THE LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
FROM HIS OWN LETTERS AND JOURNALS
--AND --
OTHER DOCUMENTS OF HIS TIME.
by EDWARD EVERETT HALE,
PREFACE.
This book contains a life of Columbus, written with the hope of
interesting all classes of readers.
His life has often been written, and it has sometimes been well
written. The great book of our countryman, Washington Irving, is
a noble model of diligent work given to a very difficult subject.
And I think every person who has dealt with the life of Columbus
since Irving's time, has expressed his gratitude and respect for
the author.
According to the custom of biographers, in that time and since,
he includes in those volumes the whole history of the West India
islands, for the period after Columbus discovered them till his
death. He also thinks it his duty to include much of the history
of Spain and of the Spanish court. I do not myself believe that
it is wise to attempt, in a book of biography, so considerable a
study of the history of the time. Whether it be wise or not, I
have not attempted it in this book. I have rather attempted to
follow closely the personal fortunes of Christopher Columbus,
and, to the history around him, I have given only such space as
seemed absolutely necessary for the illustration of those
fortunes.
I have followed on the lines of his own personal narrative
wherever we have it. And where this is lost I have used the
absolutely contemporary authorities. I have also consulted the
later writers, those of the next generation and the generation
which followed it. But the more one studies the life of Columbus
the more one feels sure that, after the greatness of his
discovery was really known, the accounts of the time were
overlaid by what modern criticism calls myths, which had grown up
in the enthusiasm of those who honored him, and which form no
part of real history. If then the reader fails to find some
stories with which he is quite familiar in the history, he must
not suppose that they are omitted by accident, but must give to
the author of the book the credit of having used some discretion
in the choice of his authorities.
When I visited Spain in 1882, I was favored by the officers of
the Spanish government with every facility for carrying my
inquiry as far as a short visit would permit. Since that time Mr.
Harrisse has published his invaluable volumes on the life of
Columbus. It certainly seems as if every document now existing,
which bears upon the history, had been collated by him. The
reader will see that I have made full use of this treasure-house.
The Congress of Americanistas, which meets every year, brings
forward many curious studies on the history of the continent, but
it can scarcely be said to have done much to advance our
knowledge of the personal life of Columbus.
The determination of the people of the United States to celebrate
fitly the great discovery which has advanced civilization and
changed the face of the world, makes it certain that a new
interest has arisen in the life of the great man to whom, in the
providence of God, that discovery was due. The author and
publishers of this book offer it as their contribution in the
great celebration, with the hope that it may be of use,
especially in the direction of the studies of the young.
EDWARD E. HALE.
ROXBURY, MASS.,
June 1st, 1891.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1. EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS.
His Birth and Birth-place-His Early Education-His
experience at Sea-His Marriage and Residence in Lisbon--
His Plans for the Discovery of a Westward
Passage to the Indies
CHAPTER II. HIS PLANS FOR DISCOVERY.
Columbus Leaves Lisbon, and Visits Genoa--Visits Great
Spanish Dukes -For Six Years is at the Court of Ferdinand
and Isabella-The Council of Salamanca-His
Petition is at Last Granted -Squadron Made Ready
CHAPTER III. THE GREAT VOYAGE.
The Squadron Sails-Refits at Canary Islands-Hopes
and Fears of the Voyage -The Doubts of the Crew--
Land Discovered
CHAPTER IV.
The Landing on the Twelfth of October -The Natives and
their Neighbors -Search for Gold-Cuba Discovered
Columbus Coasts Along its Shores
CHAPTER V.
Landing on Cuba -The Cigar and Tobacco -Cipango and
the Great Khan -From Cuba to Hayti-Its Shores and
Harbors
CHAPTER VI.
Discovery of Hayti or Hispaniola -The Search for Gold--
Hospitality and Intelligence of the Natives--Christmas
Day -A Shipwreck--Colony to be Founded -Columbus
Sails East and Meets Martin Pinzon-The Two
Vessels Return to Europe -Storm -The Azores--
Portugal -Home
CHAPTER VII.
Columbus is Called to Meet the King and Queen -His
Magnificent Reception -Negotiations with the Pope and
with the King of Portugal--Second Expedition Ordered
-Fonseca -The Preparations at Cadiz
CHAPTER VIII.
The Second Expedition Sails From Cadiz-Touches at
Canary Islands -Discovery of Dominica and Guadeloupe
-Skirmishes with the Caribs -Porto Rico Discovered
--Hispaniola -The Fate of the Colony at La Navidad
CHAPTER IX.
The New Colony-Expeditions of Discovery -Guacanagari--
Search for Gold-Mutiny in the Colony-The
Vessels Sent Home--Columbus Marches Inland--
Collection of Gold--Fortress of St. Thomas--A New Voyage
of Discovery--Jamaica Visited -The South Shore
of Cuba Explored -Return -Evangelista Discovered
--Columbus Falls Sick -Return to Isabella
CHAPTER X. THE THIRD VOYAGE.
Letter to the King and Queen--Discovery of Trinidad and
Paria -Curious Speculation as to the Earthly Paradise
-Arrival at San Domingo -Rebellions and Mutinies in
that Island-Roldan and His Followers--Ojeda and
His Expedition--Arrival of Bobadilla -Columbus a
Prisoner
CHAPTER XI. SPAIN, 1500, 1502.
A Cordial Reception in Spain--Columbus Favorably
Received at Court-New Interest in Geographical
Discovery-His Plans for the Redemption of the Holy
Sepulchre -Preparations for a Fourth Expedition
CHAPTER XII. FOURTH VOYAGE.
The Instructions Given for the Voyage--He is to go to
the Mainland of the Indies--A Short Passage -Ovando
Forbids the Entrance of Columbus into Harbor
Bobadilla's Squadron and Its Fate -Columbus Sails Westward
--Discovers Honduras, and Coasts Along Its Shores
--The Search for Gold -Colony Attempted and Abandoned
--The Vessels Become Unseaworthy -Refuge at
Jamaica -Mutiny Led by the Brothers Porras -Messages
to San Domingo -The Eclipse -Arrival of Relief
--Columbus Returns to San Domingo, and to Spain
CHAPTER XIII.
Two Sad Years -Isabella's Death -Columbus at Seville--
His Illness -Letters to the King -journeys to Segovia
--Salamanca and Valladolid -His Suit There --Philip
and Juana -Columbus Executes His Will--Dies--His
Burial and the Removal of His Body -His Portraits--
His Character
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C
THE LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS.
HIS BIRTH AND BIRTH-PLACE--HIS EARLY EDUCATION--HIS EXPERIENCE AT
SEA--HIS MARRIAGE AND RESIDENCE IN LISBON--HIS PLANS FOR THE
DISCOVERY OF A WESTWARD PASSAGE TO THE INDIES.
Christopher Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa. The honor
of his birth-place has been claimed by many villages in that
Republic, and the house in which he was born cannot be now
pointed out with certainty. But the best authorities agree that
the children and the grown people of the world have never been
mistaken when they have said: "America was discovered in 1492 by
Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa."
His name, and that of his family, is always written Colombo, in
the Italian papers which refer to them, for more than one hundred
years before his time. In Spain it was always written Colon; in
France it is written as Colomb; while in England it has always
kept its Latin form, Columbus. It has frequently been said that
he himself assumed this form, because Columba is the Latin word
for "Dove," with a fanciful feeling that, in carrying Christian
light to the West, he had taken the mission of the dove. Thus, he
had first found land where men thought there was ocean, and he
was the messenger of the Holy Spirit to those who sat in
darkness. It has also been assumed that he took the name of
Christopher, "the Christ-bearer," for similar reasons. But there
is no doubt that he was baptized "Christopher," and that the
family name had long been Columbo. The coincidences of name are
but two more in a calendar in which poetry delights, and of which
history is full.
Christopher Columbus was the oldest son of Dominico Colombo and
Suzanna Fontanarossa. This name means Red-fountain. He bad two
brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, whom we shall meet again. Diego
is the Spanish way of writing the name which we call James.
It seems probable that Christopher was born in the year 1436,
though some writers have said that he was older than this, and
some that he was younger. The record of his birth and that of his
baptism have not been found.
His father was not a rich man, but he was able to send
Christopher, as a boy, to the University of Pavia, and here he
studied grammar, geometry, geography and navigation, astronomy
and the Latin language. But this was as a boy studies, for in his
fourteenth year he left the university and entered, in hard work,
on "the larger college of the world." If the date given above, of
his birth, is correct, this was in the year 1450, a few years
before the Turks took Constantinople, and, in their invasion of
Europe, affected the daily life of everyone, young or old, who
lived in the Mediterranean countries. From this time, for fifteen
years, it is hard to trace along the life of Columbus. It was the
life of an intelligent young seaman, going wherever there was a
voyage for him. He says himself, "I passed twenty-three years on
the sea. I have seen all the Levant, all the western coasts, and
the North. I have seen England; I have often made the voyage from
Lisbon to the Guinea coast." This he wrote in a letter to
Ferdinand and Isabella. Again he says, "I went to sea from the
most tender age and have continued in a sea life to this day.
Whoever gives himself up to this art wants to know the secrets of
Nature here below. It is more than forty years that I have been
thus engaged. Wherever any one has sailed, there I have sailed."
Whoever goes into the detail of the history of that century will
come upon the names of two relatives of his--Colon el Mozo (the
Boy, or the Younger) and his uncle, Francesco Colon, both
celebrated sailors. The latter of the two was a captain in the
fleets of Louis XI of France, and imaginative students may
represent him as meeting Quentin Durward at court. Christopher
Columbus seems to have made several voyages under the command of
the younger of these relatives. He commanded the Genoese galleys
near Cyprus in a war which the Genoese had with the Venetians.
Between the years 1461 and 1463 the Genoese were acting as allies
with King John of Calabria, and Columbus had a command as captain
in their navy at that time.
