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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4112.txt b/4112.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9da6c00 --- /dev/null +++ b/4112.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1833 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Christopher Columbus, Volume 5, by Filson Young + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christopher Columbus, Volume 5 + And The New World Of His Discovery, A Narrative + +Author: Filson Young + +Release Date: December 5, 2004 [EBook #4112] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, VOLUME 5 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS + + AND THE NEW WORLD OF HIS DISCOVERY + + A NARRATIVE BY FILSON YOUNG + + + Volume 5 + + + +DESPERATE REMEDIES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE VOYAGE TO CUBA + +The sight of the greater part of their fleet disappearing in the +direction of home threw back the unstable Spanish colony into doubt and +despondency. The brief encouragement afforded by Ojeda's report soon +died away, and the actual discomforts of life in Isabella were more +important than visionary luxuries that seemed to recede into the distance +with the vanishing ships. The food supply was the cause of much +discomfort; the jobbery and dishonesty which seem inseparable from the +fitting out of a large expedition had stored the ships with bad wine and +imperfectly cured provisions; and these combined with the unhealthy +climate to produce a good deal of sickness. The feeling against +Columbus, never far below the Spanish surface, began to express itself +definitely in treacherous consultations and plots; and these were +fomented by Bernal Diaz, the comptroller of the colony, who had access to +Columbus's papers and had seen the letter sent by him to Spain. Columbus +was at this time prostrated by an attack of fever, and Diaz took the +opportunity to work the growing discontent up to the point of action. He +told the colonists that Columbus had painted their condition in far too +favourable terms; that he was deceiving them as well as the Sovereigns; +and a plot was hatched to seize the ships that remained and sail for +home, leaving Columbus behind to enjoy the riches that he had falsely +boasted about. They were ready to take alarm at anything, and to believe +anything one way or the other; and as they had believed Ojeda when he +came back with his report of riches, now they believed Cado, the assayer, +who said that even such gold as had been found was of a very poor and +worthless quality. The mutiny developed fast; and a table of charges +against Columbus, which was to be produced in Spain as a justification +for it, had actually been drawn up when the Admiral, recovering from his +illness, discovered what was on foot. He dealt promptly and firmly with +it in his quarterdeck manner, which was always far more effective than +his viceregal manner. Diaz was imprisoned and lodged in chains on board +one of the ships, to be sent to Spain for trial; and the other +ringleaders were punished also according to their deserts. The guns and +ammunition were all stored together on one ship under a safe guard, and +the mutiny was stamped out. But the Spaniards did not love Columbus any +the better for it; did not any the more easily forgive him for being in +command of them and for being a foreigner. + + +But it would never do for the colony to stagnate in Isabella, and +Columbus decided to make a serious attempt, not merely to discover the +gold of Cibao, but to get it. He therefore organised a military +expedition of about 400 men, including artificers, miners, and carriers, +with the little cavalry force that had been brought out from Spain. +Every one who had armour wore it, flags and banners were carried, drums +and trumpets were sounded; the horses were decked out in rich caparisons, +and as glittering and formidable a show was made as possible. Leaving +his brother James in command of the settlement, Columbus set out on the +12th of March to the interior of the island. Through the forest and up +the mountainside a road was cut by pioneers from among the aristocratic +adventurers who had come with the party; which road, the first made in +the New World, was called El Puerto de los Hidalgos. The formidable, +glittering cavalcade inspired the natives with terror and amazement; they +had never seen horses before, and when one of the soldiers dismounted it +seemed to them as though some terrifying two-headed, six-limbed beast had +come asunder. What with their fright of the horses and their desire to +possess the trinkets that were carried they were very friendly and +hospitable, and supplied the expedition with plenty of food. At last, +after passing mountain ranges that made their hearts faint, and rich +valleys that made them hopeful again, the explorers came to the mountains +of Cibao, and passing over the first range found themselves in a little +valley at the foot of the hills where a river wound round a fertile plain +and there was ample accommodation for an encampment. There were the +usual signs of gold, and Columbus saw in the brightly coloured stones of +the river-bed evidence of unbounded wealth in precious stones. At last +he had come to the place! He who had doubted so much, and whose faith +had wavered, had now been led to a place where he could touch and handle +the gold and jewels of his desire; and he therefore called the place +Saint Thomas. He built a fort here, leaving a garrison of fifty-six men +under the command of Pedro Margarite to collect gold from the natives, +and himself returned to Isabella, which he reached at the end of March. + + +Enforced absence from the thing he has organised is a great test of +efficiency in any man. The world is full of men who can do things +themselves; but those who can organise from the industry of their men a +machine which will steadily perform the work whether the organiser is +absent or present are rare indeed. Columbus was one of the first class. +His own power and personality generally gave him some kind of mastery +over any circumstances in which he was immediately concerned; but let him +be absent for a little time, and his organisation went to pieces. No one +was better than he at conducting a one-man concern; and his conduct of +the first voyage, so long as he had his company under his immediate +command, was a model of efficiency. But when the material under his +command began to grow and to be divided into groups his life became a +succession of ups and downs. While he was settling and disciplining one +group mutiny and disorder would attack the other; and when he went to +attend to them, the first one immediately fell into confusion again. He +dealt with the discontent in Isabella, organising the better disposed +part of it in productive labour, and himself marching the malcontents +into something like discipline and order, leaving them at Saint Thomas, +as we have seen, usefully collecting gold. But while he was away the +people at Isabella had got themselves into trouble again, and when he +arrived there on the morning of March 29th he found the town in a +deplorable condition. The lake beside which the city had been built, and +which seemed so attractive and healthy a spot, turned out to be nothing +better than a fever trap. Drained from the malarial marshes, its sickly +exhalations soon produced an epidemic that incapacitated more than half +the colony and interrupted the building operations. The time of those +who were well was entirely occupied with the care of those who were sick, +and all productive work was at a standstill. The reeking virgin soil had +produced crops in an incredibly short time, and the sowings of January +were ready for reaping in the beginning of April. But there was no one +to reap them, and the further cultivation of the ground had necessarily +been neglected. + +The faint-hearted Spaniards, who never could meet any trouble without +grumbling, were now in the depths of despair and angry discontent; +and it had not pleased them to be put on a short allowance of even the +unwholesome provisions that remained from the original store. A couple +of rude hand-mills had been erected for the making of flour, and as food +was the first necessity Columbus immediately put all the able-bodied men +in the colony, whatever their rank, to the elementary manual work of +grinding. Friar Buil and the twelve Benedictine brothers who were with +him thought this a wise order, assuming of course that as clerics they +would not be asked to work. But great was their astonishment, and loud +and angry their criticism of the Admiral, when they found that they also +were obliged to labour with their hands. But Columbus was firm; there +were absolutely no exceptions made; hidalgo and priest had to work +alongside of sailor and labourer; and the curses of the living mingled +with those of the dying on the man whose boastful words had brought them +to such a place and such a condition. + +It was only in the nature of things that news should now arrive of +trouble at Saint Thomas. Gold and women again; instead of bartering or +digging, the Spaniards had been stealing; and discipline had been +relaxed, with the usual disastrous results with regard to the women of +the adjacent native tribes. Pedro Margarite sent a nervous message to +Columbus expressing his fear that Caonabo, the native king, should be +exasperated to the point of attacking them again. Columbus therefore +despatched Ojeda in command of a force of 350 armed men to Saint Thomas +with instructions that he was to take over the command of that post, +while Margarite was to take out an expedition in search of Caonabo whom, +with his brothers, Margarite was instructed to capture at all costs. + +Having thus set things going in the interior, and once more restored +Isabella to something like order, he decided to take three ships and +attempt to discover the coast of Cathay. The old Nina, the San Juan, and +the Cordera, three small caravels, were provisioned for six months and +manned by a company of fifty-two men. Francisco Nino went once more with +the Admiral as pilot, and the faithful Juan de la Cosa was taken to draw +charts; one of the monks also, to act as chaplain. The Admiral had a +steward, a secretary, ten seamen and six boys to complete the company on +the Nina. The San Juan was commanded by Alonso Perez Roldan and the +Cordera by Christoval Nino. Diego was again left in command of the +colony, with four counsellors, Friar Buil, Fernandez Coronel, Alonso +Sanchez Carvajal, and Juan de Luxan, to assist his authority. + +The Admiral sailed on April 24th, steering to the westward and touching +at La Navidad before he bore away to the island of Cuba, the southern +shore of which it was now his intention to explore. At one of his first +anchorages he discovered a native feast going on, and when the boats from +his ships pulled ashore the feasters fled in terror--the hungry Spaniards +finishing their meal for them. Presently, however, the feasters were +induced to come back, and Columbus with soft speeches made them a +compensation for the food that had been taken, and produced a favourable +impression, as his habit was; with the result that all along the coast he +was kindly received by the natives, who supplied him with food and fresh +fruit in return for trinkets. At the harbour now known as Santiago de +Cuba, where he anchored on May 2nd, he had what seemed like authentic +information of a great island to the southward which was alleged to be +the source of all the gold. The very compasses of Columbus's ships seem +by this time to have become demagnetised, and to have pointed only to +gold; for no sooner had he heard this report than he bore away to the +south in pursuit of that faint yellow glitter that had now quite taken +the place of the original inner light of faith. + + +The low coast of Jamaica, hazy and blue at first, but afterwards warming +into a golden belt crowned by the paler and deeper greens of the foliage, +was sighted first by Columbus on Sunday, May 4th; and he anchored the +next day in the beautiful harbour of Saint Anne, to which he gave the +name of Santa Gloria. To the island itself he gave the name of Santiago, +which however has never displaced its native name of Jamaica. The dim +blue mountains and clumps of lofty trees about the bay were wonderful +even to Columbus, whose eyes must by this time have been growing +accustomed to the beauty of the West Indies, and he lost his heart to +Jamaica from the first moment that his eyes rested on its green and +golden shores. Perhaps he was by this time a little out of conceit with +Hayti; but be that as it may he retracted all the superlatives he had +ever used for the other lands of his discovery, and bestowed them in his +heart upon Jamaica. + +He was not humanly so well received as he had been on the other islands, +for when he cast anchor the natives came out in canoes threatening +hostilities and had to be appeased with red caps and hawks' bells. Next +day, however, Columbus wished to careen his ships, and sailed a little to +the west until he found a suitable beach at Puerto Bueno; and as he +approached the shore some large canoes filled with painted and feathered +warriors came out and attacked his ships, showering arrows and javelins, +and whooping and screaming at the Spaniards. The guns were discharged, +and an armed party sent ashore in a boat, and the natives were soon put +to flight. There was no renewal of hostilities; the next day the local +cacique came down offering provisions and help; presents were exchanged, +and cordial relations established. Columbus noticed that the Jamaicans +seemed to be a much more virile community than either the Cubans or the +people of Espanola. They had enormous canoes hollowed out of single +mahogany trees, some of them 96 feet long and 8 feet broad, which they +handled with the greatest ease and dexterity; they had a merry way with +them too, were quick of apprehension and clever at expressing their +meaning, and in their domestic utensils and implements they showed an +advance in civilisation on the other islanders of the group. Columbus +did some trade with the islanders as he sailed along the coast, but he +does not seem to have believed much in the gold story, for after sailing +to the western point of the island he bore away to the north again and +sighted the coast of Cuba on the 18th of May. + + +The reason why Columbus kept returning to the coast of Cuba was that he +believed it to be the mainland of Asia. The unlettered natives, who had +never read Marco Polo, told him that it was an island, although no man +had ever seen the end of it; but Columbus did not believe them, and +sailed westward in the belief that he would presently come upon the +country and city of Cathay. Soon he found himself in the wonderful +labyrinth of islets and sandbanks off the south coast; and because of the +wonderful colours of their flowers and climbing plants he called them +Jardin de la Reina or Queen's Garden. Dangerous as the navigation +through these islands was, he preferred to risk the shoals and sandbanks +rather than round them out at sea to the southward, for he believed them +to be the islands which, according to Marco Polo, lay in masses along the +coast of Cathay. In this adventure he had a very hard time of it; the +lead had to be used all the time, the ships often had to be towed, the +wind veered round from every quarter of the compass, and there were +squalls and tempests, and currents that threatened to set them ashore. +By great good fortune, however, they managed to get through the +Archipelago without mishap. By June 3rd they were sailing along the +coast again, and Columbus had some conversation with an old cacique who +told him of a province called Mangon (or so Columbus understood him) that +lay to the west. Sir John Mandeville had described the province of Mangi +as being the richest in Cathay; and of course, thought the Admiral, this +must be the place. He went westward past the Gulf of Xagua and got into +the shallow sandy waters, now known as the Jardinillos Bank, where the +sea was whitened with particles of sand. When he had got clear of this +shoal water he stood across a broad bay towards a native settlement where +he was able to take in yams, fruit, fish, and fresh water. + +But this excitement and hard work were telling on the Admiral, and when a +native told him that there was a tribe close by with long tails, he +believed him; and later, when one of his men, coming back from a shore +expedition, reported that he had seen some figures in a forest wearing +white robes, Columbus believed that they were the people with the tails, +who wore a long garment to conceal them. + + +He was moving in a world of enchantment; the weather was like no weather +in any known part of the world; there were fogs, black and thick, which +blew down suddenly from the low marshy land, and blew away again as +suddenly; the sea was sometimes white as milk, sometimes black as pitch, +sometimes purple, sometimes green; scarlet cranes stood looking at them +as they slid past the low sandbanks; the warm foggy air smelt of roses; +shoals of turtles covered the waters, black butterflies circled in the +mist; and the fever that was beginning to work in the Admiral's blood +mounted to his brain, so that in this land of bad dreams his fixed ideas +began to dominate all his other faculties, and he decided that he must +certainly be on the coast of Cathay, in the magic land described by Marco +Polo. + + +There is nothing which illustrates the arbitrary and despotic government +of sea life so well as the nautical phrase "make it so." The very hours +of the day, slipping westward under the keel of an east-going ship, are +"made" by rigid decree; the captain takes his observation of sun or +stars, and announces the position of the ship to be at a certain spot on +the surface of the globe; any errors of judgment or deficiencies of +method are covered by the words "make it so." And in all the elusive +phenomena surrounding him the fevered brain of the Admiral discerned +evidence that he was really upon the coast of Asia, although there was no +method by which he could place the matter beyond a doubt. The word Asia +was not printed upon the sands of Cuba, as it might be upon a map; the +lines of longitude did not lie visibly across the surface of the sea; +there was nothing but sea and land, the Admiral's charts, and his own +conviction. Therefore Columbus decided to "make it so." If there was no +other way of being sure that this was the coast of Cathay, he would +decree it to be the coast of Cathay by a legal document and by oaths and +affidavits. He would force upon the members of his expedition a +conviction at least equal to his own; and instead of pursuing any further +the coast that stretched interminably west and south-west, he decided to +say, in effect, and once and for all, "Let this be the mainland of Asia." + +He called his secretary to him and made him draw up a form of oath or +testament, to which every member of the expedition was required to +subscribe, affirming that the land off which they were then lying (12th +June 1494), was the mainland of the Indies and that it was possible to +return to Spain by land from that place; and every officer who should +ever deny it in the future was laid under a penalty of ten thousand +maravedis, and every ship's boy or seaman under a penalty of one hundred +lashes; and in addition, any member of the expedition denying it in the +future was to have his tongue cut out. + +No one will pretend that this was the action of a sane man; neither will +any one wonder that Columbus was something less than sane after all he +had gone through, and with the beginnings of a serious illness already in +his blood. His achievement was slipping from his grasp; the gold had not +been found, the wonders of the East had not been discovered; and it was +his instinct to secure something from the general wreck that seemed to be +falling about him, and to force his own dreams to come true, that caused +him to cut this grim and fantastic legal caper off the coast of Cuba. He +thought it at the time unlikely, seeing the difficulties of navigation +that he had gone through, which he might be pardoned for regarding as +insuperable to a less skilful mariner, that any one should ever come that +way again; even he himself said that he would never risk his life again +in such a place. He wished his journey, therefore, not to have been made +in vain; and as he himself believed that he had stood on the mainland of +Asia he took care to take back with him the only kind of evidence that +was possible namely, the sworn affidavits of the ships' crews. + + +Perhaps in his madness he would really have gone on and tried to reach +the Golden Chersonesus of Ptolemy, which according to Marco Polo lay just +beyond, and so to steer homeward round Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope; +in which case he would either have been lost or would have discovered +Mexico. The crews, however, would not hear of the voyage being continued +westward. The ships were leaking and the salt water was spoiling the +already doubtful provisions and he was forced to turn back. He stood to +the south-east, and reached the Isle of Pines, to which he gave the name +of Evangelista, where the water-casks were filled, and from there he +tried to sail back to the east. But he found himself surrounded by +islands and banks in every direction, which made any straight course +impossible. He sailed south and east and west and north, and found +himself always back again in the middle of this charmed group of islands. +He spent almost a month trying to escape from them, and once his ship +went ashore on a sandbank and was only warped off with the greatest +difficulty. On July 7th he was back again in the region of the "Queen's +Gardens," from which he stood across to the coast of Cuba. + +He anchored and landed there, and being in great distress and difficulty +he had a large cross erected on the mainland, and had mass said. When +the Spaniards rose from their knees they saw an old native man observing +them; and the old man came and sat down beside Columbus and talked to him +through the interpreter. He told him that he had been in Jamaica and +Espanola as well as in Cuba, and that the coming of the Spaniards had +caused great distress to the people of the islands. + +He then spoke to Columbus about religion, and the gist of what he said +was something like this: "The performance of your worship seems good to +me. You believe that this life is not everything; so do we; and I know +that when this life is over there are two places reserved for me, to one +of which I shall certainly go; one happy and beautiful, one dreadful and +miserable. Joy and