The Discovery of America Part 37

[Sidenote: Troubles with the Indians.]

Of the attempt of Columbus to collect tribute from the native population, and its consequences in developing the system of _repartimientos_ out of which grew Indian slavery, I shall treat in a future chapter.[579] That attempt, which was ill-advised and ill-managed, was part of a plan for checking wanton depredations and regulating the relations between the Spaniards and the Indians. The colonists behaved so badly toward the red men that the chieftain Caonabo, who had destroyed La Navidad the year before, now formed a scheme[580] for a general alliance among the native tribes, hoping with sufficient numbers to overwhelm and exterminate the strangers, in spite of their solid-hoofed monsters and death-dealing thunderbolts. This scheme was revealed to Columbus, soon after his return from the coast of Cuba, by the chieftain Guacanagari, who was an enemy to Caonabo and courted the friendship of the Spaniards. Alonso de Ojeda, by a daring stratagem, captured Caonabo and brought him to Columbus, who treated him kindly but kept him a prisoner until it should be convenient to send him to Spain. But this chieftain's scheme was nevertheless put in operation through the influence of his princ.i.p.al wife Anacaona. An Indian war broke out; roaming bands of Spaniards were ambushed and ma.s.sacred; and there was fighting in the field, where the natives--a.s.sailed by firearms and cross-bows, horses and bloodhounds--were wofully defeated.

[Footnote 579: See below, vol. ii. pp. 433, 434.]

[Footnote 580: The first of a series of such schemes in American history, including those of Sa.s.sacus, Philip, Pontiac, and to some extent Tec.u.mseh.]

[Sidenote: Mission of Aguado.]

[Sidenote: Discovery of gold mines.]

[Sidenote: Speculations about Ophir.]

Thus in the difficult task of controlling mutinous white men and defending the colony against infuriated red men Columbus spent the first twelvemonth after his return from Cuba. In October, 1495, there arrived in the harbour of Isabella four caravels laden with welcome supplies. In one of these ships came Juan Aguado, sent by the sovereigns to gather information respecting the troubles of the colony. This appointment was doubtless made in a friendly spirit, for Columbus had formerly recommended Aguado to favour. But the arrival of such a person created a hope, which quickly grew into a belief, that the sovereigns were preparing to deprive Columbus of the government of the island; and, as Irving neatly says, "it was a time of jubilee for offenders; every culprit started up into an accuser." All the ills of the colony, many of them inevitable in such an enterprise, many of them due to the shiftlessness and folly, the cruelty and l.u.s.t of idle swash-bucklers, were now laid at the door of Columbus. Aguado was presently won over by the malcontents, so that by the time he was ready to return to Spain, early in 1496, Columbus felt it desirable to go along with him and make his own explanations to the sovereigns. Fortunately for his purposes, just before he started, some rich gold mines were discovered on the south side of the island, in the neighbourhood of the Hayna and Ozema rivers. Moreover there were sundry pits in these mines, which looked like excavations and seemed to indicate that in former times there had been digging done.[581] This discovery confirmed the Admiral in a new theory, which he was beginning to form. If it should turn out that Hispaniola was not c.i.p.ango, as the last voyage seemed to suggest, perhaps it might prove to be Ophir![582] Probably these ancient excavations were made by King Solomon's men when they came here to get gold for the temple at Jerusalem! If so, one might expect to find silver, ivory, red sandal-wood, apes, and peac.o.c.ks at no great distance.

Just where Ophir was situated no one could exactly tell,[583] but the things that were carried thence to Jerusalem certainly came from "the Indies." Columbus conceived it as probably lying northeastward of the Golden Chersonese (Malacca) and as identical with the island of Hispaniola.

[Footnote 581: The Indians then living upon the island did not dig, but sc.r.a.ped up the small pieces of gold that were more or less abundant in the beds of shallow streams.]

[Footnote 582: Peter Martyr, _De Rebus Oceanicis_, dec. i. lib.

iv.]

[Footnote 583: The original Ophir may be inferred, from _Genesis_ x. 29, to have been situated where, as Milton says,

"northeast winds blow Sabaean odours from the spicy sh.o.r.e Of Araby the Blest,"

but the name seems to have become applied indiscriminately to the remote countries reached by ships that sailed past that coast; chiefly no doubt, to Hindustan. See La.s.sen, _Indische Alterthumskunde_, bd. i. p. 538.]

[Sidenote: Founding of San Domingo, 1496.]

[Sidenote: The return voyage.]