"In 1477," he says, in one of his letters, "in the month of
February, I sailed more than a hundred leagues beyond Tile." By
this he means Thule, or Iceland. "Of this island the southern
part is seventy-three degrees from the equator, not sixty-three
degrees, as some geographers pretend." But here he was wrong. The
Southern part of Iceland is in the latitude of sixty-three and a
half degrees. "The English, chiefly those of Bristol, carry their
merchandise, to this island, which is as large as England. When I
was there the sea was not frozen, but the tides there are so
strong that they rise and fall twenty-six cubits."
The order of his life, after his visit to Iceland, is better
known. He was no longer an adventurous sailor-boy, glad of any
voyage which offered; he was a man thirty years of age or more.
He married in the city of Lisbon and settled himself there. His
wife was named Philippa. She was the daughter of an Italian
gentleman named Bartolomeo Muniz de Perestrello, who was, like
Columbus, a sailor, and was alive to all the new interests which
geography then presented to all inquiring minds. This was in the
year 1477, and the King of Portugal was pressing the expeditions
which, before the end of the century, resulted in the discovery
of the route to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope.
The young couple had to live. Neither the bride nor her husband
had any fortune, and Columbus occupied himself as a draftsman,
illustrating books, making terrestrial globes, which must have
been curiously inaccurate, since they had no Cape of Good Hope
and no American Continent, drawing charts for sale, and
collecting, where he could, the material for such study. Such
charts and maps were beginning to assume new importance in those
days of geographical discovery. The value attached to them may be
judged from the statement that Vespucius paid one hundred and
thirty ducats for one map. This sum would be more than five
hundred dollars of our time.
Columbus did not give up his maritime enterprises. He made
voyages to the coast of Guinea and in other directions.
It is said that he was in command of one of the vessels of his
relative Colon el Mozo, when, in the Portuguese seas, this
admiral, with his squadron, engaged four Venetian galleys
returning from Flanders. A bloody battle followed. The ship which
Christopher Columbus commanded was engaged with a Venetian
vessel, to which it set fire. There was danger of an explosion,
and Columbus himself, seeing this danger, flung himself into the
sea, seized a floating oar, and thus gained the shore. He was not
far from Lisbon, and from this time made Lisbon his home for many
years.[*]
[*] The critics challenge these dates, but there seems to be good
foundation for the story.
It seems. clear that, from the time when he arrived in Lisbon,
for more than twenty years, he was at work trying to interest
people in his "great design," of western discovery. He says
himself, "I was constantly corresponding with learned men, some
ecclesiastics and some laymen, some Latin and some Greek, some
Jews and some Moors." The astronomer Toscanelli was one of these
correspondents.
We must not suppose that the idea of the roundness of the earth
was invented by Columbus. Although there were other theories
about its shape, many intelligent men well understood that the
earth was a globe, and that the Indies, though they were always
reached from Europe by going to the East, must be on the west of
Europe also. There is a very funny story in the travels of
Mandeville, in which a traveler is represented as having gone,
mostly on foot, through all the countries of Asia, but finally
determines to return to Norway, his home. In his farthest eastern
investigation, he hears some people calling their cattle by a
peculiar cry, which he had never heard before. After he returned
home, it was necessary for him to take a day's journey westward
to look after some cattle he had lost. Finding these cattle, he
also heard the same cry of people calling cattle, which he had
heard in the extreme East, and now learned, for the first time,
that he had gone round the world on foot, to turn and come back
by the same route, when he was only a day's journey from home,
Columbus was acquainted with such stories as this, and also had
the astronomical knowledge which almost made him know that the
world was round, "and, like a ball, goes spinning in the air."
The difficulty was to persuade other people that, because of this
roundness, it would be possible to attain Asia by sailing to the
West.
Now all the geographers of repute supposed that there was not
nearly so large a distance as there proved to be, in truth,
between Europe and Asia. Thus, in the geography of Ptolemy, which
was the standard book at that time, one hundred and thirty-five
degrees, a little more than one-third of the earth's
circumference, is given to the space between the extreme eastern
part of the Indies and the Canary Islands. In fact, as we now
know, the distance is one hundred and eighty degrees, half the
world's circumference. Had Columbus believed there was any such
immense distance, he would never have undertaken his voyage.
Almost all the detailed knowledge of the Indies which the people
of his time had, was given by the explorations of Marco Polo, a
Venetian traveler of the thirteenth century, whose book had long
been in the possession of European readers. It is a very
entertaining book now, and may well be recommended to young
people who like stories of adventure. Marco Polo had visited the
court of the Great Khan of Tartary at Pekin, the prince who
brought the Chinese Empire into very much the condition in which
it now is. He had, also, given accounts of Japan or Cipango,
which he had himself never visited. Columbus knew, therefore,
that, well east of the Indies, was the island of Cipango, and he
aimed at that island, because he supposed that that was the
nearest point to Europe, as in fact it is. And when finally he
arrived at Cuba, as the reader will see, he thought he was in
Japan.
Columbus's father-in-law had himself been the Portuguese governor
of the island of Porto Santo, where he had founded a colony. He,
therefore, was interested in western explorations, and probably
from him Columbus collected some of the statements which are
known to have influenced him, with regard to floating matters
from the West, which are constantly borne upon that island by the
great currents of the sea.
The historians are fond of bringing together all the intimations
which are given in the Greek and Latin classics, and in later
authors, with regard to a land beyond Asia. Perhaps the most
famous of them is that of Seneca, "In the later years there shall
come days in which Ocean shall loose his chains, and a great land
shall appear . . . and Thule shall not be the last of the
worlds."
In a letter which Toscanelli wrote to Columbus in 1474, he
inclosed a copy of a letter which he had already sent to an
officer of Alphonso V, the King of Portugal. In writing to
Columbus, he says, "I see that you have a great and noble desire
to go into that country (of the East) where the spices come from,
and in reply to your letter I send you a copy of that which I
addressed some years ago to my attached friend in the service of
the most serene King of Portugal. He had an order from his
Highness to write me on this subject. . . . If I had a globe in
my hand, I could show you what is needed. But I prefer to mark
out the route on a chart like a marine chart, which will be an
assistance to your intelligence and enterprise. On this chart I
have myself drawn the whole extremity of our western shore from
Ireland as far down as the coast of Guinea toward the South, with
all the islands which are to be found on this route. Opposite
this [that is, the shores of Ireland and Africa] I have placed
directly at the West the beginning of the Indies with the islands
and places where you will land. You will see for yourself how
many miles you must keep from the arctic pole toward the equator,
and at what distance you will arrive at these regions so fertile
and productive of spices and precious stones." In Toscanelli's
letter, he not only indicates Japan, but, in the middle of the
ocean, he places the island of Antilia. This old name afterwards
gave the name by which the French still call the West Indies, Les
Antilles. Toscanelli gives the exact distance which Columbus will
have to sail: "From Lisbon to the famous city of Quisay
[Hang-tcheou-fou, then the capital of China] if you take the
direct route toward the West, the distance will be thirty-nine
hundred miles. And from Antilia to Japan it will be two hundred
and twenty-five leagues." Toscanelli says again, "You see that
the voyage that you wish to attempt is much legs difficult than
would be thought. You would be sure of this if you met as many
people as I do who have been in the country of spices."
While there were so many suggestions made that it would be
possible to cross the Atlantic, there was one man who determined
to do this. This man was Christopher Columbus. But he knew well
that he could not do it alone. He must have money enough for an
expedition, he must have authority to enlist crews for that
expedition, and he must have power to govern those crews when
they should arrive in the Indies. In our times such adventures
have been conducted by mercantile corporations, but in those
times no one thought of doing any such thing without the direct
assistance and support of some monarch.
It is easy now to see and to say that Columbus himself was
singularly well fitted to take the charge of the expedition of
discovery. He was an excellent sailor and at the same time he was
a learned geographer and a good mathematician. He was living in
Portugal, the kings of which country had, for many years,
fostered the exploration of the coast of Africa, and were pushing
expeditions farther and farther South.
In doing this, they were, in a fashion, making new discoveries.
For Europe was wholly ignorant of the western coast of Africa,
beyond the Canaries, when their expeditions began. But all men of
learning knew that, five hundred years before the Christian era,
Hanno, a Carthaginian, had sailed round Africa under the
direction of the senate of Carthage. The efforts of the King of
Portugal were to repeat the voyage made by Hanno. In 1441,
Gonzales and Tristam sailed as far as Sierra Leone. They brought
back some blacks as slaves, and this was the beginning of the
slave trade.
In 1446 the Portuguese took possession of the Azores, the most
western points of the Old World. Step by step they advanced
southward, and became familiar with the African coast. Bold
navigators were eager to find the East, and at last success came.
Under the king's orders, in August, 1477, three caravels sailed
from the Tagus, under Bartolomeo Diaz, for southern discovery.
Diaz was himself brave enough to be willing to go on to the Red
Sea, after he made the great discovery of the Cape of Good Hope,
but his crews mutinied, after he had gone much farther than his
predecessors, and compelled him to return. He passed the southern
cape of Africa and went forty miles farther. He called it the
Cape of Torments, "Cabo Tormentoso," so terrible were the storms
he met there. But when King John heard his report he gave it that
name of good omen which it has borne ever since, the name of the
"Cape of Good Hope."
In the midst of such endeavors to reach the East Indies by the
long voyage down the coast of Africa and across an unknown ocean,
Columbus was urging all people who cared, to try the route
directly west. If the world was round, as the sun and moon were,
and as so many men of learning believed, India or the Indies must
be to the west of Portugal. The value of direct trade with the
Indies would be enormous. Europe had already acquired a taste for
the spices of India and had confidence in the drugs of India. The
silks and other articles of clothing made in India, and the
carpets of India, were well known and prized. Marco Polo and
others had given an impression that there was much gold in India;
and the pearls and precious stones of India excited the
imagination of all who read his travels.
