in these undertakings, doubtless the love of adventure and the
craving for novelty had their influence also. And what adventure it was!
New trees, new men, new animals, new stars; nothing bounded, nothing
trite, nothing which had the bloom taken off it by much previous
description! The early voyagers moreover, were like children coming out to
take their first gaze into the world, with ready credulity and unlimited
fancy, willing to believe in fairies and demons, Amazons and mystic
islands, "forms of a lower hemisphere," and fountains of perpetual youth.


  MEDIAEVAL MAP OF THE WORLD; THE ROMAN DOMINION.

The known world, in the time of Prince Henry of Portugal (at whose
discoveries it will be convenient to take a preliminary glance), was a
very small one indeed. The first thing for us to do is to study our maps
and charts. Without frequent reference to these, a narrative like the
present forms in our mind only a mirage of names and dates and facts, is
wrongly apprehended even while we are regarding it, and soon vanishes
away. The map of the world being before us, let us reduce it to the
proportions it filled in Prince Henry's time; let us look at our infant
world. First take away those two continents, for so we may almost call
them, each much larger than a Europe, to the far west. Then cancel that
square massive looking piece to the extreme south-east; its days of penal
settlements and of golden fortunes are yet to come. Then turn to Africa;
instead of that form of inverted cone which it presents, and which we now
know there are physical reasons for its presenting, make a scimetar shape
of it, by running a slightly curved line from Juba on the eastern side to
Cape Nam on the western. Declare all below that line unknown. Hitherto, we
have only been doing the work of destruction; but now scatter emblems of
hippogriffs and anthropophagi on the outskirts of what is left on the map,
obeying a maxim, not confined to the ancient geographers only: "Where you
know nothing, place terrors." Looking at the map thus completed, we can
hardly help thinking to ourselves, with a smile, what a small space,
comparatively speaking, the known history of the world has been transacted
in, up to the last four hundred years. The idea of the universality of the
Roman dominion shrinks a little; and we begin to think that Ovid might
have escaped his tyrant.[3] The ascertained confines of the world were
now, however, to be more than doubled in the course of one century; and to
Prince Henry of Portugal, as the first promoter of these vast discoveries,
our attention must be directed.

  [Footnote 3: But the empire of the Romans filled the world; and when that
  empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe
  and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of imperial despotism,
  whether he was condemned to drag the gilded chain in Rome and his
  senate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rocks of Seriphus,
  or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair.
  To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he was
  encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never
  hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored to his
  irritated master. GIBBON'S Decline and Fall, vol. i. p. 97, Oxford
  Edition.]

  [Illustration: Contemporary map of the world.]

  [Illustration: 1490 map of the world includes only Europe, Asia and the
  northern 1/4 of Africa. Excludes the Americas, Greenland, and
  Australia.]


  PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL; HIS MOTIVES FOR DISCOVERY.

This prince was born in 1394. He was the third son of John the First of
Portugal and Philippa, the daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
That good Plantagenet blood on the mother's side was, doubtless, not
without avail to a man whose life was to be spent in continuous and
insatiate efforts to work out a great idea. Prince Henry was with his
father at the memorable capture of Ceuta, the ancient Seplem, in the year
1415. This town, which lies opposite to Gibraltar, was of great
magnificence, and one of the principal marts in that age for the
productions of the eastern world. It was here that the Portuguese
first planted a firm foot in Africa; and the date of this town's capture
may, perhaps, be taken as that from which Prince Henry began to meditate
further and far greater conquests. His aims, however, were directed to a
point long beyond the range of the mere conquering soldier. He was
especially learned, for that age of the world, being skilled in
mathematical and geographical knowledge. He eagerly acquired from Moors of
Fez and Morocco, such scanty information as could be gathered concerning
the remote districts of Africa. The shrewd conjectures of learned men, the
confused records of Arabic geographers, the fables of chivalry, were not
without their influence upon an enthusiastic mind. The especial reason
which impelled the prince to take the burden of discovery on himself was
that neither mariner nor merchant would be likely to adopt an enterprise
in which there was no clear hope of profit. It belonged, therefore, to
great men and princes; and amongst such, he knew of no one but himself who
was inclined to it. This is not an uncommon motive. A man sees something
that ought to be done, knows of no one that will do it but himself, and so
is driven to the enterprise even should it be repugnant to him.

  [Illustration: MAP OF WESTERN AFRICAN COAST.]


  IMPORTANT EXPEDITION

Prince Henry, then, having once the well-grounded idea in his mind that
Africa did not end, according to the common belief, at Cape Nam
[Portuguese for "not"], but that there was a region beyond that forbidding
negative, seems never to have rested until he had made known that quarter
of the world to his own. He fixed his abode upon the promontory of Sagres,
at the southern part of Portugal, whence, for many a year, he could watch
for the rising specks of white sail bringing back his captains to tell him
of new countries and new men.

One night, in the year 1418, he is thought to have had a dream of promise,
for on the ensuing morning he suddenly ordered two vessels to be got ready
forthwith, and placed them under the command of two gentlemen of his
household, Zarco and Vaz, whom he directed to proceed down the Barbary
coast on a voyage of discovery. A contemporary chronicler, Azurara, tells
the story more simply, and merely states that these captains were young
men, who, after the ending of the Ceuta campaign, were as eager for
employment as the prince for discovery; and that they were ordered on a
voyage having for its object the general molestation of the Moors as well
as the prosecution of discoveries beyond Cape Nam.


  DISCOVERY OF PORTO SANTO.

The Portuguese mariners had a proverb about the Cape, "He who would pass
Cape Not either will return or not," [Quem passar o Cabo de Nam, ou
tornara ou nam], intimating that if he did not turn before passing the
Cape he would never return at all. On this occasion it was not destined to
be passed, for the two captains were driven out of their course by storms,
and accidentally discovered a little island, where they took refuge, and
which, from that circumstance, they called Porto Santo. On their return
their master was delighted with the news they brought him, more on account
of its promise than its substance. In the same year he sent them out again
with a third captain, Bartholomew Perestrelo, to convey a supply of seeds
and animals for the newly-found island. Unfortunately, however, among the
animals were some rabbits, which multiplied so rapidly that they
overspread the whole island, and, by devouring every plant and blade of
grass which grew there, soon changed a fruitful land into a bare
wilderness.


  MADEIRA DISCOVERED.

In the following year, Zarco and Vaz, seeing  from Porto Santo something
that seemed like a cloud, but yet different (the origin of so much
discovery, noting the difference in the likeness), built two boats, and,
making for this cloud, soon found themselves alongside a beautiful island
abounding in many things, but most of all in trees, on which account they
gave it the name of Madeira (wood). The two discoverers landed upon the
island in different places. The prince, their master, afterwards rewarded
them with the captaincies of the districts adjacent to those places. To
Perestrelo he gave the island of Porto Santo, to colonize it. Perestrelo,
however, did not make much of his captaincy; and spent his life in
endeavouring to make head against the rabbits, which were as destructive
as a plague of locusts, and which by their fecundity resisted all his
efforts to exterminate them. This captain has a place in history, as being
the father-in-law of Columbus, who, indeed, lived at Porto Santo for some
time, and here, on new found land, studied the cosmographical works which
Perestrelo had been at pains to accumulate; meditating far bolder
discoveries.


  AFRICAN COAST EXPLORED.

Zarco and Vaz began the cultivation of their island of Madeira, but met
with an untoward event at first. In clearing the wood, they kindled a fire
amongst it, which burned for seven years, we are told; and, in the end,
that which had given its name to the island, and which, in the words of
the historian, overshadowed the whole land, became the most deficient
commodity. The captains founded churches in the island, and the King of
Portugal, Don Duart, gave the temporalities to Prince Henry, and all the
spiritualities to the Knights of Christ.

From this time forth, Prince Henry prosecuted his explorations with a
fixity of purpose which could not but ensure success. Through every
discouragement he persevered still. Many a Swiss peak has gone through
three phases. It has been pronounced, first, "inaccessible," then, "a very
dangerous ascent," and finally, "a pleasant excursion." So it was with
each fresh headland which seemed to bar the way down the African coast.
And the travellers who came last, in each case, found it next to
impossible to imagine what were the difficulties and dangers that had
seemed so formidable to their predecessors.


  BARRIER OF ROCKS.

For a long time Cape Bojador, which is situate seventy leagues to the
south of Cape Nam, was the extreme limit of discovery. This cape was
formidable in itself, being terminated by a ridge of rocks, with fierce
currents running round them; but was much more formidable from the fancies
which the mariners had formed of the sea and land beyond it. "It is
clear," they were wont to say, "that beyond this cape there are no people
whatever; the land is as bare as Libya--no water, no trees, no grass in
it; the sea so shallow, that at a league from the land it is only a fathom
deep; the currents so fierce, that the ship which passes that cape will
never return;" and thus their theories were brought in to justify their
fears.

This outstretcher (for such is the meaning of the word Bojador) was
therefore as a bar drawn across that advance in maritime discovery, which
had for so long a time been the first object of Prince Henry's life.


  POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

For twelve years the prince had been sending forth ships and men, with
little approbation from the public--the discovery of Madeira and Porto
Santo serving to whet his appetite for further enterprise, but not winning
the common voice in favour of his projects. The people at home, improving
upon the reports of the sailors, said that "the land which the prince
sought after was merely some sandy place like the deserts of Libya; that
princes had possessed the empire of the world, and yet had not undertaken
such designs as his, nor shown such anxiety to find new kingdoms; that the
men who arrived in those foreign parts (if they did arrive) turned from
white into black men; that the king, Don John, the prince's father, had
endowed foreigners with land in his kingdom, to break it up and cultivate
it, a thing very different from taking the people out of Portugal, which
had need of them, to bring them amongst savages to be eaten and to place
them upon lands of which the mother country had no need; that the Author
of the world had provided these islands solely for the habitation of wild
beasts, of which an additional proof was that those rabbits which the
discoverers themselves had introduced were now dispossessing them of the
island."

There is much here of the usual captiousness [Transcriber's note: Finding
trivial faults.] to be found in the criticism of bystanders upon action,
mixed with a great deal of false assertion and assumed knowledge of
the ways of Providence. Still, it were to be wished that most criticism
upon action was as wise; for that part of the common talk which spoke of
keeping their own population to bring out their own resources, had a
wisdom in it which the men of future centuries were yet to discover
throughout the Peninsula.


  MISGIVINGS OF PRINCE HENRY; GIL EANNES.

Prince Henry, as may be seen by his perseverance up to this time, was not
a man to have his purposes diverted by such criticism, much of which must
have been, in his eyes, worthless and inconsequent in the extreme.
Nevertheless, he had his own misgivings. His captains came back one after
another, with no good tidings of discovery, but with petty plunder gained
as they returned from incursions on the Moorish coast. The prince
concealed from them his chagrin at the fruitless nature of their attempts,
but probably did not feel it less on that account. He began to think, was
it for him to hope to discover that land which had been hidden from so
many princes? Still he felt within himself the incitement of "a virtuous
obstinacy," which would not let him rest. Would it not, he thought, be
ingratitude to God, who thus moved his mind to these attempts, if he were
to desist from his work, or be negligent in it? He resolved, therefore, to
send out again Gil Eannes, one of his household, who had been sent the
year before, but had returned, like the rest, having discovered nothing.
He had been driven to the Canary Islands, and had seized upon some of the
natives there, whom he brought back. With this transaction the prince had
shown himself dissatisfied; and Gil Eannes, now entrusted again with
command, resolved to meet all dangers, rather than to disappoint the
wishes of his master. Before his departure, the prince called him aside
and said, "You cannot meet with such peril that the hope of your reward
shall not be much greater; and, in truth, I wonder what imagination this
is that you have all taken up--in a matter, too, of so little certainty;
for if these things which are reported have any authority, however little,
I would not blame you so much. But you quote to me the opinions of four
mariners, who, as they were driven out of their way to Frandes or to some
other ports to which they commonly navigated, had not, and could not have
used, the needle and the chart: but do you go, however, and make your
voyage without regard to their opinion, and, by the grace of God, you
will not bring out of it anything but honour and profit."


  GIL EANNES' SUCCESSFUL VOYAGE.

We may well imagine that these stirring words of the prince must have
confirmed Gil Eannes in his resolve to efface the stain of his former
misadventure. And he succeeded in doing so; for he passed the dreaded Cape
Bojador--a great event in the history of African discovery, and one that
in that day was considered equal to a labour of Hercules. Gil Eannes
returned to a grateful and most delighted master. He informed the prince
that he had landed, and that the soil appeared to him unworked and
fruitful; and, like a prudent man, he could not only tell of foreign
plants, but had brought some of them home with him in a barrel of the
new-found earth, plants much like those which bear, in Portugal, the roses
of Santa Maria. The prince rejoiced to see them, and gave thanks to God,
"as if they had been the fruit and sign of the promised land; and besought
our Lady, whose name the plants bore, that she would guide and set forth
the doings in this discovery to the praise and glory of God, and to the
increase of His holy faith."


  ANTONIO GONCALVEZ AND HIS CAPTURE OF MOORS

The old world had now obtained a glimpse beyond Cape Bojador. The fearful
"outstretcher" had no longer much interest for them, being a thing that
was overcome, and which was to descend from an impossibility to a
landmark, from which, by degrees, they would almost silently steal down
the coast, counting their miles by thousands, until Vasco de Gama should
boldly carry them round to India. But now came stormy times for the
Portuguese kingdom, and the troubles of the regency occupied the prince's
attention to the exclusion of cosmography.

In 1441, however, there was a voyage which led to very important
consequences. In that year Antonio Goncalvez, master of the robes to
Prince Henry, was sent out with a vessel to load it with skins of
"sea-wolves," a number of them having been seen, during a former voyage,
at the mouth of a river about a hundred and fifty miles beyond Cape
Bojador. Goncalvez resolved to signalize his voyage by a feat that should
gratify his master more than the capture of sea-wolves; and he accordingly
planned and executed successfully an expedition for seizing some Azeneghi
Moors, in order, as he told his companions, to take home "some of the
language of that country." Tristam, another of Prince Henry's captains,
afterwards falling in with Goncalvez, a further capture of Moors was made,
and Goncalvez returned to Portugal with the spoil. This voyage seems to
have prompted the application which Prince Henry made, in the same year,
to Pope Martin the Fifth, praying that his holiness would grant to the
Portuguese crown all that should be conquered, from Cape Bojador to the
Indies, together with plenary indulgence for those who should die while
engaged in such conquests. The pope granted these requests; though
afterwards, as we shall see, the Spanish discoveries of Columbus and his
successors rendered it necessary that the terms of the grant should be
modified. "And now," says a Portuguese historian, "with this apostolic
grace, with the breath of royal favour, and already with the applause of
the people, the prince pursued his purpose with more courage, and with
greater outlay."


  COMMENCEMENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

One proof of this popular approval was furnished by the formation of a
company at Lagos, in 1444, who received permission from the prince to
undertake discovery along the coast of Africa, paying him a certain
portion of any gains which they might make. Whether the company was
expressly founded for slave traffic may be doubtful; but it is certain
that this branch of their business was soon found to be the most lucrative
one, and that from this time Europe may be said to have made a distinct
beginning in the slave trade, henceforth to spread on all sides, like the
waves on troubled water, and not, like them, to become fainter and fainter
as the circles widen. For slavery was now assuming an entirely new phase.
Hitherto, the slave had been merely the captive in war, "the fruit of the
spear," as he has figuratively been called, who lived in the house of his
conquer, and laboured at his lands. Now, however, the slave was no longer
an accident of war. He had become the object of war. He was no longer a
mere accidental subject of barter. He was to be sought for, to be hunted
out, to be produced; and this change accordingly gave rise to a new branch
of commerce.

Some time before 1454 a Portuguese factory was established at one of the
Arguim islands, and this factory soon systematized the slave-trade.
Thither came all kinds of merchandize from Portugal, and gold and slaves
were taken back in return; the number of the latter sent home annually, at
the time of Ca da Mosto's visit in 1454, being between seven and eight
hundred.

The narrative of the Portuguese voyages along the African coast is, for
the most part, rather uninviting. It abounds with names, and dates, and
facts; but the names are often hard to pronounce, the dates have sometimes
an air of uncertainty about them, and the facts stand out in hard relief,
dry and unattractive. Could we recall, however, the voyagers themselves,
and listen to their story, we should find it animating enough. Each
enterprise, as we have it now, with its bare statistics, seems a meagre
affair; but it was far otherwise to the men who were concerned in it. Of
the motives[4] impelling men to engage in such  expeditions, something has
already been said.

  [Footnote 4: "They err who regard the conquistadores as led only by a
  thirst for gold, or even exclusively by religious fanaticism. Dangers
  always exalt the poetry of life, and moreover, the powerful age which we
  here seek to depict in regard to its influence on the development of
  cosmical ideas, gave to all enterprises, as well as to the impressions
  of nature offered by distant voyages, the charm of novelty and surprise,
  which begins to be wanting to our present more learned age in the many
  regions of the earth which are now open to us."--Humboldt's Kosmos.
  Sabines translation, 1848, vol. ii. p. 272]


  AIM OF THE ADVENTURERS.

But besides the hopes and fears of each individual of the crew, the
conjoint enterprise had in it a life to be lived, and a career to be
worked out. It started to do something; fulfilled its purpose, or at least
some purpose; and then came back, radiant with success--from that time
forward to be a great fact in history. Or, on the other hand, there was
some small failure or mischance, perhaps early in the voyage; the sailors
then began to reckon up ill omens, and to say that little good would come
of this business. Further on, some serious misadventure happened which
made them turn, or from the mere lapse of time they were obliged to
bethink themselves of getting back. Safety, not renown or profit, now
became their object; and then hope was at last out the negative of some
fear. Thereupon, no doubt, ensued a good deal of recrimination amongst
themselves, for very few people are magnanimous enough to share
ill-success kindly together. Then, in the long dull evenings of their
voyage homewards, as they sat looking on the waters, they thought what
excuses and explanations they would make to their friends at home, and how
shame and vexation would mingle with their joy at returning.


  CA DA MOSTO.

This transaction, teeming, as it did, with anxious life, makes but a poor
show in some chronicle;--they sailed, and did something, or failed in
doing, and then came back, and this was in such a year:--brief records,
like the entry in an almanack, or the few emphatic words on a tombstone.

At the period, however, we are now entering upon, the annals of maritime
discovery are fortunately enriched by the account of a voyager who could
tell more of the details of what he saw than we have hitherto heard from
other voyagers, and who was himself his own chronicler.

In 1454, Ca da Mosto, a young Venetian, who had already gained some
experience in voyaging, happened to be on board a Venetian galley that was
detained by contrary winds at Cape St. Vincent. Prince Henry was then
living close to the Cape. He sent his secretary and the Venetian consul on
board the galley. They told of the great things the prince had done,
showed samples of the commodities that came from the lands discovered by
him (Madeira sugars, dragon's blood, and other articles), and spoke of the
gains made by Portuguese voyagers being as great as 700 or 1000 per cent.
Ca da Mosto expressed his wish to be employed, was informed of the terms
that would be granted, and heard that a Venetian would be well received by
the prince, "because he was of opinion, that spices and other rich
merchandise might be found in those parts, and know that the Venetians
understood these commodities better than any other nation."

In fine, Ca da Mosto saw the prince, and was evidently much impressed by
his noble bearing. He obtained his wishes, and being furnished with a
caravel, he embarked his merchandise in it, and set off on a voyage of
discovery. There was now, for the first time, an intelligent man on board
one of these vessels, giving us his own account of the voyage.


  TRADE WITH THE ARABS.

From Ca da Mosto the reader at once learns the state of things with regard
to the slave-trade. The Portuguese factory at Argnim was the headquarters
of the trade. Thither came all kinds of merchandise; and gold and slaves
were taken back in return. The "Arabs" of that district (Moors, the
Portuguese would have called them) were the middle men in this affair.
They took their Barbary horses to the negro country, and "there bartered
with the great men for slaves," getting from ten to eighteen slaves for
each horse. They also brought silks of Granada and Tunis, and silver, in
exchange for which they received slaves and gold. These Arabs, or Moors,
had a place of trade of their own, called Hoden, behind Cape Blanco. There
the slaves were brought, "from whence," Ca da Mosto says, "they are sent
to the mountains of Barka, and from thence to Sicily; part of them are
also brought to Tunis and along the coast of Barbary, and the rest to
Argin, and sold to the licensed Portuguese. Every year between seven and
eight hundred slaves are sent from Argin to Portugal."

"Before this trade was settled," says Ca da Mosto, "the Portuguese used to
seize upon the Moors themselves (as appears occasionally from the evidence
that has before been referred to), and also the Azenegues, who live
further towards the south; but now peace is restored to all, and  the
Infante suffers no further damage to be done to these people. He is in
hopes, that by conversing with Christians, they may easily be brought over
to the Romish faith, as they are not, as yet, well established in that of
Mohammed, of which they know nothing but by hear-say."


  THE SENEGAL RIVER.

No doubt the prince's good intentions were greatly furthered by the
convenience of this mode of trading. In short, gain made for itself its
usual convenient channels to work in, and saved itself as much as it could
the trouble of discovery, or of marauding. Ca da Mosto being, as was said
before, the first modern European visiting Africa who himself gives an
account of it, and being, moreover, an honest and intelligent man,
possessing the rare combination of keen observation and clear narrative
power, all that he writes is most valuable. He notices the differences,
both as regards the people and the country, to be found on the opposite
sides of the Senegal River. On the northern side he finds the men small,
spare and tawny, the country arid and barren; on the southern side, the
men "exceeding black, tail, corpulent and well made; the country green,
and full of green trees." This latter is the country of Jalof, the same
that Prince Henry first heard of in his intercourse with the Moors. Both
men and women, Ca da Mosto says, wash themselves four or five times a day,
being very cleanly as to their persons, but not so in eating, in which
they observe no rule. They are full of words, and never have done talking;
and are, for the most part, liars and cheats. Yet, on the other hand, they
are very charitable; for they give a dinner or a night's lodging and a
supper, to all strangers who come to their houses, without expecting any
return.


 KING BUDOMEL.

Leaving the country of the Jalofs, Ca da Mosto proceeded eight hundred
miles further, as he says, (but he must, I think, have over-estimated his
reckoning,) to the country of a negro potentate, called King Budomel. Here
it appears that the religion, of the court at least, was Mohammedan, and
Ca da Mosto records a conversation which he had with Budomel upon the
subject. "The king asked him to give his opinion of their manner of
worship, and also some account of his own religion. Hereupon Ca da Mosto
told him, in presence of his doctors, that the religion of Mohammed was
false, and the Romish the true one. This made the Arabs mad, and Budomel
laugh; who, on this occasion, said that he looked upon the religion of the
Europeans to be good, for that none but God could have given them so much
riches and understanding. He added, however, that the Mohammedan law must
be also good; and that he believed the negroes were more sure of salvation
than the Christians; because God was a just Lord, and therefore, as He had
given the latter Paradise in this world, it ought to be possessed in the
world to come by the negroes, who had scarcely anything here, in
comparison with the others."


  THE RIVER GAMBRA

From Budomel's country the voyagers, sailing southwards, came to the river
Gambra (now called Gambia), which they entered, but could not succeed in
conciliating the natives, who attacked them with signal valour, and
maintained the contest with almost unparalleled bravery, considering that
the arms used by the Europeans were totally unknown to their opponents.


  FURTHER DISCOVERIES.

During their stay in this river Ca da Mosto and his companions saw the
constellation of the southern cross for the first time. Finding that the
natives would have nothing to do with them,

for they believed that the Christians were very bad people, and bought
negroes to eat them, Ca da Mosto and the other commanders wished to
proceed a hundred miles further up the river; but the common sailors would
not hear of it, and the expedition forthwith returned to Portugal.

Two years later, in 1456, Ca da Mosto made another voyage, in the course
of which he discovered the Cape de Verde Islands. Leaving them, he went
again to the Gambia River, which he ascended much further than he had done
during his previous expedition, and he also succeeded on this occasion in
conciliating the natives. Then he went down the coast, passed Cape Roxo,
and afterwards sailed up the Rio Grande, but, from want of any knowledge
of the language of the people, was unable to prosecute his explorations
among them.

Some time between 1460 and 1464, an expedition went out under Pedro de
Cintra, one of the King of Portugal's gentlemen, to make further
discoveries along the African coast. These voyagers, whose story is
briefly told by Ca da Mosto, discovered Sierra Leone (so called on account
of the roaring thunder heard there), and went a little beyond Cape
Mesurado. The precise date of this voyage is uncertain, but we may fairly
consider Sierra Leone as being the point attained at, or about, the death
of Prince Henry in 1463, of whose character, before parting with him,
something deserves to be said.


  DEATH OF PRINCE HENRY.

This great leader of maritime discovery resembled Columbus strongly in one
thing, namely, his unity of purpose. He resembled him, too, in his
patience and in his unvarying confidence of success, even under
disappointment. "He was bold and valorous in war, versed in arts and
letters; a skilful fencer; in the mathematics superior to all men of his
time; generous in the extreme; most zealous for the increase of the faith.
No bad habit was known in him. His memory was equal to the authority he
bore, and his prudence equal to his memory." [Faria y Sousa.]  And to
this character the chronicler, Azurara, who evidently knew the prince
well, and speaks with perfect honesty about him, adds two or three of
those little niceties of description which give life and reality to the
picture. He says that the prince was a man of great counsel and authority,
wise and of good memory, but in some things slow, whether it was through
the prevalence of the phlegmatic temperament in his constitution, or from
intentional deliberation, being moved to some end which men did not
perceive.


  HIS CHARACTER.

It was this temperament, probably, that made the prince incapable of
"ill-will against any person, however great the injury he had received
from him," so that this placidity of disposition seemed an actual fault in
him. He was accordingly thought "deficient in distributive justice." There
are instances in his conduct which bear out this, and one especially, in
which he is stated to have overlooked the desertion of his banner, on an
occasion of great peril to himself, and afterwards to have unjustly
favoured the persons who had thus been found wanting in courage. This, no
doubt, was an error on his part, but at least it was an heroic one, such
as belonged to the first Caesar; and in the estimation of the prince's
followers, it probably added to their liking for the man what little it
may have taken away from their confidence in the precision of his justice
as a commander.


  PRINCE HENRY'S CHARACTER.

We learn, from the same authority, that his house was the resort of all
the good men of the kingdom, and of foreigners, and that he was a man of
intense labour and study. "Often the sun found him in the same place where
it had left him the day before, he having watched throughout the whole arc
of the night without any rest."

Altogether, whether we consider this prince's motives, his objects, his
deeds, or his mode of life, we must acknowledge him to be one of the most
notable men, not merely of his own country and period, but of modern times
and of all nations, and one upon whose shoulders might worthily rest the
arduous beginnings of continuous maritime discovery. Would that such men
remained to govern the lands they have the courageous foresight to
discover! Then, indeed, they might take to themselves the motto talant de
bien jaire, which this prince, their great leader, caused to be inscribed
by his captains in many a land, that as yet, at least, has not found much
good from its introduction, under his auspices, to the civilization of an
older world.


  PRESTER JOHN

Hurrying over this preliminary sketch, we may briefly note that about six
years after Prince Henry's death, the Gold Coast was explored by Fernando
Gomez, and the Portuguese fort was built there which Columbus afterwards
visited; that Fernando Po discovered an island which was then called
Formosa, but which is now known by the name of its discoverer; and that
Diego Cam, accompanied, it is said, by Martin Behaim (Martin of Bohemia),
the most celebrated geographer of those times--to whom, by the way, some
of the credit exclusively due to Columbus has been rather unfairly
given--discovered the kingdom of Congo. About this time an ambassador sent
to the King of Portugal by the sovereign of Benin, a territory between the
Gold Coast and Congo, happened to speak about a greater power in Africa
than his master, to whom indeed his master was but the vassal. This
instantly set the Portuguese king thinking about Prester John, of whom
legends spoke as a Christian king ruling over a Christian nation somewhere
in what was vaguely called the Indies; and the search after whom is, in
maritime discovery, what the alchemist's pursuit after the philosopher's
stone was in chemistry. The king concluded that this "greater power" must
be Prester John; and accordingly Bartholomew Diaz and two other captains
were sent out on further discovery. They did not find Prester John, but
made their way southwards along a thousand and fifty miles of new coast,
as far as a cape which, from experience, they called Cape Stormy, but
which their master, seeing in its discovery an omen of better things,
renamed as the Cape of Good Hope.


  BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS.

It is a fact of great historical interest, and a singular link between
African and American discovery, that Bartholomew Columbus, brother of
Christopher, was engaged in this voyage. The authority for this important
statement is Las Casas, who says that he found, in a book belonging to
Christopher Columbus, being one of the works of Cardinal Aliaco, a note
"in Bartholomew Colon's handwriting," (which he knew well, having several
of the letters and papers concerning the expedition in his own
possession), which note gives a short account, in bad Latin, of the
voyage, mentions the degree of latitude of the Cape, and concludes with
the words "in quibus omnibus interfui."


  PASSAGE IN THE "LUSIADAS"

In fiction, too, this voyage of Bartholomew Diaz was very notable, as
it presented an occasion for the writing of one of the most celebrated
passages in modern poetry, a passage not easily to be surpassed for its
majesty and tenderness, and for a beauty which even those tiresome
allusions to the classics, that give a faded air to so much of the poetry
of the sixteenth century, cannot seriously disfigure nor obscure.

It is to be found in the Lusiadas of Camoens, and indicates the
culminating point of Portuguese discovery in Africa, as celebrated by the
national poet.

Just as the mariners approach the Cape, a cloud rises, darkens the air,
and then discloses a monstrous giant, with deep-set, caverned eyes, of
rugged countenance, and pallid earthy colour, vast as that statue of
Apollo, the colossal wonder of the world. In solemn language, this awful
shape pours forth disastrous prophecies, and threatens his highest
vengeance on those who have discovered him--maledictions which, alas! may
be securely uttered against those who accomplish aught that is bolder than
has hitherto been attempted by their fellow men.

