Notable Voyagers Part 8

Sailing, he arrived near the mouth of the river on the 30th of August, when a caravel, appeared, on board of which came the Adelantado. The brothers met with mutual joy, but the latter grieved to see the great navigator so broken down in health, a mere wreck of himself, though with his spirit still rising superior to all bodily affliction.

Though considerable progress had been made in the building of Isabella, now called San Domingo, at the mouth of the Ozema, the Adelantado had sad accounts to give of the state of the island. Rebellion had been rife among the colonists in all directions. The Indians had been barbarously treated, and all authority had been set at defiance.

Attempts had been made to murder the Adelantado, and the leaders had sent home the most serious accusations against him and Columbus and their brother Diego. They had succeeded too well in raising suspicions in the mind of Ferdinand as to the loyalty of Columbus, and an officer of the royal household, Don Francisco de Bobadilla, was sent out nominally to investigate the causes of the rebellion, but with power to arrest the persons and sequestrate the effects of those he might consider guilty; while he was to take upon himself the government of the island, and to demand the surrender of all fortresses, ships, and other royal property.

Columbus had gone into the interior to arrange matters, while the Adelantado and his brother had almost succeeded in overcoming the rebellion, when Bobadilla, accompanied by a guard of twenty-five men and six friars, who had charge of a number of Indians sent back to their country, appeared off Saint Domingo on the 23rd of August, 1500.

Landing, without stopping to investigate the conduct of Columbus and his brothers, he instantly commenced the most arbitrary proceedings. He took up his residence in the house of Columbus, of whose whole property, gold, plate, jewels, horses, together with his public and even private letters and ma.n.u.scripts, he at once possessed himself.

Don Diego was seized, thrown into irons, and confined on board a caravel. Columbus was summoned to San Domingo; he came, almost unattended, when, being at once seized, Bobadilla gave orders that he should be put in irons, and confined him in the fortress.

When the irons were brought, every one present shrank at the task of putting them on the limbs of the venerable and ill.u.s.trious prisoners, either from a sentiment of compa.s.sion at so great a reverse of fortune, or out of habitual reverence for his person. A wretched cook named Espinosa was the only person found to rivet the fetters. The great navigator conducted himself with the magnanimity which might have been expected. The injustice and ingrat.i.tude of the sovereigns alone wounded his spirit, and he bore all his present misfortunes in silence.

Though the Adelantado was at the head of a strong force when summoned to San Domingo, he returned unattended, and was treated as his brother had been. Columbus had expected to have suffered on the scaffold, and was greatly relieved when he found himself conducted on board a caravel commanded by a worthy captain--Alonzo de Villejo--who told him that he had orders to carry him to Spain.

He and his brother embarked, amidst the scoffs and shouts of a miscreant rabble, who took a brutal joy in heaping insult on his venerable head.

Villejo, touched by the sufferings of Columbus, treated him with much respect, and would have relieved him of his shackles, but he answered, "No: their Majesties commanded me to submit to whatever Bobadilla might devise; by their authority he has put upon me these shackles. I will wear them until they direct them to be taken off, and I will preserve them as relics and memorials, as the reward of my services."

The page of history presents no sadder picture than Columbus in chains crossing the ocean from those lands discovered by his genius, boldness, and perseverance.

The voyage was favourable and of moderate duration. In a short time the ship, with her ill.u.s.trious prisoner on board, arrived at Cadiz.

Columbus a prisoner and in chains produced almost as great a sensation as his triumphant return from his first voyage. A reaction took place, and a strong sympathy was expressed, against which it would have been odious for the Government to contend. The ignominious manner in which Columbus had been treated created murmurs of astonishment at the Court at Grenada, and a letter written by him on board reached the n.o.ble-minded Isabella before the doc.u.ment sent home by Bobadilla. She saw how grossly Columbus had been wronged and the royal authority abused, and her heart was filled with mingled sympathy and indignation.

