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Slips for Librarimis to paste on Catalogue 
 Cards. 
 
 N.B. — Take out carefully, leaving about quarter of an inch 
 at the back. To do otherwise would, in some cases, release 
 other leaves. 
 
 ALDEN, WILLIAM L. Christopher Colum- 
 bus (1440-1506). The First American Citizen 
 (By Adoption). By William L. Alden. New 
 York: Henry Holt & Co., 1881. i6mo, pp. 287. 
 (Lives of American Worthies). 
 
 COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER, (1440-1506). 
 The First American Citizen (By Adoption). By 
 William L. Alden. New York : Henry Holt & 
 Co., 1881. i6mo, pp. 287. (Lives of American 
 Worthies). 
 
 HISTORY. Christopher Columbus (1440-1506). 
 The First American Citizen (By Adoption). By 
 William L. Alden. New York : Henry Holt & 
 Co., 1 88 1. i6mo, pp. 287. (Lives of American 
 Worthies). 
 
LIVES OF AMERICAN WORTHIES. 
 
 Under the above title, Messrs. Henry Holt & Co, 
 are contributing one more biographical series to the 
 number with which the reading world is being so abund- 
 antly favored. 
 
 That there may be something in the method of this 
 series not altogether indentical with that of its numerous 
 predecessors, contemporaries and promised successors, 
 will perhaps be suspected from the list of subjects and 
 authors thus far selected : 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, (1440-1506), 
 
 By W. L. Alden, ^of the New York Times), 
 Author of " The Moral Pirates" etc. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, (1579^1631), 
 
 By Charles Dudley Warner, Author of 
 "My Summer in a Garden," etc. 
 WILLIAM PENN, (1644-1715), 
 
 By Robert J. Burdette, of the Burlington 
 Hawkeye. 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1 706-1790), 
 
 By 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, (1732-1799), 
 
 By John Habberton, Author of " Helen's 
 Babies," etc. 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON, (1743-1826), 
 
 By 
 ANDREW JACKSON, (1767-1845), 
 
 By George T, Lanigan, Author of '■'Fables 
 out of the World." 
 If the names of the authors awaken a suspicion 
 that there may be something humorous in the books, it 
 should be known that despite anything of that kind, the 
 truth of history is adhered to with most uncompromising 
 rigidity —perhaps, in some cases, a little too uncom- 
 promising, or compromising : that depends on the point 
 of view. 
 
 Recent announcements make it proper to state that 
 this series was begun several years before the date of 
 this prospectus, and that the first volume published — 
 Mr. Charles Dudley Warner's Life of Captain John 
 Smith, was in type in the Spring of the current year. 
 
 New York, November, 1881. 
 
LIVES OF AMERICAN WORTHIES 
 
 Christopher Columbus 
 
 (1440-1506) 
 
 THE FIRST AMERICAN CITIZEN 
 (BY ADOPTION) 
 
 W. L. ALDEN 
 
 (_'ai 
 
 JX^ 
 
 AG />, 
 
 NEW YORK 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 1S81 
 
Copyright, 1881, 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HOLT & CO. 
 
 
 Electrotyped and Printed by 
 
 S.W. GREEN'S SON, 
 74 and 76 Beekmon Street, 
 
 »KW YOKK. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY YEARS 
 
 pHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS was 
 
 \j born at more places and to a greater 
 extent than any other eminent man known 
 to history. He was born at frequent in- 
 tervals from 1436 to 1446, and at Cogoletto, 
 Genoa, Finale, Oneglia, Savona, Padrello, 
 and Boggiasco. Learned historians have 
 conclusively shown that he was born at each 
 one of the places, and each historian has 
 had him born at a different date from that 
 fixed upon by a rival historian. To doubt 
 their demonstrations would be to treat his- 
 tory and historians with gross irreverence, 
 and would evince a singular lack of busi- 
 ness tact on the part of one proposing to 
 add another to the various histories of 
 Columbus. 
 
 Perhaps the majority of people believe 
 that Columbus was born exclusively at 
 
2 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. o 
 
 Cogoletto ; but no one retains that belief 
 after having once visited Cogoletto, and 
 drank the painfully sour wine produced at 
 that wretched little village. It is true that 
 Mr. Tennyson, who remarks that he once 
 
 " Stay'd the wheels at Cogoletto, 
 And drank, and loyally drank, to him," 
 
 still believes that it was the birthplace of 
 the great Admiral. But this fact simply 
 shows that Mr. Tennyson drank out of his 
 own flask. Few people who visit Cogo- 
 letto take this wise precaution, and the re- 
 sult is that, after drinking to the memory 
 of Columbus, they go on their way firmly 
 convinced that wherever else he was born, 
 he certainly was not born at Cogeletto. 
 
 It was the opinion of the late Washing- 
 ton Irving that Genoa was the real birth- 
 place of Columbus. This opinion was 
 what might have been expected from a 
 man of such unfailing good taste. 
 
 The production of infants is to this day 
 one of the leading industries of Genoa, and 
 as it is a large and beautiful city, we can- 
 
1436] EARLY YEARS. 3 
 
 not do better than to adopt Mr. Irving's 
 opinion that it was Columbus's favorite 
 birthplace. At the same time we might 
 as well select the year 1436 as the year of 
 his birth, with the determination of adher- 
 ing to it, for it adds much to the symmetry 
 of a biography if the subject thereof is 
 given a definite and fixed birthday. 
 
 At his birth Christopher Columbus was 
 simply Cristoforo Colombo, and it was not 
 until he arrived at manhood that he was 
 translated into Latin, in which tongue he 
 has been handed down to the present 
 generation. At a still later period he 
 translated himself into Spanish, becoming 
 thereby Christoval Colon. We can not 
 be too thankful that he was never trans- 
 lated into German, for we could scarcely 
 take pride in a country discovered by one 
 Hol0mp0. 
 
 The father of Columbus was Domenico 
 Colombo, a wool-comber by occupation. 
 Whose wool he combed, and why he 
 combed it, and whether wool-combing is 
 preferable to wool-gathering as an intellec- 
 
4 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. i 
 
 tual pursuit, are questions that have never 
 been satisfactorily decided. 
 
 Of Mrs. Colombo we simply know that 
 her Christian name was Fontanarossa, or 
 Red Fountain, a name more suitable to a 
 Sioux Indian than a Christian woman, 
 though perhaps, poor creature ! it was not 
 her fault. 
 
 Young Christopher was at an early age 
 thoughtfully provided with two younger 
 brothers — who were afterwards very use- 
 ful to him — and a younger sister. The 
 former were Giacomo, afterward known as 
 Diego, and Bartolommeo, who has been 
 translated into English as Bartholomew. 
 The sister does not appear to have had 
 any name, though her mother might have 
 spared three or four syllables of her own 
 name without feeling the loss of them. 
 This anonymous sister married one Gia- 
 como Bavarello, and promptly vanished 
 into an obscurity that history cannot pene- 
 trate. 
 
 From his earliest years Christopher was 
 an unusual and remarkable boy. One day 
 
1442] EARLY YEARS. 5 
 
 when he was about six years of age he was 
 sent by his mother, early in the morning, 
 to the store to purchase a pound of '* blue- 
 ing" for washing purposes. The morning 
 grew to noon, and the afternoon waned 
 until evening — processes which are not 
 peculiar to the climate of Genoa — but the 
 boy did not return, and his mother was 
 unable to wash the family clothes. The 
 truant had forgotten all about the "blue- 
 mg," and was spending the entire day in 
 company with the McGinnis boys, watch- 
 ing a base-ball match in the City Hall 
 Park between the Genoese Nine and the 
 Red-legs of Turin. At dusk he returned, 
 and his broken-hearted mother handed 
 him over to his stern father, who invited 
 him into the woodshed. As Christopher 
 was removing his coat and loosening his 
 other garments so as to satisfy his father 
 that he had no shingles or school-atlases 
 concealed about his person, he said : 
 
 '' Father, I stayed to witness that base- 
 ball match, not because of a childish curi- 
 osity, nor yet because I had any money on 
 
6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 6 
 
 the game, but solely in order to study the 
 flight of the ball, hoping thereby to obtain 
 some hints as to the law of projectiles that 
 would enable me to improve the science of 
 gunnery, which is now by no means in an 
 advanced state. If, in view of these cir- 
 cumstances, you still think me worthy of 
 punishment, I will submit with all the 
 fortitude I can summon." 
 
 The father, deeply moved at this frank 
 confession, wore out two apple-tree switches 
 in connection with his son, and informed 
 him that if he ever went with those 
 McGinnis boys again he would ** let him 
 know." 
 
