The Discovery of America Part 38

[Ill.u.s.tration: Discoveries made by Columbus in his third and fourth voyages.]

[Sidenote: Speculations as to the earth's shape.]

[Sidenote: The mountain of Paradise.]

In spite of the correctness of this surmise, Columbus was still as far from a true interpretation of the whole situation as when he supposed Hispaniola to be Ophir. He entered upon a series of speculations which forcibly remind us how empirical was the notion of the earth's rotundity before the inauguration of physical astronomy by Galileo, Kepler, and Newton. We now know that our planet has the only shape possible for such a rotating ma.s.s that once was fluid or nebulous, the shape of a spheroid slightly protuberant at the equator and flattened at the poles; but this knowledge is the outcome of mechanical principles utterly unknown and unsuspected in the days of Columbus. He understood that the earth is a round body, but saw no necessity for its being strictly spherical or spheroidal. He now suggested that it was probably shaped like a pear, rather a blunt and corpulent pear, nearly spherical in its lower part, but with a short, stubby apex in the equatorial region somewhere beyond the point which he had just reached. He fancied he had been sailing up a gentle slope from the burning gla.s.sy sea where his ships had been becalmed to this strange and beautiful coast where he found the climate enchanting. If he were to follow up the mighty river just now revealed, it might lead him to the summit of this apex of the world, the place where the terrestrial paradise, the Garden which the Lord planted eastward in Eden, was in all probability situated![597]

[Footnote 597: Thus would be explained the astounding force with which the water was poured down. It was common in the Middle Ages to imagine the terrestrial paradise at the top of a mountain. See Dante, _Purgatorio_, canto xxviii. Columbus quotes many authorities in favour of his opinion. The whole letter is worth reading. See Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 242-264.]

[Sidenote: Relation of the "Eden continent" to "Cochin China."]

As Columbus still held to the opinion that by keeping to the west from that point he should soon reach the coast of Cochin China, his conception of the position of Eden is thus pretty clearly indicated. He imagined it as situated about on the equator, upon a continental ma.s.s till then unknown, but evidently closely connected with the continent of Asia if not a part of it. If he had lived long enough to hear of Quito and its immense elevation, I should suppose that might very well have suited his idea of the position of Eden. The coast of this continent, upon which he had now arrived, was either continuous with the coast of Cochin China (Cuba) and Malacca, or would be found to be divided from it by a strait through which one might pa.s.s directly into the Indian ocean.

[Sidenote: The Pearl Coast.]

[Sidenote: Arrival at San Domingo.]

It took some little time for this theory to come to maturity in the mind of Columbus. Not expecting to find any mainland in that quarter, he began by calling different points of the coast different islands. Coming out through the pa.s.sage which he named Dragon's Mouth, he caught distant glimpses of Tobago and Grenada to starboard, and turning westward followed the Pearl Coast as far as the islands of Margarita and Cubagua.

The fine pearls which he found there in abundance confirmed him in the good opinion he had formed of that country. By this time, the 15th of August, he had so far put facts together as to become convinced of the continental character of that coast, and would have been glad to pursue it westward. But now his strength gave out. During most of the voyage he had suffered acute torments with gout, his temperature had been very feverish, and his eyes were at length so exhausted with perpetual watching that he could no longer make observations. So he left the coast a little beyond Cubagua, and steered straight for Hispaniola, aiming at San Domingo, but hitting the island of Beata because he did not make allowance for the westerly flow of the currents. He arrived at San Domingo on the 30th of August, and found his brother Bartholomew, whom he intended to send at once on a further cruise along the Pearl Coast, while he himself should be resting and recovering strength.

[Sidenote: Roldan's rebellion.]

[Sidenote: Fonseca's machinations.]