When vexed by the question "Who art thou?" the "stupendous body" harshly
and mournfully replies, that he is that great stormy Cape, hitherto hidden
from mankind, whom their boldness in discovering much offends.

He then relates the touching story of his love: how he was Adamastor, of
the race of Titans, and how he loved Thetis, the fairest being of the sea;
and how, deceived by the (magic) arts of her "who was the life of his
body," he found himself caressing a rough and horrid crag instead of her
sweet, soft countenance; and how, crazed by grief and by dishonour, he
wandered forth to seek another world, where no one should behold him and
mock his misery; how still the vengeance of the gods pursued him; and how
he felt his flesh gradually turning into rock, and his members extending
themselves among the long waves; and how, for ever to increase his agony,
the beautiful Thetis still encircled him.

Having told his grief, he made himself into a dark cloud (Desfez-se a
nuvem negra), and the sea roared far off with a sonorous sound. And then
the Portuguese mariner lifted up his hands in prayer to the sacred chorus
of angels, who had guided the vessel so long on its way, and prayed
God to remove the fulfilment of the evil things which Adamastor had
prophesied against his nation.

The Genius of the Stormy Cape might have taken up a direr song of prophecy
against the inhabitants of the unfortunate land of which he formed so
conspicuous and mournful a prominence.


  COVILHAM AND PAIVA.

Maritime discovery had now, by slow and painful degrees, proceeded down
the coast of Africa, nearly to the southernmost point, and from thence
will soon be curving round in due course to India. But expeditions by sea
were not the only modes of discovery undertaken by the Portuguese in the
reign of John the Second of Portugal. Pedro de Covilham and Alfonso de
Paiva went on an enterprise of discovery mainly by land. The latter died
at Cairo, the former made his way to Cananor, Calecut, and Goa, and thence
back to Cairo, where he found that his companion had died. He then set out
again, and eventually came into the kingdom of Shoa, [5]to the court of
"the King of Habbesh," who fulfilled sufficiently in Covilham's eyes, the
idea of Prester John, and was accordingly called so. It is a curious
coincidence, that an ambassador from the King of Habbesh, called Lucas
Marcos, a priest of that country, came about this time to Rome and
afterwards to Lisbon, which circumstance gave a new impetus to all the
King of Portugal's "hopes, wishes, and endeavours."

  [Footnote 5: A country in the south of Abyssinia. Tegulet, the ancient
  capital of Shoa, is in 38 degrees 40' E. long., and 9 degrees 45' N.
  lat.]


  BEMOIN, PRINCE OF JALOF.

A more remarkable person even than an ambassador from Prester John arrived
nearly at the same time at Lisbon. This was Bemoin, Prince of Jalof.
Bemoin came to seek the protection of the King of Portugal, and the reason
of his coming was as follows. He was the brother, on the mother's side, of
Brian, King of Jalof. This king was inert and vicious. He had, however,
the wisdom to make Bemoin prime minister, and to throw all the cares and
troubles of governing upon him. Nothing was heard in the kingdom but of
Bemoin. But he, seeing, perhaps, the insecurity of his position,
diligently made friends with the Portuguese, keeping aloof, however, from
becoming a convert, though he listened respectfully to those who expounded
the Christian faith to him. Cibitab, a brother of the inert Brian, by
the father's side, became jealous of Bemoin, revolted, killed Brian, and
vanquished Bemoin, who thereupon threw himself upon the protection of his
Portuguese friends, and came to Lisbon.


  BEMOIN'S RECEPTION AT LISBON,

Bemoin was received magnificently by King John of Portugal. The negro
prince had formerly alleged that one of his reasons for not becoming a
Christian was the fear of disgusting his followers; but, being in
Portugal, that reason no longer held good, and he became a convert, being
baptized as Don John Bemoin, having King John for a godfather. Twenty-four
of Bemoin's gentlemen received baptism after him. This is the account of
his reception. "Bemoin, because he was a man of large size and fine
presence, about forty years old, with a long and well-arranged beard,
appeared indeed not like a barbarous pagan, but as one of our own princes,
to whom all honour and reverence were due. With equal majesty and gravity
of demeanour he commenced and finished his oration, using such inducements
to make men bewail his sad fortune in exile, that only seeing these
natural signs of sorrow, people comprehended what the interpreter
afterwards said. Having finished the statement of his case as a good
orator would, in declaring that his only remedy and only hope was in the
greatness and generosity of the king, with whom he spoke aside for a short
time, he was answered by the king in few words, so much to his
satisfaction that immediately it made a change in his whole look, spirits,
and bearing, rendering him most joyous. Taking leave of the king, he went
to kiss the queen's hand, and then that of the prince, to whom he said a
few words, at the end of which he prayed the prince that he would
intercede in his favour with the king. And thence he was conducted to his
lodgings by all the nobility that had accompanied him."

After this, Bemoin had many conversations with the king, and always
acquitted himself well. Amongst other things, he gave information
respecting various African nations, and especially of the king of a Jewish
people, who in many things resembled Christians. Here again the Portuguese
monarch was delighted at finding himself upon the traces of Prester John.


  BEMOIN'S FATE

It must not be forgotten to mention, that the king made great rejoicings
in honor of Bemoin's conversion, on which occasion the negro prince's
attendants performed singular feats on horseback.

Bemoin maintained his favour at the Portuguese court, and succeeded in his
object of obtaining military assistance. He was sent back to his own
country with a Portuguese squadron of twenty caravels, which had for its
instructions, besides his restitution, to found a fort on the banks of the
river Senegal.

The Portuguese arrived at the river, and began building the fort, but are
said to have chosen an unhealthy spot to build on. Whether they could have
chosen a healthy one is doubtful. The commander, however, Pedro Vaz,
thought that there was treachery on Bemoin's part, and killed him with the
blow of a dagger on board his vessel. The building was discontinued, and
Pedro Vaz returned to Portugal, where he found the king excessively vexed
and displeased at the fate of Bemoin.


  PRINCE HENRY'S PERSEVERANCE.

The historian may now stop in his task of tracing Portuguese discovery
along the coast of Africa. We have seen it making its way with quiet
perseverance, for seventy years, from Cape Nam to the Cape of Good Hope, a
distance of some six thousand miles. This long course of discovery has
been almost entirely thrown into shade by the more daring and brilliant
discovery of America, which we have now to enter upon. Yet these
proceedings on the African coast had in them all the energy, perseverance,
and courage which distinguished American discovery. Prince Henry himself
was hardly a less personage than Columbus. They had different elements to
contend in. But the man whom princely wealth and position, and the
temptation to intrigue which there must have been in the then state of the
Portuguese court, never induced to swerve from the one purpose which he
maintained for forty years, unshaken by popular clamour, however sorely
vexed he might be with inward doubts and misgivings; who passed laborious
days and watchful nights in devotion to this one purpose, enduring the
occasional short-comings of his agents with that forbearance which springs
from a care for the enterprise in hand, so deep as to control private
vexation (the very same motive which made Columbus bear so mildly with
insult and contumely from his followers),--such a man is worthy to be put
in comparison with the other great discoverer who worked out his
enterprise through poverty, neglect, sore travail, and the vicissitudes of
courts. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that Prince Henry was
undoubtedly the father of modern geographical discovery, and that the
result of his exertions must have given much impulse to Columbus, if it
did not first move him to his great undertaking. After the above eulogium
on Prince Henry, which is not the least more than he merited, his kinsmen,
the contemporary Portuguese monarchs, should come in for their share of
honourable mention, as they seem to have done their part in African
discovery with much vigour, without jealousy of Prince Henry, and with
high and noble aims. It would also be but just to include, in some part of
this praise, the many brave captains who distinguished themselves in these
enterprises.


  SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE

How far the great discoverer, on whose career we are about to enter, was
himself actually concerned in these African expeditions we have no means
of deciding. But there can be little doubt that this raising the curtain
of the unknown, this glimpse of new countries, gave a keen stimulus to the
researches of geographers, and, in fact, set the fashion of discovery.
Men's minds were drawn into this special channel; and it remained for
Christopher Columbus first to form a sound theory out of the conflicting
views of the cosmographers, and finally to carry out that theory with the
boldness and resolution which have made his name one of those beacon-fires
which carry on from period to period the tidings of the world's great
history through successive ages.



CHAPTER II. Early Years of Columbus.


  BIRTH OF COLUMBUS

The question of Columbus's birthplace has been almost as hotly contested
as that of Homer's. A succession of pamphleteers had discussed the
pretensions of half a dozen different Italian villages to be the
birthplace of the great navigator; but still archaeologists were divided
on the subject, when, at a comparatively recent period, the discovery of
the will in which Columbus bequeathed part of his property to the Bank of
Genoa, conclusively settled the point in favour of that city. "Thence I
came," he says, "and there was I born." As to the date of his birth there
is no such direct evidence; and conjectures and inferences, founded on
various statements in his own writings, and in those of his
contemporaries, range over the twenty years from 1436 to 1456, in
attempting to assign the precise time of his appearance in the world. Mr.
Irving adopts the earlier of these two dates, upon the authority of a
remark by Bernaldez, the curate of Los Palacios, which speaks of the death
of Columbus in the year 1506, "at a good old age, being seventy years old,
a little more or less." But this statement has an air of vagueness, and
is, moreover, inconsistent with several passages in Columbus's own
letters.[6]  And the evidence of the ancient authorities who seem
most to be relied on, points rather to the year 1447 or 1448 as the
probable date.

  [Footnote 6: "His hair," says his son Fernando, "turned white before
  he was thirty." This would add to his apparent age, and might have
  deceived Bernaldez.]

  HIS EDUCATION.

His father was a wool-carder; but this fact does not necessarily imply, in
a city of traders like Genoa, that his family was of particularly humble
origin. At any rate, like most others, when the light of a great man's
birth is thrown upon its records, real and possible, it presents some
other names not altogether unworthy to be inscribed among the great man's
ancestors. Christopher was not, he says in a letter to a lady of the
Spanish court, the first admiral of his family--referring, evidently, to
two naval commanders bearing his name, who had attained some distinction
in the maritime service of Genoa and France, and the younger of whom,
Colombo el Mozo, was in command of a French squadron in the expedition
undertaken by John of Anjou against Naples for the recovery of the
Neapolitan crown. But his relationship with these Colombos, if traceable
at all, was probably only a very distant one, and his son, in admitting
this, wisely says that the glory of Christopher is quite enough, without,
there being a necessity to borrow any from his ancestors.

At a very early age he became a student at the University of Pavia, where
he laid the foundations of that knowledge of mathematics and natural
science, which stood him in good stead throughout his life. At Genoa he
would naturally regard the sea as the great field of enterprise which
produced harvests of rich wares and spoils of glorious victories; and he
may have heard, now and then, news of the latest conclusions of  the
Arabic geographers at Senaar, and rumours of explorations down the African
coast, which would be sure to excite interest among the maritime
population of his birthplace. It is not wonderful that, exposed to such
influences, he preferred a life of adventure on the sea to the drudgery of
his father's trade in Genoa. Accordingly, after finishing his academical
course at Pavia, he spent but a few irksome months as a carder of wool
(tector panni) and actually entered on his nautical career before he was
fifteen years old.


  EARLY VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS.

Of his many voyages, which of them took place before, and which after, his
coming to Portugal, we have no distinct record; but are sure that he
traversed a large part of the known world, that he visited England, that
he made his way to Iceland and Friesland[7] (where he may possibly have
heard vague tales of the discoveries by the Northmen in North America),
that he had been at El Mina, on the coast of Guinea, and that he had seen
the Islands of the Grecian Archipelago. "I have been seeking out the
secrets of nature for forty years," he says, "and wherever ship has
sailed, there have I voyaged." But beyond a few vague allusions of this
kind, we know scarcely anything of these early voyages. However, he
mentions particularly his having been employed by King Rene of Provence to
intercept a Venetian galliot. And this exploit furnishes illustrations
both of his boldness and his tact. During the voyage the news was brought
that the galliot was convoyed by three other vessels. Thereupon the crew
were unwilling to hazard an engagement, and insisted that Columbus should
return to Marseilles for re-inforcement. Columbus made a feint of
acquiescence, but craftily arranged the compass so that it appeared that
they were returning, while they were really steering their original
course, and so arrived at Carthagena on the next morning, thinking all the
while that they were in full sail for Marseilles.

  [Footnote 7: The account of this voyage to the north of Europe, as
  commonly quoted, furnishes a singular instance of the inaccuracy of
  translators in the matter of figures. Columbus is there made to say,
  that at the Ultima Thule, which be reached, "the tides were so great as
  to rise and fall twenty-six fathoms," i.e. 156 feet. Of course this an
  absurdity; for no tides in Europe rise much above 50 feet. We have no
  record of the exact words used by Columbus, but in the extant Italian
  translation he is made to speak of the rise being venti sei bracchia,
  i.e. twenty-six ells (not fathoms), or about fifty-two feet. But even
  this reduced estimate must be excessive. Except in the Bristol Channel
  there is no rise of tide in the seas of Northern Europe which at all
  approaches this limit. At Reikiavik (Iceland) the rise is seventeen and
  a half feet. In Greenland it varies from a minimum of seven feet at
  Julianshaab to a maximum of twelve and a half feet at Frederikshaab.]


  CHARACTERISTICS OF COLUMBUS

Considering how much more real the hero of a biography appears if we can
picture him accurately in our mind's eye, and see him "in his habit as he
lived," it is singularly unfortunate that the personal appearance of
Columbus has been so variously described by the old historians that it is
impossible to speak with certainty on the subject. Strangely enough, too,
no well-authenticated portrait of the great discoverer exists. Ferdinand
Columbus, who would be a good authority, fails to give us, in describing
his father, any of those little touches which make up a good literary
photograph. We learn, however, that he had a commanding presence, that he
was above the middle height, with a long countenance, rather full cheeks,
an aquiline nose, and light grey eyes full of expression. His hair was
naturally light in colour, but, as has been already stated, it turned
nearly white while he was still a young man.

The peculiar characteristics of his mind are such as we might naturally
expect to find in the originator of such a work as the discovery of
America,--who was, indeed, one of the great spirits of the earth; but
still of the same order of soul to which great inventors and discoverers
have mostly belonged. Lower down, too, in mankind, there is much of the
same nature leading to various kinds of worthy deeds, though there are no
more continents for it to discover.

But to return to the renowned personage of whom we are speaking. There was
great simplicity about him, and much loyalty and veneration. The truly
great are apt to believe in the greatness of others, and so to be loyal in
their relations here; while, for what is beyond here, a large measure of
veneration belongs to them, as having a finer and more habitually present
consciousness than most men of something infinitely above what even their
imaginations can compass. He was as magnanimous as it was possible,
perhaps, for so sensitive and impassioned a person to be. He was humane,
self-denying, courteous. He had an intellect of that largely inquiring
kind which may remind us of our great English philosopher, Bacon. He was
singularly resolute and enduring. The Spaniards have a word, longanimidad,
which has been well applied in describing him, as it signifies greatness
and constancy of mind in adversity. He was rapt in his designs, having a
ringing for ever in his ears of great projects, making him deaf to much,
perhaps, that prudence might have heeded:--one to be loved by those near
him, and likely by his presence to inspire favour and respect.


  COLUMBUS'S DESIRE FOR DISCOVERY.

At what precise period his great idea came into his mind we have no means
of ascertaining. The continuous current of Portuguese discoveries had, as
we have seen, excited the mind of Europe, and must have greatly influenced
Columbus, living in the midst of them. This may be said without in the
least detracting from his merits as a discoverer. In real life people do
not spring from something baseless to something substantial, as people in
sick dreams. A great invention or discovery is often like a daring leap,
but it is from land to land, not from nothing to something; and if we look
at the subject with this consideration fully before us, we shall probably
admit that Columbus had as large a share in the merit of his discovery as
most inventors or discoverers can lay claim to. If the idea which has
rendered him famous was not in his mind at the outset of his career of
investigation, at any rate he had from the first a desire for discovery,
or, as he says himself, the wish to know the secrets of this world. It may
be a question whether this impulse soon brought him to his utmost height
of survey, and that he then only applied to learning to confirm his first
views; or whether the impulse merely carried him along with growing
perception of the great truth he was to prove, into deep thinking upon
cosmographical studies, Portuguese discoveries, the dreams of learned men,
the labours of former geographers, the dim prophetic notices of great
unknown lands, and vague reports amongst mariners of driftwood seen on the
seas. But at any rate we know that he arrived at a fixed conclusion that
there was a way by the west to the Indies; that he could discover this
way, and so come to Cipango, Cathay, the Grand Khan, and all he had met
with in the gorgeous descriptions of Marco Polo and other ancient
authorities. We may not pretend to lay down the exact chronological order
of the formation of the idea in his mind, in fact, to know more about it
than he would probably have been able to tell us himself. And it must not
be forgotten that his enterprise, as compared with that of the Portuguese
along the coast of Africa, was as an invention compared to an improvement.
Each new discovery then was but a step beyond that which had preceded it;
Columbus was the first to steer boldly from shore into the waste of
waters, an originator, not a mere improver.


  COLUMBUS'S THEORY.

Fernando Columbus divides into three classes the grounds on which his
father's theory was based; namely, reasons from nature, the authority of
writers, and the testimony of sailors. He believed the world to be a
sphere; he under-estimated its size; he over-estimated the size of the
Asiatic continent. The farther that continent extended to the eastward the
nearer it came round towards Spain. And this, in a greater or less degree,
had been the opinion of the ancient geographers. Both Aristotle and Seneca
thought that a ship might sail "in a few days" from Cadiz to India.
Strabo, too, believed that it might be possible to navigate on the same
parallel of latitude, due west from the coast of Africa or Spain to that
of India. The accounts given by Marco Polo and Sir John Maundeville of
their explorations towards China confirmed the exaggerated idea of the
extent of Eastern Asia.


  CARDINAL ALIACO'S "COSMOGRAPHIA."

But of all the works of learned men, that which, according to Ferdinand
Columbus, had most weight with his father, was the  "Cosmographia" of
Cardinal Aliaco. And this book affords a good illustration of the then
state of scientific knowledge. Learned arguments are interspersed with the
most absurd fables of lion-bodied men and dog-faced women; grave, and
sometimes tolerably sound, disquisitions on the earth's surface are mixed
up with the wildest stories of monsters and salamanders, of giants and
pigmies. It is here that we find the original of our modern acquaintance,
the sea-serpent, described as being "of huge size, so that he kills and
devours large stags, and is able to cross the ocean;" and the wonders of
the unknown world are enunciated with a circumstantial minuteness which
must have easily won the credence of a willing disciple like Columbus. He
was also confirmed in his views of the  existence of a western passage to
the Indies by Paulo Toscanelli, the Florentine philosopher, to whom much
credit is due for the encouragement he afforded to the enterprise. That
the notices, however, of western lands were not such as to have much
weight with other men is sufficiently proved by the difficulty which
Columbus had in contending with adverse geographers and men of science in
general, of whom, he says, he never was able to convince any one. After a
new world had been discovered, many scattered indications were then found
to have foreshown it. "When he promised a new hemisphere," writes
Voltaire, "people maintained that it could not exist, and when he had
discovered it, that it had been known a long time." It was to confute such
detractors that he resorted to the well known expedient for making an egg
stand on end; an illustration of the meaning of originality which, by the
way, was not itself original, as Brunelleschi had already employed it when
his merit in devising a plan for raising the cupola of Florence cathedral
was questioned.


  EVIDENCES OF A WESTERN WORLD.

Of the amount of evidence furnished by the testimony of sailors, it is
difficult to speak with any degree of accuracy. Rumours of drift-wood,
apparently carved with some savage implements; of mammoth reeds,
corresponding with Ptolemy's account of those indigenous to India; even of
two corpses, cast up on one of the Azores, and presenting an appearance
quite unlike that of any race of Europe or Africa; all seem to have come
to the willing ears of Columbus, and to have been regarded by him as
"confirmations, strong as proofs of holy writ," of the great theory.

About the year 1470 Columbus arrived at Lisbon. According to the account
given by his son, and adopted by the historian Bossi, he had sailed with
Colombo el Mozo (the nephew of that "first Admiral of the family" of whom
we have already heard) on a cruise to intercept some Venetian merchantmen
on their way home from Flanders. At break of day the battle began, off
Cape St. Vincent, and lasted till nightfall. The privateer commanded by
Columbus grappled a huge Venetian galley, which, after a hand-to-hand
struggle, caught fire, and the flames spread to the privateer. Friends and
enemies alike sought safety in the sea, and Columbus, supporting himself
on an oar, succeeded, when nearly exhausted, in gaining the land, which
was at some six miles distance. God preserved him, says his son, for
greater things.


  COLUMBUS AT PORTO SANTO.

It was probably not long after this that he married Donna Felipa Munnis
Perestrelo, who was residing at the convent of All Saints, in Lisbon,
where he was a regular attendant at the services of the church. She was a
daughter of that captain of Prince Henry's who has been already mentioned
as the first governor of Porto Santo. On that island, after a short
residence in the Portuguese capital, Columbus took up his abode, busying
himself with the papers of his deceased father-in-law, and earning a
livelihood by making maps and charts for sale. It is a curious fact that
the great chief of American discoverers should thus have inhabited a spot
which was the first advanced outpost in African discovery. He was here on
the high road to Guinea, and being in constant communication with the
explorers of the new regions, it was likely that he would become imbued
with some of their enthusiasm for adventure.


  THE BISHOP OF CEUTA; RETURN OF THE CARAVEL.

Shrouded in obscurity as this period of his life remains, we are only able
to find vague traditions of the unsuccessful effort which Columbus
made to induce the Senate of Genoa to take up his project. From the
Portuguese crown he could scarcely look for help, embroiled as it was in
costly wars, and having already a field for discovery along the African
coast, which it would scarcely be wise to forsake for an undertaking
similar in kind, but more hazardous and less definite. However, King John
the Second, to whom Columbus applied, seems to have listened with
attention to the exposition of his scheme, and indeed, according to the
account of Fernando, to have given a sort of qualified promise of his
support, but to have disagreed with Columbus as to terms. The king
referred the matter to a Committee of Council for Geographical Affairs,
before whom Columbus laid his plans; but it is possible that even in the
fifteenth century Boards had come to regard projectors as their natural
enemies, and the report of the Committee was entirely adverse to the
scheme for Atlantic discovery. But it seems that the king, was not
satisfied yet, whereupon the Bishop of Ceuta (who had headed the
opposition to Columbus in the Council) suggested that a caravel should be
secretly equipped and sent out, with instructions founded on the plan laid
before the committee. And this piece of episcopal bad faith was actually
perpetrated. The caravel, however, returned without having accomplished
anything, the sailors not having had heart to adventure far enough
westward. It was not an enterprise to be carried out successfully by men
who had only stolen the idea of it.



CHAPTER III. Columbus in Spain.


Columbus, disgusted at the treatment he had received from the Portuguese
Court, quitted Lisbon for Spain, probably in the year 1485, with his son
Diego, the only issue of his marriage with Donna Felipa, now no longer
living. Here he addressed himself to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, and to
the Duke of Medina Celi, whose extensive possessions along the coasts of
Spain were likely to incline them in favour of a maritime expedition.
There is some uncertainty as to the degree of encouragement which he
received from them; but long afterwards, when Columbus had succeeded, the
Duke of Medina Celi wrote to the Cardinal of Spain showing that he (the
duke) had maintained Columbus two years in his house, and was ready to
have undertaken the enterprise, but that he saw it was one for the queen
herself, and even then he wished to have had a part in it. Probably, any
man in whose house Columbus resided for two years would have caught some
portion of his enthusiasm, and have been ready to take up his project. It
may be conjectured, however, that none of the nobles of the Spanish court
would have been likely to undertake the matter without some sanction from
the king or queen.


  LETTER TO QUEEN ISABELLA.

To the queen, accordingly, the Duke of Medina Celi addressed a letter, of
which Columbus was himself the bearer, commending his enterprise to the
royal favour. But the juncture was singularly inopportune for the
consideration of any peaceful project. The war with the Moors was raging
more and more furiously, as they were driven back, contesting every inch
of ground, farther and farther from the heart of the kingdom. The court
was now at Cordova, actively preparing for the campaign which was to
result in that subjugation of the crescent to the cross, throughout the
Peninsula, which was completed by the conquest of Granada some six years
later. Amid the clang of arms and the bustle of warlike preparation,
Columbus was not likely to obtain more than a slight and superficial
attention to a matter which must have seemed remote and uncertain. Indeed,
when it is considered that the most pressing internal affairs of kingdoms
are neglected by the wisest rulers in times of war, it is wonderful that
he succeeded in obtaining any audience at all.


  COLUMBUS AT COURT; JUNTA OF COSMOGRAPHERS; DECISION OF THE JUNTA.

However, he was fortunate enough to find at once a friend in the Treasurer
of the Household, Alonso de Quintanilla, a man who, like himself, "took
delight in great things," and who obtained a hearing for him from the
Spanish monarchs. Ferdinand and Isabella did not dismiss him abruptly. On
the contrary, it is said, they listened kindly; and the conference ended
by their referring the business to the Queen's Confessor, Fra Hernando de
Talavera, who was afterwards Archbishop of Granada. This important
functionary summoned a junta of cosmographers (not a promising
assemblage!) to consult about the affair, and this junta was convened at
Salamanca, in the summer of the year 1487. Here was a step gained; the
cosmographers were to consider his scheme, and not merely to consider
whether it was worth taking into consideration. But it was impossible for
the jury to be unprejudiced. All inventors, to a certain extent, insult
their contemporaries by accusing them of stupidity and of ignorance. And
the cosmographical pedants, accustomed to beaten tracks, resented the
insult by which this adventurer was attempting to overthrow the belief of
centuries. They thought that so many persons wise in nautical matters as
had preceded the Genoese mariner never could have overlooked such an idea
as this which had presented itself to his mind. Moreover, as the learning
of the middle ages resided for the most part in the cloister, the member's
of the junta were principally clerical, and combined to crush Columbus
with theological objections. Texts of Scripture were adduced to refute his
theory of the spherical shape of the earth, and the weighty authority of
the Fathers of the Church was added to overthrow the "foolish idea of the
existence of antipodes; of people who walk, opposite to us, with their
heels upwards and their heads hanging down; where everything is topsy
turvy, where the trees grow with their branches downwards, and where it
rains, hails, and snows upwards." King David, St. Paul, St. Augustine,
Lactantius, and a host of other theological authorities were all put in
evidence against the Genoese mariner: he was confronted by the
"conservatism of lawyers united to the bigotry of priests." Las Casas
displays his usual acuteness when he says that the great difficulty of
Columbus was, not that of teaching, but that of unteaching: not of
promulgating his own theory, but of eradicating the erroneous convictions
of the judges before whom he had to plead his cause. In fine, the junta
decided that the project was "vain and impossible, and that it did not
belong to the majesty of such great princes to determine anything upon
such weak grounds of information."

Ferdinand and Isabella seem not to have taken the extremely unfavourable
view of the matter entertained by the junta of cosmographers, or at least
to have been willing to dismiss Columbus gently, for they merely said
that, with the wars at present on their hands, and especially that of
Granada, they could not undertake any new expenses, but when that war was
ended, they would examine his plan more carefully.


  TEDIOUNESS OF COLUMBUS'S SUIT

Thus terminated a solicitation at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella
which, according to some authorities, lasted five years; for the facts
above mentioned, though short in narration, occupied no little time in
transaction. During the whole of this period, Columbus appears to have
followed the sovereigns in the movements which the war necessitated, and
to have been treated by them with much consideration. Sums were from time
to time granted from the royal treasury for his private expenses, and he
was billeted as a public functionary in the various towns of Andalusia,
where the court rested. But his must have been a very up-hill task. Las
Casas, who, from an experience larger even than that which fell to the lot
of Columbus, knew what it was to endure the cold and indolent neglect of
superficial men in small authority, and all the vast delay, which cannot
be comprehended except by those who have suffered under it, that belongs
to the transaction of any affair in which many persons have to cooperate,
compares the suit of Columbus to a battle, "a terrible, continuous,
painful, prolix battle." The tide of this long war (for war it was, rather
than a battle) having turned against him, Columbus left the court, and
went to Seville "with much sadness and discomfiture." During this dreary
period of a suitor's life--which, however, has been endured by some of the
greatest men the world has seen, which was well known by close
observation, or bitter experience, to Spenser, Camoens, Cervantes,
Shakespeare, Bacon--one joy at least was not untasted by Columbus,
namely, that of love. His beloved Beatrice, whom he first met at Cordova,
must have believed in him, even if no one else had done so; but love was
not sufficient to retain at her side a man goaded by a great idea, or
perhaps that love did but impel him to still greater efforts for her sake,
as is the way with lovers of the nobler sort.


  ENCOURAGEMENT OF FRIENDS; GARCIA HERNANDEZ.