kindness reign in the one place, which is good enough +for the best of men; and they will go there who while they have lived on +the earth have loved peace and goodness, and who have never robbed or +killed or been unkind. The other place is evil and full of shadows, and +is reserved for those who disturb and hurt the sons of men; how important +it is, therefore, that one should do no evil or injury in this world!" + +Columbus replied with a brief statement of his own theological views, and +added that he had been sent to find out if there were any persons in +those islands who did evil to others, such as the Caribs or cannibals, +and that if so he had come to punish them. The effect of this ingenuous +speech was heightened by a gift of hawks' bells and pieces of broken +glass; upon receiving which the good old man fell down on his knees, and +said that the Spaniards must surely have come from heaven. + + +A few days later the voyage to the, south-east was resumed, and some +progress was made along the coast. But contrary winds arose which made +it impossible for the ships to round Cape Cruz, and Columbus decided to +employ the time of waiting in completing his explorations in Jamaica. +He therefore sailed due south until he once more sighted the beautiful +northern coast of that island, following it to the west and landing, as +his custom was, whenever he saw a good harbour or anchorage. The wind +was still from the east, and he spent a month beating to the eastward +along the south coast of the island, fascinated by its beauty, and +willing to stay and explore it, but prevented by the discontent of his +crews, who were only anxious to get back to Espanola. He had friendly +interviews with many of the natives of Jamaica, and at almost the last +harbour at which he touched a cacique with his wife and family and +complete retinue came off in canoes to the ship, begging Columbus to take +him and his household back to Spain. + +Columbus considers this family, and thinks wistfully how well they would +look in Barcelona. Father dressed in a cap of gold and green jewels, +necklace and earrings of the same; mother decked out in similar regalia, +with the addition of a small cotton apron; two sons and five brothers +dressed principally in a feather or two; two daughters mother-naked, +except that the elder, a handsome girl of eighteen, wears a jewelled +girdle from which depends a tablet as big as an ivy leaf, made of various +coloured stones embroidered on cotton. What an exhibit for one of the +triumphal processions: "Native royal family, complete"! But Columbus +thinks also of the scarcity of provisions on board his ships, and wonders +how all these royalties would like to live on a pint of sour wine and a +rotten biscuit each per day. Alas! there is not sour wine and rotten +biscuit enough for his own people; it is still a long way to Espanola; +and he is obliged to make polite excuses, and to say that he will come +back for his majesty another time. + + +It was on the 20th of August that Columbus, having the day before seen +the last of the dim blue hills of Jamaica, sighted again the long +peninsula of Hayti, called by him Cape San Miguel, but known to us as +Cape Tiburon; although it was not until he was hailed by a cacique who +called out to him "Almirante, Almirante," that the seaworn mariners +realised with joy that the island must be Espanola. But they were a long +way from Isabella yet. They sailed along the south coast, meeting +contrary winds, and at one point landing nine men who were to cross the +island, and try to reach Isabella by land. Week followed week, and they +made very poor progress. In the beginning of September they were caught +in a severe tempest, which separated the ships for a time, and held the +Admiral weather-bound for eight days. There was an eclipse of the moon +during this period, and he took advantage of it to make an observation +for longitude, by which he found himself to be 5 hrs. 23 min., or 80 deg. +40', west of Cadiz. In this observation there is an error of eighteen +degrees, the true longitude of the island of Saona, where the observation +was taken, being 62 deg. 20' west of Cadiz; and the error is accounted +for partly by the inaccuracy of the tables of Regiomontanus and partly by +the crudity and inexactness of the Admiral's methods. On the 24th of +September they at last reached the easternmost point of Espanola, named +by Columbus San Rafael. They stood to the east a little longer, and +discovered the little island of Mona, which lies between Espanola and +Puerto Rico; and from thence shaped their course west-by-north for +Isabella. And no sooner had the course been set for home than the +Admiral suddenly and completely collapsed; was carried unconscious to his +cabin; and lay there in such extremity that his companions gave him up +for lost. + +It is no ordinary strain to which poor Christopher has succumbed. He has +been five months at sea, sharing with the common sailors their bad food +and weary vigils, but bearing alone on his own shoulders a weight of +anxiety of which they knew nothing. Watch has relieved watch on his +ships, but there has been no one to relieve him, or to lift the burden +from his mind. The eyes of a nation are upon him, watchful and jealous +eyes that will not forgive him any failure; and to earn their approval he +has taken this voyage of five months, during which he has only been able +to forget his troubles in the brief hours of slumber. Strange uncharted +seas, treacherous winds and currents, drenching surges have all done +their part in bringing him to this pass; and his body, now starved on +rotten biscuits, now glutted with unfamiliar fruits, has been preyed upon +by the tortured mind as the mind itself has been shaken and loosened by +the weakness of the body. He lies there in his cabin in a deep stupor; +memory, sight, and all sensation completely gone from him; dead but for +the heart that beats on faintly, and the breath that comes and goes +through the parted lips. Nino, de la Cosa, and the others come and look +at him, shake their heads, and go away again. There is nothing to be +done; perhaps they will get him back to Isabella in time to bury him +there; perhaps not. + +And meanwhile they are back again in calm and safe waters, and coasting a +familiar shore; and the faithful little Nina, shaking out her wings in +the sunny breezes, trips under the guidance of unfamiliar hands towards +her moorings in the Bay of Isabella. It is a sad company that she +carries; for in the cabin, deaf and blind and unconscious, there lies the +heart and guiding spirit of the New World. He does not hear the talking +of the waters past the Nina's timbers, does not hear the stamping on the +deck and shortening of sail and unstopping of cables and getting out of +gear; does not hear the splash of the anchor, nor the screams of birds +that rise circling from the shore. Does not hear the greetings and the +news; does not see bending over him a kind, helpful, and well-beloved +face. He sees and hears and knows nothing; and in that state of rest and +absence from the body they carry him, still living and breathing, ashore. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONQUEST OF ESPANOLA + +We must now go back to the time when Columbus, having made what +arrangements he could for the safety of Espanola, left it under the +charge of his brother James. Ojeda had duly marched into the interior +and taken over the command of Fort St. Thomas, thus setting free +Margarite, according to his instructions, to lead an expedition for +purposes of reconnoitre and demonstration through the island. These, at +any rate, were Margarite's orders, duly communicated to him by Ojeda; but +Margarite will have none of them. Well born, well educated, well bred, +he ought at least to have the spirit to carry out orders so agreeable to +a gentleman of adventure; but unfortunately, although Margarite is a +gentleman by birth, he is a low and dishonest dog by nature. He cannot +take the decent course, cannot even play the man, and take his share in +the military work of the colony. Instead of cutting paths through the +forest, and exhibiting his military strength in an orderly and proper way +as the Admiral intended he should, he marches forth from St. Thomas, on +hearing that Columbus has sailed away, and encamps no further off than +the Vega Real, that pleasant place of green valleys and groves and +murmuring rivers. He encamps there, takes up his quarters there, will +not budge from there for any Admiral; and as for James Columbus and his +counsellors, they may go to the devil for all Margarite cares. One of +them at least, he knows--Friar Buil--is not such a fool as to sit down +under the command of that solemn-faced, uncouth young snip from Genoa; +and doubtless when he is tired of the Vega Real he and Buil can arrange +something between them. In the meantime, here is a very beautiful +sunshiny place, abounding in all kinds of provisions; food for more than +one kind of appetite, as he has noticed when he has thrust his rude way +into the native houses and seen the shapely daughters of the islanders. +He has a little army of soldiers to forage for him; they can get him food +and gold, and they are useful also in those other marauding expeditions +designed to replenish the seraglio that he has established in his camp; +and if they like to do a little marauding and woman-stealing on their own +account, it is no affair of his, and may keep the devils in a good +temper. Thus Don Pedro Margarite to himself. + +The peaceable and gentle natives soon began to resent these gross doings. +To robbery succeeded outrage, and to outrage murder--all three committed +in the very houses of the natives; and they began to murmur, to withhold +that goodwill which the Spaniards had so sorely tried, and to develop a +threatening attitude that was soon communicated to the natives in the +vicinity of Isabella, and came under the notice of James Columbus and his +council. Grave, bookish, wool-weaving young James, not used to military +affairs, and not at all comfortable in his command, can think of no other +expedient than--to write a letter to Margarite remonstrating with him for +his licentious excesses and reminding him of the Admiral's instructions, +which were being neglected. + +Margarite receives the letter and reads it with a contemptuous laugh. He +is not going to be ordered about by a family of Italian wool-weavers, and +the only change in his conduct is that he becomes more and more careless +and impudent, extending the area of his lawless operations, and making +frequent visits to Isabella itself, swaggering under the very nose of +solemn James, and soon deep in consultation with Friar Buil. + +At this moment, that is to say very soon after the departure of +Christopher on his voyage to Cuba and Jamaica, three ships dropped anchor +in the Bay of Isabella. They were laden with the much-needed supplies +from Spain, and had been sent out under the command of Bartholomew +Columbus. It will be remembered that when Christopher reached Spain +after his first voyage one of his first cares had been to write to +Bartholomew, asking him to join him. The letter, doubtless after many +wanderings, had found Bartholomew in France at the court of Charles +VIII., by whom he was held in some esteem; in fact it was Charles who +provided him with the necessary money for his journey to Spain, for +Bartholomew had not greatly prospered, in spite of his voyage with Diaz +to the Cape of Good Hope and of his having been in England making +exploration proposals at the court of Henry VII. He had arrived in Spain +after Columbus had sailed again, and had presented himself at court with +his two nephews, Ferdinand and Diego, both of whom were now in the +service of Prince Juan as pages. Ferdinand and Isabella seem to have +received Bartholomew kindly. They liked this capable navigator, who had +much of Christopher's charm of manner, and was more a man of the world +than he. Much more practical also; Ferdinand would be sure to like him +better than he liked Christopher, whose pompous manner and long-winded +speeches bored him. Bartholomew was quick, alert, decisive and +practical; he was an accomplished navigator--almost as accomplished as +Columbus, as it appeared. He was offered the command of the three ships +which were being prepared to go to Espanola with supplies; and he duly +arrived there after a prosperous voyage. It will be remembered that +Christopher had, so far as we know, kept the secret of the road to the +new islands; and Bartholomew can have had nothing more to guide him than +a rough chart showing the islands in a certain latitude, and the distance +to be run towards them by dead-reckoning. That he should have made an +exact landfall and sailed into the Bay of Isabella, never having been +there before, was a certificate of the highest skill in navigation. + +Unfortunately it was James who was in charge of the colony; Bartholomew +had no authority, for once his ships had arrived in port his mission was +accomplished until Christopher should return and find him employment. +He was therefore forced to sit still and watch his young brother +struggling with the unruly Spaniards. His presence, however, was no +doubt a further exasperation to the malcontents. There existed in +Isabella a little faction of some of the aristocrats who had never, +forgiven Columbus for employing them in degrading manual labour; who had +never forgiven him in fact for being there at all, and in command over +them. And now here was another woolweaver, or son of a wool-weaver, come +to put his finger in the pie that Christopher has apparently provided so +carefully for himself and his family. + +Margarite and Buil and some others, treacherous scoundrels all of them, +but clannish to their own race and class, decide that they will put up +with it no longer; they are tired of Espanola in any case, and Margarite, +from too free indulgence among the native women, has contracted an +unpleasant disease, and thinks that a sea voyage and the attentions of a +Spanish doctor will be good for him. It is easy for them to put their +plot into execution. There are the ships; there is nothing, for them to +do but take a couple of them, provision them, and set sail for Spain, +where they trust to their own influence, and the story they will be able +to tell of the falseness of the Admiral's promises, to excuse their +breach of discipline. And sail they do, snapping their fingers at the +wool-weavers. + +James and Bartholomew were perhaps glad to be rid of them, but their +relief was tempered with anxiety as to the result on Christopher's +reputation and favour when the malcontents should have made their false +representations at Court. The brothers were powerless to do anything in +that matter, however, and the state of affairs in Espanola demanded their +close attention. Margarite's little army, finding itself without even +the uncertain restraint of its commander, now openly mutinied and +abandoned itself to the wildest excesses. It became scattered and +disbanded, and little groups of soldiers went wandering about the +country, robbing and outraging and carrying cruelty and oppression among +the natives. Long-suffering as these were, and patiently as they bore +with the unspeakable barbarities of the Spanish soldiers, there came a +point beyond which their forbearance would not go. An aching spirit of +unforgiveness and revenge took the place of their former gentleness and +compliance; and here and there, when the Spaniards were more brutal and +less cautious than was their brutal and incautious habit, the natives +fell upon them and took swift and bloody revenge. Small parties found +themselves besieged and put to death whole villages, whose hospitality +had been abused, cut off wandering groups of the marauders and burned the +houses where they lodged. The disaffection spread; and Caonabo, who had +never abated his resentment at the Spanish intrusion into the island, +thought the time had come to make another demonstration of native power. + +Fortunately for the Spaniards his object was the fort of St. Thomas, +commanded by the alert Ojeda; and this young man, who was not easily to +be caught napping, had timely intelligence of his intention. When +Caonabo, mustering ten thousand men, suddenly surrounded the fort and +prepared to attack it, he found the fifty Spaniards of the garrison more +than ready for him, and his naked savages dared not advance within the +range of the crossbows and arquebuses. Caonabo tried to besiege the +station, watching every gorge and road through which supplies could reach +it, but Ojeda made sallies and raids upon the native force, under which +it became thinned and discouraged; and Caonabo had finally to withdraw to +his own territory. + +But he was not yet beaten. He decided upon another and much larger +enterprise, which was to induce the other caciques of the island to +co-operate with him in an attack upon Isabella, the population of which +he knew would have been much thinned and weakened by disease. The +island was divided into five native provinces. The northeastern part, +named Marien, was under the rule of Guacanagari, whose headquarters were +near the abandoned La Navidad. The remaining eastern part of the +island, called Higuay, was under a chief named Cotabanama. The western +province was Xaragua, governed by one Behechio, whose sister, Anacaona, +was the wife of Caonabo. The middle of the island was divided into two +provinces-that which extended from the northern coast to the Cibao +mountains and included the Vega Real being governed by Guarionex, and +that which extended from the Cibao mountains to the south being governed +by Caonabo. All these rulers were more or less embittered by the +outrages and cruelties of the Spaniards, and all agreed to join with +Caonabo except Guacanagari. That loyal soul, so faithful to what he +knew of good, shocked and distressed as he was by outrages from which +his own people had suffered no less than the others, could not bring +himself to commit what he regarded as a breach of the laws of +hospitality. It was upon his shores that Columbus had first landed; and +although it was his own country and his own people whose wrongs were to +be avenged, he could not bring himself to turn traitor to the grave +Admiral with whom, in those happy days of the past, he had enjoyed so +much pleasant intercourse. His refusal to co-operate delayed the plan +of Caonabo, who directed the island coalition against Guacanagari +himself in order to bring him to reason. He was attacked by the +neighbouring chiefs; one of his wives was killed and another captured; +but still he would not swerve from his ideal of conduct. + + +The first thing that Columbus recognised when he opened his eyes after +his long period of lethargy and insensibility was the face of his brother +Bartholomew bend-over him where he lay in bed in his own house at +Espanola. Nothing could have been more welcome to him, sick, lonely and +discouraged as he was, than the presence of that strong, helpful brother; +and from the time when Bartholomew's friendly face first greeted him he +began to get better. His first act, as soon as he was strong enough to +sign a paper, was to appoint Bartholomew to the office of Adelantado, or +Lieutenant-Governor--an indiscreet and rather tactless proceeding which, +although it was not outside his power as a bearer of the royal seal, was +afterwards resented by King Ferdinand as a piece of impudent encroachment +upon the royal prerogative. But Columbus was unable to transact business +himself, and James was manifestly of little use; the action was natural +enough. + +In the early days of his convalescence he had another pleasant +experience, in the shape of a visit from Guacanagari, who came to express +his concern at the Admiral's illness, and to tell him the story of what +had been going on in his absence. The gentle creature referred again +with tears to the massacre at La Navidad, and again asserted that +innocence of any hand in it which Columbus had happily never doubted; and +he told him also of the secret league against Isabella, of his own +refusal to join it, and of the attacks to which he had consequently been +subjected. It must have been an affecting meeting for these two, who +represented the first friendship formed between the Old World and the +New, who were both of them destined to suffer in the impact of +civilisation and savagery, and whose names and characters were happily +destined to survive that impact, and to triumph over the oblivion of +centuries. + + +So long as the native population remained hostile and unconquered by +kindness or force, it was impossible to work securely at the development +of the colony; and Columbus, however regretfully, had come to feel that +circumstances more or less obliged him to use force. At first he did not +quite realise the gravity of the position, and attempted to conquer or +reconcile the natives in little groups. Guarionex, the cacique of the +Vega Real, was by gifts and smooth words soothed back into a friendship +which was consolidated by the marriage of his daughter with Columbus's +native interpreter. It was useless, how ever, to try and make friends +with Caonabo, that fierce irreconcilable; and it was felt that only by +stratagem could he be secured. No sooner was this suggested than Ojeda +volunteered for the service. Amid the somewhat slow-moving figures of +our story this man appears as lively as a flea; and he dances across our +pages in a sensation of intrepid feats of arms that make his great +popularity among the Spaniards easily credible to us. He did not know +what fear was; he was always ready for a fight of any kind; a quarrel in +the streets of Madrid, a duel, a fight with a man or a wild beast, +a brawl in a tavern or a military expedition, were all the same to him, +if only they gave him an opportunity for fighting. He had a little +picture of the Virgin hung round his neck, by which he swore, and to +which he prayed; he had never been so much as scratched in all his +affrays, and he believed that he led a charmed life. Who would go out +against Caonabo, the Goliath of the island? He, little David Ojeda, he +would go out and undertake to fetch the giant back with him; and all he +wanted was ten men, a pair of handcuffs, a handful of trinkets, horses +for the whole of his company, and his little image or picture of the +Virgin. + +Columbus may have smiled at this proposal, but he knew his man; and Ojeda +duly departed with his horses and his ten men. Plunging into the forest, +he made his way through sixty leagues of dense undergrowth until he +arrived in the very heart of Caonabo's territory and presented himself at +the chiefs house. The chief was at home, and, not unimpressed by the +valour of Ojeda, who