Notable Voyagers Part 3

The following morning nine well-armed men, with an interpreter from Cuba, again landed and approached a village containing a thousand houses, but the inhabitants had fled. The interpreter, however, overtook them, and telling them that the strangers had descended from the skies, and went about the world making beautiful presents, they turned back to the number of a thousand, approaching the Spaniards with slow and trembling steps, making signs of profound reverence.

While they were conversing another large party of Indians approached, headed by the husband of the female captive, whom they brought in triumph on their shoulders. The husband expressed his grat.i.tude for the magnificent presents bestowed on his wife.

The Indians, now conducting the Spaniards to their houses, set before them a banquet of ca.s.sava bread, fish, roots, and fruits of various kinds. They presented also numbers of tame parrots, freely offering, indeed, whatever they possessed.

Delighted as they were with all they saw, the Spaniards still bitterly complained that they found no signs of riches among the natives. Nature abundantly supplying all they required, they were without even a knowledge of artificial wants, and so unbounded was their hospitality, that they were ready to bestow everything they possessed on their guests. The fertile earth producing all they required, they preferred to live in that Arcadian state of simplicity which poets have delighted to picture. Their fields and gardens were without hedges or divisions of any sort. They were kind to each other, and required no magistrates nor laws to keep them in order. Alas! how soon was this happy state of existence to be destroyed by the cruel, avaricious, and profligate Spaniards. Unlike their pious, high-minded, and sagacious chief, they resembled the bloodhounds they were wont to let loose in chase of their victims.

How different might have been the fate of the islands had such men as the pilgrim fathers or the enlightened Penn been the first to settle among them! The bright light of true Christianity might have beamed on their hearts, with all the advantages of civilisation, and far greater happiness than they had hitherto enjoyed might have been their lot. No blame can be attached to Columbus, no slur can be cast on his fair fame.

He had achieved a glorious undertaking in discovering a new world, but on its inhabitants he had been thus the instrument of bringing the direst of curses, and, instead of promulgating the faith he professed, the blackest disgrace on the Christian name.

CHAPTER THREE.

FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS CONTINUED--A.D. 1492.

The Tortugas--Returns to Hispaniola--Picks up an Indian in a canoe on the way--The Indian's report induces a cacique to visit the ships-- Friendly intercourse with other caciques--Farther along the coast, an envoy from the great cacique Guacanagari visits the ships--The notary sent to the cacique--His large, clean village--The Spaniards treated as superior beings--Cibao, mistaken for c.i.p.ango, heard of--The ship of Columbus wrecked--Guacanagari's generous behaviour--Terror of the Indians at hearing a cannon discharged--Delighted with hawks' bells-- Stores from the wreck saved--A fort built with the a.s.sistance of the natives, and called La Natividad--The cacique's friendship for Columbus--Abundance of gold obtained--A garrison of thirty men left in the fort, with strict rules for their government--Guacanagari sheds tears at parting with the Admiral--The _Nina_ sails eastward--The _Pinta_ rejoins him--Pinzon excuses himself--His treachery discovered-- In consequence of it Columbus resolves to return to Spain--Pinzon's ill treatment of the natives--Fierce natives met with--First native blood shed--The Indians notwithstanding visit the ship--Columbus steers for Spain--Contrary winds--A fearful storm--The device of Columbus for preserving the knowledge of his discoveries--The Azores reached-- Castaneda, Governor of Saint Mary's--Crew perform a pilgrimage to the Virgin's shrine--Seized by the Governor--Caravel driven out to sea-- Matters settled with Castaneda--Sails--Another tempest--Nearly lost-- Enters the Tagus--Courteously received by the King of Portugal--Reaches Palos 15th of March, 1493--Enthusiastic reception at Palos--Pinzon in the _Pinta_ arrives--Dies of shame and grief--Columbus received with due honour by Ferdinand and Isabella--Triumphal entrance into Barcelona--His discovery excites the enterprise of the English.

After a brief stay among the happy and simple-minded natives, the weather becoming favourable, Columbus again attempted to discover the island of Babique. On his way he fell in with an island, to which, on account of the number of turtles seen there, he gave the name of Tortugas. Meeting with contrary winds, he returned to Hispaniola, and on the way fell in with an Indian in a canoe. Having taken the man and his frail barque on board, he treated him kindly and set him on sh.o.r.e at Hispaniola, near a river known as Puerto de Paz.

The Indian gave so favourable a report of the treatment he had received, that a cacique in the neighbourhood, and some of his people, visited the ships. They were handsomer than any yet met with, and of a gentle and peaceable disposition. Several of them wore ornaments of gold, which they readily exchanged for trifles.