 At another time, when Christopher was 
 about eight years old, his father sent him 
 to a news company's office to get the last 
 number of the Wool-Combers Trade Re- 
 view ; but, as before, the boy failed to re- 
 turn, and after a prolonged search was 
 given up as lost, and his parents decided 
 that he had been run over by the horse- 
 cars. Late in the evening Christopher 
 was detected in the act of trying to sneak 
 
1443] EARLY YEARS. 7 
 
 into the house through the kitchen win- 
 dows, and was warmly received by his 
 father, who stood him up in the middle of 
 the kitchen, and without releasing his ear, 
 demanded to know what he had to say for 
 himself 
 
 Christopher, with a saddened expression 
 of face, replied : 
 
 '' Father, I find it a matter of extreme 
 difficulty to depart from the truth, even at 
 this trying moment. Candor compels me 
 to admit that I have spent the day in 
 company with Michael and Patrick Mc- 
 Ginnis, in studying the meteorological 
 laws which affect the flight of kites. With 
 the aid of the last number of the Wool- 
 Combers Trade Review and a few sticks, 
 I made a beautiful kite, and I can confi- 
 dently say that — " 
 
 Here the old gentleman, exclaiming, 
 ''That will do! Your explanation is 
 worse than your other crime," applied a. 
 rattan cane to the future explorer, and 
 afterwards sent him to bed supperless. 
 
 There is not a word of truth in these 
 
8 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. \I£x. 8 
 
 two anecdotes, but they are introduced in 
 order to afford the reader a shght gHmpse 
 of the boyhood of Columbus. They prob- 
 ably compare favorably, in point of vera- 
 city, with the average anecdotes of the 
 boyhood of great men, and they show us 
 that even while Columbus was only six 
 and eight years old he was interested in 
 scientific pursuits, and already gave prom- 
 ise of great tediousness. Still, it would 
 be unwise for any one to believe them, 
 and we will pass on to the more prosaic 
 but truthful facts of Columbus's life. 
 
 Young Christopher early conceived a 
 prejudice against wool-combing, although 
 it was his father's earnest desire that he 
 should adopt that profession. Fernando 
 Columbus, the son of the admiral, evident- 
 ly felt ashamed of his noble father's early 
 wool-combing exploits, and says that 
 Domenico Colombo, so far from desiring 
 his son to comb wool, sent him at the age 
 of thirteen to the University of Pavia to 
 study navigation, with a view of ultimately 
 sending him to sea. Now, although the 
 
1449] EARLY YEARS, ' 9 
 
 United States Government does undertake 
 to teach seamanship with the aid of text- 
 books to young men at the Annapohs 
 Naval Academy, the idea that a young 
 man could become a sailor without going 
 to sea had never occurred to the Genoese, 
 and old Domenico never could have been 
 stupid enough to send his son to the Pavia 
 University with the expectation that he 
 would graduate with the marine degree 
 of ^'A. B." Undoubtedly Christopher 
 went to Pavia, but it is conceded that he 
 remained there a very short time. If we 
 suppose that, instead of studying his Livy, 
 his Anabasis, and his Loomis's Algebra, 
 he spent his time in reading Marryat's sea 
 stories, and dime novels illustrative of 
 piracy, we can understand why his univer- 
 sity course came to a sudden end, and why 
 Domenico remarked to his friends that 
 Christopher studied navigation while at 
 Pavia. 
 
 We are told that from his earliest years 
 Christopher desired to be a sailor. We 
 also know that at that period the Mediter- 
 
10 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^U 14 
 
 ranean swarmed with pirates. From these 
 two facts any modern boy with sufficient 
 reasoning powers to be able to put a dog, 
 a string, and a tin can together, will deduce 
 the conclusion that Christopher Columbus 
 must have wanted to be a pirate. As to 
 this there can be but little doubt. When 
 he left Pavia and returned home to comb 
 the paternal wool, he was doubtless fully 
 determined to run away at the earliest op- 
 portunity, and become a Red Revenger of 
 the seas. 
 
 With this clue, we can readily find in 
 the conduct of the astute Domenico a wise 
 determination to effect a compromise with 
 his adventurous son. He did not want to 
 be the father of a Red Revenger, but he 
 knew that he could not compel his son to 
 comb wool. He therefore induced him to 
 consent to go to sea as a scourge and 
 enemy of pirates ; and accordingly in his 
 fourteenth year young Christopher went 
 to sea on board a vessel commanded by a 
 distant relative, who was at one time an 
 admiral in the Genoese service. In what 
 
1459] EARLY YEARS, II 
 
 capacity he shipped, whether as a first-class 
 or a second-class boy, or as an acting 
 third assistant cook, or an ordinary cabin- 
 boy, we do not know. Fernando Colum- 
 bus preserves a discreet silence as to this 
 matter, and as to the first voyage of his 
 father generally. Of course this silence 
 means something, and perhaps Christopher 
 had good reasons for never speaking of 
 the voyage even to his son. Probably he 
 was deathly sea-sick, and in that condition 
 was severely kicked for not being able to 
 lay his hand at a moment's warning upon 
 the starboard main-top-gallant-studding-sail 
 tripping-line, or other abstruse rope. At 
 all events, he always abstained from telling 
 stories beginning, '' I reck'lect on my first 
 ^'yg^ ;" and we may be sure that he would 
 never have put such an unseamanlike con- 
 straint upon his tongue unless he knew 
 that the less he said about that voyage the 
 better. 
 
 He had been a sailor for some years 
 when he joined a vessel forming part of an 
 expedition fitted out in Genoa in 1459 ^7 
 
12 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 23 
 
 a certain Duke of Calabria named John of 
 Anjou, who wanted to steal the kingdom 
 of Naples in order to give it to his father, 
 Ren^ Count of Provence. So pious •a 
 son naturally commanded universal respect, 
 and Genoa provided him with ships and 
 lent him money. The expedition was 
 very large, and the old Admiral Colombo, 
 with whom Christopher sailed, probably 
 commanded the Genoese contingent. The 
 fleet cruised along the Neapolitan coast, 
 and sailed in and out the Bay of Naples 
 any number of times, but owing to a fear 
 of the extortions of the Neapolitan hack- 
 drivers and valets-de-place, there seems to 
 have been no attempt made to land at 
 Naples. For four years John of Anjou 
 persevered in trying to conquer Naples, 
 but in vain ; and at the end of that time 
 he must have had a tremendous bill to pay 
 for his Genoese ships. 
 
 While engaged in this expedition, Chris- 
 topher was sent in command of a vessel to 
 Tunis, where he was expected to capture a 
 hostile galley. Carefully reading up his 
 
1459-70] EARLY YEARS. 1 3 
 
 "■ Midshipman Easy" and his "• Blunt's 
 Coast Pilot," he set sail; but on reachinsr 
 the island of San Pedro, which can easily 
 be found on any map where it is mentioned 
 by name, he learned that there were also 
 in the harbor of Tunis two ships and a 
 carrick ; whereupon his crew remarked that 
 they did not propose to attack an unlimited 
 quantity of vessels, but that if Columbus 
 would put into Marseilles and lay in a few 
 more ships to accompany them, they would 
 gladly cut out all the vessels at Tunis. 
 Columbus was determined not to go to 
 Marseilles, — though he does not definitely 
 say that he owed money to the keeper of 
 a sailor boarding-house there, — but he was 
 unable to shake the resolution of his crew. 
 He therefore pretended to yield to their 
 wishes and set sail again, ostensibly for 
 Marseilles. The next morning, when the 
 crew came on deck, they found themselves 
 near the Cape of Carthagena, and perceived 
 that their wily commander had deceived 
 them. 
 
 This story is told by Columbus himself, 
 
14 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 23-3.> 
 
 and it awakens in the mind of the intelh- 
 gent reader some Httle doubt of the narra- 
 tor's veracity. In the first place, he admits 
 that he deceived his sailors, and hence we 
 have no certainty that he was not trying 
 to deceive the public when telling the 
 story of the alleged deception. In the 
 second place, it is scarcely probable that 
 all the crew promptly ''turned in" at sun- 
 set, leaving Columbus himself at the wheel ; 
 but unless this was done, the compass or 
 the stars must have told them that the ship 
 was not laying the proper course for Mar- 
 seilles. Finally, Columbus, in his exulta- 
 tion at having deceived his crew, does not 
 so much as mention Tunis, or the hostile 
 vessels which it was his duty to attack, nor 
 does he tell us what business he had at the 
 Cape of Carthagena. We are thus justi- 
 fied in assuming that the story is not 
 entirely credible. Years afterward, on his 
 first transatlantic voyage, Columbus de- 
 ceived his men concerning the number of 
 leagues they had sailed, and this exploit 
 was so warmly commended by his admirers 
 
I459-70] EARLY YEARS. 1$ 
 
 that he may have been tempted to remark 
 that he always made a point of deceiving 
 sailors, and may thereupon have invented 
 this earher instance as a case in point. 
 Still, let us not lightly impugn his veracity. 
 Perhaps he really did tell the truth and 
 deceive his sailors ; but whether he did or 
 not, we should still remember that many 
 of us are merely human, and that had we 
 been in the place of Columbus we might 
 have said and done a variety of different 
 things. 
 