The immense value of such a commerce may be estimated from one
fact. When, a generation after this time, one ship only of all
the squadron of Magellan returned to Cadiz, after the first
voyage round the world, she was loaded with spices from the
Moluccas. These spices were sold by the Spanish government for so
large a sum of money that the king was remunerated for the whole
cost of the expedition, and even made a very large profit from a
transaction which had cost a great deal in its outfit.
Columbus was able, therefore, to offer mercantile adventurers the
promise of great profit in case of success; and at this time
kings were willing to take their share of such profits as might
accrue.
The letter of Toscanelli, the Italian geographer, which has been
spoken of, was addressed to Alphonso V, the King of Portugal. To
him and his successor, John the Second, Columbus explained the
probability of success, and each of them, as it would seem, had
confidence in it. But King John made the great mistake of
intrusting Columbus's plan to another person for experiment. He
was selfish enough, and mean enough, to fit out a ship privately
and intrust its command to another seaman, bidding him sail west
in search of the Indies, while he pretended that he was on a
voyage to the Cape de Verde Islands. He was, in fact, to follow
the route indicated by Columbus. The vessel sailed. But,
fortunately for the fame of Columbus, she met a terrible storm,
and her officers, in terror, turned from the unknown ocean and
returned to Lisbon. Columbus himself tells this story. It was in
disgust with the bad faith the king showed in this transaction
that he left Lisbon to offer his great project to the King and
Queen of Spain.
In a similar way, a generation afterward, Magellan, who was in
the service of the King of Portugal, was disgusted by insults
which he received at his court, and exiled himself to Spain. He
offered to the Spanish king his plan for sailing round the world
and it was accepted. He sailed in a Spanish fleet, and to his
discoveries Spain owes the possession of the Philippine Islands.
Twice, therefore, did kings of Portugal lose for themselves,
their children and their kingdom, the fame and the recompense
which belong to such great discoveries.
The wife of Columbus had died and he was without a home. He left
Lisbon with his only son, Diego, in or near the end of the year
1484.
CHAPTER II. HIS PLANS FOR DISCOVERY.
COLUMBUS LEAVES LISBON, AND VISITS GENOA--VISITS GREAT SPANISH
DUKES--FOR SIX YEARS IS AT THE COURT OF FERDINAND AND
ISABELLA--THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA--HIS PETITION IS AT LAST
GRANTED --SQUADRON MADE READY.
It has been supposed that when Columbus left Lisbon he was
oppressed by debts. At a subsequent period, when King John wanted
to recall him, he offered to protect him against any creditors.
But on the other hand, it is thought that at this time he visited
Genoa, and made some provision for the comfort of his father, who
was now an old man. Christopher Columbus, himself, according to
the usual opinion regarding his birth, was now almost fifty years
old.
It is probable that at this time he urged on his countrymen, the
Genoese, the importance of his great plan; and tried to interest
them to make the great endeavor, for the purpose of reaching the
Indies by a western route. As it proved, the discovery of the
route by the Cape of Good Hope was, commercially, a great injury
to Genoa and the other maritime cities of Italy. Before this
time, the eastern trade of Europe came by the ports of the
eastern Mediterranean, and the Italian cities. Columbus's offer
to Genoa was therefore one which, if her statesmen could have
foreseen the future, they would have considered eagerly.
But Genoa was greatly depressed at this period. In her wars with
the Turks she had been, on the whole, not successful. She had
lost Caffa, her station in the Crimea, and her possessions in the
Archipelago were threatened. The government did not accept
Columbus's proposals, and he was obliged to return with them to
Spain. He went first to distinguished noblemen, in the South of
Spain, who were of liberal and adventurous disposition. One was
the Duke of Medina Celi, and one the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Each
of these grandees entertained him at their courts, and heard his
proposals.
The Duke of Medina Celi was so much interested in them, that at
one time he proposed to give Columbus the direction of four
vessels which he had in the harbor of Cadiz. But, of a sudden, he
changed his mind. The enterprise was so vast, he said, that it
should be under the direction of the crown. And, without losing
confidence in it, he gave to Columbus an introduction to the king
and queen, in which he cordially recommended him to their
patronage.
This king and queen were King Ferdinand of Aragon, and Queen
Isabella of Castile. The marriage of these two had united Spain.
Their affection for each other made the union real, and the
energy, courage and wisdom of both made their reign successful
and glorious. Of all its glories the greatest, as it has proved,
was connected with the life and discoveries of the sailor who was
now to approach them. He had been disloyally treated by Portugal,
he had been dismissed by Genoa. He had not succeeded with the
great dukes. Now he was to press his adventure upon a king and
queen who were engaged in a difficult war with the Moors, who
still held a considerable part of the peninsula of Spain.
The king and queen were residing at Cordova, a rich and beautiful
city, which they had taken from the Moors. Under their rule
Cordova had been the most important seat of learning in Europe.
Here Columbus tarried at the house of Alonso de Quintinilla, who
became an ardent convert to his theory, and introduced him to
important friends. By their agency, arrangements were made, in
which Columbus should present his views to the king. The time was
not such as he could have wished. All Cordova was alive with the
preparation for a great campaign against the enemy. But King
Ferdinand made arrangements to hear Columbus; it does not appear
that, at the first hearing, Isabella was present at the
interview. But Ferdinand, although in the midst of his military
cares, was intereste in the proposals made by Columbus. He liked
the man. He was pleased by the modesty and dignity with which he
brought forward his proposals. Columbus spoke, as he tells us, as
one specially appointed by God Himself to carry out this
discovery. The king did not, however, at once adopt the scheme,
but gave out that a council of men of learning should be called
together to consider it.
Columbus himself says that he entered the service of the
sovereigns January 26, 1486. The council to which he was referred
was held in the university city of Salamanca, in that year. It
gave to him a full opportunity to explain his theory. It
consisted of a fair representation of the learning of the time.
But most of the men who met had formed their opinions on the
subjects involved, and were too old to change them. A part of
them were priests of the church, in the habit of looking to
sacred Scripture as their only authority, when the pope had given
no instruction in detail. Of these some took literally
expressions in the Old Testament, which they supposed to be fatal
to the plans of Columbus. Such was the phrase in the 104th Psalm,
that God stretches out the heavens like a curtain. The expression
in the book of Hebrews, that the heavens are extended as a tent,
was also quoted, in the same view.
Quotations from the early Fathers of the church were more fatal
to the new plan than those from the Scripture.
On the other hand there were men who cordially supported
Columbus's wishes, and there were more when the congress parted
than when it met. Its sessions occupied a considerable part of
the summer, but it was not for years that it rendered any
decision.
The king, queen and court, meanwhile, were occupied in war with
the Moors. Columbus was once and again summoned to attend the
court, and more than once money was advanced to him to enable him
to do so. Once he began new negotiations with King John, and from
him he received a letter inviting him to return to Portugal. He
received a similar letter from King Henry VII of England inviting
him to his court. Nothing was determined on in Spain. To this
day, the people of that country are thought to have a habit of
postponement to tomorrow of that which perplexes them. In 1489,
according to Ortiz de Zuniga, Columbus fought in battle in the
king's army.
When, however, in the winter of 1490, it was announced that the
army was to take the field again, never to leave its camp till
Grenada had fallen, Columbus felt that he must make one last
endeavor. He insisted that he must have an answer regarding his
plans of discovery. The confessor of the queen, Fernando da
Talavera, was commanded to obtain the definite answer of the men
of learning. Alas! it was fatal to Columbus's hopes. They said
that it was not right that great princes should undertake such
enterprises on grounds as weak as those which he relied upon.
The sovereigns themselves, however, were more favorable; so was a
minority of the council of Salamanca. And the confessor was
instructed to tell him that their expenses in the war forbade
them from sending him out as a discoverer, but that, when that
was well over, they had hopes that they might commission him.
This was the end of five years of solicitation, in which he had
put his trust in princes. Columbus regarded the answer, as well
he might, as only a courtly measure of refusal. And he retired in
disgust from the court at Seville.
He determined to lay his plans before the King of France. He was
traveling with this purpose, with his son, Diego, now a boy of
ten or twelve years of age, when he arrived at night at the
hospitable convent of Saint Mary of Rabida, which has been made
celebrated by that incident. It is about three miles south of
what was then the seaport of Palos, one of the active ports of
commercial Spain. The convent stands on level ground high above
the sea; but a steep road runs down to the shore of the ocean.
Some of its windows and corridors look out upon the ocean on the
west and south, and the inmates still show the room in which
Columbus used to write, and the inkstand which served his
purposes while he lived there. It is maintained as a monument of
history by the Spanish government.
At the door of this convent he asked for bread and water for his
boy. The prior of the convent was named Juan Perez de Marchena.
He was attracted by the appearance of Columbus, still more by his
conversation, and invited him to remain as their guest.
When he learned that his new friend was about to offer to France
the advantages of a discovery so great as that proposed, he
begged him to make one effort more at home. He sent for some
friends, Fernandos, a physician at Palos, and for the brothers
Pinzon, who now appear for the first time in a story where their
part is distinguished. Together they all persuaded Columbus to
send one messenger more to wait upon their sovereigns. The man
sent was Rodriguez, a pilot of Lepe, who found access to the
queen because Juan Perez, the prior, had formerly been her
confessor. She had confidence in him, as she had, indeed, in
Columbus. And in fourteen days the friendly pilot came back from
Santa Fe with a kind letter from the queen to her friend, bidding
him return at once to court. Perez de Marchena saddled his mule
at once and before midnight was on his way to see his royal
mistress.