The discovery of these mines led to the transfer of the headquarters of the colony to the mouth of the Ozema river, where, in the summer of 1496, Bartholomew Columbus made a settlement which became the city of San Domingo.[584] Meanwhile Aguado and the Admiral sailed for Spain early in March, in two caravels overloaded with more than two hundred homesick pa.s.sengers. In choosing his course Columbus did not show so much sagacity as on his first return voyage. Instead of working northward till clear of the belt of trade-winds, he kept straight to the east, and so spent a month in beating and tacking before getting out of the Caribbean Sea. Scarcity of food was imminent, and it became necessary to stop at Guadaloupe and make a quant.i.ty of ca.s.sava bread.[585] It was well that this was done, for as the ships worked slowly across the Atlantic, struggling against perpetual head-winds, the provisions were at length exhausted, and by the first week in June the famine was such that Columbus had some difficulty in preventing the crews from eating their Indian captives, of whom there were thirty or more on board.[586]

[Footnote 584: Bartholomew's town was built on the left side of the river, and was called New Isabella. In 1504 it was destroyed by a hurricane, and rebuilt on the right bank in its present situation. It was then named San Domingo after the patron saint of Domenico, the father of Columbus.]

[Footnote 585: While the Spaniards were on this island they encountered a party of tall and powerful women armed with bows and arrows; so that Columbus supposed it must be the Asiatic island of Amazons mentioned by Marco Polo. See Yule's _Marco Polo_, vol. ii. pp. 338-340.]

[Footnote 586: Among them was Caonabo, who died on the voyage.]

[Sidenote: Edicts of 1495 and 1497.]

At length, on the 11th of June, the haggard and starving company arrived at Cadiz, and Columbus, while awaiting orders from the sovereigns, stayed at the house of his good friend Bernaldez, the curate of Los Palacios.[587] After a month he attended court at Burgos, and was kindly received. No allusion was made to the complaints against him, and the sovereigns promised to furnish ships for a third voyage of discovery.

For the moment, however, other things interfered with this enterprise.

One was the marriage of the son and daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella to the daughter and son of the Emperor Maximilian. The war with France was at the same time fast draining the treasury. Indeed, for more than twenty years, Castile had been at war nearly all the time, first with Portugal, next with Granada, then with France; and the crown never found it easy to provide money for maritime enterprises. Accordingly, at the earnest solicitation of Vicente Yanez Pinzon and other enterprising mariners, the sovereigns had issued a proclamation, April 10, 1495, granting to all native Spaniards the privilege of making, at their own risk and expense, voyages of discovery or traffic to the newly found coasts. As the crown was to take a pretty heavy tariff out of the profits of these expeditions, while all losses were to be borne by the adventurers, a fairly certain source of revenue, be it great or small, seemed likely to be opened.[588] Columbus protested against this edict, inasmuch as he deemed himself ent.i.tled to a patent or monopoly in the work of conducting expeditions to Cathay. The sovereigns evaded the difficulty by an edict of June 2, 1497, declaring that it was never their intention "in any way to affect the rights of the said Don Christopher Columbus." This declaration was, doubtless, intended simply to pacify the Admiral. It did not prevent the authorization of voyages conducted by other persons a couple of years later; and, as I shall show in the next chapter, there are strong reasons for believing that on May 10, 1497, three weeks before this edict, an expedition sailed from Cadiz under the especial auspices of King Ferdinand, with Vicente Yanez Pinzon for its chief commander and Americus Vespucius for one of its pilots.

[Footnote 587: The curate thus heard the story of the second voyage from Columbus himself while it was fresh in his mind.

Columbus also left with him written memoranda, so that for the events of this expedition the _Historia de los Reyes Catolicos_ is of the highest authority.]

[Footnote 588: "All vessels were to sail exclusively from the port of Cadiz, and under the inspection of officers appointed by the crown. Those who embarked for Hispaniola without pay, and at their own expense, were to have lands a.s.signed to them, and to be provisioned for one year, with a right to retain such lands and all houses they might erect upon them. Of all gold which they might collect, they were to retain one third for themselves, and pay two thirds to the crown. Of all other articles of merchandise, the produce of the island, they were to pay merely one tenth to the crown. Their purchases were to be made in the presence of officers appointed by the sovereigns, and the royal duties paid into the hands of the king's receiver. Each ship sailing on private enterprise was to take one or two persons named by the royal officers at Cadiz.