 What became of Columbus during 
 several subsequent years, we have no 
 trustworthy account. In all probability 
 he continued to follow the sea, and per- 
 haps caught up with it now^ and then. 
 We know, however, that at one time he 
 commanded a galley belonging to a squad- 
 ron under the command of Colombo the 
 Younger, a son of the Colombo with 
 whom Christopher sailed in the Neapoli- 
 tan expedition. This squadron, falling in 
 with a Venetian fleet somewhere off the 
 Portuguese coast, immediately attacked it. 
 
l6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 23-34 
 
 Venice and Genoa being at that time at 
 war. In the course of the battle the gal- 
 ley of Columbus was set on fire, and as he 
 had no available small-boats — a fact which 
 must forever reflect disgrace upon the 
 Genoese Navy Department — he was com- 
 pelled to jump overboard with all his 
 crew. He seems to have lost all interest 
 in the battle after the loss of his galley, 
 and he therefore decided to go ashore. 
 He was six miles from land, but with the 
 help of an oar which he put under his 
 breast he swam ashore without difficulty, 
 and when we consider that he was dressed 
 in a complete suit of armor, it is evident 
 that he must have been a very fine swim- 
 mer. 
 
 It should be mentioned that, although 
 this story is told by Fernando Columbus, 
 certain carping critics have refused to be- 
 lieve it, on the paltry pretext that, inas- 
 much as the naval fight in question took 
 place several years after Columbus is 
 known to have taken up his residence in 
 Portugal, he could not have landed in that 
 
1459-70] EARLY YEARS. \*J 
 
 country for the first time immediately after 
 the battle. This is mere trifling. If Co- 
 lumbus could swim six miles in a suit of 
 heavy armor, and, in all probability, with 
 his sword in one hand and his speaking- 
 trumpet in the other, he could easily have 
 performed the simpler feat of residing in 
 Portugal several years before he reached 
 that country. The truth is, that historians 
 are perpetually casting doubt upon all 
 legends of any real merit or interest. 
 They have totally exploded the story of 
 Washington and the cherry-tree, and they 
 could not be expected to concede that 
 Fernando Columbus knew more about his 
 father than persons living and writing four 
 hundred years later could know. As to 
 Columbus's great swimming feat, they 
 have agreed to disbelieve the whole story, 
 and of course the public agrees with them. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION. 
 
 TT is at Lisbon that we are able for the 
 ■*- first time to put our finger decisively 
 upon Columbus. The stray glimpses which 
 we catch of him before that time, whether 
 at Genoa, Pavia, Naples, or Cape Car- 
 thagena, are fleeting and unsatisfactory ; 
 his trustworthy biography begins with 
 his residence at Lisbon. He reached 
 there, we do not know by what route, in 
 the year 1470, having no money and no 
 visible means of support. Instead of bor- 
 rowing money and buying an organ, or 
 calling on the leader of one of the Lisbon 
 political ''halls" and obtaining through his 
 influence permission to set up a peanut 
 stand, he took a far bolder course — he 
 married. Let it not be supposed that he 
 represented himself to be an ItaHan count, 
 and thereby won the hand of an ambitious 
 
I470] FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION. I9 
 
 Portuguese girl. The fact that he married 
 the daughter of a deceased Italian navi- 
 gator proves that he did not resort to the 
 commonplace devices of the modern Ital- 
 ian exile. Dona Felipa di Perestrello was 
 not only an Italian, and as such could tell 
 a real count from a Genoese sailor without 
 the use of litmus paper or any other chem- 
 ical test, but she was entirely without 
 money and, viewed as a bride, was compli- 
 cated with a mother-in-law. Thus it is 
 evident that Columbus did not engage in 
 matrimony as a fortune-hunter, and that 
 he must have married Dona Felipa purely 
 because he loved her. We may explain in 
 the same way her acceptance of the penni- 
 less Genoese ; and the fact that they lived 
 happily together — if Fernando Columbus is 
 to be believed — makes it clear that neither 
 expected anything from the other, and 
 hence neither was disappointed. 
 
 The departed navigator, Di Perestrello, 
 had been in the service of the Portuguese 
 king, and had accumulated a large quan- 
 tity of maps and charts, which his widow 
 
20 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 34 
 
 inherited. She does not appear to have 
 objected to her daughter's marriage, but the 
 depressed state of Columbus's fortunes at 
 this period is shown by the fact that he 
 and his wife went to reside with his mother- 
 in-law, where he doubtless learned that 
 fortitude and dignity when exposed to vio- 
 lence and strong language for which he 
 afterwards became renowned. Old Ma- 
 dame Perestrello did him one really good 
 turn by presenting him with the maps, 
 charts, and log-books of her departed hus- 
 band, and this probably suggested to him 
 the idea w^hich he proceeded to put into 
 practice, of making and selling maps. 
 
 Map-making at that time offered a fine 
 field to an imaginative man, and Columbus 
 was not slow to cultivate it. He made beau- 
 tiful charts of the Atlantic Ocean, putting 
 Japan, India, and other desirable Asiatic 
 countries on its western shore, and placing 
 quantities of useful islands where he con- 
 sidered that they would do the most good. 
 These maps may possibly have been some- 
 what inferior in breadth of imagination to 
 
i47o] FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION, 2l 
 
 an average Herald map, but they were 
 far superior in beauty ; and the array of 
 novel animals with which the various con- 
 tinents and large islands were sprinkled 
 made them extremely attractive. The man 
 who bought one of Columbus's maps re- 
 ceived his full money's worth, and what 
 with map-selling, and occasional sea voy- 
 ages to and from Guinea at times when 
 Madame Perestrello became rather too free 
 in the use of the stove-lid, Columbus man- 
 aged to make a tolerably comfortable liv- 
 ing. 
 
 The island of Porto Santo, then recently 
 discovered, lay in the track of vessels sail- 
 ing between Portugal and Guinea, and 
 must have attracted the attention of Co- 
 lumbus while engaged in the several voy- 
 ages which he made early in his married life. 
 
 It so happened that Dona Felipa came 
 into possession, by inheritance, of a small 
 property in Porto Santo, and Columbus 
 thereupon abandoned Lisbon and with his 
 family took up his residence on that island. 
 Here he met one Pedro Correo, a bold 
 
22 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS [JEi. 34 
 
 sailor and a former governor of Porto San- 
 to, who was married to Dona Felipa's sis- 
 ter. Columbus and Correo soon became 
 warm friends, and would sit up together 
 half the night, talking about the progress 
 of geographical discovery and the advan- 
 tages of finding some nice continent full 
 of gold and at a great distance from the 
 widow Perestrello. 
 
 At that time there were certain unprin- 
 cipled mariners who professed to have dis- 
 covered meritorious islands a few hundred 
 miles west of Portugal ; and though we 
 know that these imaginative men told 
 what was not true, Columbus may have 
 supposed that their stories were not entirely 
 without a basis of truth. King Henry of 
 Portugal, who died three years after Co- 
 lumbus arrived at Lisbon, had a passion 
 for new countries, and the fashion which 
 he set of fitting out exploring expeditions 
 continued to prevail after his death. 
 
 There is no doubt that there was a gen- 
 eral feeling, at the period when Columbus 
 and Correo lived at Porto Santo, that the 
 
i47oJ FIRST FLANS OF EXPLORA TION. 23 
 
 discovery of either a continent on the 
 western shore of the Atlantic, or a new 
 route to China, would meet a great popu- 
 lar want. Although the Portuguese had 
 sailed as far south as Cape Bojador, they 
 believed that no vessel could sail any further 
 in that direction without meeting with a 
 temperature so great as to raise the water 
 of the ocean to the boiling-point, audit was 
 thus assumed that all future navigators 
 desirous of new islands and continents 
 must search for them in the west. The 
 more Columbus thought of the matter, the 
 more firmly he became convinced that he 
 could either discover valuable islands by 
 sailing due west, or that at all events he 
 could reach the coast of Japan, China, or 
 India ; and that it was clearly the duty of 
 somebody to supply him with ships and 
 money and put him in command of an ex- 
 ploring expedition. With this view Cor- 
 reo fully coincided, and Columbus made 
 up his mind that he would call on a few 
 respectable kings and ask them to fit out 
 such an expedition. 
 