Santa Fe was half camp, half city. It had been built in what is
called the Vega, the great fruitful plain which extends for many
miles to the westward of Grenada. The court and army were here as
they pressed their attack on that city. Perez de Marchena had
ready access to Queen Isabella, and pressed his suit well. He was
supported by one of her favorites, the Marquesa de Moya. In reply
to their solicitations, she asked that Columbus should return to
her, and ordered that twenty thousand maravedis should be sent to
him for his traveling expenses.
This sum was immediately sent by Perez to his friend. Columbus
bought a mule, exchanged his worn clothes for better ones, and
started, as he was bidden, for the camp.
He arrived there just after the great victory, by which the king
and queen had obtained their wish--had taken the noble city of
Grenada and ended Moorish rule in Spain. King, queen, court and
army were preparing to enter the Alhambra in triumph. Whoever
tries to imagine the scene, in which the great procession entered
through the gates, so long sealed, or of the moment when the
royal banner of Spain was first flying out upon the Tower of the
Vela, must remember that Columbus, elate, at last, with hopes for
his own great discovery, saw the triumph and joined in the
display.
But his success was not immediate, even now. Fernando de
Talavera, who had had the direction of the wise council of
Salamanca, was now Archbishop of Grenada, whose see had been
conferred on him after the victory. He was not the friend of
Columbus. And when, at what seemed the final interview with king
and queen, he heard Columbus claim the right to one-tenth of all
the profits of the enterprise, he protested against such lavish
recompense of an adventurer. He was now the confessor of
Isabella, as Juan Perez, the friendly prior, had been before.
Columbus, however, was proud and firm. He would not yield to the
terms prepared by the archbishop. He preferred to break off the
negotiation, and again retired from court. He determined, as he
had before, to lay his plans before the King of France.
Spain would have lost the honor and the reward of the great
discovery, as Portugal and Genoa had lost them, but for Luis de
St. Angel, and the queen herself. St. Angel had been the friend
of Columbus. He was an important officer, the treasurer of the
church revenues of Aragon. He now insisted upon an audience from
the queen. It would seem that Ferdinand, though King of Aragon,
was not present. St. Angel spoke eloquently. The friendly
Marchioness of Moya spoke eagerly and persuasively. Isabella was
at last fired with zeal. Columbus should go, and the enterprise
should be hers.
It is here that the incident belongs, represented in the statue
by Mr. Mead, and that of Miss Hosmer. The sum required for the
discovery of a world was only three thousand crowns. Two vessels
were all that Columbus asked for, with the pay of their crews.
But where were three thousand crowns? The treasury was empty, and
the king was now averse to any action. It was at this moment that
Isabella said, "The enterprise is mine, for the Crown of Castile.
I pledge my jewels for the funds."
The funds were in fact advanced by St. Angel, from the
ecclesiastical revenues under his control. They were repaid from
the gold brought in the first voyage. But, always afterward,
Isabella regarded the Indies as a Castilian possession. The most
important officers in its administration, indeed most of the
emigrants, were always from Castile.
Columbus, meanwhile, was on his way back to Palos, on his mule,
alone. But at a bridge, still pointed out, a royal courier
overtook him, bidding him return. The spot has been made the
scene of more than one picture, which represents the crisis, in
which the despair of one moment changed to the glad hope which
was to lead to certainty.
He returned to Isabella for the last time, before that great
return in which he came as a conqueror, to display to her the
riches of the New World. The king yielded a slow and doubtful
assent. Isabella took the enterprise in her own hands. She and
Columbus agreed at once, and articles were drawn up which gave
him the place of admiral for life on all lands he might discover;
gave him one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver,
spices and other merchandise to be obtained in his admiralty, and
gave him the right to nominate three candidates from whom the
governor of each province should be selected by the crown. He was
to be the judge of all disputes arising from such traffic as was
proposed; and he was to have one-eighth part of the profit, and
bear one-eighth part of the cost of it.
With this glad news he returned at once to Palos. The Pinzons,
who had been such loyal friends, were to take part in the
enterprise. He carried with him a royal order, commanding the
people of Palos to fit out two caravels within ten days, and to
place them and their crews at the disposal of Columbus. The third
vessel proposed was to be fitted out by him and his friends. The
crews were to be paid four months' wages in advance, and Columbus
was to have full command, to do what he chose, if he did not
interfere with the Portuguese discoveries.
On the 23rd of May, Columbus went to the church of San Giorgio in
Palos, with his friend, the prior of St. Mary's convent, and
other important people, and the royal order was read with great
solemnity:
But it excited at first only indignation or dismay. The
expedition was most unpopular. Sailors refused to enlist, and the
authorities, who had already offended the crown, so that they had
to furnish these vessels, as it were, as a fine, refused to do
what they were bidden. Other orders from Court were necessary.
But it seems to have been the courage and determination of the
Pinzons which carried the preparations through. After weeks had
been lost, Martin Alonso Pinzon and his brothers said they would
go in person on the expedition. They were well-known merchants
and seamen, and were much respected. Sailors were impressed, by
the royal authority, and the needful stores were taken in the
same way. It seems now strange that so much difficulty should
have surrounded an expedition in itself so small. But the plan
met then all the superstition, terror and other prejudice of the
time.
All that Columbus asked or needed was three small vessels and
their stores and crews. The largest ships engaged were little
larger than the large yachts, whose races every summer delight
the people of America. The Gallega and the Pinta were the two
largest. They were called caravels, a name then given to the
smallest three-masted vessels. Columbus once uses it for a vessel
of forty tons; but it generally applied in Portuguese or Spanish
use to a vessel, ranging one hundred and twenty to one hundred
and forty Spanish "toneles." This word represents a capacity
about one-tenth larger than that expressed by our English "ton."
The reader should remember that most of the commerce of the time
was the coasting commerce of the Mediterranean, and that it was
not well that the ships should draw much water. The fleet of
Columbus, as it sailed, consisted of the Gallega (the Galician),
of which he changed the name to the Santa Maria, and of the Pinta
and the Nina. Of these the first two were of a tonnage which we
should rate as about one hundred and thirty tons. The Nina was
much smaller, not more than fifty tons. One writer says that they
were all without full decks, that is, that such decks as they had
did not extend from stem to stern. But the other authorities
speak as if the Nina only was an open vessel, and the two larger
were decked. Columbus himself took command of the Santa Maria,
Martin Alonso Pinzon of the Pinta, and his brothers, Francis
Martin and Vicente Yanez, of the Nina. The whole company in all
three ships numbered one hundred and twenty men.
Mr. Harrisse shows that the expense to the crown amounted to
1,140,000 maravedis. This, as he counts it, is about sixty-four
thousand dollars of our money. To this Columbus was to add
one-eighth of the cost. His friends, the Pinzons, seem to have
advanced this, and to have been afterwards repaid. Las Casas and
Herrera both say that the sum thus added was much more than
one-eighth of the cost and amounted to half a million maravedis.
CHAPTER III. THE GREAT VOYAGE.
THE SQUADRON SAILS--REFITS AT CANARY ISLANDS--HOPES AND FEARS OF
THE VOYAGE--THE DOUBTS OF THE CREW--LAND DISCOVERED.
At last all was ready. That is to say, the fleet was so far ready
that Columbus was ready to start. The vessels were small, as we
think of vessels, but he was not dissatisfied. He says in the
beginning of his journal, "I armed three vessels very fit for
such an enterprise." He had left Grenada as late as the twelfth
of May. He had crossed Spain to Palos,[*] and in less than three
months had fitted out the ships and was ready for sea.
[*] Palos is now so insignificant a place that on some important
maps of Spain it will not be found. It is on the east side of the
Tinto river; and Huelva, on the west side, has taken its place.
The harbor of Palos is now ruined. Mud and gravel, brought down
by the River Tinto, have filled up the bay, so that even small
boats cannot approach the shore. The traveler finds, however, the
island of Saltes, quite outside the bay, much as Columbus left
it. It is a small spit of sand, covered with shells and with a
few seashore herbs. His own account of the great voyage begins
with the words:
"Friday, August 3, 1492. Set sail from the bar of Saltes at 8
o'clock, and proceeded with a strong breeze till sunset sixty
miles, or fifteen leagues south, afterward southwest and south by
west, which is in the direction of the Canaries."
It appears, therefore, that the great voyage, the most important
and successful ever made, began on Friday, the day which is said
to be so much disliked by sailors. Columbus never alludes to this
superstition.
He had always meant to sail first for the Canaries, which were
the most western land then known in the latitude of his voyage.
From Lisbon to the famous city of "Quisay," or "Quinsay," in
Asia, Toscanelli, his learned correspondent, supposed the
distance to be less than one thousand leagues westward. From the
Canary islands, on that supposition, the distance would be ten
degrees less. The distance to Cipango, or Japan, would be much
less.
As it proved, the squadron had to make some stay at the Canaries.
The rudder of the Pinta was disabled, and she proved leaky. It
was suspected that the owners, from whom she had been forcibly
taken, had intentionally disabled her, or that possibly the crew
had injured her. But Columbus says in his journal that Martin
Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, was a man of capacity and
courage, and that this quieted his apprehensions. From the ninth
of August to the second of September, nearly four weeks were
spent by the Pinta and her crew at the Grand Canary island, and
she was repaired. She proved afterwards a serviceable vessel, the
fastest of the fleet. At the Canaries they heard stories of lands
seen to the westward, to which Columbus refers in his journal. On
the sixth of September they sailed from Gomera and on the eighth
they lost sight of land. Nor did they see land again for
thirty-three days. Such was the length of the great voyage. All
the time, most naturally, they were wishing for signs, not of
land perhaps, but which might show whether this great ocean were
really different from other seas. On the whole the voyage was not
a dangerous one.