But alas! there was to be no cruising now for the younger brother nor rest for the elder. It was a sad story that Bartholomew had to tell. War with the Indians had broken out afresh, and while the Adelantado was engaged in this business a scoundrel named Roldan had taken advantage of his absence to stir up civil strife. Roldan's rebellion was a result of the ill-advised mission of Aguado. The malcontents in the colony interpreted the Admiral's long stay in Spain as an indication that he had lost favour with the sovereigns and was not coming back to the island. Gathering together a strong body of rebels, Roldan retired to Xaragua and formed an alliance with the brother of the late chieftain Caonabo. By the time the Admiral arrived the combination of mutiny with barbaric warfare had brought about a frightful state of things. A party of soldiers, sent by him to suppress Roldan, straightway deserted and joined that rebel. It thus became necessary to come to terms with Roldan, and this revelation of the weakness of the government only made matters worse. Two wretched years were pa.s.sed in attempts to restore order in Hispaniola, while the work of discovery and exploration was postponed. Meanwhile the items of information that found their way to Spain were skilfully employed by Fonseca in poisoning the minds of the sovereigns, until at last they decided to send out a judge to the island, armed with plenary authority to make investigations and settle disputes. The glory which Columbus had won by the first news of the discovery of the Indies had now to some extent faded away. The enterprise yielded as yet no revenue and entailed great expense; and whenever some reprobate found his way back to Spain, the malicious Fonseca prompted him to go to the treasury with a claim for pay alleged to have been wrongfully withheld by the Admiral. Ferdinand Columbus tells how some fifty such scamps were gathered one day in the courtyard of the Alhambra, cursing his father and catching hold of the king's robe, crying, "Pay us! pay us!" and as he and his brother Diego, who were pages in the queen's service, happened to pa.s.s by, they were greeted with hoots:--"There go the sons of the Admiral of Mosquito-land, the man who has discovered a land of vanity and deceit, the grave of Spanish gentlemen!"[598]

[Footnote 598: "Ecco i figliuoli dell' Ammiraglio de'

Mosciolini, di colui che ha trovate terre di vanita e d'

inganno, per sepoltura e miseria de' gentiluomini castigliani."

_Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. lx.x.xiv.]

[Sidenote: Gama's voyage to Hindustan, 1497.]

An added sting was given to such taunts by a great event that happened about this time. In the summer of 1497, Vasco da Gama started from Lisbon for the Cape of Good Hope, and in the summer of 1499 he returned, after having doubled the cape and crossed the Indian ocean to Calicut on the Malabar coast of Hindustan. His voyage was the next Portuguese step sequent upon that of Bartholomew Dias. There was nothing questionable or dubious about Gama's triumph. He had seen splendid cities, talked with a powerful Rajah, and met with Arab vessels, their crews madly jealous at the unprecedented sight of Christian ships in those waters; and he brought back with him to Lisbon nutmegs and cloves, pepper and ginger, rubies and emeralds, damask robes with satin linings, bronze chairs with cushions, trumpets of carved ivory, a sunshade of crimson satin, a sword in a silver scabbard, and no end of such gear.[599] An old civilization had been found and a route of commerce discovered, and a factory was to be set up at once on that Indian coast. What a contrast to the miserable performance of Columbus, who had started with the flower of Spain's chivalry for rich c.i.p.ango, and had only led them to a land where they must either starve or do work fit for peasants, while he spent his time in cruising among wild islands! The king of Portugal could now snap his fingers at Ferdinand and Isabella, and if a doubt should have sometimes crossed the minds of those chagrined sovereigns, as to whether this plausible Genoese mariner might not, after all, be a humbug or a crazy enthusiast, we can hardly wonder at it.

[Footnote 599: Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, pp.

398-401.]

[Sidenote: Fonseca's creature, Bobadilla.]

[Sidenote: Columbus in chains.]

The person sent to investigate the affairs of Hispaniola was Francisco de Bobadilla, a knight commander of the order of Calatrava. He carried several doc.u.ments, one of them directing him to make inquiries and punish offenders, another containing his appointment as governor, a third commanding Columbus and his brothers to surrender to him all fortresses and other public property.[600] The two latter papers were to be used only in case of such grave misconduct proved against Columbus as to justify his removal from the government. These papers were made out in the spring of 1499, but Bobadilla was not sent out until July, 1500.