Another young cacique shortly afterwards appeared, carried on a litter borne by four men, and attended by two hundred of his subjects. He was received on board, and, Columbus being at dinner, he came down with two of his councillors, who seated themselves at his feet. He merely tasted whatever was given to him, and then sent it to his followers.

Dinner being over, he presented to the Admiral two pieces of gold, and a curiously-worked belt, evidently the wampum still employed by the North American Indians as a token of peace. Columbus, in return, gave him a piece of cloth, several amber beads, coloured shoes, and, showing him a Spanish coin with the heads of the King and Queen, endeavoured to explain to him the power and grandeur of his sovereigns, as well as the standard of the cross; but these apparently failed to have any effect on the mind of the savage chieftain. Columbus also had a large cross erected in the centre of the village, and, from the respect the Indians paid to it, he argued that it would be easy to convert them to Christianity.

Again sailing on the 20th of December, the expedition anch.o.r.ed in the Bay of Acul. Here the inhabitants received them with the greatest frankness. They appeared to have no idea of traffic, but freely gave everything they possessed, though Columbus ordered that articles should be given in exchange for all received.

Several caciques came off, inviting the Spaniards to their villages.

Among them came an envoy from an important chief named Guacanagari, ruling over all that part of the island. Having presented a broad belt of wampum and a wooden mask, the eyes, nose, and tongue of which were of gold, he requested that the ships would come off the town where the cacique resided. As this was impossible, owing to a contrary wind, Columbus sent the notary of the squadron, with several attendants. The town was the largest and best built they had yet seen. The cacique received them in a large, clean square, and presented to each a robe of cotton, while the inhabitants brought fruits and provisions of various sorts. The seamen were also received into their houses, and presented with cotton garments and anything they seemed to admire; while the articles given in return were treasured up as sacred relics.

Several caciques had in the meantime visited the ships. They mentioned a region, evidently the interior, called Cibao, which Columbus thought must be a corruption of c.i.p.ango, and whose chief he understood had banners of wrought gold, and was probably the magnificent prince mentioned by Marco Polo.

As soon as the wind was fair, Columbus visited the chief, Guacanagari, the coast having been surveyed by boats the previous day. Feeling perfectly secure, although so near the coast, he retired to his cabin.

The helmsman handed over his charge to one of the ship's boys, and failed to notice that breakers were ahead. Suddenly the ship struck; the master and crew rushed on deck. Columbus, calm as usual, ordered the pilot to carry out an anchor astern. Instead of so doing, in his fright, he rowed off to the other caravel, about half a league to windward. Her commander instantly went to the a.s.sistance of his chief.

The ship had meantime been drifting more and more on the reef, the shock having opened several of her seams. The weather continued fine, or she must at once have gone to pieces.

The Admiral, having gone on board the caravel, sent envoys to Guacanagari, informing him of his intended visit and his disastrous shipwreck. When the cacique, who lived a league and a half off, heard of the misfortune, he shed tears, and sent a fleet of canoes to render a.s.sistance. With their help the vessel was unloaded, the chief taking care that none of the effects should be pilfered. Not an article was taken; indeed, the people exhibited the greatest sympathy with their guests, who were treated with the utmost hospitality.

Two days afterwards Guacanagari came on board the _Nina_ to visit the Admiral, and, with tears in his eyes, offered him all he possessed.

While he was on board a canoe arrived with pieces of gold, and, on observing his countenance light up, the cacique told him there was a place not far off, among the mountains, where it could be procured in the greatest abundance. He called the place Cibao, which Columbus still confounded with that of c.i.p.ango.

Guacanagari, after dining on board, where he exhibited the utmost frankness, invited Columbus to his village. Here he had prepared an abundant banquet, consisting of coneys, fish, roots, and various fruits.

He afterwards conducted the Admiral to some beautiful groves, where a thousand natives were collected to perform their national games and dances.

In return, the Admiral sent on board for a Castilian accustomed to the use of the Moorish bow and arrows. The cacique was greatly surprised at the skill with which the Castilian used his weapon, and told him that the Caribs, who made frequent descents on his territory, were also armed with bows and arrows.

Columbus promised his protection, and, to show his host the powerful means at his disposal, ordered a heavy cannon and an arquebus to be discharged. At the report the Indians fell to the ground, as if they had been struck by a thunderbolt. As they saw the shot shivering a tree, they were filled with dismay, until Columbus a.s.sured them that these weapons should be turned against their enemies.

The cacique now presented Columbus with a wooden mask, the eyes, ears, and other parts, of gold; and he also placed a golden crown on his head, and hung plates of gold round his neck. The natives, though willing to receive anything in exchange for gold, were chiefly delighted with the hawks' bells, dancing and playing a dozen antics as they listened to the sound. An Indian gave even a handful of gold for one of the toys, and then bounded away, fearing that the stranger might repent having parted so cheaply with such an inestimable a treasure. The shipwrecked Spaniards, delighted with their idle life on sh.o.r.e, expressed their wish to remain on the island. This, with the friendly behaviour of the natives, induced Columbus to agree to their proposal. He considered that they might explore the island, learn the language and manners of the natives, and procure by traffic a large amount of gold. He resolved also to build a fortress for their defence, to be armed with the guns saved from the wreck. With his usual promptness he had the work commenced.