Other friends, too, shared his enthusiasm, and urged him onward. Juan
Perez de la Marchena, guardian of the monastery of La Rabida, in
Andalusia, had been the confessor of Queen Isabella, but had exchanged the
bustle of the court for the learned leisure of the cloister. The little
town of Palos, with its seafaring population and maritime interests, was
near the monastery, and the principal men of the place were glad to pass
the long winter evenings in the society of Juan Perez, discussing
questions of cosmography and astronomy. Among these visitors were Martin
Alonzo Pinzon, the chief shipowner of Palos, and Garcia Hernandez, the
village doctor; and one can fancy how the schemes of Columbus must have
appeared to the little conclave as a ray of sunlight in the dulness of
their simple life. Hernandez, especially, who seems to have been somewhat
skilled in physical science, and therefore capable of appreciating the
arguments of Columbus, became a warm believer in his project. It is worthy
of notice that a person who appears only once, as it were, in a sentence
in history, should have exercised so much influence upon it as Garcia
Hernandez, who was probably a man of far superior attainments to those
around him, and was in the habit of deploring, as such men do, his hard
lot in being placed where he could be so little understood. Now, however,
he was to do more at one stroke than many a man who has been all his days
before the world. Columbus had abandoned his suit at court in disgust, and
had arrived at the monastery before quitting Spain to fetch his son Diego,
whom he had left with Juan Perez to be educated. All his griefs and
struggles he confided to Perez, who could not bear to hear of his
intention to leave the country for France or England, and to make a
foreign nation greater by allowing it to adopt his project. The three
friends--the monk, the learned physician, and the skilled
cosmographer--discussed together the propositions so unhappily familiar to
the last named member of their little council. The affection of Juan Perez
and the learning of Hernandez were not slow to follow in the track which
the enthusiasm of the great adventurer made out before them; and they
became, no doubt, as convinced as Columbus himself of the feasibility of
his undertaking. The difficulty, however, was not in becoming believers
themselves, but in persuading those to believe who would have power to
further the enterprise.


  PEREZ WRITES TO THE QUEEN.

Their discussions upon this point ended in the conclusion that Juan Perez,
who was known to the queen, having acted as her confessor, should write to
her highness. He did so; and the result was favourable. The queen sent for
him, heard what he had to say, and in consequence remitted money to
Columbus to enable him to come to Court and renew his suit.


  COLUMBUS'S CONDITIONS.

He attended the court again; his negotiations were resumed, but were again
broken off on the ground of the largeness of the conditions which he asked
for. His opponents said that these conditions were too large if he
succeeded, and if he should not succeed and the conditions should come to
nothing, they thought that there was an air of trifling in granting such
conditions at all. And, indeed, they wore very large; namely, that he was
to be made an admiral at once, to be appointed viceroy of the countries he
should discover, and to have an eighth of the profits of the expedition.
The only probable way of accounting for the extent of these demands and
his perseverance in making them, even to the risk of total failure, is
that the discovering of the Indies was but a step in his mind to greater
undertakings, as they seemed to him, which he had in view, of going to
Jerusalem with an army and making another crusade. For Columbus carried
the chivalrous ideas of the twelfth century into the somewhat self-seeking
fifteenth. The negotiation, however, failed a second time, and Columbus
resolved again to go to France, when Alonzo de Quintanilla and Juan Perez
contrived to obtain a hearing for the great adventurer from Cardinal
Mendoza, who was pleased with him. Columbus then offered, in order to meet
the objections of his opponents, to pay an eighth part of the expense of
the expedition. Still nothing was done.


  SANTANGLE'S ADDRESS.

And now, finally, Columbus determined to go to France, and indeed had
actually set off one day in January of the year 1492, when Luis de
Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of the crown of Aragon,
a person much devoted to the plans of Columbus, addressed the queen with
all the energy that a man throws into his words when he is aware that it
is his last time for speaking in favour of a thing which he has much at
heart. He told her that he wondered that, as she always had a lofty mind
for great things, it should be wanting to her on this occasion. He
endeavoured to pique her jealousy as a monarch, by suggesting that the
enterprise might fall into the hands of other princes. Then he said
something in behalf of Columbus himself, and the queen was not unlikely to
know well the bearing of a great man. He intimated to her highness that
what was an impossibility to the cosmographers, might not be so in nature.
Nor, continued he, should any endeavour in so great a matter be attributed
to lightness, even though the endeavour should fail; for it is the part of
great and generous princes to ascertain the secrets of the world. Other
princes (he did not mention those of neighbouring Portugal) had gained
eternal fame this way. He concluded by saying that all the aid Columbus
wanted to set the expedition afloat, was but a million of maravedis
(equivalent to about 308 Pounds, English money of the period); and that so
great an enterprise ought not to be abandoned for the sake of such a
trifling sum.


  SUCCESS OF THE ADDRESS.

These well addressed arguments, falling in, as they did, with those of
Quintanilla, the treasurer, who had great influence with the queen,
prevailed. She thanked these lords for their counsel, and said she would
adopt it, but they must wait until the finances had recovered a little
from the drain upon them occasioned by the conquest of Granada, or if they
thought that the plan must be forthwith carried out, she would pledge her
jewels to raise the necessary funds. Santangel and Quintanilla kissed her
hands, highly delighted at succeeding; and Santangel offered to advance
the money required. Upon this the queen sent an alguazil to overtake
Columbus and bring him back to the court. He was overtaken at the bridge
of Pinos, two leagues from Granada; returned to Santa Fe, where the
sovereigns were encamped before Granada; was well received by Isabella;
and finally the agreement between him and their catholic highnesses was
settled with the secretary, Colama.


  THE AGREEMENT SETTLED.

Not much is seen of King Ferdinand in all these proceedings; and it is
generally understood that he looked rather coldly upon the propositions of
Columbus. We cannot say that he was at all unwise in so doing. His great
compeer, Henry the Seventh, did not hasten to adopt the same project
submitted to him by Bartholomew Columbus, sent into England[8] for that
purpose by his brother Christopher; and it has not been thought to
derogate from the English king's sagacity.

  [Footnote 8: It is difficult to determine how the project brought before
  Henry the Seventh's notice by Bartholomew Columbus was received. Some
  say it was made a mockery of at the English court; others speak of it as
  actually accepted. Lord Bacon states that Bartholomew was taken by
  pirates on his voyage to England, which delayed him so much that "before
  he had obtained a capitulation with the king for his brother, the
  enterprise by him was achieved." It is probable that Henry listened with
  interest to Bartholomew Columbus, who was a man of much intelligence and
  great maritime knowledge. But it seems unlikely that the negotiation
  went very far, considering the rigid manner in which Columbus insisted
  upon his exact conditions being accepted by the Spanish court. No such
  bargain, at a distance, with a reserved and parsimonious monarch, was
  likely, therefore, to have been concluded. It appears, however, from a
  despatch from the Spanish ambassador to his sovereigns, dated the 25th
  July, 1498, that the English were not behind other nations in a thirst
  for discovery, "Merchants of Bristol," he says, "have for the last seven
  years sent out annually some ships in search of the island of Brazil and
  the Seven Cities." If this assertion is accurate, England must have
  anticipated Spain in the search for, though not in the discovery of, the
  western world.]


  FATE OF PROJECTORS' PLANS.

Those who govern are in all ages surrounded by projectors, and have to
clear the way about them as well as they can, and to take care that they
get time and room for managing their own immediate affairs. It is not to
be wondered at, therefore, if good plans should sometimes share the fate
which ought to attend, and must attend, the great mass of all projects
submitted to men in power. Here, however the ultimate event would justify
the monarch's caution; for it would be hard to prove that Spain has
derived aught but a golden weakness from her splendid discoveries and
possessions in the new world.


  FERDINAND'S COLDNESS.

Moreover, the characters of the two men being essentially opposed, it is
probable that Ferdinand felt something like contempt for the uncontrolled
enthusiasm of Columbus; and, upon the whole, it is rather to be wondered
that the king consented to give the powers he did, than that he did not do
more. Had it been a matter which concerned his own kingdom of Aragon, he
might not have gone so far; but the expenses were to be eventually charged
on Castille, and perhaps he looked upon the whole affair as another
instance of Isabella's good natured sympathy with enthusiasts. His own
cool and wary nature must have distrusted this "pauper pilot, promising
rich realms." [9]

  [Footnote 9: "Nudo nocchier, promettitor di regni:"--Chiabrea.]


  COLUMBUS'S AGREEMENT WITH THE COURT OF SPAIN.

The agreement between Columbus and their Catholic highnesses is to the
following effect:--

The favours which Christopher Columbus has asked from the King and Queen
of Spain in recompense of the discoveries which he has made in the ocean
seas, and as recompense for the voyage which he is about to undertake, are
the following:--

1. He wishes to be made admiral of the seas and countries which he is
about to discover. He desires to hold this dignity during his life, and
that it should descend to his heirs.

  This request is granted by the king and queen.

2. Christopher Columbus wishes to be made viceroy of all the continents
and islands.

  Granted by the king and queen.

3. He wishes to have a share, amounting to a tenth part, of the profits of
all merchandise, be it pearls, jewels, or any other things, that may be
found, gained, bought, or exported from the countries which he is to
discover.

  Granted by the king and queen.

4. He wishes, in his quality of admiral, to be made sole judge of all
mercantile matters that may be the occasion of dispute in the countries
which he is to discover.

  Granted by the king and queen, on the condition, however, that this
  jurisdiction should belong to the office of admiral, as held by Don
  Enriquez and other admirals.

5. Christopher Columbus wishes to have the right to contribute the eighth
part of the expenses of all ships which traffic with the new countries,
and in return to earn the eighth part of the profits.

  Granted by the king and queen.

Santa Fe, in the Vega of Granada,
  April 17, 1492.

This agreement is signed by the Secretary Coloma and written by Almazan.

Then there is a sort of passport or commendatory letter intended for
presentation to the Grand Khan, Prester John, or any other oriental
potentate at whose territories Columbus might arrive:--

    FERDINAND AND ISABELLA TO KING--
    The sovereigns have heard that he and his subjects entertain great
    love for them and for Spain. They are moreover informed that he and
    his subjects very much[10] wish to hear news from Spain; and send,
    therefore, their admiral, Ch. Columbus, who will tell them that they
    are in good health and perfect prosperity.

    Granada, April 30, 1492.


  [Footnote 10: This crediting the unknown ruler with an anxiety for the
  welfare of the Spanish sovereigns is really a delicious piece of
  diplomatic affectation.]


  COLUMBUS GOES TO PALOS.

Armed with these royal commissions, Columbus left the court for Palos; and
we may be sure that the knot of friends at the monastery were sufficiently
demonstrative in their delight at the scheme on which they had pinned
their faith being fairly launched. There was no delay in furnishing the
funds for the expedition. From an entry in an account-book belonging to
the Bishopric of Palencia, it appears that one million one hundred and
forty thousand maravedis were advanced by Santangel in May, 1492, "being
the sum he lent for paying the caravels which their highnesses ordered to
go as the armada to the Indies, and for paying Christopher Columbus, who
goes in the said armada." The town of Palos was ordered to provide two
vessels.[11]

  [Footnote 11: The requisition to the municipality of Palos runs thus:
  "In consequence of the offence which we received at your hands, you were
  condemned by our council to render us the service of two caravels,
  armed, at your own expense, for the space of twelve months, whenever and
  wherever it should be our pleasure to demand the same:" (30th April,
  1492.) A proclamation of immunity from civil and criminal process to
  persons taking service in the expedition was issued at the same time.
  The ship of Columbus was, therefore, a refuge for criminals and runaway
  debtors, a cave of Adullam for the discontented and the desperate. To
  have to deal with such a community was not of the least of Columbus's
  difficulties.]


  ORDER TO PRESS MEN.

But there was still a weighty difficulty to be surmounted. It was no easy
matter to obtain crews for such an expedition. The sovereigns issued an
order authorizing Columbus to press men into the service, but still the
numbers were incomplete, for the mariners of Palos held aloof, unwilling
to risk their lives in what seemed to them the crazy project of a
monomaniac. But Juan Perez was active in persuading men to embark. The
Pinzons, rich men and skilful mariners of Palos, joined in the undertaking
personally, and aided it with their money, and, by these united exertions,
three vessels were manned with ninety mariners, and provisioned for a
year.


  CHARACTER OF VESSELS AND CREWS.

The vessels were all of small size, probably of not more than one hundred
tons' burden each, and, therefore, not larger than the American yachts,
whose ocean race from New York to Cowes was regarded as an example of
immense hardihood, even in the year 1867. But Columbus considered them
very suitable for the undertaking. The Santa Maria, which Columbus himself
commanded, was the only one of the three that was decked throughout. The
official persons and the crew on board her were sixteen in number. The two
other vessels were of the class called caravels, and were decked fore and
aft, but not amidships, the stem and the stern being built so as to rise
high out of the water. One of them, the "Pinta," was manned by a crew of
thirty, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon. The other, the "Nina," had
Vincent Yanez Pinzon for captain, and a crew of twenty-four men.  The
whole number of adventurers amounted to a hundred and twenty persons, men
of various nationalities, including, by the way, among them, two natives
of the British Isles.



CHAPTER III. First Voyage.

At length all the preparations were complete, and on a Friday (not
inauspicious in this case), the 3rd of August, 1492, after they had all
confessed and received the sacrament, they set sail from the Bar of
Saltes, making for the Canary Islands. One can fancy how the men and the
women of Palos watched the specks of white sails vanishing in the west,
and how, as each frail bark in turn disappeared in the great ocean,
mothers and sisters turned weepingly away as if from a last farewell at
the grave of their sailor kinsmen.

Columbus was now fairly afloat, and we may say with Milton, that--

  The world was all before him, where to choose.
  And Providence his guide.

His choice was made, however; and his Guide did not fail him.


  CANARY ISLANDS REACHED.

He was about to change the long-continued, weary, dismal life of a suitor,
for the sharp intense anxiety of a struggle in which there was no
alternative to success but deplorable, ridiculous, fatal failure. Speaking
afterwards of the time he spent as a suitor at court, he says, "Eight
years I was torn with disputes, and in a word, my proposition was a thing
for mockery." It was now to be seen what mockery was in it. The following
account of the voyage is mainly taken from an abridgment of Columbus's own
diary made by Las Casas, who in some places gives the admiral's own words.

The little squadron reached the Canary Islands in a few days, with no
event worth recording, except that the caravel "Pinta," commanded Martin
Alonzo Pinzon, unshipped her rudder. This was supposed to be no accident,
but to have been contrived by the owners of the vessel, who did not like
the voyage. The admiral (from henceforth Columbus is called "the admiral")
was obliged to stay some time at the Canary Islands, to refit the
"Pinta," and to make some change in the cut of her sails. While this was
being done, news was brought that three Portuguese government vessels were
cruising in the offing with the intention of preventing the expedition.
However, on the 6th of September, Columbus set sail from Gomera, and
struck boldly out to sea, without meeting with any of his supposed
enemies.


  RUMORS OF LAND SEEN.

In the abridgment of the diary, under the date of the 19th of August, the
admiral remarks that many Spaniards of these islands, "respectable men,"
swear that each year they see land; and he remembers how, in the year
1484, some one came from the island of Madeira to the King of Portugal to
beg a caravel in order to go and discover that land which he declared he
could see each year, and in the same manner. Had not the admiral been
conscious of the substantial originality of his proceedings, he would
hardly have been careful to collect these scattered notices which might
afterwards be used, as many like them were used, to depreciate that
originality. There is no further entry in the diary until the 6th of
September, when they set out from Gomera (one of the Canary Islands), on
their unknown way. For many days, what we have of the diary is little more
than a log-book, giving the rate of  sailing, or rather two rates, one for
Columbus's own private heed, and the other for the sailors. On the 13th of
September it is noted that the needle declined in the evening to the
north-west, and on the ensuing morning, to the north-east, the first time
that such a variation had been observed, or, at least recorded by
Europeans. On the 14th, the sailors of the caravel "Nina" saw two tropical
birds, which they said were never wont to be seen at more than fifteen or
twenty leagues from shore. On the 15th they all saw a meteor fall from
heaven, which made them very sad.


  PLAINS OF SEAWEED.

On the 16th, they first came upon those immense plains of seaweed (the
fucus natans), which constitute the Mar de Sargasso, and which occupy a
space in the Atlantic almost equal to seven times the extent of France.
The aspect of these plains greatly terrified the sailors, who thought they
might be coming upon submerged lands and rocks; but finding that the
vessels cut their way well through this seaweed, the sailors thereupon
took heart. On the 17th, they see more of these plains of seaweed, and
thinking themselves to be near land, they are almost in good spirits, when
finding that the needle declines to the west a whole point of the
compass and more, their hopes suddenly sink again: they begin "to murmur
between their teeth," and to wonder whether they are not in another world.
Columbus, however, orders an observation to be taken at day-break, when
the needle is found to point to the north again; moreover he is ready with
a theory sufficiently ingenious for that time, to account for the
phenomenon of variation which had so disturbed the sailors, namely, that
it was caused by the north star moving round the pole. The sailors are,
therefore, quieted upon this head.


  SIGNS OF LAND.

In the morning of the same day they catch a crab, from which Columbus
infers that they cannot be more than eighty leagues distant from land. The
18th, they see many birds, and a cloud in the distance; and that night
they expect to see land. On the 19th, in the morning, comes a pelican (a
bird not usually seen twenty leagues from the coast); in the evening,
another; also drizzling rain without wind, a certain sign, as the diary
says, of proximity to land.

The admiral, however, will not beat about for land, as he concludes that
the land which these various natural phenomena give token of, can only be
islands, as indeed it proved to be. He will see them on his return; but
now he must press on to the Indies. This determination shows his strength
of mind, and indicates the almost scientific basis on which his great
resolve reposed.


  CONSPIRACY AMONG THE MEN.

Accordingly, he was not to be diverted from the main design by any partial
success, though by this time he knew well the fears of his men, some of
whom had already come to the conclusion, "that it would be their best plan
to throw him quietly into the sea, and say he unfortunately fell in, while
he stood absorbed in looking at the stars." Indeed, three days after he
had resolved to pass on to the Indies, we find him saying, for Las Casas
gives his words, "Very needful for me was this contrary wind, for the
people were very much tormented with the idea that there were no winds on
these seas that could take them back to Spain."


  HIS DETERMINATION TO PROCEED.

On they go, having signs occasionally in the presence of birds and grass
and fish that land must be near; but land does not come. Once, too, they
are all convinced that they see land: they sing the "Gloria in excelsis;"
and even the admiral goes out of his course towards this land, which
turns out to be no land. They are like men listening to a dreadful
discourse or oration, that seems to have many endings which end not: so
that the hearer listens at last in grim despair, thinking that all things
have lost their meaning, and that ending is but another form of beginning.

These mariners were stout-hearted, too; but what a daring thing it was to
plunge, down-hill as it were, into

  A world of waves, a sea without a shore,
  Trackless, and vast, and wild, [Rogers]

mocked day by day with signs of land that neared not. And these men had
left at home all that is dearest to man, and did not bring out any great
idea to uphold them, and had already done enough to make them important
men in their towns, and to furnish ample talk for the evenings of their
lives. Still we find Columbus, as late as the 3rd of October, saying,
"that he did not choose to stop beating about last week during those days
that they had such signs of land, although he had knowledge of there being
certain islands in that neighbourhood, because he would not suffer any
detention, since his object was to go to the Indies; and if he should stop
on the way, it would show a want of mind."


  SIGNS OF LAND AGAIN.

Meanwhile, he had a hard task to keep his men in any order. Peter Martyr,
who knew Columbus well, and had probably been favoured with a special
account from him of these perilous days, describes his way of dealing with
the refractory mariners, and how he contrived to win them onwards from day
to day; now soothing them with soft words, now carrying their minds from
thought of the present danger by spreading out large hopes before them,
not forgetting to let them know what their princes would say to them if
they attempted aught against him, or would not obey his orders. With this
untutored crowd of wild, frightened men around him, with mocking hopes,
not knowing what each day would bring to him, on went Columbus. At last
came the 11th of October, and with it indubitable signs of land. The diary
mentions their finding on that day a table-board and a carved stick, the
carving apparently wrought by some iron instrument. Moreover, the men in
one of the vessels saw a branch of a haw tree with fruit on it.


  LIGHT ON SHORE.

Now, indeed, they must be close to land. The sun went down upon the same
weary round of waters which for so long a time their eyes had ached to see
beyond, when, at ten o'clock, Columbus, standing on the poop of his
vessel, saw a light, and called to him, privately, Pedro Gutierrez, a
groom of the king's chamber, who saw it also. Then they called Rodrigo
Sanchez, who had been sent by their highnesses as overlooker. I imagine
him to have been a cold and cautious man, of the kind that are sent by
jealous states to accompany and curb great generals, and who are not
usually much loved by them. Sanchez did not see the light at first,
because, as Columbus says, he did not stand in the place where it could be
seen; but at last even he sees it, and it may now be considered to have
been seen officially. "It appeared like a candle that went up and down,
and Don Christopher did not doubt that it was true light, and that it was
on land; and so it proved, as it came from people passing with lights from
one cottage to another."


  THE PROMISED PENSION.

Their highnesses had promised a pension of ten thousand maravedis to the
fortunate man who should see land first. The "Pinta" was the foremost
vessel; and it was from her deck, at two o'clock in the morning, that land
was first seen by Rodrigo de Triana. We cannot but be sorry for this poor
common sailor, who got no reward, and of whom they tell a story, that in
sadness and despite, he passed into Africa, after his return to Spain, and
became a Mahometan. The pension was adjudged to the admiral: it was
charged, somewhat ominously, on the shambles of Seville, and was paid him
to the day of his death; for, says the historian Herrera, "he saw light in
the midst of darkness, signifying the spiritual light which was introduced
amongst these barbarous people, God permitting that, the war being
finished with the Moors, seven hundred and twenty years after they had set
foot in Spain, this work (the conversion of the Indians) should commence,
so that the Princes of Castille and Leon might always be occupied in
bringing infidels to the knowledge of the Holy Catholic faith."


  RELIGIOUS MOTIVIES.

These last words are notable. They are such as Columbus himself would
probably have made use of in describing this, the crowning event of his
life. In the preface to his diary, which is an address to Ferdinand and
Isabella, he speaks at large of the motives of their highnesses. He begins
by saying how, in this present year of 1492, their highnesses had
concluded their war with the Moors, having taken the great city of
Granada, at the siege of  which he was present, and saw the royal banners
placed upon the towers of the Alhambra. He then tells how he had given
information to their highnesses of the lands of India, and of a prince,
called the Grand Khan, who had sent ambassadors to Rome, praying for
doctors to instruct him in the faith; and how the Holy Father had never
provided him with these doctors; and that great towns were perishing, from
the belief of their inhabitants in idolatry, and from receiving amongst
them "sects of perdition." After the above statement, he adds, "Your
highnesses, as Catholic Christians and princes, lovers and furtherers of
the Christian faith, and enemies of the sect of Mahomet, and of all
idolatries and heresies, thought to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the
aforesaid provinces of India to see the aforesaid princes, the cities and
lands, and the disposition of them and of everything about them, and the
way that should be taken to convert them to our holy faith."


  GOOD FAITH OF COLUMBUS.

Columbus then speaks of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain as occurring
at the same time as that in which he received orders to pursue a westerly
course to India, thus combining the two transactions together, no doubt as
proofs of the devout intentions of their highnesses: and, indeed,
throughout the document, he ascribes no motives to the monarchs but such
as were religious.

The diary to which this address was prefixed is probably one of the books
which their highnesses allude to in a letter to Columbus, as being in
their possession, and which they assured him they had not shown to
anybody. I see no reason to doubt the perfect good faith of Columbus in
making such a statement as that just referred to; and it is well to remark
upon it, because we shall never come to a right understanding of those
times and of the question of slavery as connected with them, unless we
fully appreciate the good as well as the bad motives which guided the most
important persons of that era.


  CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN.

As for Queen Isabella, there can be no doubt about her motives. Even in
the lamentably unjust things in which she was but too often concerned, she
had what, to her mind, was compelling reason to act as she did. Perhaps
there is hardly any great personage whose name and authority are found in
connection with so much that is strikingly evil, all of it done, or rather
assented to, upon the highest and purest motives. Whether we refer to the
expulsion of the Jews, the treatment of the Moorish converts, or the
establishment of the Inquisition, all her proceedings in these matters
were entirely sincere and noble-minded. Methinks I can still see her
beautiful majestic face (with broad brow, and clear, honest, loving eye),
as it looks down upon the beholder from one of the chapels in the
cathedral at Granada: a countenance too expressive and individual to be
what painters give as that of an angel, and yet the next thing to it. Now,
I could almost fancy, she looks down reproachfully, and yet with conscious
sadness. What she would say in her defence, could we interrogate her, is,
that she obeyed the voice of heaven, taking the wise and good men of her
day as its interpreters. Oh! that she had but persisted in listening to
it, as it spoke in her own kindly heart, when with womanly pity she was
wont to intercede in favour of the poor cooped-up inmates of some closely
beleaguered town or fortress! But at least the poor Indian can utter
nothing but blessing's on her. He might have needed no other "protector"
had she lived; nor would slavery have found in his fate one of the darkest
and most fatal chapters in its history.



  LANDING IN THE NEW WORLD.

But now, from Granada, and our fancies there, the narrative brings us
back to the first land touched by Columbus. The landing of Columbus in the
New World must ever be a conspicuous fact in the annals of mankind, and it
was celebrated by a ceremonial worthy of the occasion. On the ensuing
morning, after the light had been observed from the ships, being a Friday,
the 12th of October, 1492, Columbus, clad in complete armour, and carrying
in his hand the royal banner of Spain, descended upon the level shores of
the small island [San Salvador, one of the Bahamas] which had first
greeted him, and which he found to be very fruitful--fresh and verdant,
and "like a garden full of trees." The other captains accompanied him,
each of them bearing a banner with a green cross depicted upon it, and
with the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella surmounted by their respective
crowns--a device that well expressed the loyalty and devotion of Columbus,
and had been chosen by him. These chief officers were followed by a large
retinue from their crews. In numerous lines along the shore stood the
simple islanders, looking on with innocent amazement.


  THEIR GRATITUDE.

On touching land, Columbus and all the Spaniards who were present fell
upon their knees, and with tears--tears of that deepest kind which men do
not know the cause of--poured forth their "immense thanksgivings to
Almighty God."

The man who, of all that embassage, if we may call it so, from the Old to
the New World, was certainly the least surprised by all he saw, was, at
the same time, the most affected. For thus it is, that the boldness of a
great design is never fully appreciated by the designer himself until he
has apparently accomplished his work, when he is apt, if it be indeed a
great work, to look back with shuddering awe at his own audacity in having
proposed it to mankind. The vast resolve which has sustained such a man
throughout his long and difficult enterprise, having for the moment
nothing to struggle against, dies away, leaving a strange sinking at the
heart: and thus the greatest successes are often accompanied by a peculiar
and bewildering melancholy. New difficulties, however, bred from success
(for nothing is complete in life), soon arise to summon forth again the
discoverer's energies, and to nerve him for fresh disappointments and
renewed endeavours. Columbus will not fail to have his full share of such
difficulties.


  GENERAL RECONCILATION.

The followers of the great man, whose occasional faintheartedness must
often have driven all sleep from his weary eyelids throughout the watches
of the night, now began to think with remorse how much suffering they had
needlessly inflicted upon their greatly-enduring leader. They sought his
pardon with tears, and, subdued for the moment by his greatness when
illustrated by success, expressed in loving terms their admiration, their
gratitude, and their assurances of fidelity. The placable Columbus
received their gracious sayings with all the warmth and tenderness that
belonged to his large-hearted and amiable character.


  THEY TAKE LEGAL POSSESSION.

The great business of the day then commenced; and Columbus, with the due
legal formalities, took possession, on behalf of the Spanish monarchs, of
the island Guanahani, which he forthwith named San Salvador. The gravity
of the proceeding must have astonished the beholding islanders. Their
attention, however, was soon turned to the Spaniards themselves; and they
approached the strangers, wondering at their whiteness and at their
beards. Columbus, as being the noblest looking personage there present,
and also from wearing a crimson scarf over his armour, attracted especial
attention, and justly seemed, as he was, the principal figure in this
great spectacle.

Columbus is for the present moment radiant with success. Our interest
passes now from him to the new people he was amongst. And what were they
like? Were they worthy of the efforts which the Old World had made to find
them? Was there mind and soul enough in them for them to become good
Christians? What says the greatest of the men who first saw them? What
impression did they make on him? Let him answer for himself:--

  "Because they had much friendship for us, and because I knew they were
  people that would deliver themselves better to the Christian faith, and
  be converted more through love than by force, I gave to some of them
  some coloured caps and some strings of glass beads for their necks, and
  many other things of little value, with which they were delighted, and
  were so entirely ours that it was a marvel to see. The same afterwards
  came swimming to the ship's boats where we were, and brought us parrots,
  cotton threads in balls, darts and many other things, and bartered them
  with us for things which we gave them, such as bells and small glass
  beads. In fine, they took and gave all of whatever they had with good
  will. But it appeared to me they were a people very poor in everything.
  They went totally naked, as naked as their mothers brought them into the
  world."


  CHARACTER OF THE INDIANS.

Then Columbus goes on to say that these Indians were well made, with very
good countenances, but hair like horsehair, their colour yellow; and that
they painted themselves. They neither carried arms, nor understood such
things, for when he showed them swords, they took hold of them by the
blade, and hurt themselves. Their darts were without iron; but some had a
fish's tooth at the end. In concluding his description, he says, "they
ought to make faithful servants, and of good understanding, for I see that
very quickly they repeat all that is said to them, and I believe they
would easily be converted to Christianity, for it appeared to me that they
had no creed."


  THEIR HOUSES AND IMPLEMENTS.

A little further on, the admiral says of the people of a neighbouring
island, that they were more domestic and tractable than those of San
Salvador, and more intelligent, too, as he saw in their way of reckoning
for the payment of the cotton they brought to the ships. At the mouth of
the Rio de Mares, some of the admiral's men, whom he had sent to
reconnoitre, brought him word that the houses of the natives were the best
they had seen. They were made, he says, like "Alfaneques (pavilions), very
large, and appeared as royal tents without an arrangement of streets,
except one here and there, and within they were very clean, and well
swept, and their furniture very well arranged. All these houses were made
of palm branches, and were very beautiful. Our men found in these houses
many statues of women, and several heads fashioned like masks, and very
well wrought. I do not know, he adds, whether they have these for the love
of the beautiful, or for purposes of worship." The Spaniards found also
excellent nets, fish-hooks, and fishing-tackle. There were tame birds
about the houses, and dogs which did not bark. "Mermaids," too, the
admiral saw on the coasts, but thought them "not so like ladies as they
are painted."