The Queen and Ferdinand instantly sent off to Cadiz, directing that the prisoners should be set at liberty and treated with all distinction; and they wrote a letter to Columbus, expressing their grief at what he had suffered, and inviting him to Court. Conscious of his integrity, his heart was cheered, and he antic.i.p.ated an immediate rest.i.tution of all his rights and dignities.

He appeared in Grenada, not as a disgraced man, but richly dressed, and attended by a n.o.ble retinue. He was received with unqualified favour and distinction, and as he beheld tears in the benign eyes of Isabella, he threw himself on his knees, and for some time could not utter a word for the violence of his tears and sobbing. Enabled to speak, he defended himself fully; indeed, the imputations of his enemies had been his best advocate.

Meantime the Pinzons and several other explorers had sailed forth, chiefly in search of pearls and gold.

While we feel indignant at the treatment received by Columbus, we must not forget the miseries of the helpless natives his discoveries had brought within the power of so-called civilised Europeans.

The excellent Las Casas gives a vivid and faithful picture of the tyranny exercised over the Indians by worthless Spaniards; wretches who in their own country had been the vilest of the vile, but had in the New World a.s.sumed the tone of grand cavaliers. Over much of their conduct it is necessary to draw the veil. Their very pleasures were attended with cruelty. At the least freak of ill humour they inflicted blows, and lashes, and even death itself, on their helpless slaves.

Such were some of the evils which had sprung up under the rule of Bobadilla. The wrongs of the natives reaching the benevolent heart of Isabella, she urged that a new governor, Don Nicolas de Ovando, should be sent out to supersede him, to inquire into the conduct of Columbus.

Ovando shortly afterwards sailed in command of one of the largest fleets that had yet proceeded to the New World.

We should always bear in mind the lofty enthusiastic aspirations which influenced the mind of the great navigator. He had hoped by the wealth he should obtain to win the Holy Sepulchre from the infidels, but more practical schemes soon occupied him. The wealth brought from the East, owing to the discoveries of the Portuguese, aroused him to emulation.

He had found a strong current setting westward, through the Caribbean Sea, between the coasts of Paria on the south and Cuba on the north, the latter, as he believed, being a part of the Asiatic continent stretching onwards in the same direction. He believed therefore that there must be a straight opening into the Indian Sea, and, could he discover it, he believed that he should be able to reach India by a far more easy route than any yet followed.

His plan was listened to with attention by the sovereigns, and he was authorised to fit out another armament.

He asked permission to touch at Hispaniola for supplies on the outward voyage, but the sovereigns, knowing that he had many enemies in the island, forbade him doing so. They, however, to soothe his feelings, wrote him a letter dated the 14th of March, 1502, solemnly a.s.suring him that all his dignities should be enjoyed by him and his sons after him, and that they would bestow further honours and rewards upon him and them as well as upon his excellent brothers.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

FOURTH AND LAST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS--A.D. 1502.

Columbus sails from Cadiz the 9th of May, 1502, in command of four caravels--Reaches Martinico, and steers for San Domingo to change one of his vessels finds Bobadilla about to sail--Refused admission to the port--Warns the Governor of an impending hurricane--Keeps close in with the land--Escapes--Bobadilla's ship founders--Only one with the treasure of Columbus reaches Spain--Touching at Jamaica, stands across to Bonacca off the coast of Honduras--Visited by a cacique in a large canoe laden with numerous articles--Search for the supposed strait--Goes on sh.o.r.e on the mainland--The natives bring presents--Sails along the coast--Stormy weather continues--Columbus suffers from illness--Fine weather--Off the Mosquito sh.o.r.e--Natives offended at their presents not being accepted-- Hostages brought--Frightened at seeing the notary write--Natives carried off as guides--Ships anchor in the Bay of Caribaro--Large quant.i.ties of gold seen among the natives--Reaches the coast of Veragua--Hostility of natives--Frightened into friendship--Much gold obtained--Columbus quits the gold region in search of the straits--Hears of the gold region of Ciguere--Anchors in Puerto Bello--Pa.s.ses Nombre de Dios--Anchors in Cabinet Harbour--The seamen insult the natives, who attack the ships-- Put to flight by the guns--Columbus sails in search of the gold-mines of Veragua.