When he arrived at San Domingo on the 23d of August, the insurrection had been suppressed; the Admiral and Bartholomew were bringing things into order in distant parts of the island, while Diego was left in command at San Domingo. Seven ringleaders had just been hanged, and five more were in prison under sentence of death. If Bobadilla had not come upon the scene this wholesome lesson might have worked some improvement in affairs.[601] He destroyed its moral in a twinkling. The first day after landing, he read aloud, at the church door, the paper directing him to make inquiries and punish offenders; and forthwith demanded of Diego Columbus that the condemned prisoners should be delivered up to him. Diego declined to take so important a step until he could get orders from the Admiral. Next day Bobadilla read his second and third papers, proclaimed himself governor, called on Diego to surrender the fortress and public buildings, and renewed his demand for the prisoners.

As Diego still hesitated to act before news of these proceedings could be sent to his brother, Bobadilla broke into the fortress, took the prisoners out, and presently set them free. All the rebellious spirits in the colony were thus drawn to the side of Bobadilla, whose royal commission, under such circ.u.mstances, gave him irresistible power. He threw Diego into prison and loaded him with fetters. He seized the Admiral's house, and confiscated all his personal property, even including his business papers and private letters. When the Admiral arrived in San Domingo, Bobadilla, without even waiting to see him, sent an officer to put him in irons and take him to prison. When Bartholomew arrived, he received the same treatment. The three brothers were confined in different places, n.o.body was allowed to visit them, and they were not informed of the offences with which they were charged.

While they lay in prison, Bobadilla busied himself with inventing an excuse for this violent behaviour. Finally he hit upon one at which Satan from the depths of his bottomless pit must have grimly smiled. He said that he had arrested and imprisoned the brothers only because he had reason to believe they were inciting the Indians to aid them in resisting the commands of Ferdinand and Isabella!! In short, from the day of his landing Bobadilla made common cause with the insurgent rabble, and when they had furnished him with a ream or so of charges against the Admiral and his brothers, it seemed safe to send these gentlemen to Spain. They were put on board ship, with their fetters upon them, and the officer in charge was instructed by Bobadilla to deliver them into the hands of Bishop Fonseca, who was thus to have the privilege of glutting to the full his revengeful spite.

[Footnote 600: The doc.u.ments are given in Navarrete, _Coleccion de viages_, tom. ii. pp. 235-240; and, with accompanying narrative, in Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. ii. pp.

472-487.]

[Footnote 601: No better justification for the government of the brothers Columbus can be found than to contrast it with the infinitely worse state of affairs that ensued under the administrations of Bobadilla and Ovando. See below, vol. ii.

pp. 442-446.]

[Sidenote: Return to Spain.]

[Sidenote: Release of Columbus.]

The master of the ship, shocked at the sight of fetters upon such a man as the Admiral, would have taken them off, but Columbus would not let it be done. No, indeed! they should never come off except by order of the sovereigns, and then he would keep them for the rest of his life, to show how his labours had been rewarded.[602] The event--which always justifies true manliness--proved the sagacity of this proud demeanour.

Fonseca was baulked of his gratification. The clumsy Bobadilla had overdone the business. The sight of the Admiral's stately and venerable figure in chains, as he pa.s.sed through the streets of Cadiz, on a December day of that year 1500, awakened a popular outburst of sympathy for him and indignation at his persecutors. While on the ship he had written or dictated a beautiful and touching letter[603] to a lady of whom the queen was fond, the former nurse of the Infante, whose untimely death, three years since, his mother was still mourning. This letter reached the court at Granada, and was read to the queen before she had heard of Bobadilla's performances from any other quarter. A courier was sent in all haste to Cadiz, with orders that the brothers should at once be released, and with a letter to the Admiral, inviting him to court and enclosing an order for money to cover his expenses. The scene in the Alhambra, when Columbus arrived, is one of the most touching in history.