Speaking of the Indians of the coast near the Rio del Sol, he says that
they are "very gentle, without knowing what evil is, neither killing nor
stealing." He describes the frank generosity of the people of Marien, and
the honour they thought it to be asked to give anything, in terms which
may remind his readers of the doctrines maintained by Christians in
respect of giving.


  DISCOVERY OF TOBACCO; ITS PECULIAR EFFECTS.

It is interesting to observe the way in which, at this point of the
narrative, a new product is introduced to the notice of the old world, a
product that was hereafter to become, not only an unfailing source of
pleasure to a large section of the male part of mankind, from the highest
to the lowest, but was also to distinguish itself as one of those
commodities for revenue, which are the delight of statesmen, the great
financial resource of modern nations, and which afford a means of indirect
taxation that has, perhaps, nourished many a war, and prevented many a
revolution. Two discoverers, whom the admiral had sent out from the Puerto
de Mares (one of them being a learned Jew, who could speak Hebrew,
Chaldee, and some Arabic, and would have been able to discourse, as
Columbus probably thought, with any of the subjects of the Grand Khan, if
he had met them), found that the men of the country they came to
investigate, indulged in a "fumigation" of a peculiar kind. The smoke in
question was absorbed into the mouth through a charred stick, and was
caused by burning certain herbs wrapped in a dry leaf, which outer
covering was called "tabaco." Las Casas, who carefully describes this
process of imbibing smoke, mentions that the Indians, when questioned
about it, said that it took away fatigue, and that he has known Spaniards
in the island of Hispaniola who adopted the same habit, and who, being
reproved for it as a vice, replied that it was not in their power to leave
it off. "I do not know," he adds, "what savour or profit they found in
them" (tabacos). I cannot help thinking that there were several periods in
his own life, when these strange fumigations would have afforded him
singular soothing and comfort. However that may be, there can be no doubt
of the importance, financially and commercially speaking, of this
discovery of tobacco; a discovery which, in the end, proved more
productive to the Spanish Crown, than that of the gold mines of the
Indies.

The excellent relations that existed between the expedition of Columbus
and the inhabitants of Cuba may be seen from the fact that these two
Christians, who were the first witnesses of tobacco smoking, and who
travelled with only two Indian attendants, were everywhere well and
reverently received.


  GOLD ORNAMENT'S OBSERVED.

Resuming the thread of the history, it remains to be seen what more
Columbus did and suffered in this voyage. The first Indians he met with
had some few gold ornaments about them--poor wretches, if they had
possessed the slightest gift of prophecy, they would have thrown these
baubles into the deepest sea;--and they were asked whence came this gold?
From a race, they said, living southwards, where there was a great king,
who had much gold. On another occasion, other Indians being asked the same
question, answered, "Cubanacan, Cubanacan." They meant the middle of Cuba;
but their word at once suggested to Columbus the idea that he was now upon
the traces of his long-looked-for friend, Kublai Kaan, the Khan of Khans.
Indeed, it is almost ludicrous to see, throughout, how Columbus is
possessed with the notions borrowed from his reading of Marco Polo and
other travellers. He asks for "his Cipango," as Herrera slily puts it; and
the natives at once point out to him the direction where that is. They
thought he meant Cibao, where afterwards the best mines of gold were
found.


  FURTHER EXPLORATIONS.

The admiral, bent on discovery, and especially on finding the terra firma,
which adjoined  "his" India, did not stay long anywhere. Proceeding
southwards from San Salvador, he discovered an island, or rather a group
of islands, to which he gave the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion; he
then discovered Cuba, and coasted along the northeastern part of that
island; and afterwards, in due course, came to Hispaniola, called by the
natives Hayti, in which island he landed upon the territory of King
Guacanagari where he was received most cordially.

Various conjectures have been made as to the different results which would
have followed, both for the New and for the Old World, if Columbus had
steered a little to the northward, or the southward, of the course which
he actually took. One thing, however, is obvious, that in arriving at
Hispaniola he came to a central point, not only of the West Indies, but of
the whole of the New World, and a point, therefore, most felicitously
situated for the spreading of future discovery and conquest.


  INSUBORDINATION OF MARINERS.

It may be mentioned here, that Martin Alonzo Pinzon had wilfully parted
company from the admiral while on the coast of Cuba: covetousness being
probably the cause of this most undutiful proceeding. But, indeed, there
is another instance of the insubordination of the mariners, which makes
the wonder only still greater how Columbus could have brought them across
the Atlantic at all.


  WRECK OF ADMIRAL'S VESSEL.

One evening the admiral, after paying a visit to Guacanagari, seeing the
sea quite calm, betook himself to rest. As he had not slept for two days
and a night, it is probable his slumber was deep. Meanwhile, the
steersman, contrary to the distinct orders of the admiral, gave the helm
to a common sailor, a youth. All the sailors went to sleep. The sea was as
calm "as water in a dish." Little by little the ship drifted on to a
shoal. Directly they touch, the sailor-boy at the helm starts from his
dream, and gives the alarm. The admiral jumps up first (for the
responsibility of command seldom goes quite to sleep); then the officer
whose watch it ought to have been hurries up, and the admiral orders him
to lower the boat which they carried on the poop, and to throw out all
anchor astern. Instead of obeying the admiral, this cowardly villain, with
others like him, sprang into the boat and made off for the other vessel,
which was about half a league off. The other vessel would not receive
them, and they rowed back again. But it was too late. The admiral did what
he could in the emergency: he cut down the mast, lightened the vessel as
best he might, took out his people and went with them to the other
caravel, sending his boat to Guacanagari to inform him of the misfortune.


  KINDNESS OF INDIAN CHIEF.

The good Guacanagari was moved to tears by this sad affair. He gave not
only sympathy, however, but assistance. His people went out with their
canoes, and in a few moments cleared the vessel of all the goods in it.
Guacanagari was very careful that nothing should be lost. He himself stood
guard over the things which had been taken out of the ship. Then he sent
comforting messages to the admiral, saying that he would give him what he
had to make up for the loss. He put all the effects under shelter, and
placed guards round them. The wrecker's trade might flourish in Cornwall;
but, like other crimes of civilization, it was unknown in St. Domingo. The
admiral was evidently touched to the heart, as well he might be, by the
kindness of these Indians. He thus expresses himself, "They are a loving,
uncovetous people, so docile in all things, that I assure your highnesses
I believe in all the world there is not a better people, or a better
country; they love their neighbours as themselves, and they have the
sweetest and gentlest way of talking in the world, and always with a
smile."


  A COLONY FOUNDED.

The admiral resolved to found a colony in Guacanagari's land, "having
found such good will and such signs of gold." In relating this, the
Spanish historian, Herrera, makes some curious reflections. He looks upon
the loss of the vessel as providential, in order that the true faith might
be preached in that country. Then he says, how providence causes its work
to be done, not on high motives only, but also on the ordinary ones which
influence mankind. He concludes by observing that providence dealt with
the Indians as a prudent father who has an ugly daughter, but makes up for
her ugliness by the help of a large dowry. By the ugliness in this case he
means the seas to be traversed, the hunger to be endured, and the labours
to be undertaken, which he considers no other nation but the Spaniards
would have encountered, even with the hope of greater booty.

With the timber of the unfortunate "Santa Maria" Columbus built a fort,
and called it La Navidad, because he entered the port near there, on
Christmas-day. He remained on very friendly terms with the good Cacique
Guacanagari; and might have established himself most advantageously in
that part of the country, if he could have been content, to be a settler.


  THE ADMIRAL RETURNS.

But from the first moment of his discovery he doubtless had an anxious
desire to get back to Spain, and to tell what he knew; and at times,
perhaps, was fearful lest his grand secret, through some mischance to the
expedition, should still perish with him. The great discoverer, therefore,
now prepared to return homewards. He left his fort in trust to a small
body of his followers,[12] whom he commended to the good offices of
Guacanagari, not forgetting to impress upon them the excellent advice, to
do no violence to man or woman, and, in short, to make their actions
conformable to the idea (which the Indians first entertained of them) that
they had come from heaven: then, having received the necessary provisions
for his vessel from the friendly cacique, the admiral set sail for Spain
on the 4th of January, 1493.

  [Footnote 12: They were forty in number, and it would be strange to
  find, but for the well-known fact that nothing brings men of different
  races together more than maritime and commercial enterprise, that, in
  this small list there is an Irishman, "Guillermo Ires" (Qy. William
  Herries, or Rice) "natural de Galney, en Irlanda;" and an Englishman,
  "Tallarte de Lajes" (Qy. Arthur Lake) "ingles."--NAVAREETE, Col. Dip.,
  Num. 13.]



CHAPTER V.  Homeward bound.


  PINZON'S EXPLANATION.

For two days Columbus stood to the east-ward, but was met by a head-wind
which prevented him from making much progress. On doubling the promontory
of Monte Christo, however, the look-out at the mast-head made an
announcement which was worth more than a fair wind to the voyagers, since
it assured them that the homeward voyage of the "Nina" was not to be made
without a consort; that the chance of the tidings of success being safely
conveyed to Europe was not to depend upon the fortunes of a single ship.
For, sailing down swiftly before the breeze which had detained Columbus,
the "Pinta" hove in sight and the two vessels steered together into the
bay of Monte Christo, which Columbus had recently quitted. Pinzon, as soon
as the weather permitted, went on board the admiral's caravel to account
for his desertion, which he stated to have been the accidental result of a
storm which had driven him out of his course and out of sight of his
leader. The admiral accepted this explanation, as a quarrel with Pinzon,
whose townsmen and relations formed a large proportion of the crews, might
cause a mutiny which would be fatal to the undertaking; but he did not
fail to note in his diary his conviction of Pinzon's bad faith. The fact
was, that Pinzon had heard from the natives of a certain island, whence
all the gold was said to come, and he had wished to anticipate Columbus in
the discovery of this El Dorado, and to secure the profits for himself. He
had not found this home of the gold, but had met with some natives from
whom he had obtained, by barter, a large quantity of the precious metal.
Half of this he had appropriated: the other half he had distributed among
his crew as a bribe to them to say nothing about the matter.


  AFFRAY WITH ABORIGINES.

After a few days spent in refitting the vessels, and preparing for the
homeward voyage, the Nina. and her consort again set sail, coasting St.
Domingo in an easterly direction as far as the Gulf of Samana. It was in
this neighbourhood that the first affray with the aborigines took place,
in consequence of an attack made by them upon an exploring expedition
which Columbus had sent out. But so anxious was he to preserve a good
understanding with the natives, that he did not leave the scene of the
encounter until he had come to an amicable agreement with them. Another
instance of the wise and humane policy by which he was actuated, is to be
found in the fact, that on discovering that Pinzon had carried on board
six natives to be taken to Spain, and there sold as slaves, he insisted on
their release, dismissing them, moreover, with presents of such glittering
toys as their kinsmen would be likely to appreciate, and as might
predispose them in favour of the Europeans.


  SEARCH FOR AMAZONIANS.

On the 16th of January, Columbus left the Gulf of Samana on his homeward
course, from which, however, he deviated at first in the hope of finding
the island, peopled with Amazons, described by Marco Polo, of which he had
understood the natives of St. Domingo to give him intelligence. Such a
discovery would be, he considered, a conclusive proof of the identity of
his new country with Marco Polo's Indies, and when four natives offered to
act as his guides, he thought it worth while to steer (in the direction of
Martinique) in quest of the fabulous Amazonians. But the breeze blew
towards Spain; home-sickness took possession of the crews; murmurs arose
at the prolongation of the voyage among the currents and reefs of those
strange seas; and, in deference to the universal wish of his companions,
Columbus soon abandoned all idea of further discovery, and resumed his
course for Europe.


  STORM ENCOUNTERED.

At first the voyage was tranquil enough, though the adverse trade-winds,
and the bad sailing of the Pinta,[13] retarded the progress of both
vessels.

  [Footnote 13: This was occasioned by the defective condition of her
  mast, whereupon the admiral remarks in his diary, that "if Pinzon had
  exerted himself as much to provide himself with a new mast in the
  Indies, where there are so many fine trees, as he had in running away
  from him in the hope of loading his vessel with gold, they would not
  have laboured under that inconvenience."]

But on the 12th of February a storm overtook them, and became more and
more furious, until, on the 14th, it rose to a hurricane, before which
Pinzon's vessel could only drift helplessly, while the Nina was able to
set a close-reefed foresail, which kept her from being buried in the
trough of the sea. In the evening both caravels were scudding under bare
poles, and when darkness fell, and the signal light of the "Pinta" gleamed
farther and farther off, through the blinding spray, until at last it
could be seen no more, when his panic-stricken crew gave themselves up to
despair, as the winds howled louder and louder, and the seas burst over
his frail vessel--then, indeed, without a single skilled navigator to
advise or to aid him, Columbus must have felt himself alone with the
tempest and the night. But his brave heart bore him up, and his wonderful
capacity for devising expedients on sudden emergencies did not forsake
him. As the stores were consumed, the Nina felt the want of the ballast
which Columbus had intended to take on board at the Amazonian Island.
"Fill the empty casks with water," he said, "and let them serve as
ballast," an expedient which has grown common enough now, but which then
was probably original.


  THE PROMISED PILGRAMAGE

Nor, while he did all that human skill could suggest for the safety of his
vessel, did Columbus neglect to invoke the aid of that Higher Power, at
whose special instigation he believed himself to have undertaken the
expedition. With his whole crew he drew lots to choose one of their number
to perform a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadaloupe. The
admiral was chosen. Twice more were lots drawn with a similar object, and
once again the lot fell to the admiral. Afterwards, he and all the crew
made a vow to go in procession, clothed in penitential garments, to the
first church, dedicated to the Virgin, which they should meet with on
arriving at land; and this vow, as we shall see presently, was followed by
quite unexpected consequences.


  NARRATIVE INCLOSED IN CASK.

When the chances of weathering the storm had become small indeed, Columbus
determined that, if possible, the tidings of his discovery should not
perish with him. He wrote a short account of his voyage on parchment, and
this he enclosed in wax, and placed in a cask,[14] which he  committed to
the waves. Thinking, probably, that his crew would interpret this as an
abandonment of all hope, he concealed from them the real nature of the
contents of the cask, so that they believed that their commander was
performing some religious rite which might assuage the fury of the
elements.

  [Footnote 14: About the year 1852 a paragraph went the round of the
  English press announcing the discovery of this cask on the African
  coast, by the barque "Chieftain," of Boston (Mass). Lamartine has
  accepted this story as correct, but it has never been authenticated, and
  there is a strong presumption in favour of its having been invented by
  some ingeniously circumstantial newspaper correspondent.]


  THE PILGRIMS CAPTURED.

On the 15th of February the storm abated to some extent, and at last they
came in sight of some land on the E.N.E., which the pilots held to be the
Rock of Lisbon, but which the admiral more accurately determined to be one
of the Azores. Vainly endeavouring, however, to make head against the wind
and the sea, they lost sight of this island, but came in sight of another,
lying more to the south, round which they sailed on the night of the 17th,
but lost an anchor in endeavouring to bring up near the land. On the
following day they cast anchor, and succeeded in communicating with the
inhabitants, from whom they learned that they had reached the island of
St. Mary, belonging to the Portuguese. The governor sent amicable messages
to Columbus, and announced his intention of visiting him. But when, in
fulfilment of their vow, half the crew went, barefoot and in their shirts,
on a pilgrimage to the chapel of St. Mary, which was not far from the
harbour, the governor and his satellites lay in ambush on the road, and
captured the whole band of pilgrims. The crowns of Portugal and Castile
were still at peace, but it appears that this "man, dressed in a little
brief authority," thought that the capture would gratify his sovereign.
The remonstrances of the admiral were of no avail; and as the weather
would not allow of his remaining in his present anchorage, he was forced
to stand out to sea, and to run nearly to St. Michael's, with a crew which
comprised only three able seamen. On the 21st of February he returned to
St. Mary's, and eventually, as the governor was unable to seize Columbus
himself, he decided on recognizing the royal commission which he produced,
and restoring his crew. On the 24th the "Nina" again steered for Spain,
but another tempest supervened, and continued with more or less fury for
more than a week.


  ARRIVAL IN THE TAGUS.

In this last storm, which raged with destructive violence along the west
coast of the whole Continent of Europe, and which drove the "Pinta" almost
helplessly towards a lee-shore, the dangers of the voyage reached their
climax. "I escaped," says the admiral, "by the greatest miracle in the
world." Fortunately, however, his seamanship was equal to the emergency,
and on the afternoon of the fourth of March he came to anchor in the
Tagus. To the King of Portugal, who happened to be at no great distance,
he sent a despatch announcing his arrival and the result of his voyage,
and, in reply, received a pressing invitation to court. With this he
thought proper to comply, "in order not to show mistrust, although he
disliked it," and was received by the king with the highest honours. This
must have been almost too much of a triumph for a generous mind,
considering that the court before which he was displaying the signs of a
new world had refused the opportunity of securing the discovery for
itself. The king, however, now took occasion to put in a claim to the
newly found countries, basing it on that papal bull which has been
mentioned in a previous chapter but, although Columbus, in the interest of
his sovereigns, took care to repudiate this claim as decidedly as
possible, his royal host continued to entertain him with the utmost
consideration.


  RECEPTION AT PALOS.

Possibly mistrusting the seamanship of his subordinates, Columbus refused
the offer of safe conduct and means of transport to Spain by land; and on
the 13th of March, in the teeth of a north-westerly wind and a heavy sea,
left the Tagus for the bar of Saltes, and safely reached his starting-
point at Palos on the 15th, again a Friday. The enthusiasm and excitement
aroused by the success of the expedition were unbounded. At Palos,
especially, where few families had not a personal interest in some of the
band of explorers, the little community was filled with extraordinary
delight. Not an individual member of the expedition but was elevated into
a hero,--not a debtor or a criminal whom the charter of immunity had led,
rather than bear the ills he had, to fly to others that he knew not of,--
but had expiated his social misdeeds, and had become a person of
consideration and an object of enthusiasm. The court was at Barcelona.
Immediately on his arrival Columbus despatched a letter to the king
and queen, stating in general terms the success of his project; and
proceeded forthwith to present himself in person to their highnesses.


  BAD FAITH OF PINZON.

Almost at the same time, the "Pinta," which had been separated from her
consort in the first storm which they encountered, made the port of
Bayonne, whence Pinzon had forwarded a letter to the sovereigns,
announcing "his" discoveries, and proposing to come to court and give full
intelligence as to them. Columbus, whom he probably supposed to have
perished at sea, he seems to have ignored utterly, and when he received a
reply from the king and queen, directing him not to go to court without
the admiral, chagrin and grief overcame him to such an extent that he took
to his bed; and if any man ever died from mental distress and a broken
heart, that man was Martin Alonzo Pinzon.


  SOLEMN RECEPTION.

Herrera tells us that the admiral now "entered into the greatest
reputation," and the historian goes on to explain to his readers what the
meaning of "reputation" is. "It does not consist," he tells us, "in
success, but in doing something which cannot be easily comprehended, which
compels men to think over and over again about it." And certainly, this
definition makes the word particularly applicable to the achievement of
Columbus.

The court prepared a solemn reception for the admiral at Barcelona, where
the people poured out in such numbers to see him that the streets could
not contain them. A triumphal procession like his the world had not yet
seen: it was a thing to make the most incurious alert, and even the sad
and solitary student content to come out and mingle with the mob. The
captives that accompanied a Roman general's car might be strange
barbarians of a tribe from which Rome had not before had slaves. But
barbarians were not unknown creatures. Here, with Columbus, were beings of
a new world. Here was the conqueror, not of man but of nature, not of
flesh and blood but of the fearful unknown, of the elements, and, more
than all, of the prejudices of centuries. We may imagine the rumours that
must have gone before his coming. And now he was there. Ferdinand and
Isabella had their thrones placed in the presence of the assembled court.
Columbus approached the monarchs, and then, "his countenance beaming with
modest satisfaction," knelt at the king's feet, and begged leave to kiss
their highnesses' hands. They gave their hands; then they bade him rise
and be seated before them. He recounted briefly the events of his
voyage--a story more interesting than the tale told in the court of Dido
by Aeneas, like whom he had almost perished close to home, and he
concluded his unpretending narrative by showing what new things and
creatures he had brought with him.


  MARKS OF APPROBATION.

Ferdinand and Isabella fell on their knees, giving thanks to God with many
tears; and then the choristers of the royal chapel closed the grand
ceremonial by singing the "Te Deum." Afterwards men walked home grave and
yet happy, having seen the symbol of a great work, something to be thought
over for many a generation. Other marks of approbation for Columbus were
not wanting. The agreement between him and the sovereigns was confirmed.
An appropriate coat of arms, then a thing of much significance, was
granted to him in augmentation of his own. In the shield are conspicuously
emblazoned the Royal Arms of Castile and Leon. Nothing can better serve to
show the immense favour which Columbus had obtained at court by his
discovery than such a grant; and it is but a trifling addition  to make,
in recounting his now honours, that the title of Don was given to him and
his descendants, and also to his brothers. He rode by the king's side; was
served at table as a grandee; "All hail!" was said to him on state
occasions; and the men of his age, happy in that, had found out another
great man to honour.


  GRANT BY THE POPE.

The more prosaic part of the business had then to be attended to. The
Sovereigns applied to the Pope Alexander the Sixth, to confer on the
crowns of Castile and Leon the lands discovered and to be discovered in
the Indies. To this application they soon received a favourable answer.
The Pope granted to the Princes of Castile and Leon, and to their
successors, the sovereign empire and principality of the Indies, and of
the navigation there, with high and royal jurisdiction and imperial
dignity and lordship over all that hemisphere. To preserve the peace
between Spain and Portugal, the Pontiff divided the Spanish and Portuguese
Indian sovereignties by an imaginary line drawn from pole to pole, one
hundred leagues west of the Azores and the Cape de Verde Islands.


  SECOND VOYAGE PLANNED.

Meanwhile the preparations were being made for a second voyage to be
undertaken by the admiral. After the arrival of the apostolic bulls, and
before the departure of Columbus from Barcelona, the nine Indians brought
by him were baptized. Here, parenthetically, we may take note of something
which, if the fact did correspond with what the Spaniards thought about
it, would, indeed, be notable. One of the Indians, after being baptized,
died, and was, we are told,[Herrera] the first of that nation, according
to pious belief, who entered heaven.

We cannot help thinking of the hospitable and faithful Guacanagari, and
imagining that, if his race had been like him, some one might already have
reached the regions of the blessed. I do not, however, refer to this
passage of Herrera for its boldness or its singularity, but because it
brings before us again the profound import attached to baptism in those
times, and may help to account for many seeming inconsistencies in the
conduct of the Spaniards to the Indians.


  COLONIAL DEPARTMENT.

In the conduct, however, of Ferdinand and Isabella towards the Indians
there was nothing equivocal, but all that they did showed the tenderness
and religious care of these monarchs for their new subjects. A special
department for the control of colonial affairs was placed under the charge
of Juan de Fonseca, an eminent ecclesiastic who was high in the royal
favour, and on whom was eventually conferred the title of Patriarch of the
Indies. But, unfortunately for the poor savages whose fate he was now to
influence so largely, Fonseca's character had in it but little of the mild
and forbearing spirit of Christianity. A shrewd man of business, a hard
task-master, an implacable enemy, he displayed, during his long
administration of Indian affairs, all the qualities of an unscrupulous
tyrant, and was instrumental in inflicting on the islanders keener
miseries than ever have been brought by conqueror upon a subject race.


  HOME OF THE GOLD.

Jealous of the rivalry of Portugal, the sovereigns took every means of
hastening the preparations for a second voyage to be undertaken by the
admiral. Twelve caravels and five smaller vessels were made ready, and
were laden with horses and other animals, and with plants, seeds, and
agricultural implements for the cultivation of the new countries.
Artificers of various trades were engaged, and a quantity of merchandize
and gaudy trifles, fit for bartering with the natives, were placed on
board. There was no need to press men into the service now; volunteers for
the expedition were only too numerous. The fever for discovery was
universal. Columbus was confident that he had been on the outskirts of
Cathay, and that the scriptural land of Havilah, the home of gold, was not
far off. Untold riches were to be acquired, and probably there was not one
of the 1500 persons who took ship in the squadron that did not anticipate
a prodigious fortune as the reward of the voyage. Nor was one of the great
objects of these discoveries uncared for. Twelve missionaries, eager to
enlighten the spiritual darkness of the western lands, were placed under
the charge of Bernard Buil, a Benedictine monk, who was specially
appointed by the Pope, in order to ensure an authorized teaching of the
faith, to superintend the religious education of the Indians.


  THE ADMIRAL'S INSTRUCTIONS.

The instructions to Columbus, dated the 29th of May, 1493, are the first
strokes upon that obdurate mass of colonial difficulty which at last, by
incessant working of great princes, great churchmen, and great statesmen,
was eventually to be hammered into some righteous form of wisdom and of
mercy. In the course of these instructions, the admiral is ordered to
labour in all possible ways to bring the dwellers in the Indies to a
knowledge of the Holy Catholic Faith. And that this may the more easily be
done, all the armada is to be charged to deal "lovingly" with the Indians;
the admiral is to make them presents, and to "honour them much;" and if by
chance any person or persons should treat the Indians ill, in any manner
whatever, the admiral is to chastise such ill-doers severely.

Even at this early period of his administration, Fonseca appears to have
made some attempts to thwart the admiral's wishes, attempts which
Columbus, now at the zenith of royal favour, had no difficulty in
baffling. As regards the household, for instance, Fonseca demurred to the
number of footmen which the admiral proposed for his domestic
establishment. The admiral appealed to the sovereigns, who allowed his
claim, and reproved Fonseca for objecting.



CHAPTER VI. Second Voyage of Discovery.

On the 25th of September, all the preparations being complete, the
squadron left Cadiz for the Canary Islands, and, after taking in
provisions there, sailed from Ferro on the 13th of October. The voyage was
singularly prosperous. There was but one storm, and that of not more than
a few hours' duration; and favouring breezes wafted them over calm seas
with a rapidity that brought the ships within sight of land on the 3rd of
November, having made the voyage "by the goodness of God, and the wise
management of the admiral, in as straight a track as if they had sailed by
a well-known and frequented route." It was Sunday, and accordingly the
name of Dominica was given to the first island to which the admiral came.


  ISLAND OF GUADALOUPE.

From Dominica, where no aborigines were found, the admiral stood
northward, naming one small island Maria Galante, after his own flagship,
and calling a second and much larger one Guadaloupe, after a certain
monastery in Estramadura. This island was peopled by a race of cannibals;
and, in the houses of the natives, human flesh was found roasting at the
fire. An exploring party from one of the ships penetrated into the
interior, but so thickly was it wooded that they lost their way in the
jungle, and only regained the ships after four days' wanderings, and when
their safety was despaired of by their companions, who feared that they
had become food for the savages. Fortunately, however, the men of the
island were absent on some warlike expedition, and the white men only met
with women and children in the course of their dangerous explorations.


  DESTRUCTION OF LA NAVIDAD.

Anxious to revisit the colony at La Navidad, the admiral proceeded
north-westward as speedily as possible, and after passing and naming
Montserrat, Antigua, St. Martin, and Santa Cruz, arrived at a beautiful
and fertile island which he called St. John, but which has since received
the name of Porto Rico. Here were found houses and roads constructed after
a civilized fashion; but proofs that the inhabitants were cannibals
abounded everywhere. On the 22nd of November the admiral reached the
eastern end of Hispaniola, and sailed along the northern shore toward La
Navidad, where a profound disappointment awaited him. The little colony
which he had founded had been entirely destroyed. The fort was razed to
the ground. Not one of the settlers was alive to tell the tale.


  LICENTIOUSNESS OF SETTLERS.

The account which Guacanagari gave to Columbus, and which there seems no
reason to doubt, is, that the Spanish who had been left at La Navidad took
to evil courses, quarrelled amongst themselves, straggled about the
country, and finally were set upon, when weak and few in numbers, by a
neighbouring Indian chief named Caonabo, who burned the tower and killed
or dispersed the garrison, none of whom were ever discovered. It was in
Caonabo's country that the gold mines were reported to exist, and it is
probable that both the cupidity and the profligacy of the colonists were
so gross as to draw down upon them the not unreasonable vengeance of the
natives. Guacanagari, the friendly cacique, who had received the admiral
amicably on his first voyage, declared that he and his tribe had done
their utmost in defence of the Europeans, in proof of which he exhibited
recent wounds which had evidently been inflicted by savage weapons. He
was, naturally, scarcely so friendly as before, but communication with him
was made easy by the aid of one of the Indians whom Columbus had taken to
Spain, and who acted as interpreter. Guacanagari was willing that a second
fort should be built on the site of the first, but the admiral thought it
better to seek a new locality, both because the position of the old fort
had been unhealthy, and because the disgusting licentiousness of the
settlers had offended the Indians to such an extent that whereas they had
at first regarded the white men as angels from heaven, now they considered
them as debased profligates and disturbers of the peace, against whom they
had to defend their honour and their lives.


  COLONY FOUNDED AT ISABELLA.

Sailing along the coast of Hayti, Columbus selected a site for his
projected settlement, about forty miles to the east of the present Cape
Haytien. This he called Isabella, after his royal mistress. Here the ships
of his squadron discharged their stores, and the Spaniards laboured
actively in the construction of the first town built by Europeans in the
New World. But the work did not progress prosperously. Diseases prevailed
among the colonists. The fatigues and discomforts of a long sea voyage
were not the best preparations for hard physical labour. The number of men
which the admiral had brought out with him was disproportionate to his
means of sustaining them. Provisions and medicines began to fail. And,
worst of all, none of the golden dreams were realized, under the influence
of which they had left Spain. Only small samples of the precious metal
could be procured from the natives, and the vaguely indicated gold mines
of Cibao had not been reached. Anxiety, responsibility, and labour began
to tell upon the iron constitution of the admiral, and for some time he
was stretched upon a bed of sickness.