Columbus had reached the age of sixty-eight years when he embarked upon his fourth voyage. His squadron consisted of four caravels, the smallest of fifty tons burden, the largest not exceeding seventy; the crews amounted, in all, to one hundred and fifty men. He had with him his faithful and intrepid brother, Don Bartholomew, and his younger son, Fernando. The squadron sailed from Cadiz on the 9th of May, A.D. 1502, and after touching at Ercilla, on the coast of Morocco, stood away for the Canaries, where it arrived on the 25th of May, on the evening of which day he took his departure for the New World. Without shifting a sail it reached Martinico.

Though prohibited from touching at Hispaniola, one of his vessels was so bad a sea boat that he ventured to steer for San Domingo, in order to change her for another.

Arriving off the river on the 29th of June, he found a fleet with Bobadilla on board, as well as a large amount of treasure and several unhappy Indian captives.

The agent of Columbus had shipped four thousand pieces of gold, recently collected or recovered from Bobadilla, on board one of the caravels.

Columbus immediately sent to ask permission of Ovando, who had a.s.sumed the government, to enter the harbour, stating that the weather looked threatening, and that he believed a hurricane was brewing.

Ovando most ungraciously refused the boon asked for by Columbus, who then again sent on sh.o.r.e, entreating that, although shelter was denied to him, the fleet about to sail might be detained in harbour until the coming tempest had spent its fury.

This request was also refused, the Governor and his officers not believing the warning. Columbus, therefore, steered along the coast, keeping as close to the sh.o.r.e as possible, convinced that the storm would blow from the north. The crews at once began to complain, having lost their reliance on one who was subjected to such ill treatment.

Within two days his predictions were verified. A fearful hurricane burst upon them, during which the ship carrying Bobadilla and an unfortunate cacique foundered, together with an enormous ma.s.s of gold,-- the princ.i.p.al part of the treasure gained by the miseries of the Indians. Many other ships were lost, some returning to San Domingo sorely battered, while only one, the weakest of the fleet, with the treasure of the Admiral on board, continued her voyage to Spain.

The squadron of Columbus, though having suffered much, safely reached the port of Hermoso, at the west end of San Domingo. Here he remained several days, and then, after touching at some small islands off Jamaica swept by the current, he reached a group near the coast of Honduras, one of which he called the Isla de Pinos, now known as Guanaja, or Bonacca.

The Adelantado, on landing on its beautiful and fertile sh.o.r.e, saw an immense canoe approaching, eight feet wide, and of great length, though formed of the trunk of a single tree. Under a canopy of palm-leaves sat a cacique, with his wives and children, rowed by twenty-five Indians.

The canoe was filled with all kinds of articles of manufacture and natural production. The Indians, without fear, came alongside the Admiral's caravel. He was delighted to obtain, without trouble, specimens of so many important articles of this part of the New World.

Among them were hatchets formed of copper, wooden swords with channels on each side of the blade, in which sharp flints were firmly fixed by cords formed of the intestines of fishes, such as were afterwards found among the Mexicans. There were bells and other articles of copper, and clay utensils; cotton shirts worked, and dyed with various colours; great quant.i.ties of cacao, a fruit as yet unknown to the Spaniards, and a beverage resembling beer, extracted from Indian corn. Their provisions consisted of maize bread, and roots of various kinds. Many of the articles they willingly exchanged for European trinkets. The women were wrapped in mantles like the female Moors of Grenada, and the men had cloths of cotton round their loins. From their being clothed, and from the superiority of their manufactures, the Admiral believed that he was approaching more civilised nations.