One tenth of the tonnage of the ship was to be at the service of the crown, free of charge. One tenth of whatever such ships should procure in the newly-discovered countries was to be paid to the crown on their return. These regulations included private ships trading to Hispaniola with provisions. For every vessel thus fitted out on private adventure, Columbus, in consideration of his privilege of an eighth of tonnage, was to have the right to freight one on his own account." Irving's _Columbus_, vol. ii. p. 76.]

[Sidenote: Columbus loses his temper.]

It was not until late in the spring of 1498 that the ships were ready for Columbus. Everything that Fonseca could do to vex and delay him was done. One of the bishop's minions, a converted Moor or Jew named Ximeno Breviesca, behaved with such outrageous insolence that on the day of sailing the Admiral's indignation, so long restrained, at last broke out, and he drove away the fellow with kicks and cuffs.[589] This imprudent act gave Fonseca the opportunity to maintain that what the Admiral's accusers said about his tyrannical disposition must be true.

[Footnote 589: "Parece que uno debiera de, en estos reveses, y, por ventura, en palabras contra el y contra la negociacion destas Indias, mas que otro senala.r.s.e, y segun entendi, no debiera ser cristiano viejo, y creo que se llamaba Ximeno, contra el cual debio el Almirante gravemente sentirse y enoja.r.s.e, y aguardo el dia que se hizo a la vela, y, o en la nao que entro, por ventura, el dicho oficial, o en tierra quando queria desembarca.r.s.e, arrebatolo el Almirante, y dale muchas coces o remesones, por manera que lo trato mal; y a mi parecer, por esta causa princ.i.p.almente, sobre otras quejas que fueron de aca, y cosas que murmuraron del y contra el los que bien con el no estaban y le ac.u.mularon; los Reyes indignados proveyeron de quitarle la gobernacion." Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, tom. ii. p. 199.]

[Sidenote: The third voyage.]

The expedition started on May 30, 1498, from the little port of San Lucar de Barrameda. There were six ships, carrying about 200 men besides the sailors. On June 21, at the Isle of Ferro, the Admiral divided his fleet, sending three ships directly to Hispaniola, while with the other three he kept on to the Cape Verde islands, whence he steered southwest on the 4th of July. A week later, after a run of about 900 miles, his astrolabe seemed to show that he was within five degrees of the equator.[590] There were three reasons for going so far to the south:--1, the natives of the islands already visited always pointed in that direction when gold was mentioned; 2, a learned jeweller, who had travelled in the East, had a.s.sured Columbus that gold and gems, as well as spices and rare drugs, were to be found for the most part among black people near the equator; 3, if he should not find any rich islands on the way, a sufficiently long voyage would bring him to the coast of Champa (Cochin China) at a lower point than he had reached on the preceding voyage, and nearer to the Golden Chersonese (Malacca), by doubling which he could enter the Indian ocean. It will be remembered that he supposed the southwesterly curve in the Cuban coast, the farthest point reached in his second voyage, to be the beginning of the coast of Cochin China according to Marco Polo.

[Footnote 590: The figure given by Columbus is equivalent only to 360 geographical miles (Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. i. p.

246), but as Las Casas (_Hist._ tom. ii. p. 226) already noticed, there must be some mistake here, for on a S. W. course from the Cape Verde islands it would require a distance of 900 geographical miles to cut the fifth parallel. From the weather that followed, it is clear that Columbus stated his lat.i.tude pretty correctly; he had come into the belt of calms. Therefore his error must be in the distance run.]

[Sidenote: The belt of calms.]

Once more through ignorance of the atmospheric conditions of the regions within the tropics Columbus encountered needless perils and hardships.

If he had steered from Ferro straight across the ocean a trifle south of west-southwest, he might have made a quick and comfortable voyage, with the trade-wind filling his sails, to the spot where he actually struck land.[591] As it was, however, he naturally followed the custom then so common, of first running to the parallel upon which he intended to sail.

This long southerly run brought him into the belt of calms or neutral zone between the northern and southern trade-winds, a little north of the equator.[592] No words can describe what followed so well as those of Irving: "The wind suddenly fell, and a dead sultry calm commenced, which lasted for eight days. The air was like a furnace; the tar melted, the seams of the ship yawned; the salt meat became putrid; the wheat was parched as if with fire; the hoops shrank from the wine and water casks, some of which leaked and others burst, while the heat in the holds of the vessels was so suffocating that no one could remain below a sufficient time to prevent the damage that was taking place. The mariners lost all strength and spirits, and sank under the oppressive heat. It seemed as if the old fable of the torrid zone was about to be realized; and that they were approaching a fiery region where it would be impossible to exist."[593]

[Footnote 591: Humboldt in 1799 did just this thing, starting from Teneriffe and reaching Trinidad in nineteen days. See Bruhn's _Life of Humboldt_, vol. i. p. 263.]