When Guacanagari heard that some of the Spaniards were to be left on the island for its defence from the Caribs, he was overjoyed, as were his subjects, who eagerly lent their a.s.sistance in building the fortress, little dreaming that they were a.s.sisting to place on their necks the galling yoke of slavery.

While the work of the fortress was rapidly going on, Guacanagari treated the Admiral with princely generosity. As Columbus, on one occasion, was landing, the cacique met him, accompanied by five tributary chiefs, each carrying a coronet of gold. On arriving at his house, Guacanagari took off his own crown and placed it on the head of the Admiral. Columbus presented, in return, a collar of fine coloured beads, his mantle of cloth, a pair of coloured boots, and placed on his finger a large ring of silver, which the Indians valued far more than gold. The cacique also exerted himself to procure a great quant.i.ty of gold.

Columbus, by misunderstanding names and descriptions, formed the most magnificent idea of the wealth of the interior of the island, and even in the red pepper which abounded he fancied that he traced Oriental spices. He was thus led to believe that the shipwreck was providential, as, had he sailed away, he should not have heard of its vast wealth.

What in some spirits would have awakened a grasping and sordid cupidity to acc.u.mulate, immediately filled his vivid imagination with plans of magnificent expenditure.

To the fortress, which was of some size, and sufficiently strong to repulse a naked and unwarlike people, Columbus gave the name of La Navidad, in memory of having escaped shipwreck on Christmas Day. He considered it very likely to prove most useful in keeping the garrison themselves in order, and to prevent them wandering about and committing acts of licentiousness among the natives.

Of the numbers who volunteered he selected thirty-nine in all, among whom was a physician, a ship's carpenter, a cooper, a tailor, and a gunner; the command being given to Diego de Arana, notary and alguazil of the armament, with Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo as his lieutenants, directing them to obtain all the information in their power. He charged the garrison to be especially circ.u.mspect in their intercourse with the natives,--to treat them with gentleness and justice,--to be highly discreet in their conduct towards the Indian females, and, moreover, not to scatter themselves, or on any account stray beyond the friendly territory of Guacanagari.

On the 2nd of January, 1493, Columbus bade farewell to the generous cacique and his chieftains, commending those he left behind to their care. To impress the Indians with an idea of the warlike prowess of the white man, after a banquet he had given at his house, he ordered them to engage in mock fights with swords, bucklers, crossbows, arquebuses, and cannon.

Guacanagari shed tears as he parted with Columbus, who, returning on board, two days afterwards set sail, the garrison on sh.o.r.e answering the cheers of their comrades who were about to return to their native land.

The ship, being towed out of the harbour, they stood to the eastward, but were detained for two days by a contrary wind.

On the 6th, a seaman aloft cried out that he saw the _Pinta_. The certainty that he was right cheered the heart of the Admiral and his crew. In a short time she approached, and, as the wind was contrary, Columbus put back to a little bay west of Monte Cristo, where he was followed by the _Pinta_.

Pinzon endeavoured to excuse himself, but Columbus discovered that he had purposely separated, and had gone to Hispaniola, where he had remained trading with the natives; collecting a considerable quant.i.ty of gold, the greater part of which he retained, and the rest divided among the men to secure his secret.

Columbus, however, knowing the number of friends the Pinzons had on board, repressed his indignation; but so much was his confidence in his confederates impaired, that, instead of continuing his explorations, as he hoped to have done when he first saw the _Pinta_, he resolved at once to sail for Spain.

While obtaining wood and water for the voyage at a river flowing into the bay, so much gold was perceived in the sand at its mouth that the name of Rio del Oro, or the Golden River, was given to it. At present it is called the Santiago. Turtles of large size were found here, and, as a proof how so sagacious a man as Columbus might deceive himself, he states that he here saw three mermaids, who were very far from lovely, although they had traces of human countenances. They were undoubtedly manatees or sea-cows.

Putting into the river where Pinzon had been trading, some of the natives complained that he had violently carried off four men and two girls to be sold as slaves in Spain.

Discovering that such was the case, Columbus ordered that they should be restored immediately to their homes, and, giving them numerous presents and clothing, he sent them on sh.o.r.e.