According to the Admiral's reckoning--and in his own journal
Columbus always calls himself the Admiral--its length was one
thousand and eighty-nine leagues. This was not far from right,
the real distance being, in a direct line, three thousand one
hundred and forty nautical miles, or three thousand six hundred
and twenty statute miles.[*] It would not be considered a very
long voyage for small vessels now. In general the course was
west. Sometimes, for special reasons, they sailed south of west.
If they had sailed precisely west they would have struck the
shore of the United States a little north of the spot where St.
Augustine now is, about the northern line of Florida.
[*] The computations from Santa Cruz, in the Canaries, to San
Salvador give this result, as kindly made for us by Lieutenant
Mozer, of the United States navy.
Had the coast of Asia been, indeed, as near as Toscanelli and
Columbus supposed, this latitude of the Canary islands would have
been quite near the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang river, in China,
which was what Columbus was seeking. For nearly a generation
afterwards he and his followers supposed that the coast of that
region was what they had found.
It was on Saturday, the eighth of September, that they lost sight
of Teneriffe. On the eleventh they saw a large piece of the mast
of a ship afloat. On the fourteenth they saw a "tropic-bird,"
which the sailors thought was never seen more than twenty-five
leagues from land; but it must be remembered, that, outside of
the Mediterranean, few of the sailors had ever been farther
themselves. On the sixteenth they began to meet "large patches of
weeds, very green, which appeared to have been recently washed
away from land." This was their first knowledge of the "Sargasso
sea," a curious tract in mid-Atlantic which is always green with
floating seaweeds. "The continent we shall find farther on,"
wrote the confident Admiral.
An observation of the sun on the seventeenth proved what had been
suspected before, that the needles of the compasses were not
pointing precisely to the north. The variation of the needle,
since that time, has been a recognized fact. But this observation
at so critical a time first disclosed it. The crew were naturally
alarmed. Here was evidence that, in the great ocean, common laws
were not to be relied upon. But they had great respect for
Columbus's knowledge of such subjects. He told them that it was
not the north which had changed, nor the needle, which was true
to the north, but the polar star revolved, like other stars, and
for the time they were satisfied.
The same day they saw weeds which he was sure were land weeds.
From them he took a living crab, whose unintentional voyage
eastward was a great encouragement to the bolder adventurer
westward. Columbus kept the crab, saying that such were never
found eighty leagues from land. In fact this poor crab was at
least nine hundred and seventy leagues from the Bahamas, as this
same journal proves. On the eighteenth the Pinta ran ahead of the
other vessels, Martin Alonso was so sure that he should reach
land that night. But it was not to come so soon.
Columbus every day announced to his crew a less distance as the
result of the day than they had really sailed. For he was afraid
of their distrust, and did not dare let them know how far they
were from home. The private journal, therefore, has such entries
as this, "Sailed more than fifty-five leagues, wrote down only
forty-eight." That is, he wrote on the daily log, which was open
to inspection, a distance some leagues less than they had really
made.
On the twentieth pelicans are spoken of, on the twenty-first
"such abundance of weeds that the ocean seemed covered with
them," "the sea smooth as a river, and the finest air in the
world. Saw a whale, an indication of land, as they always keep
near the coast." To later times, this note, also, shows how
ignorant Columbus then was of mid-ocean.
On the twenty-second, to the Admiral's relief, there was a head
wind; for the crew began to think that with perpetual east winds
they would never return to Spain. They had been in what are known
as the trade winds. On the twenty-third the smoother water gave
place to a rough sea, and he writes that this "was favorable to
me, as it happened formerly to Moses when he led the Jews from
Egypt."
The next day, thanks to the headwinds, their progress was less.
On the twenty-fifth, Pinzon, of the Pinta, felt sure that they
were near the outer islands of Asia as they appeared on the
Toscanelli map, and at sunset called out with joy that he saw
land, claiming a reward for such news. The crews of both vessels
sang "Glory to God in the highest," and the crew of the little
Nina were sure that the bank was land. On this occasion they
changed from a western course to the southwest. But alas! the
land was a fog-bank and the reward never came to Martin Pinzon.
On the twenty-sixth, again "the sea was like a river." This was
Wednesday. In three days they sailed sixty-nine leagues. Saturday
was calm. They saw a bird called "Rabihorcado," which never
alights at sea, nor goes twenty leagues from land," wrote the
confident Columbus; "Nothing is wanting but the singing of the
nightingale," he says.
Sunday, the thirtieth, brought "tropic-birds" again, "a very
clear sign of land." Monday the journal shows them seven hundred
and seven leagues from Ferro. Tuesday a white gull was the only
visitor. Wednesday they had pardelas and great quantities of
seaweed. Columbus began to be sure that they had passed "the
islands" and were nearing the continent of Asia. Thursday they
had a flock of pardelas, two pelicans, a rabihorcado and a gull.
Friday, the fifth of October, brought pardelas and flying-fishes.
We have copied these simple intimations from the journal to show
how constantly Columbus supposed that he was near the coast of
Asia. On the sixth of October Pinzon asked that the course might
be changed to the southwest. But Columbus held on. On the seventh
the Nina was ahead, and fired a gun and hoisted her flag in token
that she saw land. But again they were disappointed. Columbus
gave directions to keep close order at sunrise and sunset. The
next day he did change the course to west southwest, following
flights of birds from the north which went in that direction. On
the eighth "the sea was like the river at Seville," the weeds
were very few and they took land birds on board the ships. On the
ninth they sailed southwest five leagues, and then with a change
of wind went west by north. All night they heard the birds of
passage passing.
On the tenth of October the men made remonstrance, which has been
exaggerated in history into a revolt. It is said, in books of
authority, that Columbus begged them to sail west only three days
more. But in the private journal of the tenth he says simply:
"The seamen complained of the length of the voyage. They did not
wish to go any farther. The Admiral did his best to renew their
courage, and reminded them of the profits which would come to
them. He added, boldly, that no complaints would change his
purpose, that he had set out to go to the Indies, and that with
the Lord's assistance he should keep on until he came there."
This is the only passage in the journal which has any resemblance
to the account of the mutiny.
If it happened, as Oviedo says, three days before the discovery,
it would have been on the eighth of October. On that day the
entry is, "Steered west southwest, and sailed day and night
eleven or twelve leagues--at times, during the night, fifteen
miles an hour--if the log can be relied upon. Found the sea like
the river at Seville, thanks to God. The air was as soft as that
of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was delicious to
breathe it. The weeds appeared very fresh. Many land birds, one
of which they took, flying towards the southwest, also grajaos,
ducks and a pelican were seen."
This is not the account of a mutiny. And the discovery of
Columbus's own journal makes that certain, which was probable
before, that the romantic account of the despair of the crews was
embroidered on the narrative after the event, and by people who
wanted to improve the story. It was, perhaps, borrowed from a
story of Diaz's voyage. We have followed the daily record to show
how constantly they supposed, on the other hand, that they were
always nearing land.
With the eleventh of October, came certainty. The eleventh is
sometimes spoken of as the day of discovery, and sometimes the
twelfth, when they landed on the first island of the new world.
The whole original record of the discovery is this: "Oct. 11,
course to west and southwest. Heavier sea than they had known,
pardelas and a green branch near the caravel of the Admiral. From
the Pinta they see a branch of a tree, a stake and a smaller
stake, which they draw in, and which appears to have been cut
with iron, and a piece of cane. Besides these, there is a land
shrub and a little bit of board. The crew of the Nina saw other
signs of land and a branch covered with thorns and flowers. With
these tokens every-one breathes again and is delighted. They sail
twenty-seven leagues on this course.
"The Admiral orders that they shall resume a westerly course at
sunset. They make twelve miles each hour; up till two hours after
midnight they made ninety miles.
"The Pinta, the best sailer of the three, was ahead. She makes
signals, already agreed upon, that she has discovered land. A
sailor named Rodrigo de Triana was the first to see this land.
For the Admiral being on the castle of the poop of the ship at
ten at night really saw a light, but it was so shut in by
darkness that he did not like to say that it was a sign of land.
Still he called up Pedro Gutierrez, the king's chamberlain, and
said to him that there seemed to be a light, and asked him to
look. He did so and saw it. He said the same to Rodrigo Sanchez
of Segovia, who had been sent by the king and queen as inspector
in the fleet, but he saw nothing, being indeed in a place where
he could see nothing.
"After the Admiral spoke of it, the light was seen once or twice.
It was like a wax candle, raised and lowered, which would appear
to few to be a sign of land. But the Admiral was certain that it
was a sign of land. Therefore when they said the "Salve," which
all the sailors are used to say and sing in their fashion, the
Admiral ordered them to look out well from the forecastle, and he
would give at once a silk jacket to the man who first saw land,
besides the other rewards which the sovereigns had ordered, which
were 10,000 maravedis, to be paid as an annuity forever to the
man who saw it first.
"At two hours after midnight land appeared, from which they were
about two leagues off."
This is the one account of the discovery written at the time. It
is worth copying and reading at full in its little details, for
it contrasts curiously with the embellished accounts which appear
in the next generation. Thus the historian Oviedo says, in a
dramatic way:
"One of the ship boys on the largest ship, a native of Lepe,
cried 'Fire!' 'Land!' Immediately a servant of Columbus replied,
'The Admiral had said that already.' Soon after, Columbus said,
'I said so some time ago, and that I saw that fire on the land.'
" And so indeed it happened that Thursday, at two hours after
midnight, the Admiral called a gentleman named Escobedos, officer
of the wardrobe of the king, and told him that he saw fire. And
at the break of day, at the time Columbus had predicted the day
before, they saw from the largest ship the island which the
Indians call Guanahani to the north of them.
"And the first man to see the land, when day came, was Rodrigo of
Triana, on the eleventh day of October, 1492." Nothing is more
certain than that this was really on the twelfth.