[Footnote 592: "The strength of the trade-winds depends entirely upon the difference in temperature between the equator and the pole; the greater the difference, the stronger the wind. Now, at the present time, the south pole is much colder than the north pole, and the southern trades are consequently much stronger than the northern, so that the neutral zone in which they meet lies some five degrees north of the equator."

_Excursions of an Evolutionist_, p. 64.]

[Footnote 593: Irving's _Columbus_, vol. ii. p. 137. One is reminded of a scene in the _Rime of the Ancient Mariner_:--

"All in a hot and copper sky The b.l.o.o.d.y sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the moon.

"Day after day, day after day, We stuck,--nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean."]

Fortunately, they were in a region where the ocean is comparatively narrow. The longitude reached by Columbus on July 13, when the wind died away, must have been about 36 or 37 W., and a run of only 800 miles west from that point would have brought him to Cayenne. His course between the 13th and 21st of July must have intersected the thermal equator, or line of greatest mean annual heat on the globe,--an irregular curve which is here deflected as much as five degrees north of the equinoctial line. But although there was not a breath of wind, the powerful equatorial current was quietly driving the ships, much faster than the Admiral could have suspected, to the northwest and toward land.

By the end of that stifling week they were in lat.i.tude 7 N., and caught the trade-wind on the starboard quarter. Thence after a brisk run of ten days, in sorry plight, with ugly leaks and scarcely a cask of fresh water left, they arrived within sight of land. Three mountain peaks loomed up in the offing before them, and as they drew nearer it appeared that those peaks belonged to one great mountain; wherefore the pious Admiral named the island Trinidad.

[Sidenote: Trinidad and the Orinoco.]

Here some surprises were in store for Columbus. Instead of finding black and woolly-haired natives, he found men of cinnamon hue, like those in Hispaniola, only--strange to say--lighter in colour. Then in coasting Trinidad he caught a glimpse of land at the delta of the Orinoco, and called it Isla Santa, or Holy Island.[594] But, on pa.s.sing into the gulf of Paria, through the strait which he named Serpent's Mouth, his ships were in sore danger of being swamped by the raging surge that poured from three or four of the lesser mouths of that stupendous river.

Presently, finding that the water in the gulf was fresh to the taste, he gradually reasoned his way to the correct conclusion, that the billows which had so nearly overwhelmed him must have come out from a river greater than any he had ever known or dreamed of, and that so vast a stream of running water could be produced only upon land of continental dimensions.[595] This coast to the south of him was, therefore, the coast of a continent, with indefinite extension toward the south, a land not laid down upon Toscanelli's or any other map, and of which no one had until that time known anything.[596]

[Footnote 594: He "gave it the name of Isla Santa," says Irving (vol. ii. p. 140), "little imagining that he now, for the first time, beheld that continent, that Terra Firma, which had been the object of his earnest search." The reader of this pa.s.sage should bear in mind that the continent of South America, which n.o.body had ever heard of, was _not_ the object of Columbus's search. The Terra Firma which was the object of his search was the mainland of Asia, and that he never beheld, though he felt positively sure that he had already set foot upon it in 1492 and 1494.]

[Footnote 595: A modern traveller thus describes this river: "Right and left of us lay, at some distance off, the low banks of the Apure, at this point quite a broad stream. But before us the waters spread out like a wide dark flood, limited on the horizon only by a low black streak, and here and there showing a few distant hills. This was the Orinoco, rolling with irrepressible power and majesty sea-wards, and often upheaving its billows like the ocean when lashed to fury by the wind....

The Orinoco sends a current of fresh water far into the ocean, its waters--generally green, but in the shallows milk-white--contrasting sharply with the indigo blue of the surrounding sea." Bates, _Central America, the West Indies, and South America_, 2d ed., London, 1882, pp. 234, 235. The island of Trinidad forms an obstacle to the escape of this huge volume of fresh water, and hence the furious commotion at the two outlets, the Serpent's Mouth and Dragon's Mouth, especially in July and August, when the Orinoco is swollen with tropical rains.]

[Footnote 596: In Columbus's own words, in his letter to the sovereigns describing this third voyage, "Y digo que ... viene este rio y procede de tierra infinita, pues al austro, de la cual fasta agora no se ha habido noticia." Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. i. p. 262.]