24 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 34 
 
 Fernando Columbus informs us that his 
 father based his conviction that land could 
 be found by sailing in a westerly direction, 
 upon a variety of reasons. Although many 
 learned men believed that the earth was 
 round, the circumference of the globe was 
 then unknown ; and as every one had 
 therefore a right to call it what he chose, 
 Columbus assumed that it was compara- 
 tively small, and that the distance from the 
 Cape Verde Islands eastward to the west- 
 ern part of Asia was fully two thirds of the 
 entire circumference. He also assumed 
 that the remainino; third consisted in ^reat 
 part of the eastern portion of Asia, and 
 that hence the distance across the Atlan- 
 tic, from Portugal to Asia, was by no 
 means great. In support of this theory 
 he recalled the alleged fact that various 
 strange trees and bits of wood, hewn after 
 a fashion unknown in Europe, had from 
 time to time been cast on the European 
 shores, and must have come out of the 
 unknown west. 
 
 This theory, founded as it was upon 
 
1474] FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION. 25 
 
 gratuitous assumptions, and supported by 
 driftwood of uncertain origin and doubtful 
 veracity, was regarded by Columbus as at 
 least the equal of the binomial theorem in 
 credibility, and he felt confident that the 
 moment he should bring it to the attention 
 of an enterprising king, that monarch 
 would instantly present him with a fleet 
 and make him Governor-General of all 
 lands which he might discover. 
 
 It was the invariable custom of Colum- 
 bus to declare that his chief reason for de- 
 siring to discover new countries was, that 
 he might carry the Gospel to the pagan 
 inhabitants thereof, and also find gold 
 enough to fit out a new crusade for the 
 recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. Whether 
 old Pedro Correo winked when Columbus 
 spoke in this pious strain, or whether Dona 
 Felipa, with the charming frankness of her 
 sex, remarked '' fiddlesticks ! " we shall 
 never know. 
 
 Perhaps Columbus really thought that 
 he wanted to dispense the Gospel and fight 
 the Mahometans, and that he did not care 
 
26 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 38 
 
 a straw about becoming a great explorer 
 and having the State capital of Ohio named 
 for him ; but his fixed determination not 
 to carry a particle of Gospel to the smallest 
 possible pagan, except upon terms highly 
 advantageous to his pocket and his schemes 
 of personal aggrandizement, is scarcely re- 
 concilable with his pious protestations. 
 His own church decided, not very long 
 ago, that his moral character did not pre- 
 sent available materials for the manufac- 
 ture of a saint, and it is only too probable 
 that the church was right. 
 
 It is a curious illustration of the determi- 
 nation of his biographers to prove him an 
 exceptionally noble man, that they dwell 
 with much emphasis upon his stern deter- 
 mination not to undertake any explorations 
 except upon his own extravagant terms. 
 To the unprejudiced mind his conduct 
 might seem that of a shrewd and grasping 
 man, bent upon making a profitable specu- 
 lation. The biographers, however, insist 
 that it was the conduct of a great and no- 
 ble nature, caring for nothing except geo- 
 
1474] FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION. 2'J 
 
 graphical discovery and the conversion of 
 unhmited heathen. 
 
 About this time Columbus is believed 
 to have written a great many letters to va- 
 rious people, asking their candid opinion 
 upon the propriety of discovering new con- 
 tinents or new ways to old Asiatic coun- 
 tries. Paulo Toscanelli, of Florence, a 
 leading scientific person, sent him, in an- 
 swer to one of his letters, a map of the 
 Atlantic and the eastern coast of Asia, 
 which displayed a bolder imagination than 
 Columbus had shown in any of his own 
 maps, and which so delighted him that he 
 put it carefully away, to use in case his 
 dream of exploration should be realized. 
 Toscanelli's map has proved to be of much 
 more use to historians than it was to Co- 
 lumbus, for the letter in which it was en- 
 closed was dated in the year 1474, and it 
 thus gives us the earliest date at which we 
 can feel confident Columbus was entertain- 
 ing the idea of his great voyage. 
 
 How long Columbus resided at Porto 
 Santo we have no means of knowing ; 
 
28 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t, 45 
 
 neither do we know why he left that place. 
 It is certain, however, that he returned to 
 Lisbon either before or very soon after the 
 accession of King John II. to the Portu- 
 guese throne, an event which took place in 
 1 48 1. Meanwhile, as we learn from one 
 of his letters, he made a voyage in 1477 to 
 an island which his biographers have agreed 
 to call Iceland, although Columbus lacked 
 inclination — or perhaps courage — to call it 
 by that name. He says he made the voy- 
 age in February, and he does not appear 
 to have noticed that the water was frozen. 
 The weak point in his narrative — provided 
 he really did visit Iceland — is his omission 
 to mention how he warmed the Arctic 
 ocean so as to keep it free of ice in Feb- 
 ruary. Had he only given us a descrip- 
 tion of his sea-warming method, it would 
 have been of inestimable service to the 
 people of Iceland, since it would have ren- 
 dered the island easily accessible at all 
 times of the year, and it would also have 
 materially lessened the difficulty which ex- 
 plorers find in sailing to the North Pole. 
 
148 1] FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION. 29 
 
 It is probable that Columbus visited some 
 warmer and easier island than Iceland — 
 say one of the Hebrides. In those days a 
 voyage from southern Europe to Iceland 
 would have been a remarkable feat, and 
 Columbus would not have failed to de- 
 mand all the credit due him for so bold an 
 exploit. 
 
 The immediate predecessor of King John 
 — King Alfonso — preferred war to explo- 
 ration, and as he was occupied during the 
 latter part of his reign in a very interesting 
 war with Spain, it is improbable that Co- 
 lumbus wasted time in asking him to fit 
 out a transatlantic expedition. There is a 
 rumor that, prior to the accession of King 
 John II., Columbus applied to Genoa for 
 assistance in his scheme of exploration, 
 but the rumor rests upon no evidence 
 worth heeding. 
 
 Genoa, as every one knows, was then a 
 republic. It needed all its money to pay 
 the expenses of the administration party at 
 elections, to improve its inland harbors and 
 subterranean rivers, and to defray the cost 
 
30 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 45 
 
 of postal routes in inaccessible parts of the 
 country. Had Columbus asked for an ap- 
 propriation, the Genoese politicians would 
 have denounced the folly and wickedness of 
 squandering the people's money on scien- 
 tific junketing expeditions, and would have 
 maintained that a free and enlightened re- 
 public ought not to concern itself with the 
 effete and monarchical countries of Asia, 
 to which Columbus was anxious to open 
 a new route. 
 
 Moreover, Columbus had been absent 
 from Genoa for several years. He had no 
 claims upon any of the Genoese states- 
 men, and was without influence enough to 
 carry his own ward. An application of 
 any sort coming from such a man would 
 have been treated with deserved contempt ; 
 and we may be very sure that, however 
 much Columbus may have loved the old 
 Genoese flag and desired an appropriation, 
 he had far too much good sense to dream of 
 asking any favors from his fellow-country- 
 men. Undoubtedly he was as anxious to 
 start in search of America while he lived at 
 
i48i] FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION, 3 1 
 
 Porto Santo as he was at a later period, but 
 he knew that only a king would feel at lib- 
 erty to use public funds in what the public 
 would consider a wild and profitless expe- 
 dition ; and as there was no king whom he 
 could hope to interest in his scheme, he 
 naturally waited until a suitable king should 
 appear. 
 
 The death of Alfonso provided him with 
 what he imagined would prove to be a king 
 after his own heart, for King John was no 
 sooner seated on the throne than he be- 
 trayed an abnormal longing for new coun- 
 tries by sending explorers in search of 
 Prester John. 
 
 This Prester John was believed to be 
 a Presbyterian deacon who ruled over a 
 civilized and Christian kingdom which he 
 kept concealed either about his person or 
 in some out-of-the-way part of the world. 
 The wonderful credulity of the age is shown 
 by this belief in a Presbyterian king whom 
 no European had ever seen, and in a king- 
 dom of which no man knew the situation„ 
 It ought to have occurred to the Portu- 
 
32 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 45 
 
 guese king that, even if he could find this 
 mythical monarch, he would not take any- 
 real pleasure in his society, unless he were 
 to burn him. King John II. was a pious 
 Roman Catholic, and, next to a Method- 
 ist, a Presbyterian king would have been 
 about the most uncongenial acquaintance 
 he could have made. Nevertheless, this 
 Presbyterian myth was indirectly of great 
 service to Columbus. 
 