The reward for first seeing land was eventually awarded to
Columbus, and it was regularly paid him through his life. It was
the annual payment of 10,000 maravedis. A maravedi was then a
little less than six cents of our currency. The annuity was,
therefore, about six hundred dollars a year.
The worth of a maravedi varied, from time to time, so that the
calculations of the value of any number of maravedis are very
confusing. Before the coin went out of use it was worth only half
a cent.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LANDING ON THE TWELFTH OF OCTOBER--THE NATIVES AND THEIR
NEIGHBORS--SEARCH FOR GOLD--CUBA DISCOVERED--COLUMBUS COASTS
ALONG ITS SHORES.
It was on Friday, the twelfth of October, that they saw this
island, which was an island of the Lucayos group, called, says
Las Casas, "in the tongue of the Indians, Guanahani." Soon they
saw people naked, and the Admiral went ashore in the armed boat,
with Martin Alonzo Pinzon and, Vicente Yanez, his brother, who
was captain of the Nina. The Admiral unfurled the Royal Standard,
and the captain's two standards of the Greek Cross, which the
Admiral raised on all the ships as a sign, with an F. and a Y.;
over each letter a crown; one on one side of the {"iron cross
symbol"} and the other on the other. When they were ashore they
saw very green trees and much water, and fruits of different
kinds.
"The Admiral called the two captains and the others who went
ashore, and Rodrigo Descovedo, Notary of the whole fleet, and
Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, and he said that they must give him
their faith and witness how he took possession before all others,
as in fact he did take possession of the said island for the king
and the queen, his lord and lady. . . . Soon many people of the
island assembled. These which follow are the very words of the
Admiral, in his book of his first navigation and discovery of
these Indies."
October 11-12. "So that they may feel great friendship for us,
and because I knew that they were a people who would be better
delivered and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force,
I gave to some of them red caps and glass bells which they put
round their necks, and many other things of little value, in
which they took much pleasure, and they remained so friendly to
us that it was wonderful.
"Afterwards they came swimming to the ship's boats where we were.
And they brought us parrots and cotton-thread in skeins, and
javelins and many other things. And they bartered them with us
for other things, which we gave them, such as little glass beads
and little bells. In short, they took everything, and gave of
what they had with good will. But it seemed to me that they were
a people very destitute of everything.
"They all went as naked as their mothers bore them, and the women
as well, although I only saw one who was really young. And all
the men I saw were young, for I saw none more than thirty years
of age; very well made, with very handsome persons, and very good
faces; their hair thick like the hairs of horses' tails, and cut
short. They bring their hair above their eyebrows, except a
little behind, which they wear long, and never cut. Some of them
paint themselves blackish (and they are of the color of the
inhabitants of the Canaries, neither black nor white), and some
paint themselves white, and some red, and some with whatever they
can get. And some of them paint their faces, and some all their
bodies, and some only the eyes, and some only the nose.
"They do not bear arms nor do they know them, for I showed them
swords and they took them by the edge, and they cut themselves
through ignorance. They have no iron at all; their javelins are
rods without iron, and some of them have a fish's tooth at the
end, and some of them other things. They are all of good stature,
and good graceful appearance, well made. I saw some who had scars
of wounds in their bodies, and I made signs to them [to ask] what
that was, and they showed me how people came there from other
islands which lay around, and tried to take them captive and they
defended themselves. And I believed, and I [still] believe, that
they came there from the mainland to take them for captives.
"They would be good servants, and of good disposition, for I see
that they repeat very quickly everything which is said to them.
And I believe that they could easily be made Christians, for it
seems to me that they have no belief. I, if it please our Lord,
will take six of them to your Highnesses at the time of my
departure, so that they may learn to talk. No wild creature of
any sort have I seen, except parrots, in this island."
All these are the words of the Admiral, says Las Casas. The
journal of the next day is in these words:
Saturday, October 13. "As soon as the day broke, many of these
men came to the beach, all young, as I have said, and all of good
stature, a very handsome race. Their hair is not woolly, but
straight and coarse, like horse hair, and all with much wider
foreheads and heads than any other people I have seen up to this
time. And their eyes are very fine and not small, and they are
not black at all, but of the color of the Canary Islanders. And
nothing else could be expected, since it is on one line of
latitude with the Island of Ferro, in the Canaries.
"They came to the ship with almadias,[*] which are made of the
trunk of a tree, like a long boat, and all of one piece--and made
in a very wonderful manner in the fashion of the country--and
large enough for some of them to hold forty or forty-five men.
And others are smaller, down to such as hold one man alone. They
row with a shovel like a baker's, and it goes wonderfully well.
And if it overturns, immediately they all go to swimming and they
right it, and bale it with calabashes which they carry.
[*] Arabic word for raft or float; here it means canoes.
"They brought skeins of spun cotton, and parrots, and javelins,
and other little things which it would be wearisome to write
down, and they gave everything for whatever was given to them.
"And I strove attentively to learn whether there were gold. And I
saw that some of them had a little piece of gold hung in a hole
which they have in their noses. And by signs I was able to
understand that going to the south, or going round the island to
the southward, there was a king there who had great vessels of
it, and had very much of it. I tried to persuade them to go
there; and afterward I saw that they did not understand about
going.[*]
[*] To this first found land, called by the natives Guanahani,
Columbus gave the name of San Salvador. There is, however, great
doubt whether this is the island known by that name on the maps.
Of late years the impression has generally been that the island
thus discovered is that now known as Watling's island. In 1860
Admiral Fox, of the United States navy, visited all these
islands, and studied the whole question anew, visiting the
islands himself and working backwards to the account of
Columbus's subsequent voyage, so as to fix the spot from which
that voyage began. Admiral Fox decides that the island of
discovery was neither San Salvador nor Watling's island, but the
Samana island of the same group. The subject is so curious that
we copy his results at more length in the appendix.
"I determined to wait till the next afternoon, and then to start
for the southwest, for many of them told me that there was land
to the south and southwest and northwest, and that those from the
northwest came often to fight with them, and so to go on to the
southwest to seek gold and precious stones.
"This island is very large and very flat and with very green
trees, and many waters, and a very large lake in the midst,
without any mountain. And all of it is green, so that it is a
pleasure to see it. And these people are so gentle, and desirous
to have our articles and thinking that nothing can be given them
unless they give something and do not keep it back. They take
what they can, and at once jump [into the water] and swim [away].
But all that they have they give for whatever is given them. For
they barter even for pieces of porringus, and of broken glass
cups, so that I saw sixteen skeins of cotton given for three
Portuguese centis, that is a blanca of Castile, and there was
more than twenty-five pounds of spun cotton in them. This I shall
forbid, and not let anyone take [it]; but I shall have it all
taken for your Highnesses, if there is any quantity of it.
"It grows here in this island, but for a short time I could not
believe it at all. And there is found here also the gold which
they wear hanging to their noses; but so as not to lose time I
mean to go to see whether I can reach the island of Cipango.
"Now as it was night they all went ashore with their almadias."
Sunday, October 14. "At daybreak I had the ship's boat and the
boats of the caravels made ready, and I sailed along the island,
toward the north-northeast, to see the other port, * * * * what
there was [there], and also to see the towns, and I soon saw two
or three, and the people, who all were coming to the shore,
calling us and giving thanks to God. Some brought us water,
others things to eat. Others, when they saw that I did not care
to go ashore, threw themselves into the sea and came swimming,
and we understood that they asked us if we had come from heaven.
And an old man came into the boat, and others called all [the
rest] men and women, with a loud voice: 'Come and see the men who
have come from heaven; bring them food and drink.'
"There came many of them and many women, each one with something,
giving thanks to God, casting themselves on the ground, and
raising their heads toward heaven. And afterwards they called us
with shouts to come ashore.
"But I feared [to do so], for I saw a great reef of rocks which
encircles all that island. And in it there is bottom and harbor
for as many ships as there are in all Christendom, and its
entrance very narrow. It is true that there are some shallows
inside this ring, but the sea is no rougher than in a well.
"And I was moved to see all this, this morning, so that I might
be able to give an account of it all to your Highnesses, and also
[to find out] where I might make a fortress. And I saw a piece of
land formed like an island, although it is not one, in which
there were six houses, which could be cut off in two days so as
to become an island; although I do not see that it is necessary,
as this people is very ignorant of arms, as your Highnesses will
see from seven whom I had taken, to carry them off to learn our
speech and to bring them back again. But your Highnesses, when
you direct, can take them all to Castile, or keep them captives
in this same island, for with fifty men you can keep them all
subjected, and make them do whatever you like.
"And close to the said islet are groves of trees, the most
beautiful I have seen, and as green and full of leaves as those
of Castile in the months of April and May, and much water.
"I looked at all that harbor and then I returned to the ship and
set sail, and I saw so many islands that I could not decide to
which I should go first. And those men whom I had taken said to
me by signs that there were so very many that they were without
number, and they repeated by name more than a hundred. At last I
set sail for the largest one, and there I determined to go. And
so I am doing, and it will be five leagues from the island of San
Salvador, and farther from some of the rest, nearer to others.
They all are very flat, without mountains and very fertile, and
all inhabited. And they make war upon each other although they
are very simple, and [they are] very beautifully formed."
Monday, October 15, Columbus, on arriving at the island for which
he had set sail, went on to a cape, near which he anchored at
about sunset. He gave the island the name of Santa Maria de la
Concepcion.[*]
[*] This is supposed to be Caico del Norte.
"At about sunset I anchored near the said cape to know if there
were gold there, for the men whom I had taken at the Island of
San Salvador told me that there they wore very large rings of
gold on their legs and arms. I think that all they said was for a
trick, in order to make their escape. However, I did not wish to
pass by any island without taking possession of it.
"And I anchored, and was there till today, Tuesday, when at the
break of day I went ashore with the armed boats, and landed.