  COLUMBUS DESPATCH TO THE COURT OF SPAIN.

Some idea of the difficulties which had to be encountered at this period
may be conceived from an account of the state of his colony which
Columbus sent home in January 1494. It is in the form of instructions to a
certain Antonio de Torres, the Receiver of the Colony, who was to proceed
to the court of Spain and inform the Monarchs of such things as were
written in these instructions, and doubtless to elucidate them by
discourse, as in the present day we send a despatch to be read by an
ambassador to the foreign minister of the power we are treating with.
There remains a copy, made at the time, of this document, and of the notes
in the margin containing the resolutions of the sovereigns. The original,
thus noted, was taken back to Columbus. It is a most valuable document,
very illustrative of the cautious and wise dealing of the catholic
sovereigns.

The document begins with the usual strain of complimentary address to
great personages, "Their Highnesses hold it for good service" is the
marginal remark.

The next paragraph consists of a general statement of the discoveries that
have been made. "Their Highnesses give much thanks to God, and hold as
very honoured service all that the admiral has done."

Then follow the admiral's reasons why he has not been able to send home
more gold. His people have been ill: it was necessary to keep guard, &c.
"He has done well" is in the margin.

He suggests the building of a fortress near the place where gold can be
got. Their Highnesses approve; and the note in the margin is, "This is
well, and so it must be done."

Then comes a paragraph about provisions, and a marginal order from the
sovereigns, "that Juan de Fonseca is to provide for that matter."

Again, there comes another paragraph about provisions, complaining,
amongst other things, that the casks, in which the wine for the armada had
been put, were leaky. Their Highnesses make an order in the margin, "that
Juan de Fonseca is to find out the persons who played this cheat with the
wine casks, and to make good from their pockets the loss, and to see that
the canes" (sugar canes for planting, possibly) "are good, and that all
that is here asked for, be provided immediately."


  CASTILIAN INTERPRETERS.

So far, nothing can run more pleasantly with the main document than the
notes in the margin. Columbus now touches upon a matter which intimately
concerns the subject of slavery. He desires his agent to inform their
Highnesses that he has sent home some Indians from the Cannibal Islands as
slaves, to be taught Castilian, and to serve afterwards as interpreters,
so that the work of conversion may go on. His arguments in support of this
proceeding are weighty. He speaks of the good that it will be to take
these people away from cannibalism and to have them baptized, for so they
will gain their souls, as he expresses it. Then, too, with regard to the
other Indians, he remarks, "we shall have great credit from them, seeing
that we can capture and make slaves of these cannibals, of whom they (the
peaceable Indians) entertain so great a fear." Such arguments must be
allowed to have much force in them; and it may be questioned whether many
of those persons who, in these days, are the strongest opponents of
slavery, would then have had that perception of the impending danger of
its introduction which the sovereigns appear to have entertained, from
their answer to this part of the document. "This is very well, and so it
must be done; but let the admiral see whether it could not be managed
there" (i.e. in the Cannibal Islands) "that they should be brought to our
Holy Catholic Faith, and the same thing with the Indians of those islands
where he is."


  SLAVERY PROPOSED.

The admiral's despatch goes much further: in the next paragraph he boldly
suggests that, for the advantage of the souls of these cannibal Indians,
the more of them that could be taken the better; and that, considering
what quantities of live-stock and other things are required for the
maintenance of the colony, a certain number of caravels should be sent
each year with these necessary things, and the cargoes be paid for in
slaves taken from amongst the cannibals. He touches again on the good that
will be done to the cannibals themselves; alludes to the customs duties
that their Highnesses may levy upon them; and concludes by desiring
Antonio de Torres to send, or bring, an answer, "because the preparations
here (for capturing these cannibals) may be carried on with more
confidence, if the scheme seem good to their Highnesses."


  THE PROPOSAL REJECTED.

At the same time that we must do Columbus the justice to believe that his
motives were right in his own eyes, it must be admitted that a more
distinct suggestion for the establishment of a slave-trade was never
proposed.  To their honour, Ferdinand and Isabella thus replied: "As
regards this matter, it is suspended for the present, until there come
some other way of doing it there, and let the admiral write what he thinks
of this."

This is rather a confused answer, as often happens, when a proposition
from a valued friend or servant is disapproved of, but has to be rejected
kindly. The Catholic sovereigns would have been very glad to have received
some money from the Indies: money was always welcome to King Ferdinand;
the purchase of wine, seeds, and cattle for the colonists had hitherto
proved anything but a profitable outlay; the prospect of conversion was
probably dear to the hearts of both these princes, certainly to one of
them: but still this proposition for the establishment of slavery was
wisely and magnanimously set aside.


  FORT ST. THOMAS FOUNDED.

While Antonio de Torres was absent from Hispaniola, laying these
propositions before Los Reyes, Columbus was busy about the affairs of the
colony, which were in a most distracted state. Scant fare and hard work
were having their effect; sickness pervaded the whole armament; and men of
all ranks and stations, hidalgoes, people of the court and ecclesiastics,
were obliged to labour manually under regulations strictly enforced. The
rage and vexation of these men, many of whom had come out with the notion
of finding gold ready for them on the sea shore, may be imagined; and
complaints of the admiral's harsh way of dealing with those under him
(probably no harsher than was absolutely necessary to save them), now took
their rise, and pursued him ever after to his ruin. A mutiny, headed by
Bernal Diaz, a man high in authority, was detected and quelled before the
mutineers could effect their intention of seizing the ships. Diaz was sent
for trial to Spain. The colonists, however, were somewhat cheered after a
time by hearing of gold mines, and seeing specimens of ore brought from
thence; and the admiral went himself and founded the Fort of St. Thomas,
in the mining district of Cibao. But the Spaniards gained very little real
advantage from these gold mines, which they began to work before they had
consolidated around them the means of living; in fact, dealing with the
mines of Hispaniola as if they had been discovered in an old country,
where the means of transit and, supplies of provisions can, with
certainty, be procured.


  DESIRE FOR DISCOVERY.

There was also another evil, besides that of inconsiderate mining, and,
perhaps, quite as mischievous a one, which stood in the way of the steady
improvement of these early Spanish colonies. The Catholic sovereigns had
unfortunately impressed upon Columbus their wish that he should devote
himself to further discovery, a wish but too readily adopted and furthered
by his enterprising spirit. The hankering of the Spanish monarchs for
further discovery was fostered by their jealousy of the Portuguese. The
Portuguese were making their way towards India, going eastward. They, the
Spaniards, thought they were discovering India, going westward. The more
rapidly, therefore, each nation could advance and plant its standard, the
more of much-coveted India it would hereafter be able to claim. Acting
upon such views, Columbus now proceeded onwards, bent upon further
discovery, notwithstanding that his little colonies at Isabella and St.
Thomas must have needed all his sagacity to protect them, and all his
authority to restrain them.


  A COUNCIL APPOINTED.

He nominated a council to manage the government during his absence, with
his brother Don Diego as president of it; he appointed a certain Don Pedro
Margarite as captain-general; and then put to sea on the 24th of April,
1494.



CHAPTER VII.

In the course of the voyage that then ensued, the admiral made many
important discoveries, amongst them Jamaica, and the cluster of little
islands called the "Garden of the Queen." The navigation amongst these
islands was so difficult, that the admiral is said to have been thirty-two
days without sleeping. Certain it is, that after he had left the island
called La Mona, and when he was approaching the island of San Juan, a
drowsiness, which Las Casas calls "pestilential," but which might
reasonably be attributed to the privations, cares, and anxieties which the
admiral had now undergone for many months, seized upon him, and entirely
deprived him for a time of the use of his senses.

The object in going to San Juan was to capture cannibals there, and Las
Casas looks upon this lethargical attack as a judgment upon the admiral
for so unjust a manner of endeavouring to introduce Christianity. The
mariners turned the fleet homewards to Isabella, where they arrived the
29th of September, 1494, bearing with them their helpless commander.


  ILLNESS OF COLUMBUS.

On Columbus's arrival at Isabella, where he remained ill for five months,
he found his brother, Bartholomew Columbus, whose presence gladdened him
exceedingly. His brothers were very dear to the admiral, as may be
gathered from a letter to his eldest son Diego, in which he bids him make
much of his brother Ferdinand, the son of Beatrice, "for," says he, "ten
brothers would not be too many for you. I have never found better friends,
on my right hand and on my left, than my brothers." Afterwards came
Antonio de Torres with provisions, and all things needful for the colony.
But nothing, we are told, delighted the admiral so much as the despatches
from court, for he was a faithful, loyal man, who loved to do his duty to
those who employed him, and to have his faithfulness recognized.


  DISORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY.

Peace or delight, however, was not at any time to be long enjoyed by
Columbus. He found his colony in a sad state of disorganization: the
Indians were in arms against the Spaniards; and Father Buil, Don Pedro
Margarite, and other principal persons had gone home to Spain in the ship
which had brought Bartholomew Columbus.


The admiral, before his departure, had given a most injudicious command to
Margarite, namely, to put himself at the head of four hundred men and go
through the country, with the twofold object of impressing upon the
natives a respect for the power of the Spaniards, and of freeing the
colony from supporting these four hundred men. The instructions to
Margarite were, to observe the people and the natural productions of the
country through which he should pass; to do rigorous justice, so that the
Spaniards should be prevented from injuring the Indians, or the Indians
the Spaniards; to treat the Indians kindly; to obtain provisions by
purchase, if possible, if not, by any other means; and to capture Caonabo
and his brothers, either by force or artifice.


  OPPRESSION OF INDIANS.

The proceedings of the men under Margarite were similar to those of the
Spaniards formerly left at La Navidad. They went straggling over the
country: they consumed the provisions of the poor Indians, astonishing
them by their voracious appetites; waste, rapine, injury and insult
followed in their steps; and from henceforth there was but little hope of
the two races living peaceably together in those parts, at least upon
equal terms. The Indians were now swarming about the Spaniards with
hostile intent: as a modern historian describes the situation, "they had
passed from terror to despair;" and but for the opportune arrival of the
admiral, the Spanish settlements in Hispaniola might again have been
entirely swept away.

Caonabo, the cacique who, in former days, had put to death the garrison at
La Navidad, was now threatening that of St. Thomas, the fort which the
admiral had caused to be built in the mining district of Cibao.
Guatignana, the cacique of Macorix, who had killed eight Spanish soldiers
and set fire to a house where there were forty ill, was now within two
days' march of Isabella, besieging the fort of Magdalena. Columbus started
up forthwith, went off to Magdalena, engaged the Indians, and routed them
utterly.


  TRANSMISSION OF SLAVES,

He took a large part of them for slaves, and reduced to obedience the
whole of the province of Macorix. Returning to Isabella, he sent back, on
the 24th of February, 1495, the four ships which Antonio de Torres had
brought out, chiefly laden with Indian slaves. It is rather remarkable
that the very ships which brought that admirable reply from Ferdinand and
Isabella to Columbus, begging him to seek some other way to Christianity
than through slavery, even for wild man-devouring Caribs, should come back
full of slaves taken from amongst the wild islanders of Hispaniola.


Caonabo, not daunted by the fate of Guatignana, still continued to molest
St. Thomas. The admiral accordingly sallied out with two hundred men
against this cacique. On the broad plains of the Vega Real the Spaniards
found an immense number of Indians collected together, amounting, it is
said, to one hundred thousand men. The admiral divided his forces into two
bands, giving the command of one to his brother Bartholomew, and leading
the other himself; and when the brothers made an attack upon the Indians
at the same time from different quarters, this numerous host was at once
and utterly put to flight. In speaking of such a defeat, the modern reader
must not be lavish of the words "cowardly," "pusillanimous," and the like,
until, at least, he has well considered what it is to expose naked bodies
to firearms, to the charge of steel-clad men on horseback, and to the
clinging ferocity of bloodhounds.


  SLAUGHRTER OF NATIVES.

A "horrible carnage" ensued upon the flight of the Indians. Many of them,
less fortunate, perhaps, than those who were slain, being taken alive,
were condemned to slavery. Caonabo, however, who was besieging the
fortress of St. Thomas at the time of the battle on the Vega Real,
remained untaken. The admiral resolved to secure the person of this
cacique by treachery; and sent Ojeda (who afterwards became a conspicuous
actor in the sad drama of conquest and depopulation in the West Indies) to
cajole Caonabo into coming to a friendly meeting. There are some curious
instructions of Columbus's to Margarite in 1494, respecting a plot to take
this formidable Caonabo. They are as thoroughly base and treacherous as
can well be imagined. This time the admiral's plan was completely
successful.


  CUNNING CAPTURE OF INDIAN CHIEF.

The story which was current in the colonies, of the manner in which Ojeda
captured the resolute Indian chief, is this. Ojeda carried with him gyves
and manacles, the latter of the kind called by the Spaniards, somewhat
satirically, esposas (wives), and all made of brass or steel, finely
wrought, and highly polished. The metals of Spain were prized by the
Indians in the same way that the gold of the Indies was by the Spaniards.
Moreover, amongst the Indians, there was a strange rumour of talking
brass, that arose from their listening to the church bell at Isabella,
which, summoning the Spaniards to mass, was thought by the simple Indians
to converse with them. Indeed the natives of Hispaniola held the Spanish
metals in such estimation that they applied to them an Indian word, Turey,
which seems to have signified anything that descends from heaven. When,
therefore, Ojeda brought these ornaments to Caonabo, and told him they
were Biscayan Turey, and that they were a great present from the admiral,
and that he would show him how to put them on, and that when they were put
on Caonabo should set himself on Ojeda's horse and be shown to his
admiring subjects, as, Ojeda said, the kings of Spain were wont to show
themselves to theirs, the incautious Indian is said to have fallen
entirely into the trap. Going with Ojeda, accompanied by only a small
escort, to a river a short distance from his main encampment. Caonabo,
after performing ablutions, suffered the crafty young Spaniard to put the
heaven-descended fetters on him, and to set him upon the horse. Ojeda
himself got up behind the Indian prince, and then whirling a few times
round, like a pigeon before it takes its determined flight, making the
followers of Caonabo imagine that this was but display, (they all the
while keeping at a respectful distance from the horse, an animal they much
dreaded,) he darted off for Isabella, and after great fatigues, now
keeping to the main track, now traversing the woods in order to evade
pursuit, brought Caonabo bound into the presence of Columbus. The
unfortunate cacique was afterwards sent to Spain [He died on the voyage,
however.] to be judged there; and his forces were presently put to flight
by a troop of Spaniards under the command of this same Ojeda. Some were
killed; some taken prisoners; some fled to the forests and the mountains;
some yielded, "offering themselves to the service of the Christians, if
they would allow them to live in their own ways."


  GOLD TRIBUTE IMPOSED.

Never, perhaps, were little skirmishes, for such they were on the part of
the Spaniards, of greater permanent importance than those above narrated,
which took place in the early part of the year 1495. They must be looked
upon as the origin in the Indies of slavery, vassalage, and the system of
repartimientos. We have seen that the admiral, after his first victory,
sent off four ships with slaves to Spain. He now took occasion to impose a
tribute upon the whole population of Hispaniola. It was thus arranged.
Every Indian above fourteen years old, who was in the provinces of the
mines, or near to these provinces, was to pay every three months a little
bellful of gold; all other persons in the island were to pay at the same
time an arroba of cotton for each person. Certain brass or copper tokens
were made--different ones for each tribute time--and were given to the
Indians when they paid tribute and these tokens, being worn about their
necks, were to show who had paid tribute.


  REMARKABLE INDIAN SCHEME.

A remarkable proposal was made upon this occasion to the admiral by
Guarionex, cacique of the Vega Real, namely, that he would institute a
huge farm for the growth of corn and the manufacture of bread, stretching
from Isabella to St. Domingo (i. e. from sea to sea) which would suffice
to maintain all Castile with bread. The cacique would do this on condition
that his vassals were not to pay tribute in gold, as they did not know how
to collect that. But this proposal was not accepted, because Columbus
wished to have tribute in such things as he could send over to Spain.

This tribute is considered to have been a most unreasonable one in point
of amount, and Columbus was obliged to modify his demands upon these poor
Indians, and in some instances to change the nature of them. It appears
that, in 1496, service instead of tribute was demanded of certain Indian
villages; and as the villagers were ordered to make (and work) the farms
in the Spanish settlements, this may be considered as the beginning of the
system of repartimientos, or encomiendas, as they were afterwards called.


  VIEWS OF COLUMBUS ON SLAVERY.

We must not, however, suppose that Indian slavery would not have taken
place by means of Columbus, even if these uprisings and defeats of the
Indians in the course of the year 1495 had never occurred. Very early
indeed we see what the admiral's views were with regard to the Indians. In
the diary which he kept of his first voyage, on the 14th of October, three
days after discovering the New World, he describes a position which he
thinks would be a very good one for a fort; and he goes on to say, "I do
not think that it (the fort) will be necessary, for this people is very
simple in the use of arms (as your highnesses will see from seven of them
that I have taken in order to bring them to you, to learn our language and
afterwards to take them back); so that when your highnesses command, you
can have them all taken to Castille or kept in the island as captives."

Columbus was not an avaricious, nor a cruel man; and certainly he was a
very pious one; but early in life he had made voyages along the coast of
Africa, and he was accustomed to a slave trade. Moreover, he was anxious
to reduce the expenses of these Indian possessions to the Catholic
sovereigns, to prove himself in the right as to all he had said respecting
the advantages that would flow to Spain from the Indies, and to confute
his enemies at Court.

Those who have read the instructions to Columbus given by the Catholic
monarchs will naturally be curious to know how the news of the arrival of
these vessels laden with slaves, the fruit of the admiral's first victory
over the Indians, was received by the Sovereigns, recollecting how tender
they had been about slavery before. This, however, was a very different
case from the former one. Here were people taken in what would be called
rebellion--prisoners of war. Still we find that Ferdinand and Isabella
were heedful in their proceedings in this matter. There is a letter of
theirs to Bishop Fonseca, who managed Indian affairs, telling him to
withhold receiving the money for the sale of these Indians that Torres had
brought with him until their Highnesses should be able to inform
themselves from men learned in the law, theologians and canonists, whether
with a good conscience these Indians could be ordered to be sold or not.
The historian Munoz, who has been indefatigable in his researches amongst
the documents relating to Spanish America, declares that he cannot find
that the point was decided; and if he has failed, we are not likely to
discover any direct evidence about the decision. We shall hereafter,
however, find something which may enable us to conjecture what the
decision practically came to be.


  DISTRESS OF NATIVES.

Many of the so-called free Indians in Hispaniola had, perhaps, even a
worse fate than that which fell to the lot of their brethren condemned to
slavery. These free men, seeing the Spaniards quietly settling down in
their island, building houses, and making forts, and no vessels in the
harbour of Isabella to take them away, fell into the profoundest sadness,
and bethought them of the desperate remedy of attempting to starve the
Spaniards out, by not sowing or planting anything. But this is a shallow
device, when undertaken on the part of the greater number, in any country,
against the smaller. The scheme reacted upon themselves. They had intended
to gain a secure though scanty sustenance in the forests and upon the
mountains; but though the Spaniards suffered bitterly from famine, they
were only driven by it to further pursuit and molestation of the Indians,
who died in great numbers, of hunger, sickness, and misery.


  SPANISH COMMISSIONER.

About this period there arrived in the Indies from the Court of Spain a
Commissioner of Inquiry, his mission being doubtless occasioned by the
various complaints made against the admiral by Father Buil, Margarite, and
the Spaniards who had returned from Hispaniola. The name of this
commissioner was Juan Aguado, and his powers were vouched for by the
following letter from the sovereigns:--

  "The King and the Queen.

  "Cavaliers, Esquires and other persons, who by our command are in the
  Indies: we send you thither Juan Aguado, our Gentleman of the Chamber,
  who will speak to you on our part: we command that you give him faith
  and credence.
    "I the King: I the Queen.
    "By command of the King and Queen, our Lords.
       "HENAND ALVAREZ.
    "Madrid, the ninth of April, one thousand
    four hundred and ninety-five."


  PLOTS TO UNDERMINE AND RUIN THE ADMIRAL

The royal commissioner arrived at Isabella in October, 1495, and his
proceedings in the colony, together with the fear of what he might report
on his return, quickened the admiral's desire to return to Court, that he
might fight his own battles there himself. For the tide of his fortune was
turning, and this appeared by several notable signs. Strong as was the
confidence which the Sovereigns reposed in him, the representations of
Margarite and Buil--the rough soldier and the wily Benedictine--had
produced their effect. They complained of the despotic rule of Columbus;
of the disregard of distinctions of rank which he had manifested by
placing the hidalgoes on the same footing as the common men, as regards
work and rations, during the construction of the settlement; and of his
mania for discovery, which made him abandon the colony already formed, in
the unremunerative search for new countries. The commissioner who was sent
to investigate these charges, as well as to report on the condition of the
colony, found no difficulty in collecting evidence to substantiate them.
An unsuccessful man is generally persuaded that somebody else has caused
his failure. And the "somebody else," in the case of the colonists, was,
by universal consent, the foreign sea captain who had deluded Spanish
hidalgoes by his wild projects, and had become a grandee under false
pretences. The Indians, too, who were glad to lay their miseries at the
door of somebody, and who were told that Aguado was the new admiral, and
had come to supplant the old one, were not slow to add their quota to the
charges against Columbus. To rebut these accusations, as well as to
protest against the issue of licences, to private adventurers, to trade in
the new countries independently of the admiral (a measure which, in
violation of Columbus's charter, had lately been adopted by Fonseca) he
quitted Isabella on the 10th of March, 1496, in the "Nina," while Aguado
took ship in another caravel. Many of the colonists, who had been rudely
awakened from their golden dreams, seized this opportunity of returning to
Spain; and the Cacique Caonabo was also on board, probably with a view of
impressing upon him an overwhelming conviction of Spanish power, and of
the futility of any efforts to resist it.


  WRETCHED VOYAGE HOME

The voyage was a miserable one. Contrary winds prevailed until provisions
began to run short, and rations were doled out in pittances which grew
scantier and scantier until all the admiral's authority was needed to
prevent his ravenous shipmates from killing and eating the Caribs who were
on board,--in retribution, so ran the grim jest, for their cannibalism. At
last, when famine was imminent, after a voyage of three months' duration,
the two caravels entered the Bay of Cadiz on the 11th of June, 1496.


  RECEPTION AT COURT.

After about a month's delay, Columbus received a summons to proceed to the
Court, which was then at Burgos. In the course of his journey thither he
adopted the same means of dazzling the eyes of the populace, by the
display of gold and the exhibition of his captives, as on his return from
his first voyage; but so many unsuccessful colonists had returned, sick at
heart and ruined in health, to tell the tale of failure to their
countrymen, that this triumphal procession was very unlike the last as
regards the welcome accorded by the public. However the Sovereigns seem to
have given the admiral a kind reception, and instead of placing him on his
defence against the charges which had been brought forward by Father Buil,
they listened with sympathy to his story of the difficulties which had
beset him, and heard with sanguine satisfaction of the recent discovery of
the mines from which it was said that the natives procured most of the
gold that had been found in their possession, and which promised an
incalculably rich harvest. Presently, in apparent confirmation of this
belief, one Pedro Nino, a captain of the admiral's, announced his arrival
at Cadiz, with a quantity of "gold in bars" on board his ship. It was not
until great expectations had been raised at Court, and the wildest ideas
conceived of the magnitude of this supposed first instalment of the riches
of the newly found gold mines, that it turned out that this Nino was
merely a miserable maker of jokes, and that the "gold in bars" was only
represented by the Indians who composed his cargo, whose present captivity
was secured by "bars," and whose future sale was to furnish gold. This
absurdity naturally caused Columbus and his friends no slight
mortification, and added a fresh weapon to the shafts of ridicule which
his enemies wore for ever launching at his extravagant theories and his
expensive projects.



CHAPTER VIII.

During the two years that elapsed from the Admiral's leaving Hispaniola in
1496 to his return there in 1498, many things happened on both sides the
Atlantic, which need recording. In 1496 we find, that Don Bartholomew
Columbus sent to Spain three hundred slaves from Hispaniola. He had
previously informed the Sovereigns that certain caciques were killing the
Castilians, and their Highnesses had given orders in reply, that all those
who should be found guilty should be sent to Spain. If this meant the
common Indians as well as the caciques, then it seems probable that the
question about selling them with a safe conscience was already decided.


  CRIMINALS SENT TO THE INDIES.

In 1497, two very injudicious edicts were  published by the Catholic
Sovereigns, upon the advice, as we are told, of Columbus; one, authorizing
the judges to transport criminals to the Indies; the other, giving an
indulgence to all those who had committed any crime (with certain
exceptions, among which heresy, lese majeste, and treason, find a place)
to go out at their own expense to Hispaniola, and to serve for a certain
time under the orders of the admiral. The remembrance of this advice on
his part, might well have shamed Columbus from saying, as he did three
years afterwards, in his most emphatic manner, "I swear that numbers of
men have gone to the Indies who did not deserve water from God or man." It
is but fair, however, to mention, that Las Casas, speaking of the
colonists who went out under these conditions, says, "I have known some of
them in these islands, even of those who had lost their ears, whom I
always found sufficiently honest men."


  "REPARTIMIENTOS."

In 1497, letters patent were issued from the Sovereigns to the admiral,
authorizing him to grant repartimientos of the lands in the Indies to the
Spaniards. It is noticeable that in this document there is no mention of
Indians, so that they had not come to form portion of a repartimiento at
this period. The document in question is of a formal character, expressed
in the style of legal documents of the present day, by virtue of which the
fortunate Spaniard who gets the land is "to have, and to hold, and to
possess," and so forth; and is enabled "to sell and to give, and to
present, and to traffic with, and to exchange, and to pledge, and to
alienate, and to do with it and in it all that he likes or may think good."

While the acts of legislation above narrated, which cannot be said to have
been favourable to good government in the Indies, were being framed at the
Court of Spain, Don Bartholomew Columbus was doing much in his
administration of Hispaniola that led to very mischievous results.

Before the admiral left the island, he had discovered some mines to the
southward, and had thought of choosing a port in their vicinity, where he
might establish a colony. He had spoken about this in his letters to the
Government at home. As he entered the Bay of Cadiz on his return, he met
some vessels there, which were bound for Hispaniola, and which contained
letters from their Highnesses approving of his suggestion. By these ships,
therefore, he sent orders to his brother to make this southern settlement;
and the "Adelantado" accordingly proceeded southwards, and fixed upon a
port at the entrance or the river Ozama. He sent for artizans from
Isabella, and commenced building a fortress, which he called St. Domingo,
and which afterwards became the chief port of the island.


  XARAGUA PENETRATED; TRIBUTE IMPOSED UPON THE INDIANS.

There was one part of Hispaniola into which the Spaniards had not yet
penetrated: it was called Xaragua, and was reigned over by a Cacique named
Bohechio, whose sister, Anacaona, the wife of Caonabo, and a noted beauty,
seems also to have had much authority in those parts. The Adelantado,
after seeing the works at St. Domingo commenced, resolved to enter the
kingdom of Xaragua, whither he proceeded at the head of one hundred men.
Arriving at the river Neyba, he found an immense army of Indians drawn up
there to oppose his progress. Don Bartholomew made signs to them that his
errand was peaceful; and the good-natured Indians accepting his proffers
of amity, he was conducted some thirty leagues further to the city of
Xaragua, where he was received with processions of dancing and singing
women, and feasted magnificently. After having been well entertained by
these Indians, the "Adelantado" proceeded to business, and, in plain
terms, demanded tribute of them. Bohechio pleaded that there was no gold
in his dominions, to which the Adelantado replied that he did not wish to
impose tribute upon any people, except of the natural production to be
found in their country. It was finally settled that Bohechio should pay
tribute in cotton and cazabi-bread. He acceded to this agreement very
willingly; and the Adelantado and this cacique parted on the most friendly
terms.

Don Bartholomew then returned to Isabella, where he found that about three
hundred men had died from disease, and that there was great dearth of
provisions. He distributed the sick men in his fortresses, and in the
adjacent Indian villages, and afterwards set out on a journey to his new
fort of St. Domingo, collecting tribute by the way. In all these rapid and
energetic proceedings of the Adelantado, and still more from causes over
which he had no control, the Spaniards must have suffered much; and,
doubtless, those complaints on their part, which were soon to break
out very menacingly, were not unheard at the present time.

If the Spaniards, however, complained of the labours which Don Bartholomew
imposed upon them, the Indians complained still more, and far more justly,
of the tribute imposed upon them. Several of the minor chiefs, upon this
occasion of collecting tribute, complained to the great Cacique Guarionex,
and suggested a rising of the Indians. This cacique seems to have been a
peaceful, prudent man, and well aware of the power of the Spaniards. But
he now consented to place himself at the head of an insurrection, which,
however, the lieutenant-governor, soon made aware of it, quelled at once
by a battle in which he was victorious over Guarionex, taking him and
other principal persons captive. The chief movers of the revolt were put
to death; but Guarionex was delivered up to his people, who flocked by
thousands to his place of imprisonment, clamouring for his restitution.


  DISCONTENT OF THE SPANISIH COLONISTS.