Isabella received him with tears in her eyes, and then this much-enduring old man, whose proud and masterful spirit had so long been proof against all wrongs and insults, broke down. He threw himself at the feet of the sovereigns in an agony of tears and sobs.[604]

[Footnote 602: Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. ii. p.

501; F. Columbus, _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. lx.x.xv.

Ferdinand adds that he had often seen these fetters hanging in his father's room.]

[Footnote 603: It is given in full in Las Casas, _op. cit._ tom. ii. pp. 502-510.]

[Footnote 604: Herrera, _Historia_, dec. i. lib. iv. cap. 10.]

[Sidenote: How far were the sovereigns responsible for Bobadilla?]

How far the sovereigns should be held responsible for the behaviour of their agent is not altogether easy to determine. The appointment of such a creature as Bobadilla was a sad blunder, but one such as is liable to be made under any government. Fonseca was very powerful at court, and Bobadilla never would have dared to proceed as he did if he had not known that the bishop would support him. Indeed, from the indecent haste with which he went about his work, without even the pretence of a judicial inquiry, it is probable that he started with private instructions from that quarter. But, while Fonseca had some of the wisdom along with the venom of the serpent, Bobadilla was simply a jacka.s.s, and behaved so that in common decency the sovereigns were obliged to disown him. They took no formal or public notice of his written charges against the Admiral, and they a.s.sured the latter that he should be reimbursed for his losses and restored to his viceroyalty and other dignities.

[Sidenote: Ovando, another creature of Fonseca, appointed governor of Hispaniola.]

This last promise, however, was not fulfilled; partly, perhaps, because Fonseca's influence was still strong enough to prevent it, partly because the sovereigns may have come to the sound and reasonable conclusion that for the present there was no use in committing the government of that disorderly rabble in Hispaniola to a foreigner. What was wanted was a Spanish priest, and a military priest withal, of the sort that Spain then had in plenty. Obedience to priests came natural to Spaniards. The man now selected was Nicolas de Ovando, a knight commander of the order of Alcantara, of whom we shall have more to say hereafter.[605] Suffice it now to observe that he proved himself a famous disciplinarian, and that he was a great favourite with Fonseca, to whom he seems to have owed his appointment. He went out in February, 1502, with a fleet of thirty ships carrying 2,500 persons, for the pendulum of public opinion had taken another swing, and faith in the Indies was renewed. Some great discoveries, to be related in the next chapter, had been made since 1498; and, moreover, the gold mines of Hispaniola were beginning to yield rich treasures.

[Footnote 605: See below, vol. ii. pp. 435-446.]

[Sidenote: Purpose of Columbus's fourth voyage.]

But, while the sovereigns were not disposed to restore Columbus to his viceroyalty, they were quite ready to send him on another voyage of discovery which was directly suggested by the recent Portuguese voyage of Gama. Since nothing was yet known about the discovery of a New World, the achievement of Gama seemed to have eclipsed that of Columbus. Spain must make a response to Portugal. As already observed, the Admiral supposed the coast of his "Eden continent" (South America) either to be continuous with the coast of Cochin China (Cuba) and Malacca, or else to be divided from that coast by a strait. The latter opinion was the more probable, since Marco Polo and a few other Europeans had sailed from China into the Indian ocean without encountering any great continent that had to be circ.u.mnavigated. The recent expedition of Vespucius and Ojeda (1499-1500) had followed the northern coast of South America for a long distance to the west of Cubagua, as far as the gulf of Maracaibo.

Columbus now decided to return to the coast of Cochin China (Cuba) and follow the coast southwestward until he should find the pa.s.sage between his Eden continent and the Golden Chersonese (Malacca) into the Indian ocean. He would thus be able to reach by this western route the same sh.o.r.es of Hindustan which Gama had lately reached by sailing eastward.