represented himself as coming on a friendly mission, +received him under conditions of truce. He had an eye for military +prowess, this Caonabo, and something of the lion's heart in him; he +recognised in Ojeda the little man who kept him so long at bay outside +Fort St. Thomas; and, after the manner of lion-hearted people, liked him +none the worse for that. + +Ojeda proposes that the King should accompany him to Isabella to make +peace. No, says Caonabo. Then Ojeda tries another way. There is a +poetical side to this big fighting savage, and often in more friendly +days, when the bell in the little chapel of Isabella has been ringing for +Vespers, the cacique has been observed sitting alone on some hill +listening, enchanted by the strange silver voice that floated to him +across the sunset. The bell has indeed become something of a personality +in the island: all the neighbouring savages listen to its voice with awe +and fascination, pausing with inclined heads whenever it begins to speak +from its turret. + +Ojeda talks to Caonabo about the bell, and tells him what a wonderful +thing it is; tells him also that if he will come with him to Isabella he +shall have the bell for a present. Poetry and public policy struggle +together in Caonabo's heart, but poetry wins; the great powerful savage, +urged thereto by his childish lion-heart, will come to Isabella if they +will give him the bell. He sets forth, accompanied by a native retinue, +and by Ojeda and his ten horsemen. Presently they come to a river and +Ojeda produces his bright manacles; tells the King that they are royal +ornaments and that he has been instructed to bestow them upon Caonabo as +a sign of honour. But first he must come alone to the river and bathe, +which he does. Then he must sit with Ojeda upon his horse; which he +does. Then he must have fitted on to him the shining silver trinkets; +which he does, the great grinning giant, pleased with his toys. Then, to +show him what it is like to be on a horse, Ojeda canters gently round in +widening and ever widening circles; a turn of his spurred heels, and the +canter becomes a gallop, the circle becomes a straight line, and Caonabo +is on the road to Isabella. When they are well beyond reach of the +natives they pause and tie Caonabo securely into his place; and by this +treachery bring him into Isabella, where he is imprisoned in the +Admiral's house. + +The sulky giant, brought thus into captivity, refuses to bend his proud, +stubborn heart into even a form of submission. He takes no notice of +Columbus, and pays him no honour, although honour is paid to himself as +a captive king. He sits there behind his bars gnawing his fingers, +listening to the voice of the bell that has lured him into captivity, +and thinking of the free open life which he is to know no more. Though +he will pay no deference to the Admiral, will not even rise when he +enters his presence, there is one person he holds in honour, and that is +Ojeda. He will not rise when the Admiral comes; but when Ojeda comes, +small as he is, and without external state, the chief makes his obeisance +to him. The Admiral he sets at defiance, and boasts of his destruction +of La Navidad, and of his plan to destroy Isabella; Ojeda he respects and +holds in honour, as being the only man in the island brave enough to come +into his house and carry him off a captive. There is a good deal of the +sportsman in Caonabo. + +The immediate result of the capture of Caonabo was to rouse the islanders +to further hostilities, and one of the brothers of the captive king led a +force of seven thousand men to the vicinity of St. Thomas, to which +Ojeda, however, had in the meantime returned. His small force was +augmented by some men despatched by Bartholomew Columbus on receipt of an +urgent message; and in command of this force Ojeda sallied forth against +the natives and attacked them furiously on horse and on foot, killing a +great part of them, taking others prisoner, and putting the rest to +flight. This was the beginning of the end of the island resistance. A +month or two later, when Columbus was better, he and Bartholomew together +mustered the whole of their available army and marched out in search of +the native force, which he knew had been rallied and greatly augmented. + +The two forces met near the present town of Santiago, in the plain known +as the Savanna of Matanza. The Spanish force was divided into three main +divisions, under the command of Christopher and Bartholomew Columbus and +Ojeda respectively. These three divisions attacked the Indians +simultaneously from different points, Ojeda throwing his cavalry upon +them, riding them down, and cutting them to pieces. Drums were beaten +and trumpets blown; the guns were fired from the cover of the trees; and +a pack of bloodhounds, which had been sent out from Spain with +Bartholomew, were let loose upon the natives and tore their bodies to +pieces. It was an easy and horrible victory. The native force was +estimated by Columbus at one hundred thousand men, although we shall +probably be nearer the mark if we reduce that estimate by one half. + +The powers of hell were let loose that day into the Earthly Paradise. +The guns mowed red lines of blood through the solid ranks of the natives; +the great Spanish horses trod upon and crushed their writhing bodies, in +which arrows and lances continually stuck and quivered; and the ferocious +dogs, barking and growling, seized the naked Indians by the throat, +dragged them to the ground, and tore out their very entrails . . . . +Well for us that the horrible noises of that day are silent now; well for +the world that that place of bloodshed and horror has grown green again; +better for us and for the world if those cries had never been heard, and +that quiet place had never received a stain that centuries of green +succeeding springtides can never wash away. + + +It was some time before this final battle that the convalescence of the +Admiral was further assisted by the arrival of four ships commanded by +Antonio Torres, who must have passed, out of sight and somewhere on the +high seas, the ships bearing Buil and Margarite back to Spain. He +brought with him a large supply of fresh provisions for the colony, and a +number of genuine colonists, such as fishermen, carpenters, farmers, +mechanics, and millers. And better still he brought a letter from the +Sovereigns, dated the 16th of August 1494, which did much to cheer the +shaken spirits of Columbus. The words with which he had freighted his +empty ships had not been in vain; and in this reply to them he was warmly +commended for his diligence, and reminded that he enjoyed the unshaken +confidence of the Sovereigns. They proposed that a caravel should sail +every month from Spain and from Isabella, bearing intelligence of the +colony and also, it was hoped, some of its products. In a general letter +addressed to the colony the settlers were reminded of the obedience they +owed to the Admiral, and were instructed to obey him in all things under +the penalty of heavy fines. They invited Columbus to come back if he +could in order to be present at the convention which was to establish the +line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese possessions; or if he +could not come himself to send his brother Bartholomew. There were +reasons, however, which made this difficult. Columbus wished to despatch +the ships back again as speedily as possible, in order that news of him +might help to counteract the evil rumours that he knew Buil and Margarite +would be spreading. He himself was as yet (February 1494) too ill to +travel; and during his illness Bartholomew could not easily be spared. +It was therefore decided to send home James, who could most easily be +spared, and whose testimony as a member of the governing body during the +absence of the Admiral on his voyage to Cuba might be relied upon to +counteract the jealous accusations of Margarite and Buil. + +Unfortunately there was no golden cargo to send back with him. As much +gold as possible was scraped together, but it was very little. The usual +assortment of samples of various island products was also sent; but still +the vessels were practically empty. Columbus must have been painfully +conscious that the time for sending samples had more than expired, and +that the people in Spain might reasonably expect some of the actual +riches of which there had been so many specimens and promises. In +something approaching desperation, he decided to fill the empty holds of +the ships with something which, if it was not actual money, could at +least be made to realise money. From their sunny dreaming life on the +island five hundred natives were taken and lodged in the dark holds of +the caravels, to be sent to Spain and sold there for what they would +fetch. Of course they were to be "freed" and converted to Christianity +in the process; that was always part of the programme, but it did not +interfere with business. They were not man-eating Caribs or fierce +marauding savages from neighbouring islands, but were of the mild and +peaceable race that peopled Espanola. The wheels of civilisation were +beginning to turn in the New World. + +After the capture of Caonabo and the massacre of April 25th Columbus +marched through the island, receiving the surrender and submission of the +terrified natives. At the approach of his force the caciques came out +and sued for peace; and if here and there there was a momentary +resistance, a charge of cavalry soon put an end to it. One by one the +kings surrendered and laid down their arms, until all the island rulers +had capitulated with the exception of Behechio, into whose territory +Columbus did not march, and who sullenly retired to the south-western +corner of the island. The terms of peace were harsh enough, and were +suggested by the dilemma of Columbus in his frantic desire to get +together some gold at any cost. A tribute of gold-dust was laid upon +every adult native in the island. Every three months a hawk's bell full +of gold was to be brought to the treasury at Isabella, and in the case 39 +of caciques the measure was a calabash. A receipt in the form of a brass +medal was fastened to the neck of every Indian when he paid his tribute, +and those who could not show the medal with the necessary number of marks +were to be further fined and punished. In the districts where there was +no gold, 25 lbs. of cotton was accepted instead. + +This levy was made in ignorance of the real conditions under which the +natives possessed themselves of the gold. What they had in many cases +represented the store of years, and in all but one or two favoured +districts it was quite impossible for them to keep up the amount of the +tribute. Yet the hawks' bells, which once had been so eagerly coveted +and were now becoming hated symbols of oppression, had to be filled +somehow; and as the day of payment drew near the wretched natives, who +had formerly only sought for gold when a little of it was wanted for a +pretty ornament, had now to work with frantic energy in the river sands; +or in other cases, to toil through the heat of the day in the cotton +fields which they had formerly only cultivated enough to furnish their +very scant requirements of use and adornment. One or two caciques, +knowing that their people could not possibly furnish the required amount +of gold, begged that its value in grain might be accepted instead; but +that was not the kind of wealth that Columbus was seeking. It must be +gold or nothing; and rather than receive any other article from the +gold-bearing districts, he consented to take half the amount. + + +Thus step by step, and under the banner of the Holy Catholic religion, +did dark and cruel misery march through the groves and glades of the +island and banish for ever its ancient peace. This long-vanished race +that was native to the island of Espanola seems to have had some of the +happiest and most lovable qualities known to dwellers on this planet. +They had none of the brutalities of the African, the paralysing wisdom of +the Asian, nor the tragic potentialities of the European peoples. Their +life was from day to day, and from season to season, like the life of +flowers and birds. They lived in such order and peaceable community as +the common sense of their own simple needs suggested; they craved no +pleasures except those that came free from nature, and sought no wealth +but what the sun gave them. In their verdant island, near to the heart +and source of light, surrounded by the murmur of the sea, and so enriched +by nature that the idea, of any other kind of riches never occurred to +them, their existence went to a happy dancing measure like that of the +fauns and nymphs in whose charmed existence they believed. The sun and +moon were to them creatures of their island who had escaped from a cavern +by the shore and now wandered free in the upper air, peopling it with +happy stars; and man himself they believed to have sprung from crevices +in the rocks, like the plants that grew tall and beautiful wherever there +was a handful of soil for their roots. Poor happy children! You are all +dead a long while ago now, and have long been hushed in the great humming +sleep and silence of Time; the modern world has no time nor room for +people like you, with so much kindness and so little ambition . . . . +Yet their free pagan souls were given a chance to be penned within the +Christian fold; the priest accompanied the gunner and the bloodhound, the +missionary walked beside the slave-driver; and upon the bewildered +sun-bright surface of their minds the shadow of the cross was for a moment +thrown. Verily to them the professors of Christ brought not peace, but a +sword. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +UPS AND DOWNS + +While Columbus was toiling under the tropical sun to make good his +promises to the Crown, Margarite and Buil, having safely come home to +Spain from across the seas, were busy setting forth their view of the +value of his discoveries. It was a view entirely different from any that +Ferdinand and Isabella had heard before, and coming as it did from two +men of position and importance who had actually been in Espanola, and +were loyal and religious subjects of the Crown, it could not fail to +receive, if not immediate and complete credence, at any rate grave +attention. Hitherto the Sovereigns had only heard one side of the +matter; an occasional jealous voice may have been raised from the +neighbourhood of the Pinzons or some one else not entirely satisfied with +his own position in the affair; but such small cries of dissent had +naturally had little chance against the dignified eloquence of the +Admiral. + +Now, however, the matter was different. People who were at least the +equals of Columbus in intelligence, and his superiors by birth and +education, had seen with their own eyes the things of which he had +spoken, and their account differed widely from his. They represented +things in Espanola as being in a very bad way indeed, which was true +enough; drew a dismal picture of an overcrowded colony ravaged with +disease and suffering from lack of provisions; and held forth at length +upon the very doubtful quality of the gold with which the New World was +supposed to abound. More than this, they brought grave charges against +Columbus himself, representing him as unfit to govern a colony, given to +favouritism, and, worst of all, guilty of having deliberately +misrepresented for his own ends the resources of the colony. This as we +know was not true. It was not for his own ends, or for any ends at all +within the comprehension of men like Margarite and Buil, that poor +Christopher had spoken so glowingly out of a heart full of faith in what +he had seen and done. Purposes, dim perhaps, but far greater and loftier +than any of which these two mean souls had understanding, animated him +alike in his discoveries and in his account of them; although that does +not alter the unpleasant fact that at the stage matters had now reached +it seemed as though there might have been serious misrepresentation. + +Ferdinand and Isabella, thus confronted with a rather difficult +situation, acted with great wisdom and good sense. How much or how +little they believed we do not know, but it was obviously their duty, +having heard such an account from responsible officers, to investigate +matters for themselves without assuming either that the report was true +or untrue. They immediately had four caravels furnished with supplies, +and decided to appoint an agent to accompany the expedition, investigate +the affairs of the colony, and make a report to them. If the Admiral was +still absent when their agent reached the colony he was to be entrusted +with the distribution of the supplies which were being sent out; for +Columbus's long absence from Espanola had given rise to some fears for +his safety. + +The Sovereigns had just come to this decision (April 1495) when a letter +arrived from the Admiral himself, announcing his return to Espanola after +discovering the veritable mainland of Asia, as the notarial document +enclosed with the letter attested. Torres and James Columbus had arrived +in Spain, bearing the memorandum which some time ago we saw the Admiral +writing; and they were able to do something towards allaying the fears of +the Sovereigns as to the condition of the colony. The King and Queen, +nevertheless, wisely decided to carry out their original intention, and +in appointing an agent they very handsomely chose one of the men whom +Columbus had recommended to them in his letter--Juan Aguado. This action +shows a friendliness to Columbus and confidence in him that lead one to +suspect that the tales of Margarite and Buil had been taken with a grain +of salt. + +At the same time the Sovereigns made one or two orders which could not +but be unwelcome to Columbus. A decree was issued making it lawful for +all native-born Spaniards to make voyages of discovery, and to settle in +Espanola itself if they liked. This was an infringement of the original +privileges granted to the Admiral--privileges which were really absurd, +and which can only have been granted in complete disbelief that anything +much would come of his discovery. It took Columbus two years to get this +order modified, and in the meantime a great many Spanish adventurers, our +old friends the Pinzons among them, did actually make voyages and added +to the area explored by the Spaniards in Columbus's lifetime. Columbus +was bitterly jealous that any one should be admitted to the western +ocean, which he regarded as his special preserve, except under his +supreme authority; and he is reported to have said that once the way to +the West had been pointed out "even the very tailors turned explorers." +There, surely, spoke the long dormant woolweaver in him. + +The commission given to Aguado was very brief, and so vaguely worded +that it might mean much or little, according to the discretion of the +commissioner and the necessities of the case as viewed by him. "We send +to you Juan Aguada, our Groom of the Chambers, who will speak to you on +our part. We command you to give him faith and credit." A letter was +also sent to Columbus in which he was instructed to reduce the number of +people dependent on the colony to five hundred instead of a thousand; and +the control of the mines was entrusted to one Pablo Belvis, who was sent +out as chief metallurgist. As for the slaves that Columbus had sent +home, Isabella forbade their sale until inquiry could be made into the +condition of their capture, and the fine moral point involved was +entrusted to the ecclesiastical authorities for examination and solution. +Poor Christopher, knowing as he did that five hundred heretics were being +burned every year by the Grand Inquisitor, had not expected this +hair-splitting over the fate of heathens who had rebelled against Spanish +authority; and it caused him some distress when he heard of it. The +theologians, however, proved equal to the occasion, and the slaves were +duly sold in Seville market. + + +Aguado sailed from Cadiz at the end of August 1495, and reached Espanola +in October. James Columbus (who does not as yet seem to be in very great +demand anywhere, and who doubtless conceals behind his grave visage much +honest amazement at the amount of life that he is seeing) returned with +him. Aguado, on arriving at Isabella, found that Columbus was absent +establishing forts in the interior of the island, Bartholomew being left +in charge at Isabella. + +Aguado, who had apparently been found faithful in small matters, was +found wanting in his use of the authority that had been entrusted to him. +It seems to have turned his head; for instead of beginning quietly to +investigate the affairs of the colony as he had been commanded to do he +took over from Bartholomew the actual government, and interpreted his +commission as giving him the right to supersede the Admiral himself. The +unhappy colony, which had no doubt been enjoying some brief period of +peace under the wise direction of Bartholomew, was again thrown into +confusion by the doings of Aguado. He arrested this person, imprisoned +that; ordered that things should be done this way, which had formerly +been done that way; and if they had formerly been done that way, then he +ordered that they should be done this way--in short he committed every +mistake possible for a man in his situation armed with a little brief +authority. He did not hesitate to let it be known that he was there to +examine the conduct of the Admiral himself; and we may be quite sure that +every one in the colony who had a grievance or an ill tale to carry, +carried it to Aguado. His whole attitude was one of enmity and +disloyalty to the Admiral who had so handsomely recommended him to the +notice of the Sovereigns; and so undisguised was his attitude that even +the Indians began to lodge their complaints and to see a chance by which +they might escape from the intolerable burden of the gold tribute. + +It was at this point that Columbus returned and found Aguado ruling in +the place of Bartholomew, who had wisely made no protest against his own +deposition, but was quietly waiting for the Admiral to return. Columbus +might surely have been forgiven if he had betrayed extreme anger and +annoyance at the doings of Aguado; and it is entirely to his credit that +he concealed such natural wrath as he may have felt, and greeted Aguado +with extreme courtesy and ceremony as a representative of the Sovereigns. +He made no protest, but decided to return himself to Spain and confront +the jealousy and ill-fame that were accumulating against him. + +Just as the ships were all ready to sail, one of the hurricanes which +occur periodically in the West Indies burst upon the island, lashing the +sea