"They [the inhabitants], who were many, as naked and in the same
condition as those of San Salvador, let us land on the island,
and gave us what we asked of them.
* * * "I set out for the ship. And there was a large almadia
which had come to board the caravel Nina, and one of the men from
we Island of San Salvador threw himself into the sea, took this
boat, and made off; and the night before, at midnight, another
jumped out. And the almadia went back so fast that there never
was a boat which could come up with her, although we had a
considerable advantage. It reached the shore, and they left the
almadia, and some of my company landed after them, and they all
fled like hens.
"And the almadia, which they had left, we took to the caravel
Nina, to which from another headland there was coming another
little almadia, with a man who came to barter a skein of cotton.
And some of the sailors threw themselves into the sea, because he
did not wish to enter the caravel, and took him. And I, who was
on the stern of the ship, and saw it all, sent for him and gave
him a red cap and some little green glass beads which I put on
his arm, and two small bells which I put at his ears, and I had
his almadia returned, * * * and sent him ashore.
And I set sail at once to go to the other large island which I
saw at the west, and commanded the other almadia to be set
adrift, which the caravel Nina was towing astern. And then I saw
on land, when the man landed, to whom I had given the above
mentioned things (and I had not consented to take the skein of
cotton, though he wished to give it to me), all the others went
to him and thought it a great wonder, and it seemed to them that
we were good people, and that the other man, who had fled, had
done us some harm, and that therefore we were carrying him off.
And this was why I treated the other man as I did, commanding him
to be released, and gave him the said things, so that they might
have this opinion of us, and so that another time, when your
Highnesses send here again, they may be well disposed. And all
that I gave him was not worth four maravedis."
Columbus had set sail at ten o'clock for a "large island" he
mentions, which he called Fernandina, where, from the tales of
the Indian captives, he expected to find gold. Half way between
this island and Santa Maria, he met with "a man alone in an
almadia which was passing" [from one island to the other], "and
he was carrying a little of their bread, as big as one's fist,
and a calabash of water and a piece of red earth made into dust,
and then kneaded, and some dry leaves, which must be a thing much
valued among them, since at San Salvador they brought them to me
as a present.[*] And he had a little basket of their sort, in
which he had a string of little glass bells and two blancas, by
which I knew that he came from the Island of San Salvador. * * *
He came to the ship; I took him on board, for so he asked, and
made him put his almadia in the ship, and keep all he was
carrying. And I commanded to give him bread and honey to eat, and
something to drink.
[*] Was this perhaps tobacco?
"And thus I will take him over to Fernandina, and I will give him
all his property so that he may give good accounts of us, so
that, if it please our Lord, when your Highnesses send there,
those who come may receive honor, and they may give us of all
they have."
Columbus continued sailing for the island he named Fernandina,
now called Inagua Chica. There was a calm all day and he did not
arrive in time to anchor safely before dark. He therefore waited
till morning, and anchored near a town. Here the man had gone,
who had been picked up the day before, and he had given such good
accounts that all night long the ship had been boarded by
almadias, bringing supplies. Columbus directed some trifle to be
given to each of the islanders, and that they should be given
"honey of sugar" to eat. He sent the ship's boat ashore for water
and the inhabitants not only pointed it out but helped to put the
water-casks on board.
"This people," he says, "is like those of the aforesaid islands,
and has the same speech and the same customs, except that these
seem to me a somewhat more domestic race, and more intelligent. *
* * And I saw also in this island cotton cloths made like
mantles. * * *
"It is a very green island and flat and very fertile, and I have
no doubt that all the year through they sow panizo (panic-grass)
and harvest it, and so with everything else. And I saw many
trees, of very different form from ours, and many of them which
had branches of many sorts, and all on one trunk. And one branch
is of one sort and one of another, and so different that it is
the greatest wonder in the world. * * * One branch has its leaves
like canes, and another like the lentisk; and so on one tree five
or six of these kinds; and all so different. Nor are they
grafted, for it might be said that grafting does it, but they
grow on the mountains, nor do these people care for them. * * *
"Here the fishes are so different from ours that it is wonderful.
There are some like cocks of the finest colors in the world,
blue, yellow, red and of all colors, and others painted in a
thousand ways. And the colors are so fine that there is no man
who does not wonder at them and take great pleasure in seeing
them. Also, there are whales. As for wild creatures on shore, I
saw none of any sort, except parrots and lizards; a boy told me
that he saw a great snake. Neither sheep nor goats nor any other
animal did I see; although I have been here a very short time,
that is, half a day, but if there had been any I could not have
failed to see some of them." * * *
Wednesday, October 17. He left the town at noon and prepared to
sail round the island. He had meant to go by the south and
southeast. But as Martin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, had
heard, from one of the Indians he had on board, that it would be
quicker to start by the northwest, and as the wind was favorable
for this course, Columbus took it. He found a fine harbor two
leagues further on, where he found some friendly Indians, and
sent a party ashore for water. "During this time," he says, "I
went [to look at] these trees, which were the most beautiful
things to see which have been seen; there was as much verdure in
the same degree as in the month of May in Andalusia, and all the
trees were as different from ours as the day from the night. And
so [were] the fruits, and the herbs, and the stones and
everything. The truth is that some trees had a resemblance to
others which there are in Castile, but there was a very great
difference. And other trees of other sorts were such that there
is no one who could * * * liken them to others of Castile. * * *
"The others who went for water told me how they had been in their
houses, and that they were very well swept and clean, and their
beds and furniture [made] of things which are like nets of
cotton.[*] Their houses are all like pavilions, and very high and
good chimneys.[**]
[*] They are called Hamacas.
[**] Las Casas says they were not meant for smoke but as a crown,
for they have no opening below for the smoke.
"But I did not see, among many towns which I saw, any of more
than twelve or fifteen houses. * * * And there they had dogs. * *
* And there they found one man who had on his nose a piece of
gold which was like half a castellano, on which there were cut
letters.[*] I blamed them for not bargaining for it, and giving
as much as was asked, to see what it was, and whose coin it was;
and they answered me that they did not dare to barter it."
[*] A castellano was a piece of gold, money, weighing about
one-sixth of an ounce.
He continued towards the northwest, then turned his course to the
east-southeast, east and southeast. The weather being thick and
heavy, and "threatening immediate rain. So all these days since I
have been in these Indies it has rained little or much."
Friday, October 19. Columbus, who had not landed the day before,
now sent two caravels, one to the east and southeast and the
other to the south-southeast, while he himself, with the Santa
Maria, the SHIP, as he calls it, went to the southeast. He
ordered the caravels to keep their courses till noon, and then
join him. This they did, at an island to the east, which he named
Isabella, the Indians whom he had with him calling it Saomete. It
has been supposed to be the island now called Inagua Grande.
"All this coast," says the Admiral, "and the part of the island
which I saw, is all nearly flat, and the island the most
beautiful thing I ever saw, for if the others are very beautiful
this one is more so." He anchored at a cape which was so
beautiful that he named it Cabo Fermoso, the Beautiful Cape, "so
green and so beautiful," he says, "like all the other things and
lands of these islands, that I do not know where to go first, nor
can I weary my eyes with seeing such beautiful verdure and so
different from ours. And I believe that there are in them many
herbs and many trees, which are of great value in Spain for dyes
[or tinctures] and for medicines of spicery. But I do not know
them, which I greatly regret. And as I came here to this cape
there came such a good and sweet odor of flowers or trees from
the land that it was the sweetest thing in the world."
He heard that there was a king in the interior who wore clothes
and much gold, and though, as he says, the Indians had so little
gold that whatever small quantity of it the king wore it would
appear large to them, he decided to visit him the next day. He
did not do so, however, as he found the water too shallow in his
immediate neighborhood, and then had not enough wind to go on,
except at night.
Sunday morning, October 21, he anchored, apparently more to the
west, and after having dined, landed. He found but one house,
from which the inhabitants were absent; he directed that nothing
in it should be touched. He speaks again of the great beauty of
the island, even greater than that of the others he had seen.
"The singing of the birds," he says, "seems as if a man would
never seek to leave this place, and the flocks of parrots which
darken the sun, and fowls and birds of so many kinds and so
different from ours that it is wonderful. And then there are
trees of a thousand sorts, and all with fruit of their kinds. And
all have such an odor that it is wonderful, so that I am the most
afflicted man in the world not to know them."
They killed a serpent in one of the lakes upon this island, which
Las Casas says is the Guana, or what we call the Iguana.
In seeking for good water, the Spaniards found a town, from which
the inhabitants were going to fly. But some of them rallied, and
one of them approached the visitors. Columbus gave him some
little bells and glass beads, with which he was much pleased. The
Admiral asked him for water, and they brought it gladly to the
shore in calabashes.
He still wished to see the king of whom the Indians had spoken,
but meant afterward to go to "another very great island, which I
believe must be Cipango, which they call Colba." This is probably
a mistake in the manuscript for Cuba, which is what is meant. It
continues, "and to that other island which they call Bosio"
(probably Bohio) "and the others which are on the way, I will see
these in passing. * * * But still, I am determined to go to the
mainland and to the city of Quisay and to give your Highnesses'
letters to the Grand Khan, and seek a reply and come back with
it."
He remained at this island during the twenty-second and
twenty-third of October, waiting first for the king, who did not
appear, and then for a favorable wind. "To sail round these
islands," he says, "one needs many sorts of wind, and it does not
blow as men would like." At midnight, between the twenty-third
and twenty-fourth, he weighed anchor in order to start for Cuba.
"I have heard these people say that it was very large and of
great traffic," he says, "and that there were in it gold and
spices, and great ships and merchants. And they showed me that I
should go to it by the west-southwest, and I think so. For I
think that if I may trust the signs which all the Indians of
these islands have made me, and those whom I am carrying in the
ships, for by the tongue I do not understand them, it (Cuba) is
the Island of Cipango,[*] of which wonderful things are told, and
on the globes which I have seen and in the painted maps, it is in
this district."