Proceeding on, they anch.o.r.ed in a deep gulf a little way beyond Cape Cabron. The natives were found to be of a ferocious aspect, hideously painted. Their hair was long, tied behind, and decorated with coloured feathers; some were armed with war-clubs; others had bows as long as those used by English archers, with slender reed arrows pointed with bone or the teeth of a fish. Their swords were of palm wood, as hard and heavy as iron, not sharp, but broad, and capable, with one blow, of cleaving through a helmet.

Columbus fancied that they must be Caribs, but an Indian on board a.s.sured him that the Caribbean Islands were much farther off. They made no attempt, however, at first, to molest the Spaniards. One of them came on board the Admiral's ship. Various presents having been given him, he was sent again on sh.o.r.e in one of the boats.

As she approached, upwards of fifty savages, armed with bows, arrows, war-clubs, and javelins, were seen lurking among the trees. The Indian, however, speaking to them, they laid by their arms, and parted with two of their bows to the Spaniards. Suddenly, however, mistrusting their visitors, they rushed back to where they had left their weapons, and returned with cords as if to bind the Spaniards. The latter on this immediately attacked them, wounded two, and put the rest to flight, and would have pursued them had they not been restrained by the commander of the boat.

This was the first time native blood, soon to flow so freely, was shed by the white man in the New World. It greatly grieved Columbus thus to see his efforts to maintain a friendly intercourse frustrated.

Next day, notwithstanding the above occurrence, when a large party went on sh.o.r.e, the cacique who ruled over the neighbourhood came down to meet them, and sent a wampum belt as a token of amity. The cacique, with only three attendants, without fear entered the boat, and was conveyed on board the caravel. Columbus highly appreciated this frank, confiding conduct, and, having placed biscuits and honey and other food before his guests, shown them round the ship, and made them several presents, he sent them back to the land highly gratified. No other interruption occurred to their friendly intercourse. Four young Indians who came on board gave such glowing accounts of the islands to the east, that Columbus prevailed on them to accompany him as guides. He also wished to visit two islands which he fancied to exist,--one inhabited by Amazons, and the other by men; but a favourable breeze springing up for Spain, and observing the gloom in the countenances of the seamen,-- knowing as he did also their insubordinate spirit, and the leaky state of the ships, and that, should they founder, his glorious discovery would be lost to the civilised world,--he deemed it wise to steer directly homewards. The favourable breeze, however, soon died away, and for the remainder of the voyage light winds from the eastward prevailed.

The _Pinta_ also sailed badly, her foremast being so defective that it could carry but little sail. In the early part of February, having run to about the thirty-eighth degree of north lat.i.tude, they got out of the track of the trade winds, and once more were able to steer a direct course. The pilots, by the changes of their courses, at length got perplexed; but Columbus kept so careful a reckoning that he felt sure of their position. The two princ.i.p.al pilots made out that they were one hundred and fifty leagues nearer Spain than he knew to be the case. He, however, allowed them to remain in their error, that he alone might possess a knowledge of the route to the newly-discovered countries. By his calculation they were not far off from the Azores. On the 12th of February a strong gale with a heavy sea got up, and the next day the wind and swell so increased that Columbus was aware that a heavy tempest was approaching. It soon burst upon them with frightful violence, increasing still more on the 14th, the waves threatening every moment to overwhelm their battered barks. After laying to for three hours they were compelled to scud before the wind. During the darkness of the night the _Pinta_ was lost sight of. The Admiral steered as well as he could to the north-east to approach the coast of Spain, showing lights to the _Pinta_; but no answering signals were seen, and fears were entertained that she had foundered. The following day the tempest raged as furiously as before on the helpless bark. During the storm the ignorant and superst.i.tious crew cast lots as to who should perform pilgrimages to their respective saints, in which the Admiral, no less superst.i.tious than his men, joined. Two of the lots fell on him. Each man also made his private vow to perform some pilgrimage, or other penitential rite.

The heavens, however, were deaf to their vows. The storm increased, and the crew gave themselves up for lost. The Admiral took the wisest steps to preserve the ship, by ordering that the empty casks should be filled with water, to ballast her better. His mind all the time was a prey to the most painful anxiety. His fear was that the _Pinta_ had already foundered, and that his vessel would also go to the bottom.

An expedient occurred to him at this time by which, though he and his ships should perish, the glory of his achievement might survive to his name, and its advantages be secured to his sovereigns. He wrote on a parchment a brief account of his voyage and discovery; then, having sealed and directed it to the King and Queen, he wrapped it in a waxed cloth, which he placed in the centre of a piece of wax, and, enclosing the whole in a large cask, threw it into the sea. He also enclosed a copy in a similar manner, placing the cask on the p.o.o.p so that it might float off should the vessel sink.

These precautions somewhat mitigated his anxiety. Towards sunset a streak of clear sky appeared in the west, the sign of finer weather. It came, though the sea ran so high that little sail could be carried.

At daybreak on the morning of the 15th the cry of "Land!" was raised.