into a wall of advancing foam that destroyed everything before it. +Among other things it destroyed three out of the four ships, dashing them +on the beach and reducing them to complete wreckage. The only one that +held to her anchor and, although much battered and damaged, rode out the +gale, was the Nina, that staunch little friend that had remained faithful +to the Admiral through so many dangers and trials. There was nothing for +it but to build a new ship out of the fragments of the wrecks, and to +make the journey home with two ships instead of with four. + + +At this moment, while he was waiting for the ship to be completed, +Columbus heard a piece of news of a kind that never failed to rouse his +interest. There was a young Spaniard named Miguel Diaz who had got into +disgrace in Isabella some time before on account of a duel, and had +wandered into the island until he had come out on the south coast at the +mouth of the river Ozama, near the site of the present town of Santo +Domingo. There he had fallen in love with a female cacique and had made +his home with her. She, knowing the Spanish taste, and anxious to please +her lover and to retain him in her territory, told him of some rich +gold-mines that there were in the neighbourhood, and suggested that he +should inform the Admiral, who would perhaps remove the settlement from +Isabella to the south coast. She provided him with guides and sent him +off to Isabella, where, hearing that his antagonist had recovered, and +that he himself was therefore in no danger of punishment, he presented +himself with his story. + +Columbus immediately despatched Bartholomew with a party to examine the +mines; and sure enough they found in the river Hayna undoubted evidence +of a wealth far in excess of that contained in the Cibao gold-mines. +Moreover, they had noticed two ancient excavations about which the +natives could tell them nothing, but which made them think that the mines +had once been worked. + +Columbus was never backward in fitting a story and a theory to whatever +phenomena surrounded him; and in this case he was certain that the +excavations were the work of Solomon, and that he had discovered the gold +of Ophir. "Sure enough," thinks the Admiral, "I have hit it this time; +and the ships came eastward from the Persian Gulf round the Golden +Chersonesus, which I discovered this very last winter." Immediately, as +his habit was, Columbus began to build castles in Spain. Here was a fine +answer to Buil and Margarite! Without waiting a week or two to get any +of the gold this extraordinary man decided to hurry off at once to Spain +with the news, not dreaming that Spain might, by this time, have had a +surfeit of news, and might be in serious need of some simple, honest +facts. But he thought his two caravels sufficiently freighted with this +new belief--the belief that he had discovered the Ophir of Solomon. + +The Admiral sailed on March 10th, 1496, carrying with him in chains the +vanquished Caonabo and other natives. He touched at Marigalante and at +Guadaloupe, where his people had an engagement with the natives, taking +several prisoners, but releasing them all again with the exception of one +woman, a handsome creature who had fallen in love with Caonabo and +refused to go. But for Caonabo the joys of life and love were at an end; +his heart and spirit were broken. He was not destined to be paraded as a +captive through the streets of Spain, and it was somewhere in the deep +Atlantic that he paid the last tribute to the power that had captured and +broken him. He died on the voyage, which was longer and much more full +of hardships than usual. For some reason or other Columbus did not take +the northerly route going home, but sailed east from Gaudaloupe, +encountering the easterly trade winds, which delayed him so much that the +voyage occupied three months instead of six weeks. + +Once more he exhibited his easy mastery of the art of navigation and his +extraordinary gift for estimating dead-reckoning. After having been out +of sight of land for eight weeks, and while some of the sailors thought +they might be in the Bay of Biscay, and others that they were in the +English Channel, the Admiral suddenly announced that they were close to +Cape Saint Vincent. + +No land was in sight, but he ordered that sail should be shortened that +evening; and sure enough the next morning they sighted the land close by +Cape Saint Vincent. Columbus managed his landfalls with a fine dramatic +sense as though they were conjuring tricks; and indeed they must have +seemed like conjuring tricks, except that they were almost always +successful. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN SPAIN AGAIN + +The loiterers about the harbour of Cadiz saw a curious sight on June +11th, 1496, when the two battered ships, bearing back the voyagers from +the Eldorado of the West, disembarked their passengers. There were some +220 souls on board, including thirty Indians: and instead of leaping +ashore, flushed with health, and bringing the fortunes which they had +gone out to seek, they crawled miserably from the boats or were carried +ashore, emaciated by starvation, yellow with disease, ragged and unkempt +from poverty, and with practically no possessions other than the clothes +they stood up in. Even the Admiral, now in his forty-sixth year, hardly +had the appearance that one would expect in a Viceroy of the Indies. His +white hair and beard were rough and matted, his handsome face furrowed by +care and sunken by illness and exhaustion, and instead of the glittering +armour and uniform of his office he wore the plain robe and girdle of the +Franciscan order--this last probably in consequence of some vow or other +he had made in an hour of peril on the voyage. + +One lucky coincidence marked his arrival. In the harbour, preparing to +weigh anchor, was a fleet of three little caravels, commanded by Pedro +Nino, about to set out for Espanola with supplies and despatches. +Columbus hurried on board Nino's ship, and there read the letters from +the Sovereigns which it had been designed he should receive in Espanola. +The letters are not preserved, but one can make a fair guess at their +contents. Some searching questions would certainly be asked, kind +assurances of continued confidence would doubtless be given, with many +suggestions for the betterment of affairs in the distant colony. Only +their result upon the Admiral is known to us. He sat down there and then +and wrote to Bartholomew, urging him to secure peace in the island by +every means in his power, to send home any caciques or natives who were +likely to give trouble, and most of all to push on with the building of a +settlement on the south coast where the new mines were, and to have a +cargo of gold ready to send back with the next expedition. Having +written this letter, the Admiral saw the little fleet sail away on June +17th, and himself prepared with mingled feelings to present himself +before his Sovereigns. + +While he was waiting for their summons at Los Palacios, a small town near +Seville, he was the guest of the curate of that place, Andrez Bernaldez, +who had been chaplain to Christopher's old friend DEA, the Archbishop of +Seville. This good priest evidently proved a staunch friend to Columbus +at this anxious period of his life, for the Admiral left many important +papers in his charge when he again left Spain, and no small part of the +scant contemporary information about Columbus that has come down to us is +contained in the 'Historia de los Reyes Catolicos', which Bernaldez wrote +after the death of Columbus. + + +Fickle Spain had already forgotten its first sentimental enthusiasm over +the Admiral's discoveries, and now was only interested in their financial +results. People cannot be continually excited about a thing which they +have not seen, and there were events much nearer home that absorbed the +public interest. There was the trouble with France, the contemplated +alliance of the Crown Prince with Margaret of Austria, and of the Spanish +Princess Juana with Philip of Austria; and there were the designs of +Ferdinand upon the kingdom of Naples, which was in his eyes a much more +desirable and valuable prize than any group of unknown islands beyond the +ocean. + +Columbus did his very best to work up enthusiasm again. He repeated the +performance that had been such a success after his first voyage--the kind +of circus procession in which the natives were marched in column +surrounded by specimens of the wealth of the Indies. But somehow it did +not work so well this time. Where there had formerly been acclamations +and crowds pressing forward to view the savages and their ornaments, +there were now apathy and a dearth of spectators. And although Columbus +did his very best, and was careful to exhibit every scrap of gold that he +had brought, and to hang golden collars and ornaments about the necks of +the marching Indians, his exhibition was received either in ominous +silence or, in some quarters, with something like derision. As I have +said before, there comes a time when the best-disposed debtors do not +regard themselves as being repaid by promises, and when the most +enthusiastic optimist desires to see something more than samples. +It was only old Colon going round with his show again--flamingoes, +macaws, seashells, dye-woods, gums and spices; some people laughed, +and some were angry; but all were united in thinking that the New World +was not a very profitable speculation. + +Things were a little better, however, at Court. Isabella certainly +believed still in Columbus; Ferdinand, although he had never been +enthusiastic, knew the Admiral too well to make the vulgar mistake of +believing him an impostor; and both were too polite and considerate to +add to his obvious mortification and distress by any discouraging +comments. Moreover, the man himself had lost neither his belief in the +value of his discoveries nor his eloquence in talking of them; and when +he told his story to the Sovereigns they could not help being impressed, +not only with his sincerity but with his ability and single-heartedness +also. It was almost the same old story, of illimitable wealth that was +just about to be acquired, and perhaps no one but Columbus could have +made it go down once more with success; but talking about his exploits +was never any trouble to him, and his astonishing conviction, the lofty +and dignified manner in which he described both good and bad fortune, and +the impressive way in which he spoke of the wealth of the gold of Ophir +and of the far-reaching importance of his supposed discovery of the +Golden Chersonesus and the mainland of Asia, had their due effect on his +hearers. + +It was always his way, plausible Christopher, to pass lightly over the +premises and to dwell with elaborate detail on the deductions. It was by +no means proved that he had discovered the mines of King Solomon; he had +never even seen the place which he identified with them; it was in fact +nothing more than an idea in his own head; but we may be sure that he +took it as an established fact that he had actually discovered the mines +of Ophir, and confined his discussion to estimates of the wealth which +they were likely to yield, and of what was to be done with the wealth +when the mere details of conveying it from the mines to the ships had +been disposed of. So also with the Golden Chersonesus. The very name +was enough to stop the mouths of doubters; and here was the man himself +who had actually been there, and here was a sworn affidavit from every +member of his crew to say that they had been there too. This kind of +logic is irresistible if you only grant the first little step; and +Columbus had the art of making it seem an act of imbecility in any of his +hearers to doubt the strength of the little link by which his great +golden chains of argument were fastened to fact and truth. + +For Columbus everything depended upon his reception by the Sovereigns at +this time. Unless he could re-establish his hold upon them and move to a +still more secure position in their confidence he was a ruined man and +his career was finished; and one cannot but sympathise with him as he +sits there searching his mind for tempting and convincing arguments, and +speaking so calmly and gravely and confidently in spite of all the doubts +and flutterings in his heart. Like a tradesman setting out his wares, +he brought forth every inducement he could think of to convince the +Sovereigns that the only way to make a success of what they had already +done was to do more; that the only way to make profitable the money that +had already been spent was to spend more; that the only way to prove the +wisdom of their trust in him was to trust him more. One of his +transcendent merits in a situation of this kind was that he always had +something new and interesting to propose. He did not spread out his +hands and say, "This is what I have done: it is the best I can do; how +are you going to treat me?" He said in effect, "This is what I have +done; you will see that it will all come right in time; do not worry +about it; but meanwhile I have something else to propose which I think +your Majesties will consider a good plan." + +His new demand was for a fleet of six ships, two of which were to convey +supplies to Espanola, and the other four to be entrusted to him for the +purpose of a voyage of discovery towards the mainland to the south of +Espanola, of which he had heard consistent rumours; which was said to be +rich in gold, and (a clever touch) to which the King of Portugal was +thinking of sending a fleet, as he thought that it might lie within the +limits of his domain of heathendom. And so well did he manage, and so +deeply did he impress the Sovereigns with his assurance that this time +the thing amounted to what is vulgarly called "a dead certainty," that +they promised him he should have his ships. + +But promise and performance, as no one knew better than Columbus, are +different things; and it was a long while before he got his ships. There +was the usual scarcity of money, and the extensive military and +diplomatic operations in which the Crown was then engaged absorbed every +maravedi that Ferdinand could lay his hands on. There was an army to be +maintained under the Pyrenees to keep watch over France; fleets had to be +kept patrolling both the Mediterranean and Atlantic seaboards; and there +was a whole armada required to convey the princesses of Spain and Austria +to their respective husbands in connection with the double matrimonial +alliance arranged between the two countries. And when at last, in +October 1496, six million maravedis were provided wherewith Columbus +might equip his fleet, they were withdrawn again under very mortifying +circumstances. The appropriation had just been made when a letter +arrived from Pedro Nino, who had been to Espanola and come back again, +and now wrote from Cadiz to the Sovereigns, saying that his ships were +full of gold. He did not present himself at Court, but went to visit his +family at Huelva; but the good news of his letter was accepted as an +excuse for this oversight. + +No one was better pleased than the Admiral. "What did I tell you?" he +says; "you see the mines of Hayna are paying already." King Ferdinand, +equally pleased, and having an urgent need of money in connection with +his operations against France, took the opportunity to cancel the +appropriation of the six million maravedis, giving Columbus instead an +order for the amount to be paid out of the treasure brought home by Nino. +Alas, the mariner's boast of gold had been a figure of speech. There was +no gold; there was only a cargo of slaves, which Nino deemed the +equivalent of gold; and when Bartholomew's despatches came to be read he +described the affairs of Espanola as being in very much the same +condition as before. This incident produced a most unfortunate +impression. Even Columbus was obliged to keep quiet for a little while; +and it is likely that the mention of six million maravedis was not +welcomed by him for some time afterwards. + +After the wedding of Prince Juan in March 1497, when Queen Isabella had +more time to give to external affairs, the promise to Columbus was again +remembered, and his position was considered in detail. An order was made +(April 23rd, 1497), restoring to the Admiral the original privileges +bestowed upon him at Santa Fe. He was offered a large tract of land in +Espanola, with the title of Duke; but much as he hankered after titular +honours, he was for once prudent enough to refuse this gift. His reason +was that it would only further damage his influence, and give apparent +justification to those enemies who said that the whole enterprise had +been undertaken merely in his own interests; and it is possible also that +his many painful associations with Espanola, and the bloodshed and +horrors that he had witnessed there, had aroused in his superstitious +mind a distaste for possessions and titles in that devastated Paradise. +Instead, he accepted a measure of relief from the obligations incurred by +his eighth share in the many unprofitable expeditions that had been sent +out during the last three years, agreeing for the next three years to +receive an eighth share of the gross income, and a tenth of the net +profits, without contributing anything to the cost. His appointment of +Bartholomew to the office of Adelantado, which had annoyed Ferdinand, was +now confirmed; the universal license which had been granted to Spanish +subjects to settle in the new lands was revoked in so far as it infringed +the Admiral's privileges; and he was granted a force of 330 officers, +soldiers, and artificers to be at his personal disposal in the +prosecution of his next voyage. + +The death of Prince Juan in October 1497 once more distracted the +attention of the Court from all but personal matters; and Columbus +employed the time of waiting in drafting a testamentary document in which +he was permitted to create an entail on his title and estates in favour +of his two sons and their heirs for ever. This did not represent his +complete or final testament, for he added codicils at various times, +the latest being executed the day before his death. The document is +worth studying; it reveals something of the laborious, painstaking mind +reaching out down the rivers and streams of the future that were to flow +from the fountain of his own greatness; it reveals also his triple +conception of the obligations of human life in this world--the +cultivation and retention of temporal dignity, the performance of pious +and charitable acts, and the recognition of duty to one's family. It was +in this document that Columbus formulated the curious cipher which he +always now used in signing his name, and of which various readings are +given in the Appendix. He also enjoined upon his heir the duty of using +the simple title which he himself loved and used most--"The Admiral." + +After the death of Prince Juan, Queen Isabella honoured Columbus by +attaching his two sons to her own person as pages; and her friendship +must at this time have gone far to compensate him for the coolness shown +towards him by the public at large. He might talk as much as he pleased, +but he had nothing to show for all his talk except a few trinkets, a +collection of interesting but valueless botanical specimens, and a +handful of miserable slaves. Lives and fortunes had been wrecked on the +enterprise, which had so far brought nothing to Spain but the promise of +luxurious adventure that was not fulfilled and of a wealth and glory that +had not been realised. It must have been a very humiliating circumstance +to Columbus that in the preparations which he was now (February 1498) +making for the equipment of his new expedition a great difficulty was +found in procuring ships and men. Not even before the first voyage had +so much reluctance been shown to risk life and property in the +enterprise. Merchants and sailors had then been frightened of dangers +which they did not know; now, it seemed, the evils of which they did know +proved a still greater deterrent. The Admiral was at this time the guest +of his friend Bernaldez, who has told us something of his difficulties; +and the humiliating expedient of seizing ships under a royal order had +finally to be adopted. But it would never have done to impress the +colonists also; that would have been too open a confession of failure for +the proud Admiral to tolerate. + +Instead he had recourse to the miserable plan of which he had made use in +Palos; the prisons were opened, and criminals under sentence invited to +come forth and enjoy the blessings of colonial life. Even then there was +not that rush from the prison doors that might have been expected, and +some desperate characters apparently preferred the mercies of a Spanish +prison to what they had heard of the joys of the Earthly Paradise. Still +a number of criminals did doubtfully crawl forth and furnish a retinue +for the great Admiral and Viceroy. Trembling, suspicious, and with more +than half a mind to go back to their bonds, some part of the human vermin +of Spain was eventually cajoled and chivied on board the ships. + +The needs of the colony being urgent, and recruiting being slow, two +caravels laden with provisions were sent off in advance; but even for +this purpose there was a difficulty about money, and good Isabella +furnished the expense, at much inconvenience, from her private purse. + +Columbus had to supervise everything himself; and no wonder that by the +end of May, when he was ready to sail, his patience and temper were +exhausted and his much-tried endurance broke down under the petty +gnatlike irritations of Fonseca and his myrmidons. It was on the deck of +his own ship, in the harbour of San Lucar, that he knocked down and +soundly kicked Ximeno de Breviesca, Fonseca's accountant, whose nagging +requisitions had driven the Admiral to fury. + +After all these years of gravity and restraint and endurance, this +momentary outbreak of the old Adam in our hero is like a breath of wind +through an open window. + +To the portraits of Columbus hanging in the gallery of one's imagination +this must surely be added; in which Christopher, on the deck of his ship, +with the royal standard and the Admiral's flag flying from his masthead, +is observed to be soundly kicking a prostrate accountant. The incident +is worthy of a date, which is accordingly here given, as near as may be-- +May 29, 1498. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Christopher Columbus, Volume 5, by Filson Young + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, VOLUME 5 *** + +***** This file should be named 4112.txt or 4112.