[*] This was the name the old geographers gave to Japan.
The next day they saw seven or eight islands, which are supposed
to be the eastern and southern keys of the Grand Bank of Bahama.
He anchored to the south of them on the twenty-sixth of October,
and on the next day sailed once more for Cuba.
On Sunday, October 28, he arrived there, in what is now called
the Puerto de Nipe; he named it the Puerto de San Salvador. Here,
as he went on, he was again charmed by the beautiful country. He
found palms "of another sort," says Las Casas, "from those of
Guinea, and from ours." He found the island the "most beautiful
which eyes have seen, full of very good ports and deep rivers,"
and that apparently the sea is never rough there, as the grass
grows down to the water's edge. This greenness to the sea's edge
is still observed there. "Up till that time," says Las Casas, ,he
had not experienced in all these islands that the sea was rough."
He had occasion to learn about it later. He mentions also that
the island is mountainous.
CHAPTER V.
LANDING ON CUBA--THE CIGAR AND TOBACCO--CIPANGO AND THE GREAT
KHAN--FROM CUBA TO HAYTI--ITS SHORES AND HARBORS.
When Columbus landed, at some distance farther along the coast,
he found the best houses he had yet seen, very large, like
pavilions, and very neat within; not in streets but set about
here and there. They were all built of palm branches. Here were
dogs which never barked (supposed to be the almiqui), wild birds
tamed in the houses and "wonderful arrangements of nets,[*] and
fish-hooks and fishing apparatus. There were also carved masks
and other images. Not a thing was touched." The inhabitants had
fled.
[*] These were probably hammocks.
He went on to the northwest, and saw a cape which he named Cabo
de Palmas. The Indians on board the Pinta said that beyond this
cape was a river and that at four days' journey from this was
what they called "Cuba." Now they had been coasting along the
Island of Cuba for two or three days. But Martin Pinzon, the
captain of the Pinta, understood this Cuba to be a city, and that
this land was the mainland, running far to the north. Columbus
until he died believed that it was the mainland.
Martin Pinzon also understood that the king of that land was at
war with the Grand Khan, whom they called Cami. The Admiral
determined to go to the river the Indians mentioned, and to send
to the king the letter of the sovereigns. He meant to send with
it a sailor who had been to Guinea, and some of the Guanahani
Indians. He was encouraged, probably, by the name of Carni, in
thinking that he was really near the Grand Khan.
He did not, however, send off these messengers at once, as the
wind and the nature of the coast proved unfit for his going up
the river the Indians had spoken of. He went back to the town
where he had been two days before.
Once more he found that the people had fled, but "after a good
while a man appeared," and the Admiral sent ashore one of the
Indians he had with him. This man shouted to the Indians on shore
that they must not be afraid, as these were good people, and did
harm to no man, nor did they belong to the Grand Khan, but they
gave, of what they had, in many islands where they had been. He
now jumped into the sea and swam ashore, and two of the
inhabitants took him in their arms and brought him to a house
where they asked him questions. When he had reassured them, they
began to come out to the ships in their canoes, with "spun cotton
and others of their little things." But the Admiral commanded
that nothing should be taken from them, so that they might know
that he was seeking nothing but gold, or, as they called it,
nucay.
He saw no gold here, but one of them had a piece of wrought
silver hanging to his nose. They made signs, that before three
days many merchants would come from the inland country to trade
with the Spaniards, and that they would bring news from the king,
who, according to their signs, was four days' journey away. "And
it is certain" says the Admiral, "that this is the mainland, and
that I am before Zayto and Quinsay, a hundred leagues more or
less from both of them, and this is clearly shown by the tide,
which comes in a different manner from that in which it has done
up to this time; and yesterday when I went to the northwest I
found that it was cold."
Always supposing that he was near Japan, which they called
Cipango, Columbus continued to sail along the northern coast of
Cuba and explored about half that shore. He then returned to the
east, governed by the assurances of the natives that on an island
named Babegue he would find men who used hammers with which to
beat gold into ingots. This gold, as he understood them, was
collected on the shore at night, while the people lighted up the
darkness with candles.
At the point where he turned back, he had hauled his ships up on
the shore to repair them. From this point, on the second of
November, he sent two officers inland, one of whom was a Jew, who
knew Chaldee, Hebrew and a little Arabic, in the hope that they
should find some one who could speak these languages. With them
went one of the Guanahani Indians, and one from the neighborhood.
They returned on the night between the fifth and sixth of
November. Twelve leagues off they had found a village of about
fifty large houses, made in the form of tents. This village had
about a thousand inhabitants, according to the explorers. They
had received the ambassadors with cordial kindness, believing
that they had descended from heaven.
They even took them in their arms and thus carried them to the
finest house of all. They gave them seats, and then sat round
them on the ground in a circle. They kissed their feet and hands,
and touched them, to make sure whether they were really men of
flesh and bone.
It was on this expedition that the first observation was made of
that gift of America to the world, which has worked its way so
deep and far into general use. They met men and women who
"carried live coals, so as to draw into their mouths the smoke of
burning herbs." This was the account of the first observers. But
Las Casas says that the dry herbs were wrapped in another leaf as
dry. He says that "they lighted one end of the little stick thus
formed, and sucked in or absorbed the smoke by the other, with
which," he says, "they put their flesh to sleep, and it nearly
intoxicates them, and thus they say that they feel no fatigue.
These mosquetes, as we should call them, they call tobacos. I
knew Spaniards on this Island of Hispaniola who were accustomed
to take them, who, on being reproved for it as a vice, replied
that it was not in their power (in their hand) to leave off
taking them. I do not know what savour or profit they found in
them." This is clearly a cigar.
The third or fourth of November, then, 1892, with the addition of
nine days to change the style from old to new, may be taken by
lovers of tobacco as the fourth centennial of the day when
Europeans first learned the use of the cigar.
On the eleventh of November the repairs were completed.
He says that the Sunday before, November 11 it had seemed to him
that it would be good to take some persons, from those of that
river, to carry to the sovereigns, so that "they might learn our
tongue, so as to know what there is in the country, and so that
when they come back they may be tongues to the Christians, and
receive our customs and the things of the faith. Because I saw
and know," says the Admiral, "that this people has no religion
(secta) nor are they idolaters, but very mild and without knowing
what evil is, nor how to kill others, nor how to take them, and
without arms, and so timorous that from one of our men ten of
them fly, although they do sport with them, and ready to believe
and knowing that there is a God in heaven, and sure that we have
come from heaven; and very ready at any prayer which we tell them
to repeat, and they make the sign of the cross.
"So your Highnesses should determine to make them Christians, for
I believe that if they begin, in a short time they will have
accomplished converting to our holy faith a multitude of towns."
"Without doubt there are in these lands the greatest quantities
of gold, for not without cause do these Indians whom I am
bringing say that there are places in these isles where they dig
out gold and wear it on their necks, in their ears and on their
arms and legs, and the bracelets are very thick.
"And also there are stones and precious pearls, and unnumbered
spices. And in this Rio de Mares, from which I departed last
night, without doubt there is the greatest quantity of mastic,
and there might be more if more were desired. For the trees, if
planted, take root, and there are many of them and very great and
they have the leaf like a lentisk, and their fruit, except that
the trees and the fruit are larger, is such as Pliny describes,
and I have seen in the Island of Chios in the Archipelago.
"And I had many of these trees tapped to see if they would send
out resin, so as to draw it out. And as it rained all the time I
was at the said river, I could not get any of it, except a very
little which I am bringing to your Highnesses. And besides, it
may be that it is not the, time to tap them, for I believe that
this should be done at the time when the trees begin to leave out
from the winter and seek to send out their flowers, and now they
have the fruit nearly ripe.
"And also here there might be had a great store of cotton, and I
believe that it might be sold very well here without taking it to
Spain, in the great cities of the Great Khan, which will
doubtless be discovered, and many others of other lords, who will
then have to serve your Highnesses. And here will be given them
other things from Spain, from the lands of the East, since these
are ours in the West.
"And here there is also aloes everywhere, although this is not a
thing to make great account of, but the mastic should be well
considered, because it is not found except in the said island of
Chios, and I believe that they get from it quite 50,000 ducats if
I remember aright. And this is the best harbor which I have seen
thus far--deep and easy of access, so that this would be a good
place for a large town."
The notes in Columbus's journals are of the more interest and
value, because they show his impressions at the moment when he
wrote. However mistaken those impressions, he never corrects them
afterwards. Although, while he was in Cuba, he never found the
Grand Khan, he never recalls the hopes which he has expressed.
He had discovered the island on its northern side by sailing
southwest from the Lucayos or Bahamas. From the eleventh of
November until the sixth of December he was occupied in coasting
along the northern shore, eventually returning eastward, when he
crossed the channel which parts Cuba from Hayti.
The first course was east, a quarter southeast, and on the
sixteenth, they entered Port-au-Prince, and took possession,
raising a cross there. At Port-au-Prince, to his surprise, he
found on a point of rock two large logs, mortised into each other
in the shape of a cross, so "that you would have said a carpenter
could not have proportioned them better."
On the nineteenth the course was north-northeast; on the
twenty-first they took a course south, a quarter southwest,
seeking in these changes the island of "Babeque," which the
Indians had spoken of as rich with gold. On the day last named
Pinzon left the Admiral in the Pinta, and they did not meet again
for more than a month.
Columbus touched at various points on Cuba and the neighboring
islands. He sought, without success, for pearls, and always
pressed his inquiries for gold. He was determined to find the
island of Bohio, greatly to the terror of the poor Indians, whom
he had on board: they said that its natives had but one eye, in
the middle of their foreheads, and that they were well armed and
ate their prisoners.
He landed in t