About this time messengers came from Bohechio and Anacaona, informing the
Adelantado that the tribute of that country was ready for him, and he
accordingly went to fetch it. During his absence from the seat of
government, and under the less vigorous administration of Don Diego
Columbus, who had been left at the head of affairs at Isabella, those
discontents among the Spaniards, which had no doubt been rife for a long
time, broke out in a distinct manner. I allude to the well-known
insurrection of Roldan, whom the admiral, on his departure, had left as
chief justice in the island. The disputes between the chief justice and
the governor were to form the first of a series of similar proceedings to
take place afterwards in many colonies even down to our own times. It may
be imagined that the family of Columbus were a hard race to deal with; and
any one observing that the admiral was very often engaged in disputes, and
almost always in the right, might conjecture that he was one of those
persons who pass through life proving that all people about them are
wrong, and going a great way to make them so. This would have been an easy
mode of explaining many things, and therefore very welcome to a narrator,
but it would not be at all just towards Columbus to saddle upon him any
such character. Here were men who had come out with very grand.
expectations, and who found themselves pinched with hunger, having dire
storms to encounter, and vast labours to undergo; who were restrained
within due bounds by no pressure of society; who were commanded by a
foreigner, or by members of his family, whom they knew to have many
enemies at court; who thought that the Sovereigns themselves could
scarcely reach them at this distance; and who imagined that they had
worked themselves out of an law and order, and that they deserved an
Alsatian immunity. With such men (many of them, perhaps, "not worthy of
water,") the admiral and his brothers had to get useful works of all kinds
done; and did contrive to get vessels navigated, forts built, and some
ideas of civilization maintained. But it was an arduous task at all times:
and this Roldan did not furnish the least of the troubles which the
admiral and his brothers had to endure.


  INSURRECTION OF ROLDAN.

Roldan, too, if we could hear him, would probably have something to say.
He wished, it appears, to return to Spain, as Father Buil and Margarite
had done; and urged that a certain caravel which the Governor Don
Bartholomew Columbus had built, might be launched for that purpose. Such
is the account of Ferdinand Columbus, who maintains that the said caravel
could not be lunched for want of tackle. He also mentions that Roldan
complained of the restless life the Adelantado led his men, building forts
and towns; and said that there was no hope of the admiral coming back to
the colony with supplies. Without going into these squabbles--and indeed
it is very difficult when a quarrel of this kind arises, taking it up at
the point where it breaks out, to judge it upon that only, since the
stream of ill-will may have run underground for a long time--suffice it to
say, that Roldan and his men grew more and more insubordinate; were not at
all quelled by the presence of the Adelantado on his return from Xaragua;
and finally quitted Isabella in a body. The Adelantado contrived to keep
some men faithful to him, promising them, amongst other things, two slaves
each. Negotiations then took place between the Adelantado and Roldan,
which must be omitted for the present, to enter upon the further dealing
of Don Bartholomew with the Indians.


  FLIGHT OF GUARIONEX.

These poor, islanders were now harassed both by the rebels and by the
loyal Spaniards, whom the Adelantado could not venture to curb much, for
fear of their going over to the other party. The Indians were also tempted
by Roldan to join him, as he contended that tribute had been unjustly
imposed upon them. From all these difficulties, Guarionex made his escape
by flying to the territories of Maiobanex, the cacique of a hardy race,
who inhabited the hilly country towards Cabron. This flight of Guarionex
was a very serious affair, as it threatened the extinction of tribute in
that cacique's territory; and Don Bartholomew accordingly pursued the
fugitive. After some skirmishes with the troops of Maiobanex, in which, as
usual, the Spaniards were victorious, the Adelantado sent a messenger to
Maiobanex, telling him that the Spaniards did not seek war with him, but
that he must give up Guarionex, otherwise his own territory would be
destroyed by fire and sword. Maiobanex replied, that everyone knew that
Guarionex was a good man, endowed with all virtue, wherefore he judged him
to be worthy of assistance and defence, but that they, the Spaniards, were
violent and bad men, and that he would have neither friendship nor
commerce with them.


  MAIOBANEX AND HIS GUEST.

Upon receiving this answer, the Adelantado burnt several villages, and
approached nearer to the camp of Maiobanex. Fresh negotiations were
entered into: Maiobanex convoked an assembly of his people; and they
contended that Guarionex ought to be given up, and cursed the day when
first he came amongst them. Their noble chief, however, said, "that
Guarionex was a good man, and deserved well at his hands, for he had given
him many royal gifts when he came to him, and had taught him and his wife
to join in choral songs and to dance, of which he made no little account,
and for which he was grateful: wherefore, he would be party to no treaty
to desert Guarionex, since he had fled to him, and he had pledged himself
to take care of the fugitive; and would rather suffer all extremities than
give detractors a cause for speaking ill, to say that he had delivered up
his guest." The assemblage of the people being dismissed, Maiobanex
informed his guest that he would stand by him to the last.


  THEIR CAPTURE.

The fugitive cacique, however, finding that Maiobanex's people were
ill-disposed towards him, quitted, of his own accord, their territory; but
by so doing, he was not enabled to save his generous host, who, with his
family, was surprized and taken; and Guarionex himself being shortly
afterwards captured and put in chains at Fort Concepcion, the two caciques
probably shared the same prison. Thus concludes a story, which, if it had
been written by some Indian Plutarch, and the names had been more easy to
pronounce, might have taken its just place amongst the familiar and
household stories which we tell our children, to make them see the beauty
of great actions.



CHAPTER IX.


  COLUMBUS'S THIRD VOYAGE.

A good starting-point for that important part of the narrative which comes
next--namely, the discovery of the American continent by Columbus--will be
a recital of the first clause in the instructions given by Ferdinand and
Isabella to the admiral, in the year 1497, previously to his undertaking
his third voyage--a voyage which, though not to be compared to his first
one, is still very memorable, on account of the discoveries he made, and
the sufferings he experienced in the course of it.

The first clause of the instructions is to the effect, that the Indians of
the islands are to be brought into peace and quietude, being reduced into
subjection "benignantly;" and also, as the principal end of the conquest,
that they be  converted to the sacred Catholic Faith, and have the holy
Sacraments administered to them.

It will be needless to recount the vexations of that "much-enduring man,"
Columbus, before his embarkation. Suffice it to say, that he set sail from
the port of San Lucar on the 30th of May, 1498, with six vessels, and two
hundred men, in addition to the sailors that were necessary to navigate
the vessels. In the course of his voyage he was obliged to avoid a French
squadron which was cruizing in those seas, as France and Spain were then
at war. From Gomera, one of the Canary islands, he despatched three of his
ships directly to Hispaniola, declaring in his instructions to their
commanders, that he was going to the Cape Verde islands, and thence, "in
the name of the Sacred Trinity," intended to navigate to the south of
those islands, until he should arrive under the equinoctial line, in the
hope of being "guided by God to discover something which may be to His
service, and to that of our Lords, the King and Queen, and to the honour
of Christendom;" "for, I believe," he adds, "that no one has ever
traversed this way, and that this sea is nearly unknown."


  CAPE VERDE ISLANDS.

With one ship, therefore, and two caravels, the great admiral made for the
Cape Verde islands, "a false name," as he observes, for nothing was to be
seen there of a green colour. He reached these islands on the 27th of
June, and quitted them on the 4th of July, having been in the midst of
such a dense fog all the time, that, he says, "it might have been cut with
a knife," Thence he proceeded to the south-west, intending afterwards to
take a westerly direction. When he had gone, as he says, one hundred and
twenty leagues, he began to find those floating fields of sea-weed which
he had encountered in his first voyage. Here he took an observation at
nightfall, and found that the north star was in five degrees. The wind
suddenly abated, and the heat was intolerable; so much so, that nobody
dared to go below deck to look after the wine and the provisions. This
extraordinary heat lasted eight days. The first day was clear, and if the
others had been like it, the admiral says, not a man would have been left
alive, but they would all have been burnt up.


  COLUMBUS SAILS WESTWARD.

At last a favourable breeze sprang up, enabling the admiral to take a
westerly course, the one he most desired, as he had before noticed in his
voyages to the Indies that about a hundred miles west of the Azores there
was always a sudden change of temperature.[15]

  [Footnote 15: I suppose he came into or out of one of those warm ocean
  rivers which have so great an effect in modifying the temperature of the
  earth--perhaps into the one which comes from the south of Africa through
  the Gulf of Mexico, to our own shores, and on which we so much depend.]


  TRINIDAD SEEN.

On Sunday, the 22nd of July, in the evening, the sailors saw innumerable
birds going from the south-west to the north-east, which flight of birds
was a sign that land was not far off. For several successive days birds
were seen, and an albatross perched upon the admiral's vessel. Still the
fleet went on without seeing land, and, as it was in want of fresh water,
the admiral was thinking of changing his course, and, indeed, on Thursday,
the 31st of July, had commenced steering northwards for some hours, when,
to use his own words, "as God had always been accustomed to show mercy to
him," a certain mariner of Huelva, a follower of the admiral's, named
Alonzo Perez, happened to go up aloft upon the maintop-sail of the
admiral's ship, and suddenly saw land towards the south-west, about
fifteen leagues off. This land which he described was in the form of three
lofty hills or mountains. It would be but natural to conjecture that, as
Columbus had resolved to name the first land he should discover
"Trinidad," it was by an effort of the will, or of the imagination, that
these three eminences were seen first; but it is exceedingly probable that
such eminences were to be seen from the point whence Alonzo Perez first
saw land.[16]

  [Footnote 16: Cape Cashepou is backed by three peaked mountains, of
  which a representation is given in Day's West Indies, vol 2, p. 31.]

The sailors sang the "Salve Regina," with other pious hymns in honour of
God and "Our Lady," according to the custom of the mariners of Spain, who,
in terror or in joy, were wont to find an expression for their feelings in
such sacred canticles.


  THE PEARL COAST.

The admiral's course, when he was going northwards, had been in the
direction of the Carib islands, already well known to him; but with great
delight he now turned towards Trinidad, making for a cape which, from the
likeness of a little rocky islet near it to a galley in full sail, he
named "La Galera." [17] There he arrived "at the hour of complines," but,
not finding the port sufficiently deep for his vessels to enter, he
proceeded westwards.

  [Footnote 17: This point is sometimes placed at the north-east of
  Trinidad; but wrongly so. It is now Cape Galeota.--See Humbolt's Examen
  Critique, vol. i. p. 310.]

  [Illustration: Map of THE PEARL COAST. From about 50 miles west of the
  island of Margarita to just east of Trinidad and Tobago; from about 50
  miles north of Grenada to 50 miles south of the Orinoco River.]


  FIRST VIEW OF AMERICAN CONTINENT

The first thing noticeable as he neared these shores, was that the trees
grew well on the margin of the sea. There were houses and people,--and
very beautiful lands, which reminded him, from their beauty and their
verdure, of the gardens of Valencia as seen in the month of March. It was
also to be observed that these lands were well cultivated.

On the following morning he continued in a westerly direction in search of
a port, where he might take in water, and refit his ships, the timber of
which had shrunk, from extreme heat, so that they sadly needed caulking.
He did not find a port, but came to deep soundings somewhere near Point
Alcatraz, where he brought to, and took in fresh water. This was on a
Wednesday, the first of August. From the point where he now was, the low
lands of the Orinoco must have been visible, and Columbus must have beheld
the continent of America for the first time.[18] He supposed it to be an
island of about twenty leagues in extent, and he gave it the somewhat
insignificant name of Zeta.

  [Footnote 18: The northern part of the continent had been discovered by
  Sebastian Cabot, on the 24th of June, 1497.]

The same signs of felicity which greeted his eyes on his first sight of
land, continued to manifest themselves. Farms and populous places[19] were
visible above the water as he coasted onwards; with the trees flourishing
close to the sea--a sure sign of the general mildness of the weather,
wherever it occurs.

  [Footnote 19: "Vido muchas labranzas por luengo de Costa y muchas
  Poblaciones."--LAS CASAS, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. i cap. 132.]

The next day he proceeded westwards along the southern part of Trinidad,
until he arrived It the westernmost point, which he called "La punta de
Arenal;" and now he beheld the gulf of Paria, which he called "La Balena"
(the gulf of the whale). It was just after the rainy season, and the great
rivers which flow into that gulf were causing its waters to rush with
impetuosity out of the two openings [20] which lead into the open sea. The
contest between the fresh water and the salt water produced a ridge of
waters, on the top of which the admiral was borne into the gulf at such
risk, that, writing afterwards of this event to the Spanish court, he
says, "Even to-day I shudder lest the waters should have upset the vessel
when they came under its bows."

  [Footnote 20: The Boca del Drago and the Boca de la Sierpe.]


  COLUMBUS MISTAKES THE CONTINENT FOR ISLANDS.

Previously to entering the gulf, the admiral had sought to make friends
with some Indians who approached him in a large canoe, by ordering his men
to come upon the poop, and dance to the sound of a tambourine; but this,
naturally enough, appears to have been mistaken for a warlike
demonstration, and it was answered by a flight of arrows from the Indians.

The admiral, still supposing that he was amongst islands, called the land
to the left of him, as he moved up the gulf, the island of Gracia; and he
continued to make a similar mistake throughout the whole of his course up
the gulf, taking the various projections of the indented coast for
islands. Throughout his voyage in the gulf, Columbus met with nothing but
friendly treatment from the natives. At last he arrived at a place which
the natives told him was called Paria, and where they also informed him
that, to the westward, the country was more populous. He took four of
these natives, and went onwards, until he came to a point which he named
Punto de Aguja (Needle Point), where, he says, he found the most beautiful
lands in the world, very populous, and whence, to use his own words, "an
infinite number of canoes came off to the ships."

Proceeding onwards, the admiral came to a place where the women had pearl
bracelets, and, on his enquiring where these came from, they made signs,
directing him out of the Gulf of Paria towards the island of Cubagua. Here
he sent some of his men on shore, who were very well received and
entertained by two of the principal Indians. It is needless to dwell upon
this part of the narrative. Very few of the places retain the names which
the admiral gave them, and, consequently, it is difficult to trace his
progress. He began to conjecture, from the immense amount of fresh water
brought down by the rivers into the Gulf of Paria, that the land which he
had been calling the island of Gracia was not an island, but a continent,
of which fact he afterwards became more convinced. But little time was
given him for research of any kind. He was anxious to reach Hispaniola, in
order to see after his colonists there, and to bring them the stores which
he had in charge; and so, after passing through the "Boca del Drago," and
reconnoitring the island of  Margarita, which he named, he was compelled
to go on his way to Hispaniola. We are hardly so much concerned with what
the admiral saw and heard, as with what he afterwards thought and
reported. To understand this, it will be desirable to enter somewhat into
the scientific questions which occupied the mind of this great mariner and
most observant man.


  THE ADMIRAL'S REASONING ABOUT THE CONTINENT.

The discovery of the continent of America by Columbus, in his third
voyage, was the result of a distinct intention on his part to discover
some new land, and cannot be attributed to chance. It would be difficult
to define precisely the train of ideas which led Columbus to this
discovery. The Portuguese navigations were one compelling cause. Then the
change, already alluded to, which Columbus had noticed in his voyages to
the Indies, on passing a line a hundred leagues west of the Azores, was in
his mind, as it was in reality, a circumstance of great moment[21] and
significance. It was not a change of temperature alone that he noticed,
but a change in the heavens, the air, the sea, and the magnetic current.

  [Footnote 21: It is the opinion of HUMBOLDT, as mentioned before, that
  the celebrated division, made by Alexander the Sixth between the
  Castilian and Portuguese monarchs, was adopted in reference to these
  phenomena which Columbus had noticed: and, if the line of no variation
  were a "constant," no better marine boundary could well be suggested.]

In the first place, the needles of the compass, instead of north-easting,
north-wested at this line; and that remarkable phenomenon occurred just
upon the passage of the line, as if, Columbus says, one passed a hill.
Then, the sea there was full of sea-weed like small pine-branches, laden
with a fruit similar to pistachio nuts. Moreover, on passing this
imaginary line, the admiral had invariably found that the temperature
became agreeable, and the sea calm. Accordingly, in the course of this
voyage, when they were suffering from that great heat which has been
mentioned, he determined to take a westerly course, which led, as we have
seen, to his discovering the beautiful land of Paria.[22]

  [Footnote 22: Las Casas, who had other authentic information about this
  voyage besides the manuscripts of Columbus, says, that the admiral
  intended to have gone southwards, after he had taken a westerly course,
  on quitting the place where he was becalmed. Had he done so, which the
  state of his ships would not permit, he might have been the discoverer
  of Brazil.]


  PECULIAR THEORY OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH.

Now Columbus was one of those men of divining minds, who must have general
theories on which to thread their observations; and, as few persons have
so just a claim to theorize as those who have added largely to the number
of ascertained facts (a privilege which they generally make abundant use
of), so Columbus may well be listened to, when propounding his explanation
of the wonderful change in sea, air, sky, and magnetic current, which he
discerned at this distance of a hundred leagues from the Azores.

His theory was, that the earth was not a perfect sphere, but pear-shaped;
and he thought that, as he proceeded westwards in this voyage, the sea
went gradually rising, and his ships rising too, until they came nearer to
the heavens. It is very possible that this theory had been long in his
mind, or, at any rate, that he held it before he reached the coast of
Paria. When there, new facts struck his mind, and were combined with his
theory. He found the temperature much more moderate than might have been
expected so near the equinoctial line, far more moderate than on the
opposite coast of Africa. In the evenings, indeed, it was necessary for
him to wear an outer garment of fur. Then, the natives were lighter
coloured, more astute, and braver than those of the islands. Their hair,
too, was different.

Then, again, he meditated upon the immense volume of fresh waters which
descended into the Gulf of Paria. And, in fine, the conclusion which his
pious mind came to, was, that when he reached the land which he called the
island of Gracia, he was at the base of the earthly Paradise. He also,
upon reflection, concluded that it was a continent which he had
discovered, the same continent of the east which he had always been in
search of; and that the waters, which we now know to be a branch of the
river Orinoco, formed one of the four great rivers which descended from
the garden of Paradise.

Very different were the conjectures of the pilots. Some said that they
were in the Sea of Spain, others, in that of Scotland, and, being in
despair about their whereabouts, they concluded that they had been under
the guidance of the Devil. The admiral, however, was not a man to be much
influenced by the sayings of the unthoughtful and the unlearned. He
fortified himself by references to St. Isidro, Beda, Strabo, St. Ambrose,
and Duns Scotus, and held stoutly to the conclusion that he had discovered
the site of the earthly Paradise. It is said, that he exclaimed to his
men, that they were in the richest country in the world.

Columbus did not forget to claim, with all due formalities, the possession
of this approach to Paradise, for his employers, the Catholic Sovereigns.
Accordingly, when at Paria, he had landed and taken possession of the
coast in their names, erecting a great cross upon the shore, which, he
tells Ferdinand and Isabella, he was in the habit of doing at every
headland, the religious aspect of the conquest being one which always had
great influence with the admiral, as he believed it to have with the
Catholic monarchs. In communicating this discovery, he reminds them how
they bade him go on with the enterprise, if he should discover only stones
and rocks, and had told him that they counted the cost for nothing,
considering that the Faith would be increased, and their dominions
widened.


  GRACEFUL REARING OF NATIVES; BEAUTY OF THE LAND.

It was, however, no poor discovery of mere "rocks and stones" which the
admiral had now made. It will be interesting to see his first impressions
of the men and the scenery of this  continent which he had now,
unconsciously, for the first time, discovered. He says, "I found some
lands, the most beautiful in the world, and very populous." The lands in
the island of Trinidad he had previously compared to Valencia, in Spain,
during the month of March. It is also noticeable that he had observed that
the fields were cultivated. Of the people, he says, "They are all of good
stature, well made, and of very graceful bearing, with much and smooth
hair;" and he mentions that on their heads they wore the beautiful Arab
head-dress (called keffeh), made of worked and coloured handkerchiefs,
which appeared in the distance as if they were silken.

The description given by Columbus of the natives whom he encounters in his
voyages is almost always favourable. Indeed, the description of any man or
thing depends as much on the person describing, as on the thing or person
described. Those little differences in look or dress, which excite the
ready mockery of the untravelled rustic, appear very slight indeed to the
man who, like Columbus or Las Casas, has seen many lands, and travelled
over many minds. The rude Spanish common soldier perceived a far greater
difference  between himself and the Indian, than did the most accomplished
man who visited the Indies, when he made to himself a similar comparison.
Occasionally, in a narrow nature, however cultivated, the commonest
prejudices hold their ground; but, in general, knowledge sees behind and
beyond disgust, and suffices to conquer it.


  THE EARTHLY PARADISE.

Columbus, however, found the men, the country, and the products, equally
admirable. It is somewhat curious that he does not mention his discovery
of pearls to the Catholic monarchs, and he afterwards makes a poor excuse
for this. The real reason I conjecture to have been a wish to preserve
this knowledge to himself, that the fruits of this enterprise might not be
prematurely snatched from him. His shipmates, however, were sure to
disperse the intelligence; and the gains to be made on the Pearl Coast
were, probably, the most tempting bait for future navigators to follow in
the track of Columbus, and complete the discovery of the earthly Paradise.


  ILLNESS OF COLUMBUS.

Of the delights of this Paradise Columbus himself was to have but a slight
and mocking foretaste. He had been constantly ill during the voyage,
suffering from the gout and from an inflammation in his eyes which
rendered him almost blind. His new colony in Hispaniola demanded his
attention, and must often have been the cause of anxious thought to him;
and the grave but glowing enthusiast made his way to St. Domingo, and
afterwards returned to Spain, to be vexed henceforth by those mean
miseries and small disputes which afflicted him for the remainder of his
days--miseries the more galling, as they were so disproportionately small
in comparison with the greatness of such a man, and with the aims and
hopes which they effectually hindered.



CHAPTER X.


  SLAVES AND LOGWOOD; PLAN OF SLAVE BARTER.

It was on the 30th of August, 1498, that Columbus arrived at Hispaniola,
where he found the state of his colony far from cheering, the defection of
Roldan and his followers having put everything into confusion. The admiral
supposed at first that the enmity of Roldan's party was chiefly directed
against his brother, the Adelantado, and the admiral hoped that, now he
had arrived, some agreement would speedily be concluded with Roldan, of
which he might inform the catholic sovereigns by the vessels which he
purposed to send back immediately to Spain. This was very far, however,
from being the case. These vessels, five in number, left the port of St.
Domingo bearing no good news of peace and amity amongst the Spaniards, but
laden with many hundreds of Indian slaves, which had been taken in the
following manner. Some cacique failed to perform the personal services
imposed upon him and his people, and fled to the forests; upon which,
orders were given to pursue him, and a large number of slaves were
captured and put into these ships. Columbus, in his letters to the
sovereigns, enters into an account of the pecuniary advantage that will
arise from these slave-dealing transactions, and from the sale of logwood.
He estimates, that "in the name of the sacred Trinity" there may be sent
as many slaves as sale could be found for in Spain, and that the value of
the slaves, for whom there would be a demand to the number of four
thousand, as he calculated from certain information, and of the logwood,
would amount to forty cuentos (i. e. forty million maravedis). The number
of slaves who were sent in these five ships was six hundred, of which two
hundred were given to the masters of the vessels in payment of freight. In
the course of these letters, throughout which Columbus speaks after the
fashion of a practised slave-dealer, he alludes to the intended adoption,
on behalf of private individuals, of a system of  exchange of slaves for
goods wanted from the mother country. The proposed arrangement was as
follows:--The masters of vessels were to receive slaves from the
colonists, were to carry them to Spain, and to pay for their maintenance
during the voyage; they were then to allow the colonists so much money,
payable at Seville, in proportion to the number of slaves brought over.
This money they would expend according to the orders of the colonists, who
would thus be able to obtain such goods as they might stand in need of. It
was upon the same occasion of writing home to Spain that the admiral
strongly urged upon the Catholic Sovereigns that the Spanish colonists
should be allowed to make use of the services of the Indians for a year or
two until the colony should be in a settled state, a proposal which he did
not wait for their highnesses' authority to carry out, and which led to a
new form of the repartimiento. But this brings us back to Roldan's story,
being closely connected with it.


  CONTENTION WITH ROLDAN.

After great trouble and many attempts at agreement, in which mention is
more than once made of slaves, the dispute between Roldan's party, rebels
they might almost be called, and Columbus, was at last, after two years'
negotiation, brought to a close. Roldan kept his chief-justiceship; and
his friends received lands and slaves. It brings to mind the conclusion of
many a long war in the old world, in which two great powers have been
contending against each other, with several small powers on each side, the
latter being either ruined in the course of the war, or sacrificed at the
end. The admiral gave repartimientos to those followers of Roldan who
chose to stay in the island, which were constituted in the following
manner. The admiral placed under such a caciqne so many thousand matas
(shoots of the cazabi), or, which came to the same thing, so many thousand
montones (small mounds a foot and a half high, and ten or twelve feet
round, on each of which a cazabi shoot was planted); and Columbus then
ordered that the cacique or his people should till these lands for
whomsoever they were assigned to. The repartimiento had now grown to its
second state--not lands only, but lands and the tillage of them. We shall
yet find that there is a further step in this matter, before the
repartimiento assumes its utmost development. It seems, too, that in
addition to these repartimientos, Columbus gave slaves to those partizans
of Roldan who stayed in the island. Others of Roldan's followers, fifteen
in number, chose to return to Spain; they received a certain number of
slaves, some one, some two, some three; and the admiral sent them home in
two vessels which left the port of St. Domingo at the beginning of
October, 1499.


  THE QUEEN'S ANGER; PARTIAL RELEASE OF SLAVES.

On the arrival in Spain of these vessels, the Queen was in the highest
degree angered by the above proceedings, and said that the admiral had
received no authority from her to give her vassals to anyone. She
accordingly commanded proclamation to be made at Seville, Granada, and
other places, that all persons who were in possession of Indians, given to
them by the admiral, should, under pain of death, send those Indians back
to Hispaniola, "and that particularly they should send back those Indians,
and not the others who had been brought before, because she was informed
that the others had been taken in just war." The former part of this
proclamation has been frequently alluded to, and no doubt it deserves much
praise; but from the latter part it is clear that there were some Indians
who could justly, according to Queen Isabella, be made slaves. By this
time, therefore, at any rate the question had been solved, whether by the
learned in the law, theologians and canonists, I know not, but certainly
in practice, that the Indians taken in war could be made slaves. The whole
of this transaction is very remarkable, and, in some measure,
inexplicable, on the facts before us. There is nothing to show that the
slaves given to Roldan's followers were made slaves in a different way
from those who had been sent over on former occasions, both by the admiral
and his brother, for the benefit of the crown. And yet the Queen, whom no
one has ever accused of condescending to state craft, seems to deal with
this particular case as if it were something quite new. It cannot be said
that the crown was favoured, for the question is put upon the legitimacy
of the original capture; and to confirm this, there is a letter from the
Sovereigns to one of their household, from which it may be inferred,
though the wording is rather obscure, that they, too, gave up the slaves
which had come over for them on this occasion.

Every body would be sorry to take away any honour from Isabella; and all
who are conversant with that period must wish that her proclamation could
be proved to have gone to the root of the matter; and that it had
forbidden the sending Indians to Spain as slaves, on any pretext whatever.


  THE ADMIRAL'S ENEMIES WORKING AT COURT.

To return to the affairs of Hispaniola. Columbus had now settled the
Roldan revolt and other smaller ones; he had now, too, reduced the Indians
into subjection; the mines were prospering; the Indians were to be brought
together in populous villages, that so they might better be taught the
Christian faith, and serve as vassals to the crown of Castile; the royal
revenues (always a matter of much concern to Columbus) would, he thought,
in three years amount to sixty millions of reals; and now there was time
for him to sit down, and meditate upon the rebuilding of the temple of
Jerusalem, or the conversion of Cathay. If there had been any prolonged
quiet for him, such great adventures would probably have begun to form the
staple of his high thoughts. But he had hardly enjoyed more than a month
of repose, when that evil came down upon him, which "poured the juice of
aloes into the remaining portion of his life."

The Catholic sovereigns had hitherto, upon the whole, behaved well to
Columbus. He had bitter enemies at court. People were for ever suggesting
to the monarchs that this foreigner was doing wrong. The admiral's son,
Ferdinand, gives a vivid picture of some of the complaints preferred
against his father. He says, "When I was at Granada, at the time the most
serene Prince Don Miguel died, more than fifty of them (Spaniards who had
returned from the Indies), as men without shame, bought a great quantity
of grapes, and sat themselves down in the court of the Alhambra, uttering
loud cries, saying, that their Highnesses and the admiral made them live
in this poor fashion on account of the bad pay they received, with many
other dishonest and unseemly things, which they kept repeating. Such was
their effrontery that when the Catholic king came forth they all
surrounded him, and got him into the midst of them, saying, 'Pay! pay!'
and if by chance I and my brother, who were pages to the most serene
Queen, happened to pass where they were, they shouted to the very heavens
saying, 'Look at the sons of the admiral of Mosquitoland, of that man who
has discovered the lands of deceit and  disappointment, a place of
sepulchre and wretchedness to Spanish hidalgoes:' adding many other
insulting expressions, on which account we excused ourselves from passing
by them."


  SERIOUS DISSATISFACTION.

Unjust clamour, like the above, would not alone have turned the hearts of
the Catholic sovereigns against Columbus; but this clamour was supported
by serious grounds for dissatisfaction in the state and prospects of the
colony: and when there is a constant stream of enmity and prejudice
against a man, his conduct or his fortune will, some day or other, offer
an opportunity for it to rush in upon him.


  COLUMBUS SUPERSEDED.