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/1/4112/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + + CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS + AND THE NEW WORLD OF HIS DISCOVERY + + A NARRATIVE BY FILSON YOUNG + + + +DESPERATE REMEDIES + +BOOK 5. + + +CHAPTER I + +THE VOYAGE TO CUBA + +The sight of the greater part of their fleet disappearing in the +direction of home threw back the unstable Spanish colony into doubt and +despondency. The brief encouragement afforded by Ojeda's report soon +died away, and the actual discomforts of life in Isabella were more +important than visionary luxuries that seemed to recede into the distance +with the vanishing ships. The food supply was the cause of much +discomfort; the jobbery and dishonesty which seem inseparable from the +fitting out of a large expedition had stored the ships with bad wine and +imperfectly cured provisions; and these combined with the unhealthy +climate to produce a good deal of sickness. The feeling against +Columbus, never far below the Spanish surface, began to express itself +definitely in treacherous consultations and plots; and these were +fomented by Bernal Diaz, the comptroller of the colony, who had access to +Columbus's papers and had seen the letter sent by him to Spain. Columbus +was at this time prostrated by an attack of fever, and Diaz took the +opportunity to work the growing discontent up to the point of action. He +told the colonists that Columbus had painted their condition in far too +favourable terms; that he was deceiving them as well as the Sovereigns; +and a plot was hatched to seize the ships that remained and sail for +home, leaving Columbus behind to enjoy the riches that he had falsely +boasted about. They were ready to take alarm at anything, and to believe +anything one way or the other; and as they had believed Ojeda when he +came back with his report of riches, now they believed Cado, the assayer, +who said that even such gold as had been found was of a very poor and +worthless quality. The mutiny developed fast; and a table of charges +against Columbus, which was to be produced in Spain as a justification +for it, had actually been drawn up when the Admiral, recovering from his +illness, discovered what was on foot. He dealt promptly and firmly with +it in his quarterdeck manner, which was always far more effective than +his viceregal manner. Diaz was imprisoned and lodged in chains on board +one of the ships, to be sent to Spain for trial; and the other +ringleaders were punished also according to their deserts. The guns and +ammunition were all stored together on one ship under a safe guard, and +the mutiny was stamped out. But the Spaniards did not love Columbus any +the better for it; did not any the more easily forgive him for being in +command of them and for being a foreigner. + + +But it would never do for the colony to stagnate in Isabella, and +Columbus decided to make a serious attempt, not merely to discover the +gold of Cibao, but to get it. He therefore organised a military +expedition of about 400 men, including artificers, miners, and carriers, +with the little cavalry force that had been brought out from Spain. +Every one who had armour wore it, flags and banners were carried, drums +and trumpets were sounded; the horses were decked out in rich caparisons, +and as glittering and formidable a show was made as possible. Leaving +his brother James in command of the settlement, Columbus set out on the +12th of March to the interior of the island. Through the forest and up +the mountainside a road was cut by pioneers from among the aristocratic +adventurers who had come with the party; which road, the first made in +the New World, was called El Puerto de los Hidalgos. The formidable, +glittering cavalcade inspired the natives with terror and amazement; they +had never seen horses before, and when one of the soldiers dismounted it +seemed to them as though some terrifying two-headed, six-limbed beast had +come asunder. What with their fright of the horses and their desire to +possess the trinkets that were carried they were very friendly and +hospitable, and supplied the expedition with plenty of food. At last, +after passing mountain ranges that made their hearts faint, and rich +valleys that made them hopeful again, the explorers came to the mountains +of Cibao, and passing over the first range found themselves in a little +valley at the foot of the hills where a river wound round a fertile plain +and there was ample accommodation for an encampment. There were the +usual signs of gold, and Columbus saw in the brightly coloured stones of +the river-bed evidence of unbounded wealth in precious stones. At last +he had come to the place! He who had doubted so much, and whose faith +had wavered, had now been led to a place where he could touch and handle +the gold and jewels of his desire; and he therefore called the place +Saint Thomas. He built a fort here, leaving a garrison of fifty-six men +under the command of Pedro Margarite to collect gold from the natives, +and himself returned to Isabella, which he reached at the end of March. + + +Enforced absence from the thing he has organised is a great test of +efficiency in any man. The world is full of men who can do things +themselves; but those who can organise from the industry of their men a +machine which will steadily perform the work whether the organiser is +absent or present are rare indeed. Columbus was one of the first class. +His own power and personality generally gave him some kind of mastery +over any circumstances in which he was immediately concerned; but let him +be absent for a little time, and his organisation went to pieces. No one +was better than he at conducting a one-man concern; and his conduct of +the first voyage, so long as he had his company under his immediate +command, was a model of efficiency. But when the material under his +command began to grow and to be divided into groups his life became a +succession of ups and downs. While he was settling and disciplining one +group mutiny and disorder would attack the other; and when he went to +attend to them, the first one immediately fell into confusion again. He +dealt with the discontent in Isabella, organising the better disposed +part of it in productive labour, and himself marching the malcontents +into something like discipline and order, leaving them at Saint Thomas, +as we have seen, usefully collecting gold. But while he was away the +people at Isabella had got themselves into trouble again, and when he +arrived there on the morning of March 29th he found the town in a +deplorable condition. The lake beside which the city had been built, and +which seemed so attractive and healthy a spot, turned out to be nothing +better than a fever trap. Drained from the malarial marshes, its sickly +exhalations soon produced an epidemic that incapacitated more than half +the colony and interrupted the building operations. The time of those +who were well was entirely occupied with the care of those who were sick, +and all productive work was at a standstill. The reeking virgin soil had +produced crops in an incredibly short time, and the sowings of January +were ready for reaping in the beginning of April. But there was no one +to reap them, and the further cultivation of the ground had necessarily +been neglected. + +The faint-hearted Spaniards, who never could meet any trouble without +grumbling, were now in the depths of despair and angry discontent; +and it had not pleased them to be put on a short allowance of even the +unwholesome provisions that remained from the original store. A couple +of rude hand-mills had been erected for the making of flour, and as food +was the first necessity Columbus immediately put all the able-bodied men +in the colony, whatever their rank, to the elementary manual work of +grinding. Friar Buil and the twelve Benedictine brothers who were with +him thought this a wise order, assuming of course that as clerics they +would not be asked to work. But great was their astonishment, and loud +and angry their criticism of the Admiral, when they found that they also +were obliged to labour with their hands. But Columbus was firm; there +were absolutely no exceptions made; hidalgo and priest had to work +alongside of sailor and labourer; and the curses of the living mingled +with those of the dying on the man whose boastful words had brought them +to such a place and such a condition. + +It was only in the nature of things that news should now arrive of +trouble at Saint Thomas. Gold and women again; instead of bartering or +digging, the Spaniards had been stealing; and discipline had been +relaxed, with the usual disastrous results with regard to the women of +the adjacent native tribes. Pedro Margarite sent a nervous message to +Columbus expressing his fear that Caonabo, the native king, should be +exasperated to the point of attacking them again. Columbus therefore +despatched Ojeda in command of a force of 350 armed men to Saint Thomas +with instructions that he was to take over the command of that post, +while Margarite was to take out an expedition in search of Caonabo whom, +with his brothers, Margarite was instructed to capture at all costs. + +Having thus set things going in the interior, and once more restored +Isabella to something like order, he decided to take three ships and +attempt to discover the coast of Cathay. The old Nina, the San Juan, and +the Cordera, three small caravels, were provisioned for six months and +manned by a company of fifty-two men. Francisco Nino went once more with +the Admiral as pilot, and the faithful Juan de la Cosa was taken to draw +charts; one of the monks also, to act as chaplain. The Admiral had a +steward, a secretary, ten seamen and six boys to complete the company on +the Nina. The San Juan was commanded by Alonso Perez Roldan and the +Cordera by Christoval Nino. Diego was again left in command of the +colony, with four counsellors, Friar Buil, Fernandez Coronel, Alonso +Sanchez Carvajal, and Juan de Luxan, to assist his authority. + +The Admiral sailed on April 24th, steering to the westward and touching +at La Navidad before he bore away to the island of Cuba, the southern +shore of which it was now his intention to explore. At one of his first +anchorages he discovered a native feast going on, and when the boats from +his ships pulled ashore the feasters fled in terror--the hungry Spaniards +finishing their meal for them. Presently, however, the feasters were +induced to come back, and Columbus with soft speeches made them a +compensation for the food that had been taken, and produced a favourable +impression, as his habit was; with the result that all along the coast he +was kindly received by the natives, who supplied him with food and fresh +fruit in return for trinkets. At the harbour now known as Santiago de +Cuba, where he anchored on May 2nd, he had what seemed like authentic +information of a great island to the southward which was alleged to be +the source of all the gold. The very compasses of Columbus's ships seem +by this time to have become demagnetised, and to have pointed only to +gold; for no sooner had he heard this report than he bore away to the +south in pursuit of that faint yellow glitter that had now quite taken +the place of the original inner light of faith. + + +The low coast of Jamaica, hazy and blue at first, but afterwards warming +into a golden belt crowned by the paler and deeper greens of the foliage, +was sighted first by Columbus on Sunday, May 4th; and he anchored the +next day in the beautiful harbour of Saint Anne, to which he gave the +name of Santa Gloria. To the island itself he gave the name of Santiago, +which however has never displaced its native name of Jamaica. The dim +blue mountains and clumps of lofty trees about the bay were wonderful +even to Columbus, whose eyes must by this time have been growing +accustomed to the beauty of the West Indies, and he lost his heart to +Jamaica from the first moment that his eyes rested on its green and +golden shores. Perhaps he was by this time a little out of conceit with +Hayti; but be that as it may he retracted all the superlatives he had +ever used for the other lands of his discovery, and bestowed them in his +heart upon Jamaica. + +He was not humanly so well received as he had been on the other islands, +for when he cast anchor the natives came out in canoes threatening +hostilities and had to be appeased with red caps and hawks' bells. Next +day, however, Columbus wished to careen his ships, and sailed a little to +the west until he found a suitable beach at Puerto Bueno; and as he +approached the shore some large canoes filled with painted and feathered +warriors came out and attacked his ships, showering arrows and javelins, +and whooping and screaming at the Spaniards. The guns were discharged, +and an armed party sent ashore in a boat, and the natives were soon put +to flight. There was no renewal of hostilities; the next day the local +cacique came down offering provisions and help; presents were exchanged, +and cordial relations established. Columbus noticed that the Jamaicans +seemed to be a much more virile community than either the Cubans or the +people of Espanola. They had enormous canoes hollowed out of single +mahogany trees, some of them 96 feet long and 8 feet broad, which they +handled with the greatest ease and dexterity; they had a merry way with +them too, were quick of apprehension and clever at expressing their +meaning, and in their domestic utensils and implements they showed an +advance in civilisation on the other islanders of the group. Columbus +did some trade with the islanders as he sailed along the coast, but he +does not seem to have believed much in the gold story, for after sailing +to the western point of the island he bore away to the north again and +sighted the coast of Cuba on the 18th of May. + + +The reason why Columbus kept returning to the coast of Cuba was that he +believed it to be the mainland of Asia. The unlettered natives, who had +never read Marco Polo, told him that it was an island, although no man +had ever seen the end of it; but Columbus did not believe them, and +sailed westward in the belief that he would presently come upon the +country and city of Cathay. Soon he found himself in the wonderful +labyrinth of islets and sandbanks off the south coast; and because of the +wonderful colours of their flowers and climbing plants he called them +Jardin de la Reina or Queen's Garden. Dangerous as the navigation +through these islands was, he preferred to risk the shoals and sandbanks +rather than round them out at sea to the southward, for he believed them +to be the islands which, according to Marco Polo, lay in masses along the +coast of Cathay. In this adventure he had a very hard time of it; the +lead had to be used all the time, the ships often had to be towed, the +wind veered round from every quarter of the compass, and there were +squalls and tempests, and currents that threatened to set them ashore. +By great good fortune, however, they managed to get through the +Archipelago without mishap. By June 3rd they were sailing along the +coast again, and Columbus had some conversation with an old cacique who +told him of a province called Mangon (or so Columbus understood him) that +lay to the west. Sir John Mandeville had described the province of Mangi +as being the richest in Cathay; and of course, thought the Admiral, this +must be the place. He went westward past the Gulf of Xagua and got into +the shallow sandy waters, now known as the Jardinillos Bank, where the +sea was whitened with particles of sand. When he had got clear of this +shoal water he stood across a broad bay towards a native settlement where +he was able to take in yams, fruit, fish, and fresh water. + +But this excitement and hard work were telling on the Admiral, and when a +native told him that there was a tribe close by with long tails, he +believed him; and later, when one of his men, coming back from a shore +expedition, reported that he had seen some figures in a forest wearing +white robes, Columbus believed that they were the people with the tails, +who wore a long garment to conceal them. + + +He was moving in a world of enchantment; the weather was like no weather +in any known part of the world; there were fogs, black and thick, which +blew down suddenly from the low marshy land, and blew away again as +suddenly; the sea was sometimes white as milk, sometimes black as pitch, +sometimes purple, sometimes green; scarlet cranes stood looking at them +as they slid past the low sandbanks; the warm foggy air smelt of roses; +shoals of turtles covered the waters, black butterflies circled in the +mist; and the fever that was beginning to work in the Admiral's blood +mounted to his brain, so that in this land of bad dreams his fixed ideas +began to dominate all his other faculties, and he decided that he must +certainly be on the coast of Cathay, in the magic land described by Marco +Polo. + + +There is nothing which illustrates the arbitrary and despotic government +of sea life so well as the nautical phrase "make it so." The very hours +of the day, slipping westward under the keel of an east-going ship, are +"made" by rigid decree; the captain takes his observation of sun or +stars, and announces the position of the ship to be at a certain spot on +the surface of the globe; any errors of judgment or deficiencies of +method are covered by the words "make it so." And in all the elusive +phenomena surrounding him the fevered brain of the Admiral discerned +evidence that he was really upon the coast of Asia, although there was no +method by which he could place the matter beyond a doubt. The word Asia +was not printed upon the sands of Cuba, as it might be upon a map; the +lines of longitude did not lie visibly across the surface of the sea; +there was nothing but sea and land, the Admiral's charts, and his own +conviction. Therefore Columbus decided to "make it so." If there was no +other way of being sure that this was the coast of Cathay, he would +decree it to be the coast of Cathay by a legal document and by oaths and +affidavits. He would force upon the members of his expedition a +conviction at least equal to his own; and instead of pursuing any further +the coast that stretched interminably west and south-west, he decided to +say, in effect, and once and for all, "Let this be the mainland of Asia." + +He called his secretary to him and made him draw up a form of oath or +testament, to which every member of the expedition was required to +subscribe, affirming that the land off which they were then lying (12th +June 1494), was the mainland of the Indies and that it was possible to +return to Spain by land from that place; and every officer who should +ever deny it in the future was laid under a penalty of ten thousand +maravedis, and every ship's boy or seaman under a penalty of one hundred +lashes; and in addition, any member of the expedition denying it in the +future was to have his tongue cut out. + +No one will pretend that this was the action of a sane man; neither will +any one wonder that Columbus was something less than sane after all he +had gone through, and with the beginnings of a serious illness already in +his blood. His achievement was slipping from his grasp; the gold had not +been found, the wonders of the East had not been discovered; and it was +his instinct to secure something from the general wreck that seemed to be +falling about him, and to force his own dreams to come true, that caused +him to cut this grim and fantastic legal caper off the coast of Cuba. He +thought it at the time unlikely, seeing the difficulties of navigation +that he had gone through, which he might be pardoned for regarding as +insuperable to a less skilful mariner, that any one should ever come that +way again; even he himself said that he would never risk his life again +in such a place. He wished his journey, therefore, not to have been made +in vain; and as he himself believed that he had stood on the mainland of +Asia he took care to take back with him the only kind of evidence that +was possible namely, the sworn affidavits of the ships' crews. + + +Perhaps in his madness he would really have gone on and tried to reach +the Golden Chersonesus of Ptolemy, which according to Marco Polo lay just +beyond, and so to steer homeward round Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope; +in which case he would either have been lost or would have discovered +Mexico. The crews, however, would not hear of the voyage being continued +westward. The ships were leaking and the salt water was spoiling the +already doubtful provisions and he was forced to turn back. He stood to +the south-east, and reached the Isle of Pines, to which he gave the name +of Evangelista, where the water-casks were filled, and from there he +tried to sail back to the east. But he found himself surrounded by +islands and banks in every direction, which made any straight course +impossible. He sailed south and east and west and north, and found +himself always back again in the middle of this charmed group of islands. +He spent almost a month trying to escape from them, and once his ship +went ashore on a sandbank and was only warped off with the greatest +difficulty. On July 7th he was back again in the region of the "Queen's +Gardens," from which he stood across to the coast of Cuba. + +He anchored and landed there, and being in great distress and difficulty +he had a large cross erected on the mainland, and had mass said. When +the Spaniards rose from their knees they saw an old native man observing +them; and the old man came and sat down beside Columbus and talked to him +through the interpreter. He told him that he had been in Jamaica and +Espanola as well as in Cuba, and that the coming of the Spaniards had +caused great distress to the people of the islands. + +He then spoke to Columbus about religion, and the gist of what he said +was something like this: "The performance of your worship seems good to +me. You believe that this life is not everything; so do we; and I know +that when this life is over there are two places reserved for me, to one +of which I shall certainly go; one happy and beautiful, one dreadful and +miserable. Joy and kindness reign in the one place, which is good enough +for the best of men; and they will go there who while they have lived on +the earth have loved peace and goodness, and who have never robbed or +killed or been unkind. The other place is evil and full of shadows, and +is reserved for those who disturb and hurt the sons of men; how important +it is, therefore, that one should do no evil or injury in this world!" + +Columbus replied with a brief statement of his own theological views, and +added that he had been sent to find out if there were any persons in +those islands who did evil to others, such as the Caribs or cannibals, +and that if so