The natives stated that they had just arrived from a rich cultivated country, with the wealth and magnificence of which they endeavoured to impress him. His mind, however, being bent on the discovery of the strait, and believing that he could easily visit them at some future period, he determined to seek the mainland, and keep steadily on until he reached the opening between it and Paria.

Had he followed the advice of his visitors he might have discovered Mexico, and even the Southern Ocean might have been disclosed to him.

He was encouraged to persist in the course he had designed by hearing from an old man, whom he had detained as pilot, that there were many places farther on abounding in gold.

Reaching the mainland on Sunday, the 14th of August, he and his officers, and many of the men, landed, and Ma.s.s was performed under the trees. On the 17th the Adelantado went ash.o.r.e near the mouth of a river, and took possession of the country in the name of their Catholic Majesties. At this place upwards of a hundred Indians appeared, laden with bread, maize, fish, fowl, vegetables, and fruits.

These they laid down as presents, and then, without speaking a word, drew back. The Adelantado distributed among them various trinkets, which so pleased them that they came with still more abundant supplies.

These natives had higher foreheads than those of the islands. Some were entirely naked and had their bodies tatooed, some wore coverings about the loins, and others short cotton jerkins without sleeves. The chieftains had coats of white or coloured cotton. The Indian guide a.s.serted that some of them were cannibals.

Day after day, exposed to storms, drenching rains, and currents, Columbus made his way along the coast of Honduras, often gaining only a league or two in the day. Though suffering from gout, he still attended to his duty, having had a small cabin fitted on deck from which he could keep a look-out. Often he was so ill that he thought his end was approaching.

At length, after two months of continued gales, fine weather returned, and he doubled the Cape, to which he gave the name of Gracias a Dios, or Thanks to G.o.d. He next sailed along what is now called the Mosquito sh.o.r.e, seeing many rivers in which grew enormous reeds, abounding with fish, alligators, and turtles.

While the squadron was anch.o.r.ed near a river and the boats were on sh.o.r.e to obtain wood and water, a bore, or swell of the sea, occurred, by which one of them was swallowed up, and all on board perished. The name, therefore, of El Rio del Desastro was given to the river.

The next place at which the ships dropped anchor was between a beautiful island, which Columbus called La Huerta, or The Garden, and the mainland, where some way up was a native village named Cariari. The inhabitants, seeing the ships, quickly gathered on the sh.o.r.e, prepared to defend their country; but when the Spaniards made no attempt to land, their hostility ceased, and, waving their mantles, they invited the strangers on sh.o.r.e. Swimming off, they brought mantles of cotton and ornaments of guanin.

The Admiral, though he made them presents, would take nothing in exchange, and the savages, supposing that their proffered gifts were despised, retaliated, pretending indifference to the things offered them, and, on returning on sh.o.r.e, tied all the European articles up and left them on the beach.

The following day, while a boat cautiously approached the sh.o.r.e to procure water, a venerable-looking Indian appeared, bearing a white banner on the end of a staff, and leading a girl of fourteen, and another of about eight years of age. These he made signs were to be detained as hostages while the Spaniards were on sh.o.r.e. They were taken on board, and being kept under the care of the Admiral, were clothed and adorned with various ornaments, and on the following morning were restored to their friends, who appeared grateful for the kind way in which they had been treated, but returned all the presents they had received.

On the Adelantado approaching the beach, two of the princ.i.p.al natives, wading into the water, carried him ash.o.r.e in their arms. Wishing to collect information, he ordered the notary of the squadron to write down their replies; but no sooner did they see the pen, ink, and paper than, supposing he was working some necromantic spell, they fled in terror.

After some time they returned, scattering a fragrant powder in the air, intended, apparently, to counteract it. The Spaniards, equally ignorant, also fancied that the Indians were performing some magic rite; indeed, Columbus a.s.serts that they believed all the hardships and foul winds they had experienced on the coast were owing to the witchcraft of the natives.

On leaving this place, Columbus carried off two of the natives, to serve as guides, promising that he would restore them, with ample remuneration, on his return.