So confident did he feel of the success of this enterprise, that he wrote a letter to Pope Alexander VI., renewing his vow to furnish troops for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre.[606] It was no doubt the symptom of a reaction against his misfortunes that he grew more and more mystical in these days, consoling himself with the belief that he was a chosen instrument in the hands of Providence for enlarging the bounds of Christendom. In this mood he made some studies on the prophecies, after the fantastic fashion of his time,[607] and a habit grew upon him of attributing his discoveries to miraculous inspiration rather than to the good use to which his poetical and scientific mind had put the data furnished by Marco Polo and the ancient geographers.

[Footnote 606: Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii. pp. 280-282.]

[Footnote 607: The MS. volume of notes on the prophecies is in the Colombina. There is a description of it in Navarrete, tom.

ii. pp. 260-273.]

[Sidenote: Crossing the Atlantic.]

[Sidenote: Columbus not allowed to stop at San Domingo.]

The armament for the Admiral's fourth and last voyage consisted of four small caravels, of from fifty to seventy tons burthen, with crews numbering, all told, 150 men. His brother Bartholomew, and his younger son Ferdinand, then a boy of fourteen, accompanied him. They sailed from Cadiz on the 11th of May, 1502, and finally left the Canaries behind on the 26th of the same month. The course chosen was the same as on the second voyage, and the unfailing trade-winds brought the ships on the 15th of June to an island called Mantinino, probably Martinique, not more than ten leagues distant from Dominica. The Admiral had been instructed not to touch at Hispaniola upon his way out, probably for fear of further commotions there until Ovando should have succeeded in bringing order out of the confusion ten times worse confounded into which Bobadilla's misgovernment had thrown that island. Columbus might stop there on his return, but not on his outward voyage. His intention had, therefore, been, on reaching the cannibal islands, to steer for Jamaica, thence make the short run to "Cochin China," and then turn southwards. But as one of his caravels threatened soon to become unmanageable, he thought himself justified in touching at San Domingo long enough to hire a sound vessel in place of her. Ovando had a.s.sumed the government there in April, and a squadron of 26 or 28 ships, containing Roldan and Bobadilla, with huge quant.i.ties of gold wrung from the enslaved Indians, was ready to start for Spain about the end of June. In one of these ships were 4,000 pieces of gold destined for Columbus, probably a part of the reimburs.e.m.e.nt that had been promised him. On the 29th of June the Admiral arrived in the harbour and stated the nature of his errand. At the same time, as his practised eye had detected the symptoms of an approaching hurricane, he requested permission to stay in the harbour until it should be over, and he furthermore sent to the commander of the fleet a friendly warning not to venture out to sea at present. His requests and his warnings were alike treated with contumely. He was ordered to leave the harbour, and did so in great indignation. As his first care was for the approaching tempest, he did not go far but found safe anchorage in a sheltered and secluded cove, where his vessels rode the storm with difficulty but without serious damage. Meanwhile the governor's great fleet had rashly put out to sea, and was struck with fatal fury by wind and wave. Twenty or more ships went to the bottom, with Bobadilla, Roldan, and most of the Admiral's princ.i.p.al enemies, besides all the ill-gotten treasure; five or six shattered caravels, unable to proceed, found their way back to San Domingo; of all the fleet, only one ship arrived safe and sound in Spain, and that, says Ferdinand, was the one that had on board his father's gold. Truly it was such an instance of poetical justice as one does not often witness in this world. "We will not inquire now," says Las Casas, who witnessed the affair, "into this remarkable divine judgment, for at the last day of the world it will be made quite clear to us."[608] If such judgments were more often visited upon the right persons, perhaps the ways of Providence would not have so generally come to be regarded as inscrutable.

[Footnote 608: "Aqueste tan gran juicio de Dios no curemos de escudrinallo, pues en el dia final deste mundo nos sera bien claro." _Hist. do las Indias_, tom. iii. p. 32; cf. _Vita dell'

Ammiraglio_, cap. lx.x.xvii. As Las Casas was then in San Domingo, having come out in Ovando's fleet, and as Ferdinand Columbus was with his father, the testimony is very direct.]