However this may be, soon after the return of the five vessels from St.
Domingo, mentioned above, which first told the news of the revolt of
Roldan, Ferdinand and Isabella appear to have taken into serious
consideration the question of suspending Columbus. He had, himself, in the
letters transmitted by these ships, requested that some one might be sent
to conduct the affairs of justice in the colony; but if Ferdinand and
Isabella began by merely looking out for such an officer, they ended in
resolving to send one who should take the civil as well as judicial
authority into his own hands. This determination was not, however, acted
upon hastily. On the 21st of March, 1499, they authorized Francis de
Bobadilla "to ascertain what persons have raised themselves against
justice in the island of Hispaniola, and to proceed against them according
to law." On the 21st of May, 1499, they conferred upon this officer the
government, and signed an order that all arms and fortresses in the Indies
should be given up to him. On the 26th of the same month, they gave him
the following remarkable letter to Columbus:-

  "Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean: We have commanded
  the Comendador Francis de Bobadilla, the bearer of this that he speak to
  you on our part some things which he will tell you: we pray you give him
  faith and credence, and act accordingly.
      "I the King, I the Queen,
    "By their command,
    "MIGUEL PEREZ DE ALMAZAN,"


  HARSH TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS AND HIS BROTHERS

Bobadilla, however, was not sent from Spain until the beginning of July,
1500, and did not make his appearance in Hispaniola till the 23rd of
August of the same year. Their Highnesses, therefore, must have taken time
before carrying their resolve into execution; and what they meant by it is
dubious. Certainly, not that the matter should have been transacted in the
coarse way which Bobadilla adopted. It is a great pity, and a sad instance
of mistaken judgment, that they fixed upon him for their agent. I imagine
him to have been such a man as may often be met with, who, from his
narrowness of mind and distinctness of prejudice, is supposed to be high-
principled and direct in his dealings; and whose untried reputation has
great favour with many people: until, placed in power some day, he shows
that to rule well requires other things than one-sidedness in the ruling
person; and is fortunate if he does not acquire that part of renown which
consists in notoriety, by committing some colossal blunder, henceforth
historical from its largeness.


  COLUMBUS SENT HOME BY BOBADILLA IN CHAINS.

The first thing that Bobadilla did on arriving at St. Domingo was to take
possession of the admiral's house (he being at the fort La Concepcion),
and then to summon the admiral before him, sending him the royal letter.
Neither the admiral nor his brothers attempted to make any resistance; and
Bobadilla, with a stupid brutality, which I suppose he took for vigour,
put them in chains, and sent them to Spain. There is no doubt that the
Castilian population of Hispaniola were rejoiced at Bobadilla's coming,
and that they abetted him in his violence. Accusations came thickly
against Columbus: "the stones rose up against him and his brothers," says
the historian Herrera, emphatically, The people told how he had made them
work, even sick men, at his fortresses, at his house, at the mills, and
other buildings; how he had starved them; how he had condemned men to be
whipped for the slightest causes, as, for instance, for stealing a peck of
wheat when they were dying of hunger. Considering the difficulties he had
to deal with, and the scarcity of provisions, many of these accusations,
if rightly examined, would probably have not merely failed in producing
anything against Columbus, but would have developed some proofs of his
firmness and sagacity as a governor. Then his accusers went on to other
grounds, such as his not having baptized Indians "because he desired
slaves rather than Christians:" moreover, that he had entered into war
unjustly with the Indians, and that he had made many slaves, in order to
send them to Castile. It is highly unlikely that these latter charges were
preferred by a single colonist, unless, perhaps, by some man in religious
orders. The probability is, that they came from the other side of the
water; and this does give considerable strength to the report, that the
displeasure of the court with respect to the Admiral's proceedings against
the Indians had to do with his removal from the government of the Indies.
If so, it speaks largely for the continued admirable intentions of the
Spanish court in this matter.


Poor Columbus! His chains lay very heavily upon him. He insisted, however,
upon not having them taken off, unless by royal command, and would ever
keep them by him, ("I always saw them in his room," says his son
Ferdinand), ordering that they should be buried with him. He did not know
how many wretched beings would have to traverse those seas, in bonds much
worse than his, with no room allowed them for writing, as was his
case,--not even for standing upright; nor did he foresee, I trust, that
some of his doings would further all this coming misery. In these
chains Columbus is of more interest to us than when in full power as
governor of the Indies; for so it is, that the most infelicitous times of
a man's life are those which posterity will look to most, and love him
most for. This very thought may have comforted him; but happily he had
other sources of consolation in the pious aspirations which never deserted
him.

We have come now to the end of Columbus's administration of the Indies.
Whatever we may think of his general policy, we cannot but regret his
removal at the present time, when there appeared some chance of solidity
in his government: though we must honestly admit, that the Catholic
Sovereigns, with such evidence as they had before them, were far from
wrong in recalling him, had it been done in a manner worthy of his and of
their greatness.



CHAPTER XI.


  REACTION AT COURT.

The career of Columbus had already been marked by strong contrasts. First,
a "pauper pilot," then the viceroy of a new world; alternately hoping, and
fearing, despondent, and triumphant, he had passed through strange
vicissitudes of good and evil fortune. But no two events in his life stand
out in stronger contrast to each other than his return to Spain after his
first voyage, and his return now. He was then a conqueror; he was now a
prisoner. He was then the idol of popular favour; he was now the unpopular
victim of insidious maligners. In truth, the contrast was so startling as
to strike home to the hearts of the common people, even of those--and
there were many such--who had lost kinsmen or friends in that fatal quest
for gold which the admiral had originated and stimulated. The broad fact
was this: Columbus had given Spain a new world; Spain loaded him with
fetters in return. There was a reaction. The current of public opinion
began to turn in his favour. The nation became conscious of ingratitude to
its benefactor. The nobility were shocked at the insult to one of their
own order. And no sooner had the Sovereigns learned from Columbus of his
arrival, and of his disgrace, than they issued immediate orders for his
liberation, and summoned him to their court at Grenada, forwarding money
to enable him to proceed there in a style befitting his rank. They then
received him with all possible signs of distinction; repudiated
Bobadilla's arbitrary proceedings; and promised the admiral compensation
and satisfaction. As a mark of their disapprobation of the way in which
Bobadilla had acted under their commission, they pointedly refused to
enquire into the charges against Columbus, and dismissed them as not
worthy of investigation.

But though the Sovereigns acted thus promptly on the admiral's behalf,
there is no doubt that one of them, at least, was in no wise displeased at
his being removed from his government. At each fresh discovery, Ferdinand
had repented more and more of the concession by which Columbus was to
receive an eighth part of the profits of the newly-found countries, and to
be their governor-general. He probably apprehended that this viceroy, when
once master of the boundless wealth which was supposed to be nearly within
his grasp, would become more powerful than his master, and might finally
throw off his allegiance altogether. But here was an opportunity, without
any flagrant breach of faith, of eluding the bargain, by refusing, on very
plausible grounds of policy, to reinstate Columbus immediately in his
viceroyalty. Isabella, who had always been his firm friend, would probably
have refused to acquiesce in, any scheme for absolutely depriving him of
his rights, but it was sufficiently obvious that just at present, while
the colonists were excited against him, it would be prudent that some one
else should take the reins of government.


  COLUMBUS PLEADS HIS CAUSE BEFORE THE QUEEN.

The Queen granted Columbus a private audience. He told his story with much
simple eloquence--so pathetically, indeed, that his warmhearted mistress
is said to have been moved to tears at the recital. He described the
difficulties which he had encountered and the machinations of the
enemies who had been constantly thwarting him. He pleaded that he had been
obliged to create a line of conduct for himself, having to deal with an
entirely new combination of circumstances without any precedent to guide
him. And he implored the Queen to believe that the accusations which had,
of late, poured in against him, were prompted by the disappointed ambition
and the jealousy of his enemies, and had not any solid foundation in fact.

Isabella replied in a very sensible speech, telling him that, while she
fully appreciated his services, and knew the rancour of his enemies, she
was afraid that he had given some cause for complaint. "Common report,"
she said,[Charlevoix.] "accuses you of acting with a degree of severity
quite unsuitable for an infant colony, and likely to excite rebellion
there. But the matter as to which I find it hardest to give you my pardon,
is your conduct in reducing to slavery a number of Indians who had done
nothing to deserve such a fate. This was contrary to my express orders. As
your ill fortune willed it, just at the time when I heard of this breach
of my instructions, everybody was complaining of you, and no one spoke a
word in your favour. And I felt obliged to send to the Indies a
commissioner to investigate matters, and give me a true report; and, if
necessary, to put limits to the authority which you were accused of
overstepping. If you were found guilty of the charges, he was to relieve
you of the government and to send you to Spain to give an account of your
stewardship. This was the extent of his commission. I find that I have
made a bad choice in my agent; and I will take care to make an example of
Bobadilla, which shall serve as a warning to others not to exceed their
powers. I cannot, however, promise to re-instate you at once in your
government. People are too much inflamed against you, and must have time
to cool. As to your rank of admiral, I never intended to deprive you of
it. But you must bide your time and trust in me."


  THE QUEEN'S DECISION; BOBADILLA'S TYRANNY

It was arranged that the appointment of the new governor should be for two
years only, at the expiration of which period, as Isabella thought, the
administration of the colonies might be again entrusted to Columbus; while
Ferdinand doubtless considered that some pretext might be found in the
meantime for omitting to re-appoint him at all. And though Columbus may
have been told verbally that it was their Highnesses' intention to
re-instate him after the lapse of two years, it is noteworthy that the
document appointing Ovando makes no mention of any limitation of the term
of his (Ovando's) government. The words are, "that he is to be governor as
long as it is their Highnesses' will and pleasure." Bobadilla, fortunately
for the islanders, was forthwith to be superseded; for, if Columbus had
chastised them with whips, Bobadilla was chastising them with scorpions.
His first object was the discovery of gold; and to secure this he took a
census of the natives, and assigned them all as slaves to the colonists. A
large proportion of the latter, as we have seen, were simply the scourings
of Spanish prisons; and the brutality with which these men treated their
wretched helots was very terrible. Some estimate of the amount of pressure
employed may be formed from the fact that, although Bobadilla had reduced
the royalty payable to the Sovereigns from one-third to one-eleventh of
the gold found, this smaller proportion produced a larger revenue. In
other words, about four times as much gold was discovered under
Bobadilla's system as under that of Columbus.


  OVANDO AS GOVERNOR

But when the Sovereigns heard of the cruelties which that system involved,
they urged forward the departure of Ovando, whom they had selected as
governor, and who, to judge from his previous career, was a man eminently
fitted to rule justly and mercifully. He was well known to Ferdinand and
Isabella, having been chosen by the Queen as one of the companions for her
eldest son, Prince John. With regard to his personal appearance, we are
told that he was of moderate stature, and had a "vermilion-coloured
beard," which fact hardly conveys much to our minds; but it is added, in
general terms, that his presence expressed authority. With respect to his
mental qualifications, we learn that he was a friend to justice, an
honourable person both in words and deeds, and that he held all avarice
and covetousness in much aversion. He was humble, too, they say, and when
he was appointed Commendador Mayor of the Order of Alcantara, he would
never allow himself to be addressed by the title of "Lordship," which
belonged to that office.


  HIS INSTRUCTIONS.

Previous to Ovando's departure from court, the monarchs were particular in
giving him instructions both verbal and written. Among these instructions
was one which Isabella especially insisted on, namely, "that all the
Indians in Hispaniola should be free from servitude and be unmolested by
anyone, and that they should live as free vassals, governed and protected
by justice, as were the vassals of Castile." Like the vassals in Spain,
the Indians were to pay tribute; they were also to assist in getting gold,
but for this they were to be paid daily wages. Other commands were given
at the same time for the conversion of the Indians, and to insure their
being treated kindly.


  ADVICE TO OVANDO ON THE DUTIES OF A GOVERNOR.

Respecting the general government of the country, it was arranged that on
Ovando's going out, all those who received pay from the government in the
Indies, as well those who had accompanied Bobadilla as those who had come
out originally with Columbus, should return to Spain, and that a new set
to replace them should go out with Ovando. This was done because most of
these soldiers and officials had necessarily been connected with the late
troubles in the colony, and it would be a good plan to start afresh, as it
were. At the same time it was provided that no Jews, Moors, or new
converts were to go to the Indies, or be permitted to remain there; but
negro slaves "born in the power of Christians, were to be allowed to pass
to the Indies, and the officers of the royal revenue were to receive the
money to be paid for their permits." This is the first notice with respect
to negroes going to the Indies. These instructions were given in the year
1501.

On Ovando's arrival in the colony, Bobadilla was to undergo the ordeal of
a "residencia," a kind of examination well known and constantly practised
in Spain, to which Authorities were subject on going out of office--being
of the nature of a general impeachment. It is satisfactory to find, that
amongst the orders given to Ovando, there are some for the restitution of
the admiral's property, and the maintenance of his mercantile rights.

Just before Ovando took leave of the king, he received a formal lecture
upon the duties of a governor. The King, the Queen, and a privy
councillor, Antonio de Fonseca, were the persons present; and, as I
imagine, the latter addressed Ovando on the part of their Highnesses. As
it is not often that we have an opportunity of hearing a didactic
lecture on the modes and duties of government given in the presence of a
great master of that art, and probably looked over, if not prepared, by
him, we must enter the royal cabinet, and hear some part of this
discourse.

The first point which Fonseca impresses upon Ovando is, that before all
things, he is to look to what concerns the reverence of God and His
worship. Then he is to examine into the life and capacity of the men about
him, and to put good men into office; taking care, however, not to leave
all the authority in the hands of subordinates (here we may well imagine
Ferdinand nodded approvingly), to the diminution of his own power, "nor to
make them so great that they shall have occasion to contrive novelties,"
in order to make themselves greater. Also, let there be change of
authorities, so that many may have a share of profit and honour, and be
made skilful in affairs.

That he should use moderation in making repartimientos and tributes, not
overtaxing the people, which moderation would be furthered by his taking
care that his personal and his household expenses were within due bounds.
(Here, I fancy, the monarchs looked at each other, thought of their own
frugal way of living, and Isabella smiled.)

That he should not make himself judge in a cause, but let culprits be
tried in the ordinary way. Thus he will avoid unpopularity, for "the
remembrance of the crime perishes: not so that of the punishment." (This
aphorism must, I think, have been composed by Ferdinand himself. His
writing is always exceedingly concise and to the purpose.)

That he should not listen to tale-bearers, (parleros) either of his own
household or to those out of it; nor take vengeance upon anybody who had
spoken ill of him, it being "an ugly thing to believe that anybody could
speak ill of one who did ill to no one, but good to all," That it is one
of the conditions of bad governors, "moved therein by their own
consciences" to give heed to what they hear is said of them, and to take
ill that, which if it had been said, they had better not have heard.
Rather let injurious sayings be overcome by magnanimity.

That it would be good for him to give free audience to all, and to hear
what they had to say; and if their counsel turned out ill, not to look
coldly upon them for that. The same in war, or in any other undertaking:
his agents must not have to fear punishment for failure, nor calumny for
success: "for there were many persons who, to avoid the envy of their
superiors, sought rather to lose a victory than to gain it," (Here
Ferdinand ought to have looked a little ashamed, being conscious that his
own practice by no means came up to what he perceives to be noble and wise
policy in the matter.)

That he (Ovando) should look to what example he gives both in word and
deed,--governors living, as in a theatre, in the midst of the world. If he
does ill, even those who follow him in that, will not the less disesteem
him.

That although it is necessary for him to know the life of everyone, yet he
must not be over-inquisitive about it, nor rout up offences which are not
brought before him officially. "Since if all offences were looked into,
few men, or none, would be without punishment." Besides, for secret faults
men may correct themselves: if those faults are made known, and especially
if they are punished in excess, shame is lost, and men give way to their
bad impulses.

That he is to encourage those who work, and to discourage the idle, as the
universal Father does.

That, as regards liberality, he should so conduct himself, that men should
not dare to ask him for things which they would know he must deny: this
would be a great restraint upon them, and a great proof of good reputation
in a governor.

That, in fine, all that had been said consisted in this, that he was to
govern as he would be, governed: and that "it behoved him to be intent in
business, to show courage in difficulties, and management in all things,
brevity in executing useful determinations, yet not as if carried away by
passion, but always upon good counsel; considering much what a charge was
upon him, for this thought would be useful to him at all times: and above
all things he was to take heed (in order that the same thing might not
happen to him which had happened to the admiral) that when any occasion
for dealing briefly with an offence occurred, he should have swift
recourse to punishment, for in such cases the remedy ought to be like a
thunderbolt."

After reading the above, we cannot say that the Catholic monarchs were
inattentive to the government of their Indian possessions, nor can the
sagacity which directed that attention be for a moment questioned. Indeed
that sagacity is so remarkable, that it may naturally occur to the learned
reader to inquire, whether Machiavelli's "Prince" had yet been published,
and whether King Ferdinand could have read that much-abused manual of
crafty statesmen. It was, however, about twelve years after this memorable
audience granted by Ferdinand and Isabella to Ovando that "The Prince" is
alluded to by Machiavelli, and described as a small unpublished work.


  HE ARRIVES AT ST. DOMINGO.

Charged with these instructions, then, Nicholas de Ovando left the port of
San Lucas on the 13th of February, 1502, to take possession of his new
government, having under him a gallant company of two thousand five
hundred persons, a large proportion of them being hidalgoes. On his way he
met with a terrible storm, in which one of his largest vessels foundered,
and he had some difficulty in reaching St. Domingo at all. This, however,
he succeeded in doing on the 15th of April, and entered at once upon the
reforms which he was commissioned to institute.


  OVANDO'S ADMINISTRATION

He announced the residencia of Bobadilla, and placed Roldan under arrest.
He exerted himself to found settlements along the coast, and at first, no
doubt, he endeavoured to carry out the merciful directions which he had
received with regard to the Indians. But, like Bobadilla, he was a knight
of a religious order, with a certain narrow way of looking at things
incident to his profession, with no especial culture that we know of, and
with little originality of character. In these respects he presented a
remarkable contrast to Columbus, who was a man of various accomplishments,
large minded, enthusiastic, fluent, affectionate, inventive. And so,
whereas Columbus had always treated the natives with consideration and
humanity, Ovando soon began to rule them with a rod of iron. We must not
linger too long over his administration of what we may call Columbus's
kingdom, but there is one sad episode which it is worth while to recount,
if only to make the policy of Columbus stand out in brighter relief.


  AN INDIAN RECEPTION.

When Anacaona, the Queen of Xaragua, had received the admiral's brother,
Don Bartolome, on a former occasion, the Spaniards affirmed her to be a
wise woman, of good manners, and pleasant address; and she is said to have
earnestly entreated her brother to take warning by the fate of her
husband, Caonabo, and to love and obey the Christians. As she was now to
play the hostess again, this time to Ovando, we may refer to the account
of her former reception of a Spanish governor, the Adelantado, of which
there are some details furnished by Peter Martyr.

After mentioning that the queen and her brother received the lieutenant
with all courtesy and honour, he says: "They brought our men to their
common hall, into which they come together as often as they make any
notable games or triumphs, as we have said before. Here, after many
dancings, singings, maskings, runnings, wrestlings, and other trying of
masteries, suddenly there appeared in a large plain near unto the hall,
two great armies of men of war, which the king for his pastime had caused
to be prepared, as the Spaniards use the play with reeds, which they call
Juga de Canias. As the armies drew near together, they assailed the one
the other as fiercely as if mortal enemies with their banners spread
should fight for their goods, their lands, their lives, their liberty,
their country, their wives and their children, so that within the moment
of an hour, four men were slain, and many wounded. The battle also would
have continued longer, if the king had not, at the request of our men,
caused them to cease."


  OVANDO VISITS XARAGUA.

At this time, in the year 1503, some of Roldan's former partizans were
settled in the province of Xaragua, and were a great trouble to the
colony. Herrera says, in a quiet sarcastic way, "they lived in the
discipline they had learnt from Roldan;" and the governing powers of
Xaragua found them "intolerable." He also adds that Anacaona's people were
in policy, in language, and in other things superior to all the other
inhabitants of the island. As might be expected, there were constant
disturbances between these Spaniards and the adjacent Indians; and the
Spaniards took care to inform the governor that their adversaries, the
Indians of Xaragua, intended to rebel. Perhaps they did so intend. Ovando
resolved, after much consultation, to take a journey to Xaragua. It must
be said, in justice to Ovando, that this does not look as if he thought
the matter were a light one. Xaragua was seventy leagues from St. Domingo.
The governor set out well accompanied, with seventy horsemen and three
hundred foot soldiers.


  HIS RECEPTION BY ANACAONA.

Anacaona, who had some suspicion of his intentions, summoned all her
feudatories around her "to do horour" to him, when she heard of his
coming. She went out to meet Ovando with a concourse of her subjects, and
with the same festivities of singing and dancing as in former days she had
adopted when she went to receive the Adelantado. Various pleasures and
amusements were provided for the strangers, and probably Anacaona thought
that she had succeeded in soothing and pleasing this severe looking
governor, as she had done the last. But the former followers of Roldan
were about the governor, telling him that there certainly was an
insurrection at hand, that if he did not look to it now, and suppress it
at once, the revolt would be far more difficult to quell when it did break
out. Thus they argued, using all those seemingly wise arguments of
wickedness which from time immemorial have originated and perpetuated
treachery. Ovando listened to these men; indeed he must have been much
inclined to believe them, or he would hardly have come all this way. He
was now convinced that an insurrection was intended.


  PRETENDED TOURNAMENT; MASSACRE OF INDIAN CHIEFS.

With these thoughts in his mind, he ordered that, on a certain Sunday,
after dinner, all the cavalry should get to horse, on the pretext of a
tournament. The infantry, too, he caused to be ready for action. He
himself, a Tiberius in dissembling, went to play at quoits, and was
disturbed by his men coming to him and begging him to look on at their
sports. The poor Indian queen hurried with the utmost simplicity into the
snare prepared for her. She told the governor that her caciques, too,
would like to see this tournament, upon which, with demonstrations of
pleasure, he bade her come with all her caciques to his quarters, for he
wanted to talk to them, intimating, as I conjecture, that he would explain
the festivity to them. Meanwhile, he gave his cavalry orders to surround
the building; he placed the infantry at certain commanding positions; and
told his men, that when, in talking with the caciques, he should place his
hand upon the badge of knighthood which hung upon his breast, they should
rush in and bind the caciques and Anacaona. It fell out as he had planned.
All these deluded Indian chiefs and their queen were secured. She alone
was led out of Ovando's quarters, which were then set fire to, and all the
chiefs burnt alive. Anacaona was afterwards hanged and the province was
desolated.

Humanity does not gain much, after all, by this man's not taking the title
of "Lordship" which he had a right to.

Finally, the governor collected the former followers of Roldan in Xaragua,
and formed a town of their settlement, which he named "the city of the
true peace" (La villa de la vera Paz), but which a modern chronicler well
says might more properly havc been named "Aceldama, the field of blood." I
observe that the arms assigned to this new settlement were a dove with the
olive-branch, a rainbow, and a cross.


  FERDINAND'S LETTER TO COLUMBUS

But it is time to return to Columbus, who in the mean time was chafing at
the inactivity which had been forced upon him. His was a restless spirit,
perhaps too restless for an organizer, who ought to possess an
inexhaustible amount of patience, and to be able to wait as well as to
labour. He had formed a theory that some strait existed through which a
passage might be made from the neighbourhood of St. Domingo to those
regions in Asia from which the Portuguese were just beginning to reap a
large profit, and which must be very near that home of the gold which had
always occupied his thoughts. He pressed the Sovereigns to provide him
with ships for an expedition having for its special object the discovery
of this strait; and on the occurrence of some delay as to the equipment of
vessels for the purpose, he seems to have written to Ferdinand,
reproaching him with the treatment which he had received, and with the
want of confidence manifested towards him now. To this Ferdinand answered
in a letter which was certainly well calculated to soothe the Admiral's
indignation. It was to the following effect, "You ought to be convinced of
our displeasure at your captivity, for we lost not a moment in setting you
free. Your innocence is well known; you are aware of the consideration and
friendship with which we have treated you; the favours which you have
received from us shall not be the last that you will receive; we assure to
you your privileges, and are desirous that you and your children may enjoy
them. We offer to confirm them to you again, and to put your eldest son in
possession of all your offices, whenever you wish....We beg you to set out
as soon as possible."


  NEW ENTERPRISE.

On the 9th of May the preparations were complete, and Columbus set sail
from Cadiz with his brother, Don Bartholomew, and his second son,
Fernando. As an instance of the admiral's chivalrous love of adventure, it
may be mentioned that upon hearing that the Portuguese fortress of
Arzilla, on the African coast, was besieged by the Moors, he first
proceeded thither, quite voluntarily, to its relief. When he reached it,
however, he found that the siege had been raised; and his services were
not, therefore, called into requisition.


  COLUMBUS REFUSED SHELTER; DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO.

After a singularly prosperous voyage, he reached Martinique on the 13th of
June. His instructions from the Sovereigns expressly interdicted him from
visiting St. Domingo; but, on finding that his largest ship required some
repairs to make her seaworthy, he boldly disregarded the prohibition, and
sent a boat to ask Ovando to furnish him with another vessel in place of
the damaged one, and to allow his squadron to take refuge in the harbour
during a hurricane which he foresaw to be imminent. Ovando refused both
requests. His commission set forth that Columbus was not to visit the
island; and the contingency of hurricanes was not provided for. Besides,
the governor believed that this prediction of a hurricane was a mere
pretext of the admiral's for obtaining admission to the harbour. To an eye
unaccustomed to tropical changes, the weather appeared to be "set fair."
Scarcely a ripple passed over the sea; scarcely a breath stirred the
luxuriant foliage on shore. Ovando repulsed with scorn the admiral's
suggestion that, at any rate, the departure of the fleet for Spain should
he delayed. This fleet was the richest in cargo that had ever left the
islands. It contained all the gold which had been wrung out of the natives
by Bobadilla's harsh measures. Of one nugget, especially, the old
chroniclers speak in the most glowing terms. According to them, it was the
largest piece of virgin gold ever discovered. It had been found
accidentally, by an Indian woman at the mines, while listlessly moving her
rake to and fro in the water one day during dinner time. Its value was
estimated at 1,350,000 maravedis;[About 416 English Pounds] and in the
festivities which took place on the occasion, it was used as a dish for a
roast pig, the miners saying that no king of Castile has ever feasted from
a dish of such value. We do not find that the poor Indian woman had any
part in the good fortune. Indeed, as Las Casas observes, she was fortunate
if she had any portion of the meat, not to speak of the dish. Bobadilla
had purchased the nugget for Ferdinand and Isabella, and had shipped it
with other treasure valuable enough to go a long way towards compensating
the sovereigns for all their expenditure on the new colony--if the fleet
could only reach Spain in safety.

But on the second day after its departure the Admiral's prediction became
terribly verified. A tornado of unexampled fury swept over the seas; and
those on shore could judge of the fate that was likely to befall the
unfortunate squadron, as many of the buildings and trees on the island
were levelled with the ground by the force of the tempest. Of all the
ships, only one--and that the frailest of the fleet--was able to
accomplish the voyage to Spain. A few vessels managed to return, in dire
distress, to the island; but by far the greater number foundered at sea.
The historians of the period do not fail to  remark that, while the ship
which reached Spain safely was the one carrying the admiral's property, a
special providence decreed that his enemies--Bobadilla, Roldan, and their
associates in cruelty and plunder--should perish with their ill-gotten
gains.

Like Cassandra, Columbus witnessed the discomfiture of the disbelievers in
his prophecy: like her he was denied the right of sanctuary upon the
occurrence of the disaster which he had foretold. Repulsed from port by
Ovando, however, the admiral sailed along the coast, and succeeded in
bringing his own ship under the lee of the land when the storm came on.
But the three other caravels were in no little danger (particularly the
disabled one, which was commanded by the Adelantado), and some days
elapsed before the little squadron was re-united in the port of Azua, to
the west of San Domingo.


  JAMIAICA PASSED.

Thence he proceeded to Jaquimo, on the extremity of the same coast, and
after refitting his ships, set sail for Jamaica on the 14th of July, 1502.
Passing that island, he met with light and varying winds, and contrary
currents, in the archipelago of reefs and keys which he had previously
named the Queen's Garden.


  INSUBORDINATION OF CREWS.

For about nine weeks he made so little progress that his crews began to
clamour for the abandonment of the expedition. The ships were worm-eaten
and leaky. Provisions were running short. The seamen had seen their
commander thrust away from what might be called his own door; and the
sight of his powerlessness had strengthened their independence until it
amounted to insubordination. Fortunately, however, before the discontent
broke out into open mutiny, a breeze sprang up from the east, and the
admiral easily persuaded his unruly crews that it was better to prosecute
their voyage than to remain beating about the islets waiting to return
home.

They were soon gladdened by the sight of the pine-clad slopes of the
little island of Guanaja, lying about forty miles from Truxillo, on the
coast of Honduras. Here there appeared a canoe, much more like the ships
of the old world than any they had seen before, manned by twenty-five
Indians who had come from the continent on a trading voyage among the
islands. Their cargo consisted of cotton fabrics, iron-wood swords, flint
knives, copper axe-heads, and a fruit called by the natives cacao, to
which the Spaniards were now introduced for the first time, but the merits
of which, as a beverage, they were not slow to appreciate. The admiral
treated these people with much kindness, and won their confidence at once
by presenting them with some of the glittering toys which never failed to
dazzle a barbarian eye.


  AN INDIAN PILOT.

One old Indian, whom Columbus selected as apparently the most intelligent
of the band, consented to accompany him as pilot, and indicated, by signs,
his knowledge of a land, not far distant, where there were ships, and
arms, and merchandize, and, in fact, all the marks of civilization which
were displayed to him by the Spaniards themselves, and with which he
professed to be perfectly familiar. Whether he intended to mislead
Columbus, or whether, like most of his race, he was merely proud of being
impassive, and of being able to repress all indication of astonishment at
startling novelties, it is certain that his demeanour and his signs were
interpreted by the admiral to indicate an acquaintance with a country,
rich and civilized, lying towards the east; which country could, of
course, be no other than the long sought-for kingdom of the Grand Khan.
Had Columbus, in pursuance of his first intention, steered to the west, a
few hours would have brought him to the coast of Yucatan; and the riches
of Mexico would have rewarded his discovery. But this savage, like his
evil destiny, crossed his path at the critical moment, and turned him from
the road to fortune.


  CAPE GUACIAS A DIOS.