 King John, in order to facilitate his 
 search for Prester John, asked a scientific 
 commission to invent some improvements 
 in navigation, the result of wiiich was the 
 invention of the astrolabe, a sort of rudi- 
 mentary quadrant, by means of which a 
 navigator could occasionally find his lati- 
 tude. This invention was hardly inferior 
 in value to that of the compass, and it is 
 generally said to have provided Columbus 
 with the means of finding his way across 
 the Atlantic and back to Europe. 
 
 Next to the discovery of Prester John, 
 the Portuguese king desired to discover a 
 route by sea to India. He believed with 
 
1481-82J FIRST PLANS OF EXPLORATION. 33 
 
 his deceased grand-uncle, Prince Henry, 
 that Africa could be circumnavigated — 
 provided the circumnavigators could avoid 
 being boiled alive south of Cape Bojador 
 — and that a road to India could thus be 
 found. It was manifest that he was just 
 the sort of monarch for Columbus's pur- 
 poses. He was so anxious to make dis- 
 coveries that he would have been delighted 
 even to find a Presbyterian. He was par- 
 ticularly bent upon finding a route to 
 India, and he was only twenty-five years 
 old. He was the very man to listen to 
 a solemn and oppressive mariner with his 
 pockets full of maps and his mind full of 
 the project for a transatlantic route to India. 
 Columbus was now about forty-six years 
 old, and his beard was already white. He 
 had dwelt so long upon the plan of cross- 
 ing the Atlantic that he resembled the 
 Ancient Mariner in his readiness to but- 
 ton-hole all sorts of people and compel 
 them to listen to his project. Mrs. Pere- 
 strello appears to have been safely dead at 
 this time, and Pedro Correo had probably 
 
34 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 45-46 
 
 been talked to death by his relentless 
 brother-in-law. Still, Columbus was as 
 anxious to carry out his plan as ever. He 
 marked young King John as his prey, and 
 finally obtained an audience with him. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN SEARCH OF A PATRON. 
 
 WE have two accounts of the inter- 
 view between Columbus and the 
 King — one written by Fernando Colum- 
 bus, and the other by Juan de Barros, an 
 eminent geographer. Fernando says that 
 the King listened with great delight to the 
 project of Columbus, and only refrained 
 from instantly giving him the command 
 of an expedition because he did not feel 
 ready to consent to Columbus's conditions. 
 De Barros says that King John finally 
 professed that he approved of Columbus's 
 views merely to get rid of that persistent 
 mariner. 
 
 However this may be, the King re- 
 ferred the whole matter to a committee, 
 with power to send for maps and things. 
 The committee consisted of two geog- 
 
36 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 45-46 
 
 raphers — who of course hated Columbus 
 with true scientific hatred — and the King's 
 confessor, the Bishop of Ceuta. It did 
 not take very long for the committee to 
 decide that Columbus was a preposterous 
 person, and that his project was impracti- 
 cable. The King then referred the matter 
 to his council, where it was hotly debated. 
 The Bishop of Ceuta took the broad, gen- 
 eral ground that exploration was an idle 
 and frivolous occupation ; that no men of 
 sense wanted any new countries ; and that 
 if the King must have amusement, the 
 best thing he could do would be to make 
 war upon the Moors. 
 
 Don Pedro de Meneses replied with 
 much vigor, hurling back the Bishop's 
 accusations against exploration, and nail- 
 ing his reverence's misstatements as boldly 
 as if the two were rival Congressmen. As 
 for himself, Don Pedro said, he liked new 
 continents, and believed that Portugal 
 could not have too many of them. He 
 considered Columbus a great man, and 
 felt that it would be a precious privilege 
 
1482-84] IN SEARCH OF A PATRON. 37 
 
 for other people to aid in the proposed 
 transatlantic scheme. 
 
 Nevertheless, the council decided against 
 it, much, we are told, to the King's disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 The Bishop of Ceuta, in spite of his 
 remarks at the meeting of the committee, 
 evidently thought there might be some- 
 thing in Columbus's plan after all. He 
 therefore proposed to the King that Co- 
 lumbus should be induced to furnish writ- 
 ten proposals and specifications for the 
 discovery of transatlantic countries, and 
 that with the help of the information thus 
 furnished the King should secretly send 
 a vessel to test the practicability of the 
 scheme. This was done, but the vessel 
 returned after a few days, having discov- 
 ered nothing but water. 
 
 As soon as Columbus heard of this trick 
 he became excessively angry, and resolved 
 that King John should never have a square 
 foot of new territory, nor a solitary hea- 
 then soul to convert, if he could help it. 
 Accordingly, he broke off his acquaint- 
 
38 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. \_K\.. 46-48 
 
 ance with the King, and proposed to leave 
 Lisbon, in the mean time sending his 
 brother Bartholomew to England to ask 
 if the English King would like to order a 
 supply of new islands or a transatlantic con- 
 tinent. His wife had already succumbed 
 to her husband's unremitting conversation 
 concerning explorations, and died, doubt- 
 less with much resignation. Madame 
 Perestrello, Pedro Correo, and Mrs. Co- 
 lumbus were probably only a few of the 
 many unhappy Portuguese who suffered 
 from the fatal conversational powers of 
 Columbus, and Portugal may have become 
 rather an unsafe place for him. This would 
 account for the stealthy way in which he 
 left that kingdom, and is at least as prob- 
 able as the more common theory that he 
 ran away to escape his creditors. 
 
 It was in the year 1484 that Columbus, 
 accompanied by his son Diego, shook the 
 dust of Portugal from his feet and climbed 
 over the back-fence into Spain, in the dead 
 of night, instead of openly taking the reg- 
 ular mail-coach. The King of England 
 
1484] IN SEARCH OF A PATRON. 39 
 
 had refused to listen to Bartholomew's 
 proposals, and King John had been guilty 
 of conduct unbecoming a monarch and a 
 gentleman. This may have given Colum- 
 bus a prejudice against kings, for he made 
 his next applications to the Dukes of 
 Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi — two 
 noblemen residing in the south of Spain. 
 
 Medina Sidonia listened to Columbus 
 with much interest, and evidently re- 
 garded him as an entertaining kind of 
 lunatic ; but after a time he became seri- 
 ously alarmed at the Italian's inexhaustible 
 capacity for talk, and courteously got rid 
 of him before sustaining any permanent 
 injury. The Duke of Medina Celi was a 
 braver man, and not only invited Colum- 
 bus to come and stay at his house, but 
 actually spoke of lending him ships and 
 money. He changed his mind, however, 
 and told Columbus that he really could 
 not take the liberty of fitting out an expe- 
 dition which ought to be fitted out by a 
 king. Columbus then remarked that he 
 'vould step over to France and speak to 
 
40 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 4S 
 
 the French King about it ; whereupon the 
 Duke hastily wrote to Queen Isabella, of 
 Castile and Aragon, mentioning that he 
 had a mariner of great merit in his house, 
 whom she really ought to see. The Queen 
 graciously wrote, requesting the Duke to 
 forward his ancient mariner to the royal 
 palace at Cordova, which he accordingly 
 did, furnishing Columbus at the same time 
 with a letter of introduction to Her Maj- 
 esty. 
 
 Spain was then merely a geographical 
 expression. Ferdinand, King of Aragon, 
 had recently married Isabella, Queen of 
 Castile, and their joint property was called 
 the Kingdom of Castile and Aragon ; for, 
 inasmuch as the Moors still ruled over the 
 southern part of the peninsula, it would 
 hav^e been indelicate for Ferdinand and his 
 queen to pretend that they were the mon- 
 archs of all Spain. 
 
 When Columbus reached Cordova he 
 found that their majesties were on the 
 point of marching against the Moors, and 
 had no time to listen to any plans of ex- 
 
1484-87] IN SEARCH OF A PATRON: 4I 
 
 ploration. Before starting, however, the 
 Queen deposited Columbus with Alonzo 
 de Quintanilla, the treasurer of Castile, 
 and, we may presume, took a receipt for 
 him. Quintanilla, an affable old gentle- 
 man, was much pleased with Columbus, 
 and soon became a warm advocate of his 
 theories. He introduced the navigator to 
 several influential friends, and Columbus 
 passed the summer and winter very pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 At Cordova he also met a young person 
 named Beatrix Enriquez, to whom he be- 
 came much attached, and who was after- 
 ward the mother of his son Fernando. 
 She probably had her good qualities ; but 
 as Columbus was so much preoccupied 
 with his transatlantic projects he forgot to 
 marry her, and hence she is scarcely the 
 sort of young person to be introduced into 
 a virtuous biography. 
 