he had come to punish them. The effect of this ingenuous +speech was heightened by a gift of hawks' bells and pieces of broken +glass; upon receiving which the good old man fell down on his knees, and +said that the Spaniards must surely have come from heaven. + + +A few days later the voyage to the, south-east was resumed, and some +progress was made along the coast. But contrary winds arose which made +it impossible for the ships to round Cape Cruz, and Columbus decided to +employ the time of waiting in completing his explorations in Jamaica. +He therefore sailed due south until he once more sighted the beautiful +northern coast of that island, following it to the west and landing, as +his custom was, whenever he saw a good harbour or anchorage. The wind +was still from the east, and he spent a month beating to the eastward +along the south coast of the island, fascinated by its beauty, and +willing to stay and explore it, but prevented by the discontent of his +crews, who were only anxious to get back to Espanola. He had friendly +interviews with many of the natives of Jamaica, and at almost the last +harbour at which he touched a cacique with his wife and family and +complete retinue came off in canoes to the ship, begging Columbus to take +him and his household back to Spain. + +Columbus considers this family, and thinks wistfully how well they would +look in Barcelona. Father dressed in a cap of gold and green jewels, +necklace and earrings of the same; mother decked out in similar regalia, +with the addition of a small cotton apron; two sons and five brothers +dressed principally in a feather or two; two daughters mother-naked, +except that the elder, a handsome girl of eighteen, wears a jewelled +girdle from which depends a tablet as big as an ivy leaf, made of various +coloured stones embroidered on cotton. What an exhibit for one of the +triumphal processions: "Native royal family, complete"! But Columbus +thinks also of the scarcity of provisions on board his ships, and wonders +how all these royalties would like to live on a pint of sour wine and a +rotten biscuit each per day. Alas! there is not sour wine and rotten +biscuit enough for his own people; it is still a long way to Espanola; +and he is obliged to make polite excuses, and to say that he will come +back for his majesty another time. + + +It was on the 20th of August that Columbus, having the day before seen +the last of the dim blue hills of Jamaica, sighted again the long +peninsula of Hayti, called by him Cape San Miguel, but known to us as +Cape Tiburon; although it was not until he was hailed by a cacique who +called out to him "Almirante, Almirante," that the seaworn mariners +realised with joy that the island must be Espanola. But they were a long +way from Isabella yet. They sailed along the south coast, meeting +contrary winds, and at one point landing nine men who were to cross the +island, and try to reach Isabella by land. Week followed week, and they +made very poor progress. In the beginning of September they were caught +in a severe tempest, which separated the ships for a time, and held the +Admiral weather-bound for eight days. There was an eclipse of the moon +during this period, and he took advantage of it to make an observation +for longitude, by which he found himself to be 5 hrs. 23 min., or 80 deg. +40', west of Cadiz. In this observation there is an error of eighteen +degrees, the true longitude of the island of Saona, where the observation +was taken, being 62 deg. 20' west of Cadiz; and the error is accounted +for partly by the inaccuracy of the tables of Regiomontanus and partly by +the crudity and inexactness of the Admiral's methods. On the 24th of +September they at last reached the easternmost point of Espanola, named +by Columbus San Rafael. They stood to the east a little longer, and +discovered the little island of Mona, which lies between Espanola and +Puerto Rico; and from thence shaped their course west-by-north for +Isabella. And no sooner had the course been set for home than the +Admiral suddenly and completely collapsed; was carried unconscious to his +cabin; and lay there in such extremity that his companions gave him up +for lost. + +It is no ordinary strain to which poor Christopher has succumbed. He has +been five months at sea, sharing with the common sailors their bad food +and weary vigils, but bearing alone on his own shoulders a weight of +anxiety of which they knew nothing. Watch has relieved watch on his +ships, but there has been no one to relieve him, or to lift the burden +from his mind. The eyes of a nation are upon him, watchful and jealous +eyes that will not forgive him any failure; and to earn their approval he +has taken this voyage of five months, during which he has only been able +to forget his troubles in the brief hours of slumber. Strange uncharted +seas, treacherous winds and currents, drenching surges have all done +their part in bringing him to this pass; and his body, now starved on +rotten biscuits, now glutted with unfamiliar fruits, has been preyed upon +by the tortured mind as the mind itself has been shaken and loosened by +the weakness of the body. He lies there in his cabin in a deep stupor; +memory, sight, and all sensation completely gone from him; dead but for +the heart that beats on faintly, and the breath that comes and goes +through the parted lips. Nino, de la Cosa, and the others come and look +at him, shake their heads, and go away again. There is nothing to be +done; perhaps they will get him back to Isabella in time to bury him +there; perhaps not. + +And meanwhile they are back again in calm and safe waters, and coasting a +familiar shore; and the faithful little Nina, shaking out her wings in +the sunny breezes, trips under the guidance of unfamiliar hands towards +her moorings in the Bay of Isabella. It is a sad company that she +carries; for in the cabin, deaf and blind and unconscious, there lies the +heart and guiding spirit of the New World. He does not hear the talking +of the waters past the Nina's timbers, does not hear the stamping on the +deck and shortening of sail and unstopping of cables and getting out of +gear; does not hear the splash of the anchor, nor the screams of birds +that rise circling from the shore. Does not hear the greetings and the +news; does not see bending over him a kind, helpful, and well-beloved +face. He sees and hears and knows nothing; and in that state of rest and +absence from the body they carry him, still living and breathing, ashore. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONQUEST OF ESPANOLA + +We must now go back to the time when Columbus, having made what +arrangements he could for the safety of Espanola, left it under the +charge of his brother James. Ojeda had duly marched into the interior +and taken over the command of Fort St. Thomas, thus setting free +Margarite, according to his instructions, to lead an expedition for +purposes of reconnoitre and demonstration through the island. These, at +any rate, were Margarite's orders, duly communicated to him by Ojeda; but +Margarite will have none of them. Well born, well educated, well bred, +he ought at least to have the spirit to carry out orders so agreeable to +a gentleman of adventure; but unfortunately, although Margarite is a +gentleman by birth, he is a low and dishonest dog by nature. He cannot +take the decent course, cannot even play the man, and take his share in +the military work of the colony. Instead of cutting paths through the +forest, and exhibiting his military strength in an orderly and proper way +as the Admiral intended he should, he marches forth from St. Thomas, on +hearing that Columbus has sailed away, and encamps no further off than +the Vega Real, that pleasant place of green valleys and groves and +murmuring rivers. He encamps there, takes up his quarters there, will +not budge from there for any Admiral; and as for James Columbus and his +counsellors, they may go to the devil for all Margarite cares. One of +them at least, he knows--Friar Buil--is not such a fool as to sit down +under the command of that solemn-faced, uncouth young snip from Genoa; +and doubtless when he is tired of the Vega Real he and Buil can arrange +something between them. In the meantime, here is a very beautiful +sunshiny place, abounding in all kinds of provisions; food for more than +one kind of appetite, as he has noticed when he has thrust his rude way +into the native houses and seen the shapely daughters of the islanders. +He has a little army of soldiers to forage for him; they can get him food +and gold, and they are useful also in those other marauding expeditions +designed to replenish the seraglio that he has established in his camp; +and if they like to do a little marauding and woman-stealing on their own +account, it is no affair of his, and may keep the devils in a good +temper. Thus Don Pedro Margarite to himself. + +The peaceable and gentle natives soon began to resent these gross doings. +To robbery succeeded outrage, and to outrage murder--all three committed +in the very houses of the natives; and they began to murmur, to withhold +that goodwill which the Spaniards had so sorely tried, and to develop a +threatening attitude that was soon communicated to the natives in the +vicinity of Isabella, and came under the notice of James Columbus and his +council. Grave, bookish, wool-weaving young James, not used to military +affairs, and not at all comfortable in his command, can think of no other +expedient than--to write a letter to Margarite remonstrating with him for +his licentious excesses and reminding him of the Admiral's instructions, +which were being neglected. + +Margarite receives the letter and reads it with a contemptuous laugh. He +is not going to be ordered about by a family of Italian wool-weavers, and +the only change in his conduct is that he becomes more and more careless +and impudent, extending the area of his lawless operations, and making +frequent visits to Isabella itself, swaggering under the very nose of +solemn James, and soon deep in consultation with Friar Buil. + +At this moment, that is to say very soon after the departure of +Christopher on his voyage to Cuba and Jamaica, three ships dropped anchor +in the Bay of Isabella. They were laden with the much-needed supplies +from Spain, and had been sent out under the command of Bartholomew +Columbus. It will be remembered that when Christopher reached Spain +after his first voyage one of his first cares had been to write to +Bartholomew, asking him to join him. The letter, doubtless after many +wanderings, had found Bartholomew in France at the court of Charles +VIII., by whom he was held in some esteem; in fact it was Charles who +provided him with the necessary money for his journey to Spain, for +Bartholomew had not greatly prospered, in spite of his voyage with Diaz +to the Cape of Good Hope and of his having been in England making +exploration proposals at the court of Henry VII. He had arrived in Spain +after Columbus had sailed again, and had presented himself at court with +his two nephews, Ferdinand and Diego, both of whom were now in the +service of Prince Juan as pages. Ferdinand and Isabella seem to have +received Bartholomew kindly. They liked this capable navigator, who had +much of Christopher's charm of manner, and was more a man of the world +than he. Much more practical also; Ferdinand would be sure to like him +better than he liked Christopher, whose pompous manner and long-winded +speeches bored him. Bartholomew was quick, alert, decisive and +practical; he was an accomplished navigator--almost as accomplished as +Columbus, as it appeared. He was offered the command of the three ships +which were being prepared to go to Espanola with supplies; and he duly +arrived there after a prosperous voyage. It will be remembered that +Christopher had, so far as we know, kept the secret of the road to the +new islands; and Bartholomew can have had nothing more to guide him than +a rough chart showing the islands in a certain latitude, and the distance +to be run towards them by dead-reckoning. That he should have made an +exact landfall and sailed into the Bay of Isabella, never having been +there before, was a certificate of the highest skill in navigation. + +Unfortunately it was James who was in charge of the colony; Bartholomew +had no authority, for once his ships had arrived in port his mission was +accomplished until Christopher should return and find him employment. +He was therefore forced to sit still and watch his young brother +struggling with the unruly Spaniards. His presence, however, was no +doubt a further exasperation to the malcontents. There existed in +Isabella a little faction of some of the aristocrats who had never, +forgiven Columbus for employing them in degrading manual labour; who had +never forgiven him in fact for being there at all, and in command over +them. And now here was another woolweaver, or son of a wool-weaver, come +to put his finger in the pie that Christopher has apparently provided so +carefully for himself and his family. + +Margarite and Buil and some others, treacherous scoundrels all of them, +but clannish to their own race and class, decide that they will put up +with it no longer; they are tired of Espanola in any case, and Margarite, +from too free indulgence among the native women, has contracted an +unpleasant disease, and thinks that a sea voyage and the attentions of a +Spanish doctor will be good for him. It is easy for them to put their +plot into execution. There are the ships; there is nothing, for them to +do but take a couple of them, provision them, and set sail for Spain, +where they trust to their own influence, and the story they will be able +to tell of the falseness of the Admiral's promises, to excuse their +breach of discipline. And sail they do, snapping their fingers at the +wool-weavers. + +James and Bartholomew were perhaps glad to be rid of them, but their +relief was tempered with anxiety as to the result on Christopher's +reputation and favour when the malcontents should have made their false +representations at Court. The brothers were powerless to do anything in +that matter, however, and the state of affairs in Espanola demanded their +close attention. Margarite's little army, finding itself without even +the uncertain restraint of its commander, now openly mutinied and +abandoned itself to the wildest excesses. It became scattered and +disbanded, and little groups of soldiers went wandering about the +country, robbing and outraging and carrying cruelty and oppression among +the natives. Long-suffering as these were, and patiently as they bore +with the unspeakable barbarities of the Spanish soldiers, there came a +point beyond which their forbearance would not go. An aching spirit of +unforgiveness and revenge took the place of their former gentleness and +compliance; and here and there, when the Spaniards were more brutal and +less cautious than was their brutal and incautious habit, the natives +fell upon them and took swift and bloody revenge. Small parties found +themselves besieged and put to death whole villages, whose hospitality +had been abused, cut off wandering groups of the marauders and burned the +houses where they lodged. The disaffection spread; and Caonabo, who had +never abated his resentment at the Spanish intrusion into the island, +thought the time had come to make another demonstration of native power. + +Fortunately for the Spaniards his object was the fort of St. Thomas, +commanded by the alert Ojeda; and this young man, who was not easily to +be caught napping, had timely intelligence of his intention. When +Caonabo, mustering ten thousand men, suddenly surrounded the fort and +prepared to attack it, he found the fifty Spaniards of the garrison more +than ready for him, and his naked savages dared not advance within the +range of the crossbows and arquebuses. Caonabo tried to besiege the +station, watching every gorge and road through which supplies could reach +it, but Ojeda made sallies and raids upon the native force, under which +it became thinned and discouraged; and Caonabo had finally to withdraw to +his own territory. + +But he was not yet beaten. He decided upon another and much larger +enterprise, which was to induce the other caciques of the island to co- +operate with him in an attack upon Isabella, the population of which he +knew would have been much thinned and weakened by disease. The island +was divided into five native provinces. The northeastern part, named +Marien, was under the rule of Guacanagari, whose headquarters were near +the abandoned La Navidad. The remaining eastern part of the island, +called Higuay, was under a chief named Cotabanama. The western province +was Xaragua, governed by one Behechio, whose sister, Anacaona, was the +wife of Caonabo. The middle of the island was divided into two +provinces-that which extended from the northern coast to the Cibao +mountains and included the Vega Real being governed by Guarionex, and +that which extended from the Cibao mountains to the south being governed +by Caonabo. All these rulers were more or less embittered by the +outrages and cruelties of the Spaniards, and all agreed to join with +Caonabo except Guacanagari. That loyal soul, so faithful to what he knew +of good, shocked and distressed as he was by outrages from which his own +people had suffered no less than the others, could not bring himself to +commit what he regarded as a breach of the laws of hospitality. It was +upon his shores that Columbus had first landed; and although it was his +own country and his own people whose wrongs were to be avenged, he could +not bring himself to turn traitor to the grave Admiral with whom, in +those happy days of the past, he had enjoyed so much pleasant +intercourse. His refusal to co-operate delayed the plan of Caonabo, who +directed the island coalition against Guacanagari himself in order to +bring him to reason. He was attacked by the neighbouring chiefs; one of +his wives was killed and another captured; but still he would not swerve +from his ideal of conduct. + + +The first thing that Columbus recognised when he opened his eyes after +his long period of lethargy and insensibility was the face of his brother +Bartholomew bend-over him where he lay in bed in his own house at +Espanola. Nothing could have been more welcome to him, sick, lonely and +discouraged as he was, than the presence of that strong, helpful brother; +and from the time when Bartholomew's friendly face first greeted him he +began to get better. His first act, as soon as he was strong enough to +sign a paper, was to appoint Bartholomew to the office of Adelantado, or +Lieutenant-Governor--an indiscreet and rather tactless proceeding which, +although it was not outside his power as a bearer of the royal seal, was +afterwards resented by King Ferdinand as a piece of impudent encroachment +upon the royal prerogative. But Columbus was unable to transact business +himself, and James was manifestly of little use; the action was natural +enough. + +In the early days of his convalescence he had another pleasant +experience, in the shape of a visit from Guacanagari, who came to express +his concern at the Admiral's illness, and to tell him the story of what +had been going on in his absence. The gentle creature referred again +with tears to the massacre at La Navidad, and again asserted that +innocence of any hand in it which Columbus had happily never doubted; and +he told him also of the secret league against Isabella, of his own +refusal to join it, and of the attacks to which he had consequently been +subjected. It must have been an affecting meeting for these two, who +represented the first friendship formed between the Old World and the +New, who were both of them destined to suffer in the impact of +civilisation and savagery, and whose names and characters were happily +destined to survive that impact, and to triumph over the oblivion of +centuries. + + +So long as the native population remained hostile and unconquered by +kindness or force, it was impossible to work securely at the development +of the colony; and Columbus, however regretfully, had come to feel that +circumstances more or less obliged him to use force. At first he did not +quite realise the gravity of the position, and attempted to conquer or +reconcile the natives in little groups. Guarionex, the cacique of the +Vega Real, was by gifts and smooth words soothed back into a friendship +which was consolidated by the marriage of his daughter with Columbus's +native interpreter. It was useless, how ever, to try and make friends +with Caonabo, that fierce irreconcilable; and it was felt that only by +stratagem could he be secured. No sooner was this suggested than Ojeda +volunteered for the service. Amid the somewhat slow-moving figures of +our story this man appears as lively as a flea; and he dances across our +pages in a sensation of intrepid feats of arms that make his great +popularity among the Spaniards easily credible to us. He did not know +what fear was; he was always ready for a fight of any kind; a quarrel in +the streets of Madrid, a duel, a fight with a man or a wild beast, +a brawl in a tavern or a military expedition, were all the same to him, +if only they gave him an opportunity for fighting. He had a little +picture of the Virgin hung round his neck, by which he swore, and to +which he prayed; he had never been so much as scratched in all his +affrays, and he believed that he led a charmed life. Who would go out +against Caonabo, the Goliath of the island? He, little David Ojeda, he +would go out and undertake to fetch the giant back with him; and all he +wanted was ten men, a pair of handcuffs, a handful of trinkets, horses +for the whole of his company, and his little image or picture of the +Virgin. + +Columbus may have smiled at this proposal, but he knew his man; and Ojeda +duly departed with his horses and his ten men. Plunging into the forest, +he made his way through sixty leagues of dense undergrowth until he +arrived in the very heart of Caonabo's territory and presented himself at +the chiefs house. The chief was at home, and, not unimpressed by the +valour of Ojeda, who represented himself as coming on a friendly mission, +received him under conditions of truce. He had an eye for military +prowess, this Caonabo, and something of the lion's heart in him; he +recognised in Ojeda the little man who kept him so long at bay outside +Fort St. Thomas; and, after the manner of lion-hearted people, liked him +none the worse for that. + +Ojeda proposes that the King should accompany him to Isabella to make +peace. No, says Caonabo. Then Ojeda tries another way. There is a +poetical side to this big fighting savage, and often in more friendly +days, when the bell in the little chapel of Isabella has been ringing for +Vespers, the cacique has been observed sitting alone on some hill +listening, enchanted by the strange silver voice that floated to him +across the sunset. The bell has indeed become something of a personality +in the island: all the neighbouring savages listen to its voice with awe +and fascination, pausing with inclined heads whenever it begins to speak +from its turret. + +Ojeda talks to Caonabo about the bell, and tells him what a wonderful +thing it is; tells him also that if he will come with him to Isabella he +shall have the bell for a present. Poetry and public policy struggle +together in Caonabo's heart, but poetry wins; the great powerful savage, +urged thereto by his childish lion-heart, will come to Isabella if they +will give him the bell. He sets forth, accompanied by a native retinue, +and by Ojeda and his ten horsemen. Presently they come to a river and +Ojeda produces his bright manacles; tells the King that they are royal +ornaments and that he has been instructed to bestow them upon Caonabo as +a sign of honour. But first he must come alone to the river and bathe, +which he does. Then he must sit with Ojeda upon his horse; which he +does. Then he must have fitted on to him the shining silver trinkets; +which he does, the great grinning giant, pleased with his toys. Then, to +show him what it is like to be on a horse, Ojeda canters gently round in +widening and ever widening circles; a turn of his spurred heels, and the +canter becomes a gallop, the circle becomes a straight line, and Caonabo +is on the road to Isabella. When they are well beyond reach of the +natives they pause and tie Caonabo securely into his place; and by this +treachery bring him into Isabella, where he is imprisoned in the +Admiral's house. + +The sulky giant, brought thus into captivity, refuses to bend his proud, +stubborn heart into even a form of submission. He takes no notice of +Columbus, and pays him no honour, although honour is paid to himself as +a captive king. He sits there behind his bars gnawing his fingers, +listening to the voice of the bell that has lured him into captivity, +and thinking of the free open life which he is to know no more. Though +he will pay no deference to the Admiral, will not even rise when he +enters his presence, there is one person he holds in honour, and that is +Ojeda. He will not rise when the Admiral comes; but when Ojeda comes, +small as he is, and without external state, the chief makes his obeisance +to him. The Admiral he sets at defiance, and boasts of his destruction +of La Navidad, and of his plan to destroy Isabella; Ojeda he respects and +holds in honour, as being the only man in the island brave enough to come +into his house and carry him off a captive. There is a good deal of the +sportsman in Caonabo. + +The immediate result of the capture of Caonabo was to rouse the islanders +to further hostilities, and one of the brothers of the captive king led a +force of seven thousand men to the vicinity of St. Thomas, to which +Ojeda, however, had in the meantime returned. His small force was +augmented by some men despatched by Bartholomew Columbus on receipt of an +urgent message; and in command of this force Ojeda sallied forth against +the natives and attacked them furiously on horse and on foot, killing a +great part of them, taking others prisoner, and putting the rest to +flight. This was the beginning of the end of the island resistance. A +month or two later, when Columbus was better, he and Bartholomew together +mustered the whole of their available army and marched out in search of +the native force, which he knew had been rallied and greatly augmented. + +The two forces met near the present town of Santiago, in the plain known +as the Savanna of Matanza. The Spanish force was divided into three main +divisions, under the command of Christopher and Bartholomew Columbus and +Ojeda respectively. These three divisions attacked the Indians +simultaneously from different points, Ojeda throwing his cavalry upon +them, riding them down, and cutting them to pieces. Drums were beaten +and trumpets blown; the guns were fired from the cover of the trees; and +a pack of bloodhounds, which had been sent out from Spain with +Bartholomew, were let loose upon the natives and tore their bodies to +pieces. It was an easy and horrible victory. The native force was +estimated by Columbus at one hundred thousand men, although we shall +probably be nearer the mark if we reduce that estimate by one half. + +The powers of hell were let loose that day into the Earthly Paradise. +The guns mowed red lines of blood through the solid ranks of the natives; +the great Spanish horses trod upon and crushed their writhing bodies, in +which arrows and lances continually stuck and quivered; and the ferocious +dogs, barking and growling, seized the naked Indians by the throat, +dragged them to the ground, and tore out their very entrails . . . . +Well for us that the horrible noises of that day are silent now; well for +the world that that place of bloodshed and horror has grown green again; +better for us and for the world if those cries had never been heard, and +that quiet place had never received a stain that centuries of green +succeeding springtides can never wash away. + + +It was some time before this final battle that the convalescence of the +Admiral was further assisted by the arrival of four ships commanded by +Antonio Torres, who must have passed, out of sight and somewhere on the +high seas, the ships bearing Buil and Margarite back to Spain. He +brought with him a large supply of fresh provisions for the colony, and a +number of genuine colonists, such as fishermen, carpenters, farmers, +mechanics, and millers. And better still he brought a letter from the +Sovereigns, dated the 16th of August 1494, which did much to cheer the +shaken spirits of Columbus. The words with which he had freighted his +empty ships had not been in vain; and in this reply to them he was warmly +commended for his diligence, and reminded that he enjoyed the unshaken +confidence of the Sovereigns. They proposed that a caravel should sail +every month from Spain and from Isabella, bearing intelligence of the +colony and also, it was hoped, some of its products. In a general letter +addressed to the colony the settlers were reminded of the obedience they +owed to the Admiral, and were instructed to obey him in all things under +the penalty of heavy fines. They invited Columbus to come back if he +could in order to be present at the convention which was to establish the +line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese possessions; or if he +could not come himself to send his brother Bartholomew. There were +reasons, however, which made this difficult. Columbus wished to despatch +the ships back again as speedily as possible, in order that news of him +might help to counteract the evil rumours that he knew Buil and Margarite +would be spreading. He himself was as yet (February 1494) too ill to +travel; and during his illness Bartholomew could not easily be spared. +It was therefore decided to send home James, who could most easily be +spared, and whose testimony as a member of the governing body during the +absence of the Admiral on his voyage to Cuba might be relied upon to +counteract the jealous accusations of Margarite and Buil. + +Unfortunately there was no golden cargo to send back with him. As much +gold as possible was scraped together, but it was very little. The usual +assortment of samples of various island products was also sent; but still +the vessels were practically empty. Columbus must have been painfully +conscious that the time for sending samples had more than expired, and +that the people in Spain might reasonably expect some of the actual +riches of which there had been so many specimens and promises. In +something approaching desperation, he decided to fill the empty holds of +the ships with something which, if it was not actual money, could at +least be made to realise money. From their sunny dreaming life on the +island five hundred natives were taken and lodged in the dark holds of +the caravels, to be sent to Spain and sold there for what they would +fetch. Of course they were to be "freed" and converted to Christianity +in the process; that was always part of the programme, but it did not +interfere with business. They were not man-eating Caribs or fierce +marauding savages from neighbouring islands, but were of the mild and +peaceable race that peopled Espanola. The wheels of civilisation were +beginning to turn in the New World. + +After the capture of Caonabo and the massacre of April 25th Columbus +marched through the island, receiving the surrender and submission of the +terrified natives. At the approach of his force the caciques came out +and sued for peace; and if here and there there was a momentary +resistance, a charge of cavalry soon put an end to it. One by one the +kings surrendered and laid down their arms, until all the island rulers +had capitulated with the exception of Behechio, into whose territory +Columbus did not march, and who sullenly retired to the south-western +corner of the island. The terms of peace were harsh enough, and were +suggested by the dilemma of Columbus in his frantic desire to get +together some gold at any cost. A tribute of gold-dust was laid upon +every adult native in the island. Every three months a hawk's bell full +of gold was to be brought to the treasury at Isabella, and in the case 39 +of caciques the measure was a calabash. A receipt in the form of a brass +medal was fastened to the neck of every Indian when he paid his tribute, +and those who could not show the medal with the necessary number of marks +were to be further fined and punished. In the districts where there was +no gold, 25 lbs. of cotton was accepted instead. + +This levy was made in ignorance of the real conditions under which the +natives possessed themselves of the gold. What they had in many cases +represented the store of years, and in all but one or two favoured +districts it was quite impossible for them to keep up the amount of the +tribute. Yet the hawks' bells, which once had been so eagerly coveted +and were now becoming hated symbols of oppression, had to be filled +somehow; and as the day of payment drew near the wretched natives, who +had formerly only sought for gold when a little of it was wanted for a +pretty ornament, had now to work with frantic energy in the river sands; +or in other cases, to toil through the heat of the day in the cotton +fields which they had formerly only cultivated enough to furnish their +very scant requirements of use and adornment. One or two caciques, +knowing that their people could not possibly furnish the required amount +of gold, begged that its value in grain might be accepted instead; but +that was not the kind of wealth that Columbus was seeking. It must be +gold or nothing; and rather than receive any other article from the gold- +bearing districts, he consented to take half the amount. + + +Thus step by step, and under the banner of the Holy Catholic religion, +did dark and cruel misery march through the groves and glades of the +island and banish for ever its ancient peace. This long-vanished race +that was native to the island of Espanola seems to have had some of the +happiest and most lovable qualities known to dwellers on this planet. +They had none of the brutalities of the African, the paralysing wisdom of +the Asian, nor the tragic potentialities of the European peoples. Their +life was from day to day, and from season to season, like the life of +flowers and birds. They lived in such order and peaceable community as +the common sense of their own simple needs suggested; they craved no +pleasures except those that came free from nature, and sought no wealth +but what the sun gave them. In their verdant island, near to the heart +and source of light, surrounded by the murmur of the sea, and so enriched +by nature that the idea, of any other kind of riches never occurred to +them, their existence went to a happy dancing measure like that of the +fauns and nymphs in whose charmed existence they believed. The sun and +moon were to them creatures of their island who had escaped from a cavern +by the shore and now wandered free in the upper air, peopling it with +happy stars; and man himself they believed to have sprung from crevices +in the rocks, like the plants that grew tall and beautiful wherever there +was a handful of soil for their roots. Poor happy children! You are all +dead a long while ago now, and have long been hushed in the great humming +sleep and silence of Time; the modern world has no time nor room for +people like you, with so much kindness and so little ambition . . . . +Yet their free pagan souls were given a chance to be penned within the +Christian fold; the priest accompanied the gunner and the bloodhound, the +missionary walked beside the slave-driver; and upon the bewildered sun- +bright surface of their minds the shadow of the cross was for a moment +thrown. Verily to them the professors of Christ brought not peace, but a +sword. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +UPS AND DOWNS + +While Columbus was toiling under the tropical sun to make good his +promises to the Crown, Margarite and Buil, having safely come home to +Spain from across the seas, were busy setting forth their view of the +value of his discoveries. It was a view entirely different from any that +Ferdinand and Isabella had heard before, and coming as it did from two +men of position and importance who had actually been in Espanola, and +were loyal and religious subjects of the Crown, it could not fail to +receive, if not immediate and complete credence, at any rate grave +attention. Hitherto the Sovereigns had only heard one side of the +matter; an occasional jealous voice may have been raised from the +neighbourhood of the Pinzons or some one else not entirely satisfied with +his own position in the affair; but such small cries of dissent had +naturally had little chance against the dignified eloquence of the +Admiral. + +Now, however, the matter was different. People who were at least the +equals of Columbus in intelligence, and his superiors by birth and +education, had seen with their own eyes the things of which he had +spoken, and their account differed widely from his. They represented +things in Espanola as being in a very bad way indeed, which was true +enough; drew a dismal picture of an overcrowded colony ravaged with +disease and suffering from lack of provisions; and held forth at length +upon the very doubtful quality of the gold with which the New World was +supposed to abound. More than this, they brought grave charges against +Columbus himself, representing him as unfit to govern a colony, given to +favouritism, and, worst of all, guilty of having deliberately +misrepresented for his own ends the resources of the colony. This as we +know was not true. It was not for his own ends, or for any ends at all +within the comprehension of men like Margarite and Buil, that poor +Christopher had spoken so glowingly out of a heart full of faith in what +he had seen and done. Purposes, dim perhaps, but far greater and loftier +than any of which these two mean souls had understanding, animated him +alike in his discoveries and in his account of them; although that does +not alter the unpleasant fact that at the stage matters had now reached +it seemed as though there might have been serious misrepresentation. + +Ferdinand and Isabella, thus confronted with a rather difficult +situation, acted with great wisdom and good sense. How much or how +little they believed we do not know, but it was obviously their duty, +having heard such an account from responsible officers, to investigate +matters for themselves without assuming either that the report was true +or untrue. They immediately had four caravels furnished with supplies, +and decided to appoint an agent to accompany the expedition, investigate +the affairs of the colony, and make a report to them. If the Admiral was +still absent when their agent reached the colony he was to be entrusted +with the distribution of the supplies which were being sent out; for +Columbus's long absence from Espanola had given rise to some fears for +his safety. + +The Sovereigns had just come to this decision (April 1495) when a letter +arrived from the Admiral himself, announcing his return to Espanola after +discovering the veritable mainland of Asia, as the notarial document +enclosed with the letter attested. Torres and James Columbus had arrived +in Spain, bearing the memorandum which some time ago we saw the Admiral +writing; and they were able to do something towards allaying the fears of +the Sovereigns as to the condition of the colony. The King and Queen, +nevertheless, wisely decided to carry out their original intention, and +in appointing an agent they very handsomely chose one of the men whom +Columbus had recommended to them in his letter--Juan Aguado. This action +shows a friendliness to Columbus and confidence in him that lead one to +suspect that the tales of Margarite and Buil had been taken with a grain +of salt. + +At the same time the Sovereigns made one or two orders which could not +but be unwelcome to Columbus. A decree was issued making it lawful for +all native-born Spaniards to make voyages of discovery, and to settle in +Espanola itself if they liked. This was an infringement of the original +privileges granted to the Admiral--privileges which were really absurd, +and which can only have been granted in complete disbelief that anything +much would come of his discovery. It took Columbus two years to get this +order modified, and in the meantime a great many Spanish adventurers, our +old friends the Pinzons among them, did actually make voyages and added +to the area explored by the Spaniards in Columbus's lifetime. Columbus +was bitterly jealous that any one should be admitted to the western +ocean, which he regarded as his special preserve, except under his +supreme authority; and he is reported to have said that once the way to +the West had been pointed out "even the very tailors turned explorers." +There, surely, spoke the long dormant woolweaver in him. + +The commission given to Aguado was very brief, and so vaguely worded +that it might mean much or little, according to the discretion of the +commissioner and the necessities of the case as viewed by him. "We send +to you Juan Aguada, our Groom of the Chambers, who will speak to you on +our part. We command you to give him faith and credit." A letter was +also sent to Columbus in which he was instructed to reduce the number of +people dependent on the colony to five hundred instead of a thousand; and +the control of the mines was entrusted to one Pablo Belvis, who was sent +out as chief metallurgist. As for the slaves that Columbus had sent +home, Isabella forbade their sale until inquiry could be made into the +condition of their capture, and the fine moral point involved was +entrusted to the ecclesiastical authorities for examination and solution. +Poor Christopher, knowing as he did that five hundred heretics were being +burned every year by the Grand Inquisitor, had not expected this hair- +splitting over the fate of heathens who had rebelled against Spanish +authority; and it caused him some distress when he heard of it. The +theologians, however, proved equal to the occasion, and the slaves were +duly sold in Seville market. + + +Aguado sailed from Cadiz at the end of August 1495, and reached Espanola +in October. James Columbus (who does not as yet seem to be in very great +demand anywhere, and who doubtless conceals behind his grave visage much +honest amazement at the amount of life that he is seeing) returned with +him. Aguado, on arriving at Isabella, found that Columbus was absent +establishing forts in the interior of the island, Bartholomew being left +in charge at Isabella. + +Aguado, who had apparently been found faithful in small matters, was +found wanting in his use of the authority that had been entrusted to him. +It seems to have turned his head; for instead of beginning quietly to +investigate the affairs of the colony as he had been commanded to do he +took over from Bartholomew the actual government, and interpreted his +commission as giving him the right to supersede the Admiral himself. The +unhappy colony, which had no doubt been enjoying some brief period of +peace under the wise direction of Bartholomew, was again thrown into +confusion by the doings of Aguado. He arrested this person, imprisoned +that; ordered that things should be done this way, which had formerly +been done that way; and if they had formerly been done that way, then he +ordered that they should be done this way--in short he committed every +mistake possible for a man in his situation armed with a little brief +authority. He did not hesitate to let it be known that he was there to +examine the conduct of the Admiral himself; and we may be quite sure that +every one in the colony who had a grievance or an ill tale to carry, +carried it to Aguado. His whole attitude was one of enmity and +disloyalty to the Admiral who had so handsomely recommended him to the +notice of the Sovereigns; and so undisguised was his attitude that even +the Indians began to lodge their complaints and to see a chance by which +they might escape from the intolerable burden of the gold tribute. + +It was at this point that Columbus returned and found Aguado ruling in +the place of Bartholomew, who had wisely made no protest against his own +deposition, but was quietly waiting for the Admiral to return. Columbus +might surely have been forgiven if he had betrayed extreme anger and +annoyance at the doings of Aguado; and it is entirely to his credit that +he concealed such natural wrath as he may have felt, and greeted Aguado +with extreme courtesy and ceremony as a representative of the Sovereigns. +He made no protest, but decided to return himself to Spain and confront +the jealousy and ill-fame that were accumulating against him. + +Just as the ships were all ready to sail, one of the hurricanes which +occur periodically in the West Indies burst upon the island, lashing the +sea into a wall of advancing foam that destroyed everything before it. +Among other things it destroyed three out of the four ships, dashing them +on the beach and reducing them to complete wreckage. The only one that +held to her anchor and, although much battered and damaged, rode out the +gale, was the Nina, that staunch little friend that had remained faithful +to the Admiral through so many dangers and trials. There was nothing for +it but to build a new ship out of the fragments of the wrecks, and to +make the journey home with two ships instead of with four. + + +At this moment, while he was waiting for the ship to be completed, +Columbus