Steering along the coast of Honduras, on the 12th of September, he reached
Cape Gracias a Dios, to which he gave this name in pious thankfulness for
the southerly turn taken by the land at that point, so that the east
winds, which had hitherto obstructed him, were now favourable to his
course along the coast. A month later he entered several bays on the
Isthmus of Panama, where he was able to procure provisions and to refit
his vessels, but failed to obtain any intelligence either of the kingdom
of the Khan, or of the strait which he fancied would lead him there. The
natives whom he encountered were generally disposed to be friendly; but,
in one instance, when the depth of water in a creek obliged him to moor
his vessels close to the shore, an attack of the Indians was only repulsed
by the use of artillery, the thunder and lightning of which seemed always
to possess, in the eyes of the savages, a supernatural and therefore awful
character. On another occasion, when a conference was held with one of the
tribes, great alarm was caused by a notary, who attended to take notes of
the conversation. The savages had never before seen the operation of
writing; and they regarded it as a spell which was to have some magic
effect upon them, and which they must neutralize by various mystic
fumigations which they believed to act as counter-charms. "They were
themselves skilled sorcerers," says Columbus,--whose credulity in such
matters was only that of his age.


  EASTERLY COURSE ABANDONED; THE BETHLEHEM RIVER.

It was not until the 5th of December that the admiral could resolve to
abandon his easterly course, although the conviction had been gradually
forcing itself upon him that the condition of his ships was such as to
render a prosecution of his voyage almost impossible. He had scarcely
turned back, intending to found a settlement on the river Veragua, before
he encountered a storm which tried his worm-eaten caravels very severely.
The thunder and lightning wore incessant; the waterspouts (the first they
had seen) threatened to engulph them; huge crests of waves burst in
phosphorescent floods over them; and their escape, if we consider the
smallness of the caravels, and the force of a tropical cyclone, was little
less than miraculous. At last, after eight days' tossing to and fro, the
admiral gained the mouth of a river, which he named the Bethlehem, because
he entered it on the day of the Epiphany.


  A SETTLEMENT FORMED.

In this neighbourhood there was a powerful cacique, named Quibia, whose
territory contained much gold, and with whom, therefore, the Spaniards
were anxious to treat. But he outwitted them. Offering to supply them with
guides to conduct them to his gold mines, he really sent them, not to his
own mines, but to those of a rival cacique, of Urira. Here, however, they
succeeded in acquiring, by barter and by actual discovery, large
quantities of the precious metal, which seemed to be so abundant, that the
admiral made sure that he had come to the very Aurea Chersonesus from
which Solomon had obtained the gold for the temple at Jerusalem. He had
seen more signs of gold here in two days, he said, than he had seen in St.
Domingo in four years. His first step was to form a settlement to provide
a depot for the gold which might be collected. A convenient site was found
near the mouth of the river Bethlehem, and by the end of March the
Adelantado had built a village of huts, in which it was proposed that he
should remain, with about eighty followers, while Columbus returned to
Spain for supplies.


  ATTACK BY INDIANS.

But rumours soon reached the Adelantado of a projected attack on the
settlement by the natives, and he took measures to seize Quibia in his own
palace. The Indians, dismayed at the capture of their cacique, offered
large quantities of gold for his ransom, but the Adelantado preferred to
keep him as a hostage for peace. However, as he was being conveyed down
the river, on board one of the boats, he managed, although bound hand and
foot, and in the custody of one of the most powerful of the Spaniards, to
spring overboard and to make his escape, swimming under water to the
shore. Henceforward, as might have been expected, there was war to the
knife between the natives and the settlers. An attempt was made to burn
down the village by means of blazing arrows. A boat's crew of eleven
Spaniards, who had proceeded some distance up the river, were attacked by
savages in canoes, and only one man escaped to carry to the settlement the
news of the massacre of his companions.


  SETTLEMENT ABANDONED.

The admiral, with three of the caravels, was in the offing, awaiting a
wind favourable for his departure, but the dry weather had made the river
so shallow that it was impossible for the caravel left with the settlers
to cross the bar, and as they had no boat strong enough to weather the
surf, it seemed impossible for them to carry to him tidings of their
condition. They were in despair; for if they were left, they knew that
they were left to perish. The admiral, on his part, had become uneasy, not
knowing that their failure to communicate with him was owing to the fact
that their only seaworthy boat had been destroyed by the Indians. His own
boats were small and scarcely weathertight. But some of Quibia's family
who had been taken on board the squadron as prisoners, had made their
escape by swimming to the shore, three miles off; and this feat encouraged
a bold pilot of Seville, named Ledesma, who was on board the admiral's
caravel, to attempt a similar exploit. Never was bearer of reprieve for
the condemned more welcome. Ledesma communicated with the Adelantado, and
conveyed to the admiral intelligence of the desperate state of affairs.
The result was, that when in a few days the wind moderated, all the
settlers were taken on board the squadron, which now only consisted of
three ships, as it was found necessary to abandon the caravel which had
been left inside the harbour bar.

And there was no time to spare. The rough weather had severely tried the
crazy and worm-eaten vessels; and anxiety and want of rest were having
their effect on Columbus. Making his way first to Porto Bello, where he
was obliged to leave another caravel as no longer seaworthy, on the 31st
of May he quitted the coast at a point on the west of the Gulf of Darien,
and steered northward towards Cuba. A collision between his two remaining
ships rendered them still more unfit to cope with the squalls and breakers
of the Archipelago; but at last, in the middle of June, with his crews in
despair, nearly all his anchors lost, and his vessels worm-eaten so as to
be "as full of holes as a honey-comb," he arrived off the southern coast
of Cuba, where he obtained supplies of cassava bread from friendly
natives.



CHAPTER XII.

Failing to make head against the wind so as to reach Hispaniola, Columbus
shaped his course for Jamaica, and there, in the harbour which he had
named Santa Gloria on his former visit, his voyage was perforce brought to
a conclusion. As his ships could not float any longer, he ran them on
shore, side by side, and built huts upon the decks for housing the crews.
Such a habitation, like the Swiss lake dwellings, afforded remarkable
advantages of position in case of attack by a hostile tribe.


  SUPPLY OF PROVISIONS.

The admiral's first care was to prevent any offence being given to the
aborigines which might give cause for such an attack. Knowing, by sad
experience, the results of permitting free intercourse between the
Spaniards and the natives, he enforced strictly a rule forbidding any
Spaniard to go ashore without leave; and took measures for regulating the
traffic for food so as to prevent the occurrence of any quarrel. Diego
Mendez, who had been his lieutenant, and had shown himself the boldest of
his officers throughout this voyage, volunteered to proceed into the
interior of the island to make arrangements for the periodical supply of
provisions from some of the more remote tribes, as it was certain that the
sudden addition to the population would soon exhaust the resources of the
immediate neighbourhood. This service Mendez performed with great
adroitness, and a regular market was established to which the natives
brought fish, game and cassava bread, in exchange for Spanish toys and
ornaments.


  A MESSENGER SENT TO OVANDO; REMARKABLE DESPATCH TO THE SOVEREIGNS.

Although the Spaniards were thus secure from starvation for the present,
their position was most critical. The journey to the easternmost extremity
of Jamaica would probably not be unattended with difficulty and danger,
for it must be effected through the midst of Indian tribes, hostile to
each other, and therefore probably not unanimous in being friendly towards
strangers. But the most formidable obstacle to communication with the
government of Hispaniola was the strait of forty leagues' breadth, full of
tumbling breakers and rushing currents, which separated the two islands.
However, it was necessary that the attempt should be made; and Diego
Mendez, though he considered it to be "not merely difficult, but
impossible, to cross in so small a vessel as a canoe," volunteered for the
service, after all the other Spaniards had declined to undertake it. He
was to be the bearer of a letter from the admiral to Ovando, asking him to
send a vessel to release the castaways from their imprisonment, and of a
despatch to the Sovereigns, giving a detailed account of the Admiral's
voyage and a glowing description of the riches of Veragua. This despatch
is very characteristic of the writer, bearing, as it does, the marks of
strong enthusiasm, of almost fanatical superstition, of confidence in the
midst of despair, and of exultation in the face of ruin. Describing his
reflections during the storm at the mouth of the river Bethlehem, he
breaks into the following rhapsody, which, probably in perfect good faith,
dwells on the contrast between the goodness of God and the bad faith of
man, in a way which ought to have touched Ferdinand nearly. It is worth
quoting at full length, as an example of the wild fervour of a rapt
enthusiast.

"Wearied and sighing," writes Columbus, "I fell into a slumber, when I
heard a piteous voice saying to me, 'O fool, and slow to believe and serve
thy God, who is the God of all! What did He more for Moses, or for His
servant David, than He has done for thee? From the time of thy birth He
has ever had thee under His peculiar care. When He saw thee of a fitting
age, He made thy name to resound marvellously throughout the earth, and
thou wert obeyed in many lands, and didst acquire honourable fame among
Christians. Of the gates of the ocean sea, shut up with such mighty
chains, He delivered to thee the keys; the Indies, those wealthy regions
of the world, He gave thee for thine own, and empowered thee to dispose of
them to others, according to thy pleasure. What did He more for the great
people of Israel, when He led them forth from Egypt? Or for David, whom,
from being it shepherd, He made a king in Judaea? Turn to Him, then, and
acknowledge thine error: His mercy is infinite. He has many and vast
inheritances yet in reserve. Fear not to seek them. Thine age shall be no
impediment to any great undertaking. Abraham was above a hundred years
when he begat Isaac; and was Sarah youthful? Thou urgest despondingly
for succour. Answer! Who hath afflicted thee so much, and so many times,
God, or the world? The privileges and promises which God hath made to thee
He hath never broken,[23] neither hath He said, after having received thy
services, that His meaning was different, and to be understood in a
different sense. He fulfils all that He promises, and with increase. Such
is His custom. I have shown thee what thy Creator hath done for thee, and
what He doeth for all. The present is the reward of the toils and perils
thou hast endured in serving others.' I heard this," adds Columbus, "as
one almost dead, and had no power to reply to words so true, excepting to
weep for my errors. Whoever it was that spoke to me finished by saying,
'Fear not! All these tribulations are written in marble, and not without
cause.'"

  [Footnote 23: A sarcasm to "catch the conscience of the king."]


  RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM.

"Though this be madness, there is method in it;" but still, the whole
character of Columbus forbids us to assume that this alleged vision was
merely an ingenious device for remonstrating with the Sovereigns. It must
not be forgotten that in those times the popular belief as to such matters
was very different from that which obtains now; and that Columbus was as
credulous as his contemporaries on the subject of the supernatural. It was
easy for an imagination like his to be wrought upon so as to give to "airy
nothings," to the  "thousand phantasies that crowd into the memory," the
character of special revelations from heaven. In this very despatch his
religious fervour is displayed again and again. Jerusalem, according to
the prophecy, was to be rebuilt by the hand of a Christian. He would be
that Christian. Prester John, so said tradition, had asked for
missionaries to instruct him in the true faith. He would conduct them to
the kingdom of this unknown potentate. Then he goes on to deplore his own
hard case; "surrounded by cruel and hostile savages; isolated, infirm,
expecting each day will be my last; severed from the holy sacraments of
the Church, so that my soul, if parted here from my body, must be for ever
forgotten....If it should please God to deliver me hence, I humbly
supplicate your majesties to permit me to repair to Rome, and perform
other pilgrimages." Columbus, then, being really convinced of the fatal
consequences of not being within reach of formal communion with the
Church, must have felt that he was risking more than his mere bodily life
when he wandered into those unknown countries; that he staked both body
and soul on his success.


  CAPTURE OF MENDEZ; ESCAPE AND SAFE ARRIVAL.

Laden with these despatches, Mendez and a Spanish comrade set out along
the coast in a canoe manned by six Indians. The party arrived safely at
the easternmost Cape of Jamaica (now called Point Morant); but while
awaiting calm weather for crossing the strait to Hispaniola, they were
attacked by a tribe of savages, who overpowered them by sheer force of
numbers, and carried them off as captives. The beads and toys, however,
which Mendez had taken with him to barter with the natives, were too
attractive not to claim the chief share of the attention of his
conquerors; and while they were settling the division of the spoil he
managed to effect his escape to his canoe, and to return in it in safety
to Santa Gloria. As soon as a second canoe could be procured, Mendez was
ready to make a second attempt, but on this occasion he stipulated that he
should be accompanied to the easternmost point of Jamaica by a force
sufficient to protect him from the hostile tribes. Accordingly, on the 7th
July, 1503, the Adelantado, with an armed escort, proceeded along the
shore; while Mendez, with six Spaniards and ten Indians, in one canoe, and
Fieschi (a Genoese, who had commanded one of the caravels), with a like
number in the other, made their way by sea to Point Morant.

After waiting a short time for fine weather, the two canoes started for
Hispaniola, and reached a little island called Navazza on the third day,
both Spaniards and Indians having suffered terribly from the want of
water, with which they were insufficiently supplied. Another day's labour
at the oar brought them to Cape Tiburon, where Mendez left his companions
and proceeded alone to St. Domingo. Here he was informed that the governor
had left for Xaragua; and thither he made his way alone, through fifty
leagues of wild forest country, to represent to Ovando the necessity of
sending relief to the admiral, and that speedily. Ovando seems to have
temporized. He dreaded the return of Columbus, as likely to excite the
seditious to a revolt against his own government. And so far from taking
active steps in the matter himself, it was only with reluctance that he
authorized Mendez to proceed to St. Domingo to purchase a caravel on
behalf of Columbus, in which Fieschi might return to Santa Gloria, and
bring him off.


  SUSPENSE OF THE ADMIRAL; MUTINY OF PORRAS.

Meanwhile, month after month passed by, and the unfortunate castaways at
Santa Gloria had no tidings from Hispaniola, and were even ignorant
whether their messengers had succeeded in reaching that island. At last,
in January, 1504, the murmurs against the inaction of Columbus broke out
into open mutiny. Francesco Porras, the captain of one of the caravels,
headed the mutineers, and going to the admiral, who was confined to his
bed by the gout, told him that he, the admiral, evidently was afraid to
return to Spain; but that the people had determined to remain no longer to
perish, and intended to depart at once. On this there arose shouts from
the followers of Porras, "To Castile! We follow!" The admiral made a
temperate speech, pointing out the danger of attempting to leave the
island in mere canoes, and the absurdity of supposing that he had not a
common interest with them in all respects. But Porras was as persistent in
his desire to go, as Columbus in his determination to stay; and, taking
possession of the canoes which had been purchased from the natives, the
mutineers set out on their journey towards Hispaniola, leaving the admiral
and his brother with scarcely any adherents except those whom sickness
incapacitated for undertaking the journey.


  BAD CONDUCT OF MUTINEERS.

The progress of Porras and his followers through the island was marked by
a series of outrages on the natives which completely neutralized the
effect of the admiral's conciliatory policy. They seized forcibly on
whatever provisions could be found, and mockingly referred the owners to
Columbus for payment. Three attempts to cross over to Hispaniola failed in
consequence of rough weather. On one occasion the canoes were in so much
danger of being swamped that the Spaniards cast everything on board into
the sea; and, as this did not lighten the canoes sufficiently, they then
proceeded to force overboard their unfortunate companions, the Indians,
who swam after them for a long time, but sank one by one, being prevented
by the swords of the Spaniards from approaching. Abandoning, as hopeless,
their  design of reaching Hispaniola, the mutineers then proceeded to roam
over the island, quartering themselves on the Indians, and committing
every possible excess.

Of course the influence of this conduct on the relations between Columbus
and the natives, was soon apparent. The trinkets and beads, which had once
been so precious in their eyes, had first lost the charm of novelty, then
the value of rarity. The circulating medium became so depreciated that
provisions were scarcely procurable. And, similarly, the personal
veneration which the natives had first evinced for the white men, had
given way to contempt and to hatred, when familiarity had shown how
worthless were these "superior beings." The Indians refused to minister to
their wants any longer; and famine was imminent.


  ECLIPSE PREDICTED BY COLUMBUS.

But just at this last extremity, the admiral, ever fertile in devices,
bethought him of an expedient for re-establishing his influence over the
Indians. His astronomical knowledge told him that on a certain night an
eclipse of the moon would take place. One would think that people living
in the open air must be accustomed to see such eclipses sufficiently
often, not to be particularly astonished at them. But Columbus judged--and
as the event proved, judged rightly--that by predicting the eclipse he
would gain a reputation as a prophet, and command the respect and the
obedience due to a person invested with supernatural powers. He assembled
the caciques of the neighbouring tribes. Then, by means of an interpreter,
he reproached them with refusing to continue to supply provisions to the
Spaniards. "The God who protects me," he said, "will punish you. You know
what has happened to those of my followers who have rebelled against me;
and the dangers which they encountered in their attempt to cross to Haiti;
while those who went at my command,[24]  made the passage without
difficulty. Soon, too, shall the divine vengeance fall on you; this very
night shall the moon change her colour and lose her light, in testimony of
the evils which shall be sent upon you from the skies."

  [Footnote 24: This was a gratuitous assumption: as the admiral had as
  yet no tidings of the success of Mendez.]


  RESULT OF PREDICTION.

The night was fine: the moon shone down in full brilliancy. But, at the
appointed time, the predicted phenomenon took place, and the wild howls of
the savages proclaimed their abject terror. They came in a body to
Columbus, and implored his intercession. They promised to let him want for
nothing if only he would avert this judgment: as all earnest of their
sincerity they collected hastily a quantity of food, and offered it at his
feet. At first, diplomatically hesitating, Columbus presently affected to
be softened by their entreaties. He consented to intercede for them; and,
retiring to his cabin, performed, as they supposed, some mystic rite which
should deliver them from the threatened punishment. Soon the terrible
shadow passed away from the face of the moon; and the gratitude of the
savages was as deep as their previous terror. But, being blended with much
awe, it was not so evanescent as gratitude often is; and henceforward
there was no failure in the regular supply of provisions to the castaways.


  DESPATCH FROM OVANDO.

Eight months had passed away without any tidings of Mendez, when, one
evening there hove in sight a small caravel which stood in towards the
harbour of Santa Gloria, and anchored just outside. A boat which put off
from the caravel brought on shore her commander, a certain Diego de
Escobar, whom Columbus recognized as a person whom he had sentenced to be
hanged as it ringleader in Roldan's mutiny, and who had been pardoned by
Bobadilla. The proceedings of this person--whose reprieve must have now
seemed to the admiral particularly injudicious--were singular enough.
Standing at a distance from Columbus, as if the admiral had been in
quarantine, he shouted, at the top of his voice, a message from Ovando, to
the effect that he (the governor) regretted the admiral's misfortunes very
keenly, that he hoped before long to send a ship of sufficient size to
take him off. He added, that in the meantime, Ovando begged him to accept
a slight mark of his friendship. The "slight mark of his friendship"
was--a side of bacon, which, with a small cask of wine and a letter from
Ovando he delivered to the admiral; and rowed off as fast as possible. The
whole scheme of this visit, which was probably planned by Ovando with the
object of ascertaining the real condition and designs of Columbus, was in
the last degree insulting to him and tantalizing to his companions, with
whom D'Escobar would not permit any communication to be held. However, the
admiral wrote a civil reply to Ovando, describing piteously the hardships
of his condition, and disclaiming any ulterior design with regard to the
government of Hispaniola. Carrying this missive, D'Escobar set sail at
once, and was out of sight, on his return voyage, before the morning of
the day after his arrival.


  OVERTURES TO MUTINEERS.

This mysterious visit was by no means satisfactory to the admiral's
companions. As he alone had held communication with D'Escobar, he was free
to give them whatever account he chose of his interview; and this liberty,
it may be parenthetically observed, he did not scruple to exercise
somewhat at the expense of strict truth. He represented himself as having
refused to depart with D'Escobar, because the caravel was too small to
carry them all away, and he was determined to share their lot, confident
in Ovando's assurance of speedy succour. He made overtures for a
reconciliation to Porras, and endeavoured to persuade the mutineers to
return on board the ships. But these overtures were scornfully repulsed
and the admiral's messengers were sent back with threats of force. As for
the caravel, Porras had little difficulty in persuading his credulous
followers that it was merely an apparition which Columbus had conjured up
by magic arts; and such was the reputation for sorcery which the admiral
had acquired by his astronomical observations, that even the sight and
taste of some tangible bacon (half of that present from Ovando of which we
have heard) which he sent as a peace offering to the mutineers, failed to
convince them of the material character of the supposed phantom ship.


  RESORT TO ARMS.

Soon, however, the differences between the rival parties were brought to
an issue. The Adelantado received information that Porras was planning a
descent on the ships, with the object of seizing the stores and capturing
the admiral. Resolving to anticipate this attack, he placed himself at the
head of fifty[25] devoted partisans of Columbus, and sallied out to engage
the mutineers. A furious struggle ensued; but the Adelantado performed
prodigies of valour, and his followers were better supplied with fire-arms
than the rebels; so that the latter sustained a complete defeat, and their
leader Porras was carried off as a prisoner to the ships.

  [Footnote 25: It would appear from this number that either there had
  been some defection from the ranks of the mutineers or that more than
  half the Spaniards had remained faithful to the admiral.]


  THE MUTINEERS CONQUERED.

The natives, who had been spectators of the affray, were much perplexed.
Wiser people than these poor savages have looked with sorrowful wonder on
the appeal to brute force to decide the quarrels of nations; and the
Indians, when they saw strife and death among the beings whom they had
formerly considered as heaven-descended and immortal, felt that their
estimate of these attributes ought to be lowered. But when curiosity
impelled them to examine the corpses of the Spaniards who had been killed
in the encounter, after minutely inspecting several bodies, they came to
that of Ledesma--whose name may be remembered as that of the gigantic
pilot of Seville who swam through the surf at Bethlehem to the
Adelantado's relief--who had now fallen, covered with wounds, fighting on
behalf of the mutineers. As the savages proceeded to thrust their fingers
into his wounds, Ledesma, who had fainted from pain, recovered
consciousness, and uttered a stentorian yell which put the Indians to
flight, says an ancient chronicler, "as if all the dead men were at their
heels." And as Ledesma eventually recovered, notwithstanding his having
received wounds sufficient to kill three ordinary persons, the natives
must have been inspired by a proper respect for the almost miraculous
vitality of the white men.


  PORRAS A PRISONER.

The victory gained by the Adelantado was conclusive. The rebels at once
submitted to the admiral, who consented to pardon them; reserving only
their ringleader, Porras, for future punishment. It was arranged that they
should not again take up their habitation on board the ships, but Columbus
sent ashore a trusty lieutenant as their commander, and supplied them at
the same time with European articles to barter for food with the natives.
And so the two bands of castaways--one on ship and one on shore--awaited
the promised succour, with the weariness of hope deferred.



CHAPTER XIII.

It was not till the 28th of June, 1504, when just a year had elapsed since
their arrival at Santa Gloria, that the Spaniards were gladdened by the
sight of the two caravels which had been sent--one by Mendez, the other by
Ovando--to their relief. Their embarkation, as may be supposed, was
quickly effected; but adverse winds made the voyage to Hispaniola a long
one, and the two vessels did not reach St. Domingo before the 13th of
August.


  CONFLICTING JURISDICTION.

Much to the surprise of the admiral, he found himself treated with the
most punctilious courtesy by Ovando, who even proceeded to the harbour,
with a numerous suite, to receive him in state upon his arrival. However,
differences soon arose as to the conflicting jurisdictions of the viceroy
and the governor; especially with regard to the case of Porras, whom
Ovando, in opposition to the admiral's wish, insisted upon releasing from
custody. Moreover he even announced his intention of instituting a general
enquiry as to the events which had taken place in Jamaica, in order to
decide whether Porras and his associates had been justified in their
rebellion. Columbus disputed the right of Ovando to take upon himself the
office of judge in such a matter; and remarked that his own authority as
viceroy must have sunk very low indeed, if it did not empower him to
punish his officers for mutinying against himself. This dispute was
unfortunate as regards the private interests of the admiral, for the
revenues arising from his property in the island had been collected under
the authority of the governor, who, upon the occurrence of this quarrel,
was easily able to raise difficulties in the way of his obtaining a fair
account of the proceeds. But he was all the more anxious to return to
Spain; and, within a month from his arrival at St. Domingo, he started
homeward in the caravel which had brought him from Jamaica.


  FALLING FORTUNES.

But even in this last voyage he was forced to "make head against a sea of
troubles." His evil star was in the ascendant. Twice his vessel nearly
foundered. Twice her masts were sprung in successive tempests. His own
health was succumbing to the acute attacks of gout which had become more
and more frequent for the last few years. And so, prostrated by sickness,
nearly ruined in means, and now hopeless of encouragement from the
Sovereigns, the discoverer of the New World arrived at Seville, on the 7th
of November, 1504, in as miserable a plight as his worst enemy could have
wished.

He could scarcely expect to be received with much favour at court. He had
failed in the search for that strait leading to the kingdom of the Grand
Khan, the discovery of which had been the special object of his
expedition; he had lost his ships; he had brought home wonderful stories
of golden lands, but no gold. Porras[26] was at large, and had influence
at court, which enabled him to stimulate the existing prejudice against
Columbus.

  [Footnote 26: It seems just possible that, as the original narrative of
  the mutiny of Porras was written by Fernando Columbus, who would
  naturally take his father's side, something is to be said for Porras
  which has not been said for him by historians.]


  DEATH OF THE QUEEN.

Poor, old, infirm, he had now to receive intelligence which was to deepen
all his evils. He remained at Seville, too unwell to make a journey
himself, but sent his son Diego to court, to manage his affairs for him.
The complaints of the admiral, that he had no news from court, are quite
touching. He says, he desires to hear news each hour. Couriers are
arriving every day, but none for him: his very hair stands on end to hear
things so contrary to what his soul desires. He alludes, I imagine, to the
state of the Queen's health; for, in a memorandum of instructions to his
son, written at this period, the first thing, he says, to be done is, "to
commend affectionately, with much devotion," the soul of the Queen to God.
Could the poor Indians but have known what a friend to them was dying, one
continued wail would have gone up to heaven from Hispaniola and all the
western islands. The dread decree, however, had gone forth, and on the
26th of November, 1504, it was only a prayer for the departed that could
have been addressed; for the great Queen was no more. If it be permitted
to departing spirits to see those places on earth they yearn much
after, we might imagine that the soul of Isabella would give "one longing,
lingering look" to the far West.


  OPPRESSION OF THE INDIANS.

And if so, what did she see there? How different was the aspect of things
from what governors and officers of all kinds had told her: how different
from aught that she had thought of, or commanded! She had insisted that
the Indians were to be free: she would have seen their condition to be
that of slaves. She had declared that they were to have spiritual
instruction: she would have seen them less instructed than the dogs. She
had ordered that they should receive payment for their labour: she would
have found that all they received was a mockery of wages, just enough to
purchase once, perhaps, in the course of the year, some childish trifles
from Castile. She had always directed that they should have kind treatment
and proper maintenance: she would have seen them literally watching under
the tables of their masters, to catch the crumbs which fell there. She
would have beheld the Indian labouring at the mine under cruel buffetings,
his family, neglected, perishing, or enslaved. She would have marked him
on his return, after eight months of dire toil, enter a place which knew
him not, or a household that could only sorrow over the gaunt creature who
had returned to them, and mingle their sorrows with his; or, still more
sad, she would have seen Indians who had been brought from far distant
homes, linger at the mines, too hopeless, or too careless, to return.


  PETITIONS OF COLUMBUS; INJUSTICE OF THE KING.

Turning from what might have been seen by Queen Isabella, had her
departing gaze pierced to the outskirts of her dominions, we have to
record the closing scene of the strange eventful history of Columbus, who
did not long survive his benefactress. Ever since his return from his
fourth voyage to the Indies, he had done little else than memorialize, and
petition, and negotiate about his rights. But Ferdinand, who had always
looked coldly on his projects, was disposed to regard his claims with
still less favour. Columbus professed himself willing to sacrifice the
arrears of revenue due to him, but urged strenuously his demand that his
son Diego should be made viceroy of the Indies, in accordance with the
terms of the grant making that dignity hereditary in his family. Ferdinand
did not refuse absolutely: the breach of faith would have been too
flagrant. But he procrastinated, and ended by referring the matter to the
significantly named Board of Discharges of the Royal Conscience, which
board regulated its proceedings by the known wishes of the king, and
procrastinated too.

The proverb, "Fear old age, for it does not come alone," was especially
applicable to Columbus, while suffering sickness without the elasticity to
bear it, poverty with high station and debt, and all the delay of
suitorship, not at the beginning, but at the close, of a career. A similar
decline of fortune is to be seen in the lives of many men; of those, too,
who have been most adventurous and successful in their prime. Their
fortunes grow old and feeble with themselves; and those clouds, which were
but white and scattered during the vigour of the day, sink down together,
stormful and massive, in huge black lines, across the setting sun.


  DEATH OF COLUMBUS

Shortly after the arrival of Philip and his queen in Spain, Columbus had
written to their Highnesses, deploring his inability to come to them,
through illness, and saying that, notwithstanding his pitiless disease
(the gout), he could yet do them service the like of which had not been
seen. Perhaps he meant service in the way of good advice touching the
administration of the Indies; perhaps, for he was of an indomitable
spirit, that he could yet make more voyages of discovery. But there was
then only left for him that voyage in which the peasant who has seen but
the little district round his home, and the great travellers in thought
and deed, are alike to find themselves upon the unknown waters of further
life. Looked at in this way, what a great discoverer each of us is to be!
But we must not linger too long, even at the deathbed of a hero. Having
received all the sacraments of the Church, and uttering as his last words,
"In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum," Columbus died, at
Valladolid, on Ascension Day, the 20th of May, 1506. His remains were
carried to Seville and buried in the monastery of Las Cuevas; afterwards
they were removed to the cathedral at St. Domingo; and, in modern times,
were taken to the cathedral at Havana, where they now rest.



THE END.



CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.







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