 During the same winter the King and 
 Queen held their court at Salamanca, after 
 having made a very brilliant foray into the 
 Moorish territory, and having also sup- 
 
42 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 48-51 
 
 pressed a rebellion in their own domin- 
 ions. Columbus went to Salamanca, where 
 he made the acquaintance of Pedro Gon- 
 salvez de Mendoza, the Cardinal- Arch- 
 bishop of Toledo, who was decidedly the 
 most influential man in the kingdom. 
 When Columbus first mentioned his proj- 
 ect, the Cardinal told him the Scriptures 
 asserted that the earth was flat, and that it 
 would be impious for him to prove it was 
 round ; but Columbus soon convinced him 
 that the Church would be greatly benefited 
 by the discovery of gold-mines all ready to 
 be worked, and of heathen clamoring to 
 be converted, and thus successfully recon- 
 ciled science and religion. The Cardinal 
 heartily entered into his scheme, and soon 
 obtained for him an audience with the 
 King. 
 
 Columbus says that on this occasion he 
 spoke with an eloquence and zeal that he 
 had never before displayed. The King lis- 
 tened with great fortitude, and when Co- 
 lumbus temporarily paused in his oration 
 had still strength enough left to dismiss him 
 
1484-87] IN SEARCH OF A PATRON. 43 
 
 with a promise to refer the matter to a 
 scientific council. In pursuance of this 
 promise he directed Fernando de Talavera, 
 the Queen's confessor, to summon the most 
 learned men of the kingdom to examine 
 Columbus thoroughly and decide upon 
 the feasibility of his plan. As for the 
 Queen, she does not appear to have been 
 present at the audience given to Columbus, 
 either because her royal husband considered 
 the female mind incapable of wrestling 
 with geography, or because he did not 
 think her strong enough to endure Colum- 
 bus's conversation. 
 
 The scientific Congress met at Sala- 
 manca without any unnecessary delay, and 
 as few people except priests had any learn- 
 ing whatever at that period, the Congress 
 consisted chiefly of different kinds of 
 priests. They courteously gave Columbus 
 his innings, and listened heroically to his 
 interminable speech, after which they pro- 
 ceeded to demonstrate to him that he was 
 little better than a combined heretic and 
 madman. They quoted the Bible and the 
 
44 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 48-51 
 
 opinions of the Fathers of the church in 
 support of the theory that the earth was 
 flat instead of round. 
 
 When Columbus in his turn proved that 
 the Bible and the Fathers must be under- 
 stood in a figurative sense, the priests then 
 took the ground that if the world was 
 round, Columbus could not carry enough 
 provisions with him to enable him to sail 
 around it, and that he could not sail back 
 from his alleged western continent unless 
 his vessels could sail up-hill. 
 
 Gradually the more sensible members of 
 the congress came to the conclusion that 
 it would be better to agree to everything 
 Columbus might propose, rather than 
 listen day after day to his appalling elo- 
 quence. Still, the majority were men of 
 ascetic lives and great physical endurance, 
 and they showed no disposition to yield to 
 argument or exhaustion. The sessions 
 of the Congress were thus prolonged 
 from day to day, and Columbus was kept 
 in a painful state of suspense. Little did 
 he imagine that in the land which he was 
 
1484-87] IN SEARCH OF A PA TRON. 45 
 
 destined to discover, another Congress 
 would meet, not quite four hundred years 
 later, and would even surpass the Congress 
 of Salamanca in the tediousness and use- 
 lessness of its debates. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. 
 
 THE spring of 1487 arrived, and the 
 Council of Salamanca had not yet 
 made its report. The King and Queen, 
 who seem to have required an annual 
 Moorish war in order to tone up their 
 systems, set out to besiege Malaga early 
 in the spring, taking De lalavera with 
 them, so that he might be on hand to con- 
 fess the Queen in case she should find it 
 desirable to commit a few sins and require 
 subsequent absolution. The departure 
 of De Talavera interrupted the sittings of 
 the Council, and left Columbus without 
 any regular occupation. During the siege 
 of Malaga he was more than once sum- 
 moned to the camp, ostensibly to confer 
 with the court upon his famous project, 
 but the proposed conferences never took 
 place. He became so tired of the sus- 
 
1489] HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. 47 
 
 pense in which he was kept, that he wrote 
 to King John of Portugal, giving him one 
 more chance to accede to his transatlantic 
 plans. Not only did King John answer his 
 letter and ask him to come to Lisbon, but 
 King Henry VII. of England also wrote 
 to him, inviting him to come to England 
 and talk the matter over. At least, Co- 
 lumbus says that those two kings wrote to 
 him ; though the fact that he did not ac- 
 cept their invitations, but preferred to 
 waste his time in Spain, casts a little doubt 
 upon his veracity. It is certainly improba- 
 ble that he would have waited for years in 
 the hope of another interview with Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, if at the same time two 
 prominent kings were writing to him and 
 urging him to bring his carpet-bag and 
 make them a nice long visit. 
 
 In the spring of 1489 Columbus was 
 summoned to Seville, and was positively 
 assured that this time he should have a 
 satisfactory conference with a new assort- 
 ment of learned men. But no sooner had 
 he reached Seville than the King and 
 
48 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 53 
 
 Queen suddenly remembered that they 
 had not had their usual spring war, and 
 thereupon promptly started to attack the 
 Moors. Columbus went with them, and 
 fought with great gallantry. Probably it 
 was in some measure due to a dread of his 
 awful conversational powers that the Moor- 
 ish king surrendered, and it is to the honor 
 of the Christian monarchs that they did 
 not abuse their victory by permitting Co- 
 lumbus to talk to the royal prisoner. 
 
 Another year passed away, and stMi 
 Columbus was waiting for a decision upon 
 the feasibility of his plan. In the spring 
 of 1 49 1 he finally became so earnest i«n 
 demanding a decision, that the King di- 
 rected De Talavera and his learned friends 
 to make their long-delayed report. They 
 did so, assuring the King that it would be 
 absurd for him to waste any money what- 
 ever in attempting to carry out the Italian's 
 utterly ridiculous plan. Still Ferdinand 
 did not care to drive Columbus to despair, 
 but politely informed him that after he 
 should have finished the annual Moorish 
 
I49ij HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. 49 
 
 war upon which he was just about to 
 enter, he would really try to think of the 
 propriety of fitting out an expedition. 
 
 Columbus had now been nearly seven 
 years in Spain, waiting for the King to 
 come to a final decision ; and this last post- 
 ponement exhausted his patience. The 
 court had from time to time supplied him 
 with money ; but he was not willing to 
 spend his life as a pensioner on the royal 
 bounty, while the western continent was 
 vainly calling to him to come over and dis- 
 cover it. He therefore left Seville, with 
 the resolution to have nothing further to do 
 with Spain, but to proceed to France and 
 try what he could do with the French king. 
 
 He seems to have journeyed on foot, 
 for the very next time we hear of him is 
 as a venerable and imposing tramp, accom- 
 panied by an unidentified small-boy, and 
 asking for food — presumably buckwheat 
 cakes, and eggs boiled precisely three min- 
 utes — at the gate of the convent of Santa 
 Maria de Rabida. 
 
 The Prior of the convent, Juan Perez 
 
50 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 55 
 
 de Marchena, happened to notice him, and 
 entered into conversation with him. Co- 
 lumbus told him his name, and mentioned 
 that he was on his way to a neighboring 
 town to find his brother-in-law ; from 
 which we learn that four hundred years 
 ago the myth of a brother-in-law in the 
 next town was as familiar to the tramps 
 of that period as it is to those of the 
 present day. As the Prior listened to this 
 story without making any remarks upon 
 its improbability, Columbus was tempted 
 to launch into general conversation, and 
 in a few moments told him all about his 
 desire to find a transatlantic continent, and 
 his intention of offering to the King of 
 France the privilege of assisting him. 
 
 Doubtless the good friar found his con- 
 vent life rather monotonous, and perceiv- 
 ing vast possibilities of conversation in 
 Columbus, he determined to ask him to 
 spend the night with him. Columbus, of 
 course, accepted the invitation, and, the 
 Prior sending for the village doctor, the 
 three spent a delightful evening. 
 
I49i] HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. $1 
 
 The next day both the Prior and the 
 doctor agreed that Columbus was really a 
 remarkable man, and that it would be dis- 
 graceful if the French king were to be 
 allowed to assist in discovering a new con- 
 tinent. The Prior sent for several ancient 
 mariners residing in the neighboring port 
 of Palos, and requested them to give their 
 opinion of the matter. With one accord, 
 they supported the scheme of Columbus 
 with arguments the profundity of which 
 Captain Bunsby himself might have envied ; 
 and one Martin Alonzo Pinzon, in particu- 
 lar, was so enthusiastic that he offered to 
 pay the expenses of Columbus while mak- 
 ing another application to the court, and 
 to furnish and take command of a vessel 
 in case the application should be successful. 
 