heard a piece of news of a kind that never failed to rouse his +interest. There was a young Spaniard named Miguel Diaz who had got into +disgrace in Isabella some time before on account of a duel, and had +wandered into the island until he had come out on the south coast at the +mouth of the river Ozama, near the site of the present town of Santo +Domingo. There he had fallen in love with a female cacique and had made +his home with her. She, knowing the Spanish taste, and anxious to please +her lover and to retain him in her territory, told him of some rich gold- +mines that there were in the neighbourhood, and suggested that he should +inform the Admiral, who would perhaps remove the settlement from Isabella +to the south coast. She provided him with guides and sent him off to +Isabella, where, hearing that his antagonist had recovered, and that he +himself was therefore in no danger of punishment, he presented himself +with his story. + +Columbus immediately despatched Bartholomew with a party to examine the +mines; and sure enough they found in the river Hayna undoubted evidence +of a wealth far in excess of that contained in the Cibao gold-mines. +Moreover, they had noticed two ancient excavations about which the +natives could tell them nothing, but which made them think that the mines +had once been worked. + +Columbus was never backward in fitting a story and a theory to whatever +phenomena surrounded him; and in this case he was certain that the +excavations were the work of Solomon, and that he had discovered the gold +of Ophir. "Sure enough," thinks the Admiral, "I have hit it this time; +and the ships came eastward from the Persian Gulf round the Golden +Chersonesus, which I discovered this very last winter." Immediately, as +his habit was, Columbus began to build castles in Spain. Here was a fine +answer to Buil and Margarite! Without waiting a week or two to get any +of the gold this extraordinary man decided to hurry off at once to Spain +with the news, not dreaming that Spain might, by this time, have had a +surfeit of news, and might be in serious need of some simple, honest +facts. But he thought his two caravels sufficiently freighted with this +new belief--the belief that he had discovered the Ophir of Solomon. + +The Admiral sailed on March 10th, 1496, carrying with him in chains the +vanquished Caonabo and other natives. He touched at Marigalante and at +Guadaloupe, where his people had an engagement with the natives, taking +several prisoners, but releasing them all again with the exception of one +woman, a handsome creature who had fallen in love with Caonabo and +refused to go. But for Caonabo the joys of life and love were at an end; +his heart and spirit were broken. He was not destined to be paraded as a +captive through the streets of Spain, and it was somewhere in the deep +Atlantic that he paid the last tribute to the power that had captured and +broken him. He died on the voyage, which was longer and much more full +of hardships than usual. For some reason or other Columbus did not take +the northerly route going home, but sailed east from Gaudaloupe, +encountering the easterly trade winds, which delayed him so much that the +voyage occupied three months instead of six weeks. + +Once more he exhibited his easy mastery of the art of navigation and his +extraordinary gift for estimating dead-reckoning. After having been out +of sight of land for eight weeks, and while some of the sailors thought +they might be in the Bay of Biscay, and others that they were in the +English Channel, the Admiral suddenly announced that they were close to +Cape Saint Vincent. + +No land was in sight, but he ordered that sail should be shortened that +evening; and sure enough the next morning they sighted the land close by +Cape Saint Vincent. Columbus managed his landfalls with a fine dramatic +sense as though they were conjuring tricks; and indeed they must have +seemed like conjuring tricks, except that they were almost always +successful. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN SPAIN AGAIN + +The loiterers about the harbour of Cadiz saw a curious sight on June +11th, 1496, when the two battered ships, bearing back the voyagers from +the Eldorado of the West, disembarked their passengers. There were some +220 souls on board, including thirty Indians: and instead of leaping +ashore, flushed with health, and bringing the fortunes which they had +gone out to seek, they crawled miserably from the boats or were carried +ashore, emaciated by starvation, yellow with disease, ragged and unkempt +from poverty, and with practically no possessions other than the clothes +they stood up in. Even the Admiral, now in his forty-sixth year, hardly +had the appearance that one would expect in a Viceroy of the Indies. His +white hair and beard were rough and matted, his handsome face furrowed by +care and sunken by illness and exhaustion, and instead of the glittering +armour and uniform of his office he wore the plain robe and girdle of the +Franciscan order--this last probably in consequence of some vow or other +he had made in an hour of peril on the voyage. + +One lucky coincidence marked his arrival. In the harbour, preparing to +weigh anchor, was a fleet of three little caravels, commanded by Pedro +Nino, about to set out for Espanola with supplies and despatches. +Columbus hurried on board Nino's ship, and there read the letters from +the Sovereigns which it had been designed he should receive in Espanola. +The letters are not preserved, but one can make a fair guess at their +contents. Some searching questions would certainly be asked, kind +assurances of continued confidence would doubtless be given, with many +suggestions for the betterment of affairs in the distant colony. Only +their result upon the Admiral is known to us. He sat down there and then +and wrote to Bartholomew, urging him to secure peace in the island by +every means in his power, to send home any caciques or natives who were +likely to give trouble, and most of all to push on with the building of a +settlement on the south coast where the new mines were, and to have a +cargo of gold ready to send back with the next expedition. Having +written this letter, the Admiral saw the little fleet sail away on June +17th, and himself prepared with mingled feelings to present himself +before his Sovereigns. + +While he was waiting for their summons at Los Palacios, a small town near +Seville, he was the guest of the curate of that place, Andrez Bernaldez, +who had been chaplain to Christopher's old friend DEA, the Archbishop of +Seville. This good priest evidently proved a staunch friend to Columbus +at this anxious period of his life, for the Admiral left many important +papers in his charge when he again left Spain, and no small part of the +scant contemporary information about Columbus that has come down to us is +contained in the 'Historia de los Reyes Catolicos', which Bernaldez wrote +after the death of Columbus. + + +Fickle Spain had already forgotten its first sentimental enthusiasm over +the Admiral's discoveries, and now was only interested in their financial +results. People cannot be continually excited about a thing which they +have not seen, and there were events much nearer home that absorbed the +public interest. There was the trouble with France, the contemplated +alliance of the Crown Prince with Margaret of Austria, and of the Spanish +Princess Juana with Philip of Austria; and there were the designs of +Ferdinand upon the kingdom of Naples, which was in his eyes a much more +desirable and valuable prize than any group of unknown islands beyond the +ocean. + +Columbus did his very best to work up enthusiasm again. He repeated the +performance that had been such a success after his first voyage--the kind +of circus procession in which the natives were marched in column +surrounded by specimens of the wealth of the Indies. But somehow it did +not work so well this time. Where there had formerly been acclamations +and crowds pressing forward to view the savages and their ornaments, +there were now apathy and a dearth of spectators. And although Columbus +did his very best, and was careful to exhibit every scrap of gold that he +had brought, and to hang golden collars and ornaments about the necks of +the marching Indians, his exhibition was received either in ominous +silence or, in some quarters, with something like derision. As I have +said before, there comes a time when the best-disposed debtors do not +regard themselves as being repaid by promises, and when the most +enthusiastic optimist desires to see something more than samples. +It was only old Colon going round with his show again--flamingoes, +macaws, seashells, dye-woods, gums and spices; some people laughed, +and some were angry; but all were united in thinking that the New World +was not a very profitable speculation. + +Things were a little better, however, at Court. Isabella certainly +believed still in Columbus; Ferdinand, although he had never been +enthusiastic, knew the Admiral too well to make the vulgar mistake of +believing him an impostor; and both were too polite and considerate to +add to his obvious mortification and distress by any discouraging +comments. Moreover, the man himself had lost neither his belief in the +value of his discoveries nor his eloquence in talking of them; and when +he told his story to the Sovereigns they could not help being impressed, +not only with his sincerity but with his ability and single-heartedness +also. It was almost the same old story, of illimitable wealth that was +just about to be acquired, and perhaps no one but Columbus could have +made it go down once more with success; but talking about his exploits +was never any trouble to him, and his astonishing conviction, the lofty +and dignified manner in which he described both good and bad fortune, and +the impressive way in which he spoke of the wealth of the gold of Ophir +and of the far-reaching importance of his supposed discovery of the +Golden Chersonesus and the mainland of Asia, had their due effect on his +hearers. + +It was always his way, plausible Christopher, to pass lightly over the +premises and to dwell with elaborate detail on the deductions. It was by +no means proved that he had discovered the mines of King Solomon; he had +never even seen the place which he identified with them; it was in fact +nothing more than an idea in his own head; but we may be sure that he +took it as an established fact that he had actually discovered the mines +of Ophir, and confined his discussion to estimates of the wealth which +they were likely to yield, and of what was to be done with the wealth +when the mere details of conveying it from the mines to the ships had +been disposed of. So also with the Golden Chersonesus. The very name +was enough to stop the mouths of doubters; and here was the man himself +who had actually been there, and here was a sworn affidavit from every +member of his crew to say that they had been there too. This kind of +logic is irresistible if you only grant the first little step; and +Columbus had the art of making it seem an act of imbecility in any of his +hearers to doubt the strength of the little link by which his great +golden chains of argument were fastened to fact and truth. + +For Columbus everything depended upon his reception by the Sovereigns at +this time. Unless he could re-establish his hold upon them and move to a +still more secure position in their confidence he was a ruined man and +his career was finished; and one cannot but sympathise with him as he +sits there searching his mind for tempting and convincing arguments, and +speaking so calmly and gravely and confidently in spite of all the doubts +and flutterings in his heart. Like a tradesman setting out his wares, +he brought forth every inducement he could think of to convince the +Sovereigns that the only way to make a success of what they had already +done was to do more; that the only way to make profitable the money that +had already been spent was to spend more; that the only way to prove the +wisdom of their trust in him was to trust him more. One of his +transcendent merits in a situation of this kind was that he always had +something new and interesting to propose. He did not spread out his +hands and say, "This is what I have done: it is the best I can do; how +are you going to treat me?" He said in effect, "This is what I have +done; you will see that it will all come right in time; do not worry +about it; but meanwhile I have something else to propose which I think +your Majesties will consider a good plan." + +His new demand was for a fleet of six ships, two of which were to convey +supplies to Espanola, and the other four to be entrusted to him for the +purpose of a voyage of discovery towards the mainland to the south of +Espanola, of which he had heard consistent rumours; which was said to be +rich in gold, and (a clever touch) to which the King of Portugal was +thinking of sending a fleet, as he thought that it might lie within the +limits of his domain of heathendom. And so well did he manage, and so +deeply did he impress the Sovereigns with his assurance that this time +the thing amounted to what is vulgarly called "a dead certainty," that +they promised him he should have his ships. + +But promise and performance, as no one knew better than Columbus, are +different things; and it was a long while before he got his ships. There +was the usual scarcity of money, and the extensive military and +diplomatic operations in which the Crown was then engaged absorbed every +maravedi that Ferdinand could lay his hands on. There was an army to be +maintained under the Pyrenees to keep watch over France; fleets had to be +kept patrolling both the Mediterranean and Atlantic seaboards; and there +was a whole armada required to convey the princesses of Spain and Austria +to their respective husbands in connection with the double matrimonial +alliance arranged between the two countries. And when at last, in +October 1496, six million maravedis were provided wherewith Columbus +might equip his fleet, they were withdrawn again under very mortifying +circumstances. The appropriation had just been made when a letter +arrived from Pedro Nino, who had been to Espanola and come back again, +and now wrote from Cadiz to the Sovereigns, saying that his ships were +full of gold. He did not present himself at Court, but went to visit his +family at Huelva; but the good news of his letter was accepted as an +excuse for this oversight. + +No one was better pleased than the Admiral. "What did I tell you?" he +says; "you see the mines of Hayna are paying already." King Ferdinand, +equally pleased, and having an urgent need of money in connection with +his operations against France, took the opportunity to cancel the +appropriation of the six million maravedis, giving Columbus instead an +order for the amount to be paid out of the treasure brought home by Nino. +Alas, the mariner's boast of gold had been a figure of speech. There was +no gold; there was only a cargo of slaves, which Nino deemed the +equivalent of gold; and when Bartholomew's despatches came to be read he +described the affairs of Espanola as being in very much the same +condition as before. This incident produced a most unfortunate +impression. Even Columbus was obliged to keep quiet for a little while; +and it is likely that the mention of six million maravedis was not +welcomed by him for some time afterwards. + +After the wedding of Prince Juan in March 1497, when Queen Isabella had +more time to give to external affairs, the promise to Columbus was again +remembered, and his position was considered in detail. An order was made +(April 23rd, 1497), restoring to the Admiral the original privileges +bestowed upon him at Santa Fe. He was offered a large tract of land in +Espanola, with the title of Duke; but much as he hankered after titular +honours, he was for once prudent enough to refuse this gift. His reason +was that it would only further damage his influence, and give apparent +justification to those enemies who said that the whole enterprise had +been undertaken merely in his own interests; and it is possible also that +his many painful associations with Espanola, and the bloodshed and +horrors that he had witnessed there, had aroused in his superstitious +mind a distaste for possessions and titles in that devastated Paradise. +Instead, he accepted a measure of relief from the obligations incurred by +his eighth share in the many unprofitable expeditions that had been sent +out during the last three years, agreeing for the next three years to +receive an eighth share of the gross income, and a tenth of the net +profits, without contributing anything to the cost. His appointment of +Bartholomew to the office of Adelantado, which had annoyed Ferdinand, was +now confirmed; the universal license which had been granted to Spanish +subjects to settle in the new lands was revoked in so far as it infringed +the Admiral's privileges; and he was granted a force of 330 officers, +soldiers, and artificers to be at his personal disposal in the +prosecution of his next voyage. + +The death of Prince Juan in October 1497 once more distracted the +attention of the Court from all but personal matters; and Columbus +employed the time of waiting in drafting a testamentary document in which +he was permitted to create an entail on his title and estates in favour +of his two sons and their heirs for ever. This did not represent his +complete or final testament, for he added codicils at various times, +the latest being executed the day before his death. The document is +worth studying; it reveals something of the laborious, painstaking mind +reaching out down the rivers and streams of the future that were to flow +from the fountain of his own greatness; it reveals also his triple +conception of the obligations of human life in this world--the +cultivation and retention of temporal dignity, the performance of pious +and charitable acts, and the recognition of duty to one's family. It was +in this document that Columbus formulated the curious cipher which he +always now used in signing his name, and of which various readings are +given in the Appendix. He also enjoined upon his heir the duty of using +the simple title which he himself loved and used most--"The Admiral." + +After the death of Prince Juan, Queen Isabella honoured Columbus by +attaching his two sons to her own person as pages; and her friendship +must at this time have gone far to compensate him for the coolness shown +towards him by the public at large. He might talk as much as he pleased, +but he had nothing to show for all his talk except a few trinkets, a +collection of interesting but valueless botanical specimens, and a +handful of miserable slaves. Lives and fortunes had been wrecked on the +enterprise, which had so far brought nothing to Spain but the promise of +luxurious adventure that was not fulfilled and of a wealth and glory that +had not been realised. It must have been a very humiliating circumstance +to Columbus that in the preparations which he was now (February 1498) +making for the equipment of his new expedition a great difficulty was +found in procuring ships and men. Not even before the first voyage had +so much reluctance been shown to risk life and property in the +enterprise. Merchants and sailors had then been frightened of dangers +which they did not know; now, it seemed, the evils of which they did know +proved a still greater deterrent. The Admiral was at this time the guest +of his friend Bernaldez, who has told us something of his difficulties; +and the humiliating expedient of seizing ships under a royal order had +finally to be adopted. But it would never have done to impress the +colonists also; that would have been too open a confession of failure for +the proud Admiral to tolerate. + +Instead he had recourse to the miserable plan of which he had made use in +Palos; the prisons were opened, and criminals under sentence invited to +come forth and enjoy the blessings of colonial life. Even then there was +not that rush from the prison doors that might have been expected, and +some desperate characters apparently preferred the mercies of a Spanish +prison to what they had heard of the joys of the Earthly Paradise. Still +a number of criminals did doubtfully crawl forth and furnish a retinue +for the great Admiral and Viceroy. Trembling, suspicious, and with more +than half a mind to go back to their bonds, some part of the human vermin +of Spain was eventually cajoled and chivied on board the ships. + +The needs of the colony being urgent, and recruiting being slow, two +caravels laden with provisions were sent off in advance; but even for +this purpose there was a difficulty about money, and good Isabella +furnished the expense, at much inconvenience, from her private purse. + +Columbus had to supervise everything himself; and no wonder that by the +end of May, when he was ready to sail, his patience and temper were +exhausted and his much-tried endurance broke down under the petty +gnatlike irritations of Fonseca and his myrmidons. It was on the deck of +his own ship, in the harbour of San Lucar, that he knocked down and +soundly kicked Ximeno de Breviesca, Fonseca's accountant, whose nagging +requisitions had driven the Admiral to fury. + +After all these years of gravity and restraint and endurance, this +momentary outbreak of the old Adam in our hero is like a breath of wind +through an open window. + +To the portraits of Columbus hanging in the gallery of one's imagination +this must surely be added; in which Christopher, on the deck of his ship, +with the royal standard and the Admiral's flag flying from his masthead, +is observed to be soundly kicking a prostrate accountant. The incident +is worthy of a date, which is accordingly here given, as near as may be-- +May 29, 1498. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Absent for a little time, and his organisation went to pieces +Heretics were being burned every year by the Grand Inquisitor +Logic is irresistible if you only grant the first little step +Nautical phrase "make it so." +Professors of Christ brought not peace, but a sword +Terror and amazement; they had never seen horses before +The missionary walked beside the slave-driver +Theologians, however, proved equal to the occasion +Who never could meet any trouble without grumbling + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Christopher Columbus, v5 +by Filson Young + diff --git a/old/cc05v10.zip b/old/cc05v10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8f01c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cc05v10.zip diff --git a/old/cc05v10h.zip b/old/cc05v10h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f029747 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cc05v10h.zip |