 The religious interests of the convent 
 must have suffered somewhat from the 
 Prior's geographical soirees. It must 
 have required a great deal of punch to 
 bring those ancient seafaring men into una- 
 nimity upon any subject, and the extent 
 to which Columbus unquestionably availed 
 
52 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [.Et. 55 
 
 himself of the opportunity for unrestrained 
 conversation must have left the Prior no 
 time whatever for prayers. He may have 
 excused himself to his own conscience by 
 pretending that to listen to Columbus was 
 a means of mortifying the flesh ; but, 
 plausible as this excuse was, it could not 
 justify the introduction of punch, seafaring 
 men, and village doctors into a professedly 
 religious house. 
 
 The upshot of the matter was, that the 
 Prior resolved to write a letter to the 
 Queen, and old Sebastian Rodriguez, a 
 veteran sailor, staked the future integrity 
 of his personal eyes upon his delivery of 
 the letter into the hands of Isabella. The 
 Prior had been formerly the Queen's con- 
 fessor, and of course he knew how to 
 awaken her interest by little allusions to 
 the sinful secrets that she had committed 
 to his holy keeping. 
 
 The letter was written, and in two weeks* 
 time Rodriguez brought back an answer 
 summoning the Prior to court. The good 
 old man was overjoyed, and immediately 
 
1491-92] HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. 53 
 
 went to Santa F4 where the King and 
 Queen were stopping, on their way to 
 another Moorish war. When he was ad- 
 mitted to the Queen's presence, he con- 
 ducted himself with so much discretion, 
 and made so favorable an impression, that 
 Isabella gave him the magnificent sum of 
 twenty thousand maravedies, and told him 
 to hand it over to Columbus, and to send 
 that persistent navigator immediately to 
 her. It is somewhat of a disappointment 
 to learn that the twenty thousand marave- 
 dies were in reality worth only seventy-two 
 dollars ; still they were enough to enable 
 Columbus to buy a mule and a new spring 
 overcoat, and thus to appear at court in 
 an impressive manner. 
 
 The particular Moorish war upon which 
 the King and Queen were then engaged 
 was the very last one of the series, and it 
 was confessedly of so much importance 
 that Columbus did not try to obtain an 
 audience until it was finished. In the 
 mean time he lived with his old friend 
 Alonzo de Quintanella, the treasurer. 
 
54 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 55-56 
 
 At last the day came when, the war 
 being ended, Columbus was summoned to 
 meet a committee of which De Talavera 
 appears to have been the chairman. This 
 time the feasibility of his scheme was ad- 
 mitted, and it only remained to settle the 
 terms upon which he would agree to fur- 
 nish Spain with new continents. Though 
 Columbus expected to reach the eastern 
 coast of Asia by crossing the Atlantic, that 
 part of Asia was so wholly unknown to 
 Europeans, that its discovery by means of 
 a transatlantic voyage would have enabled 
 the discoverer to take possession of it as a 
 new continent ; and it was hence quite 
 proper for Columbus to speak of discover- 
 ing a new world when he was really intend- 
 ing to discover the eastern half of what we 
 now call the Old world. 
 
 It is all very well to have a good opinion 
 of one's self, but Columbus really did put 
 what seems to unprejudiced people a tre- 
 mendous price upon his services. Not 
 only did he demand one tenth of whatever 
 profits might be derived from his dis- 
 
1491-92] HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. 5 5 
 
 coveries, but he insisted that he should be 
 made an admiral, and viceroy over every 
 country that he might discover. One of the 
 committee justly remarked that the pro- 
 posed arrangement was one by which Co- 
 lumbus had everything to gain and nothing 
 to lose, and that if he made no discoveries 
 whatever he would still be a Spanish admi- 
 ral, and would outrank scores of deserving 
 officers who had spent their Hves in the 
 service of their country. Columbus there- 
 upon modified his terms by consenting to 
 take only an eighth of the profits, and to 
 furnish one eighth of the expenses. 
 
 It so happened that some member of 
 the committee knew that one eighth was 
 more, instead of less, than one tenth. We 
 need not wonder, therefore, that the com- 
 mittee reported that the terms proposed 
 were inadmissible. De Talavera told the 
 Queen that he had met with a good deal of 
 ''cheek" in his time, but the cheek of Co- 
 lumbus was positively monumental, and 
 that nature designed him not for an ex- 
 plorer but for a life-insurance agent. 
 
$6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 55-56 
 
 The result was that the Queen decided 
 to have no more to do with the affair, and 
 Columbus, in a tremendous rage, climbed 
 upon his mule and rode out of Santa Fe, 
 remarking that he wouldn't discover a con- 
 tinent for the Spanish m.onarchs if conti- 
 nents were as thick as blackberries. He 
 furthermore declared that he would go 
 straight to France and make a contract 
 with the French king, and that the Span- 
 iards would never cease to regret their 
 short-sighted economy. 
 
 As the extremity of the Columbian mule 
 vanished through the city gate, Luis de St. 
 Angel, treasurer of the Church funds of the 
 kingdom of Aragon, and the much-suffer- 
 ing Quintanella — who did not believe that 
 Columbus would really go to France, and 
 were convinced that the true way in which 
 to be permanently rid of him was to send 
 him on his proposed expedition — hastened 
 to the palace, and told the monarchs that 
 they were risking the loss of a new conti- 
 nent because they were afraid to risk two 
 
1491-92] fJE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION, S7 
 
 ships and a comparatively small sum of 
 money, and because they hesitated to give 
 the title of Admiral to an explorer who, if 
 he did not succeed, would in all probability 
 never return to Spain. 
 
 The Queen was much impressed by this 
 straightforward statement of facts, and ad- 
 mitted that she would like to employ Co- 
 lumbus upon his own terms. The King, 
 instead of saying, '' Certainly, my dear ; do 
 so, by all means !" began to speak of the 
 emptiness of the treasury and the necessity 
 for economy. Of course this made Isa- 
 bella indignant, and she rose up and ex- 
 claimed, '' I will undertake the enterprise 
 in behalf of Castile, and will raise the 
 money if I have to pawn my jewels." 
 
 Quintanella and St. Angel applauded 
 this resolution, and the latter offered to 
 advance the necessary money without any 
 security whatever. Inasmuch as the money 
 in St. Angel's hands belonged to Aragon, 
 this was a remarkably neat way of saddling 
 the whole expense upon King Ferdinand's 
 
58 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 55-56 
 
 private dominions ; and there are few ladies 
 who will not concede that it served the 
 King right. 
 
 A messenger was at once sent to recall 
 Columbus, and that astute person, grimly 
 smiling at the success of his threat to go 
 to France, prevailed upon his mule to turn 
 back and reenter Santa Fd He was im- 
 mediately given an audience with the 
 Queen, and a contract was drawn up in 
 which his utmost demands were recog- 
 i^ized. He was to have a tenth of every- 
 /thing, and to rank with the High Admiral 
 / of Castile, while instead of his being re- 
 quired to contribute an eighth of the cost 
 of the expedition, it was simply specified 
 that he might make such a contribution if 
 he should feel so inclined. The contract 
 was signed on the 17th of April, 1492, and 
 Columbus's commission as Admiral and 
 Viceroy was immediately made out and 
 given to him. 
 
 From 1474 to 1492, or precisely eigh- 
 teen years, Columbus had been seeking 
 for assistance to cross the Atlantic. Dur- 
 
1492] HE RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION. 59 
 
 ing that entire period he was without 
 money, without any visible means of sup- 
 port, and without powerful friends. Never- 
 theless, he finally obtained from Ferdinand 
 and Isabella a full compliance with de- 
 mands that to nearly every Spaniard seemed 
 wildly preposterous. To what did he owe 
 his success? It seems very plain that it 
 must have been due to his unparalleled 
 powers of conversation. We know that 
 most of those persons with whom he was 
 on familiar terms when he first conceived^ 
 his scheme soon died, and the inference that \ 
 they were talked to death is irresistible. '^ 
 Beyond any doubt, these were only a few of 
 his victims. Columbus talked in Portugal 
 until he was compelled to fly the kingdom, 
 and he talked in Spain until the two 
 monarchs and a few other clear-headed 
 persons felt that if he could be got out of 
 the country by providing him with ships, 
 money, and titles, it must be done. We 
 can readily understand why the news that 
 he was actually about to leave Spain, and 
 to undertake a voyage in the course of 
 
6o CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 which it was universally believed he would 
 be drowned, was received by the Spaniards 
 with unanimous delight. Women wept 
 tears of joy, and strong men went into 
 secluded corners and stood on their heads 
 in wild hilarity. The day of their deliver- 
 ance was at hand, and the devastating 
 career of the terrible talker was nearly at 
 an end. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HE IS COMMISSIONED, AND SETS SAIL. 
 
 ON the 1 2th of May, 1492, Columbus 
 left Santa Fe for Palos, the seaport 
 from which his expedition was to sail. 
 He left his small-boy, Diego, behind him, 
 as page to Prince Juan, the heir of Castile 
 and Aragon. Diego was the son of his 
 lawful wife, and it is pleasant to find that, 
 in spite of this fact, Columbus still remem- 
 bered him. His favorite son was of course 
 Fernando, who, with his mother, Beatrix, 
 seems to have been sent away to board in 
 the country during Columbus's absence at 
 sea. 
 
 As soon as he arrived at Palos, Colum- 
 bus called on his worthy friend the Prior, 
 and on the next day the two went to the 
 church of St. George, where the royal 
 order directing the authorities of Palos to 
 supply Columbus with two armed ships, 
 
62 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 56 
 
 and calling upon everybody to furnish the 
 expedition with all necessary aid, was read 
 aloud by a notary-public. The authorities, 
 as well as the other inhabitants of Palos, 
 were naturally only too glad to do every- 
 thing in their power to hasten the departure 
 of Columbus ; but it was found f s:tremely 
 difficult to procure ships or sailors for the 
 expedition. The merchants very justly 
 said that, much as they might desire to 
 have Columbus drowned, they did not care 
 to furnish ships at their own expense for 
 an enterprise in the interest of all classes 
 of the community. The sailors declared 
 that they were ready to ship for any voyage 
 which might be mentioned, but that it was 
 a little too much to ask them to go to sea 
 with Columbus as their captain, since he 
 would undoubtedly use his authority to 
 compel them to listen to a daily lecture on 
 ''Other Continents than Ours," thus ren- 
 dering their situation far worse than that 
 of ordinary slaves. 
 
 The King and Queen, learning of the 
 failure of Columbus to obtain ships and 
 
1492] HE IS COMMISSIONED. 63 
 
 men, and fearing that he might return to 
 court, ordered the authorities of Palos to 
 seize ehgible vessels by force, and to kid- 
 nap enough sailors to man them. This 
 would probably have provided Columbus 
 with ships and men, had not the short- 
 sighted monarch appointed one Juan de 
 Peiialosa to see that the order was exe- 
 cuted, and promised him two hundred ma- 
 ravedies a day until the expedition should 
 be ready. De Penalosa was perhaps not 
 the intellectual equal of the average 
 American office-holder, but he had sense 
 enough to appreciate his situation, and of 
 course made up his mind that it would 
 take him all the rest of his natural life to 
 see that order carried out. Accordingly, 
 he drew his pay with great vigor and faith- 
 fulness, but could not find any ships which, 
 in his opinion, were fit to take part in the 
 proposed expedition. The people soon 
 perceived the state of affairs, and de- 
 spaired of ever witnessing the departure 
 of Columbus. 
 
 Doubtless De Penalosa would have gone 
 
64 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 on for years failing to find the necessary 
 ships, had not two noble mariners resolved 
 to sacrifice themselves on the altar of their 
 country. Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Vin- 
 cente Yanez Pinzon, his brother, were the 
 two marine patriots in question. They 
 offered a ship and crew, and the magis- 
 trates, emulating their patriotism, seized 
 two other ships and ordered them to be 
 fitted for service. 
 
 These vessels were under one hundred 
 tons' burthen each, and only one of them, 
 the Santa Marian was decked over. In 
 model they resembled the boats carved by 
 small inland boys, and their rig would 
 have brought tears to the eyes of a modern 
 sailor — provided, of course, a way of 
 bringing a modern sailor to Palos to in- 
 spect them could have been devised. If 
 we can put any faith in woodcuts, the 
 Santa Maria and her consorts were two- 
 masted vessels carrying one or two large 
 square sails on each mast, and remotely 
 resembling dismasted brigs rigged with 
 jury-masts by some passengers from In- 
 
1492] HE IS COMMISSIONED. 6$ 
 
 diana who had studied rigging and seaman- 
 ship in Sunday-school books. The pre- 
 tence that those vessels could ever beat to 
 windward cannot be accepted for a mo- 
 ment. They must have been about as fast 
 and weatherly as a St. Lawrence ''pin flat," 
 and in point of safety and comfort they 
 were even inferior to a Staten Island 
 ferry-boat. 
 
 The Pinta was commanded by Martin 
 Pinzon, and the Niiia by Vincente Pin- 
 zon. No less than four pilots were taken, 
 though how four pilots could have been 
 equally divided among three ships without 
 subjecting at least one pilot to a subdi- 
 vision that would have seriously impaired 
 his efficiency, can not readily be compre- 
 hended. Indeed, no one has ever satisfac- 
 torily explained why Columbus wanted 
 pilots, when he intended to navigate utterly 
 unknown seas. It has been suggested that 
 he had bound himself not to talk to an 
 intemperate extent to his officers or men, 
 and that he laid in a supply of private 
 pilots purely for the purpose of talking to 
 
66 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 them. It is much more probable that a 
 law of compulsory pilotage existed at that 
 time in Spain, — for it was a dark and 
 ignorant age, — and that, inasmuch as Co- 
 lumbus would have had to pay the pilots 
 whether he took them with him or not, he 
 thought he might as well accept their ser- 
 vices. Besides, he may have remem- 
 bered that a vessel rarely runs aground 
 unless she is in charge of a pilot, and hence 
 he may have imagined that pilots pos- 
 sessed a peculiar skill in discovering unex- 
 pected shores at unlooked-for moments, 
 and might materially help him in discover- 
 ing a new continent by running the fleet 
 aground on its coast. 
 
 A royal notary was also sent with the 
 expedition, so that if any one should sud- 
 denly desire to swear or affirm, as the case 
 might be, it could be done legally. The 
 three vessels carried ninety sailors, and the 
 entire expeditionary force consisted of one 
 hundred and twenty men. 
 
 The ship - carpenters and stevedores, 
 doubtless at the instigation of Penalosa, 
 
1492] HE IS COMMISSIONED. 6/ 
 
 made all the delay they possibly could, 
 and at the last moment a large number of 
 sailors deserted. Other sailors were pro- 
 cured, and finally everything was in readi- 
 ness for the departure of the fleet. On 
 Friday the 3d of August, 1492, Columbus 
 and his officers and men confessed them- 
 selves and received the sacrament, after 
 which the expedition put to sea. 
 
 In spite of the knowledge that Colum- 
 bus was actually leaving Spain with a very 
 slight prospect of ever returning, the de- 
 parture of the ships cast a gloom over 
 Palos. The people felt that to sacrifice 
 one hundred and nineteen lives, with three 
 valuable vessels, was a heavy price to pay, 
 even for permanently ridding Spain of the 
 devastating talker. Still, we are not told 
 that they permitted sentiment to over- 
 power their patriotism, and they were pro- 
 bably sustained by the reflection that it 
 was better that one hundred and nineteen 
 other people should be drowned, than that 
 they themselves should be talked to death. 
 
 It is universally agreed that it is impos- 
 
68 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 sible not to admire the courage displayed 
 by Columbus and his associates. The 
 ships of the expedition were small and 
 unseaworthy. They were not supplied 
 with ice-houses, hot water, electric bells, 
 saloons amidships where the motion is 
 least perceptible, smoking and bath rooms, 
 or any of the various other devices by 
 which the safety of modern steamships is 
 secured. The crew knew that they were 
 bound to an unknown port, and that if 
 their vessels managed to reach it there 
 was no certainty that they would find any 
 rum. Columbus had employed eighteen 
 years in convincing himself that if he once 
 set sail he would ultimately arrive some- 
 where ; but now that he was finally afloat, 
 his faith must have wavered somewhat. 
 As he was an excellent sailor, he could 
 not but have felt uncomfortable when he 
 remembered that he had set sail on Fri- 
 day. However, he professed to be in the 
 very best of spirits, and no one can deny 
 that he was as brave as he was tedious. 
 On the third day out, the Pinta unship- 
 
1492] HE IS COMMISSIONED. 69 
 
 ped her rudder, and soon after began to 
 leak badly. Her commander made shift 
 partially to repair the disaster to the rud- 
 der, but Columbus determined to put into 
 the Canaries, and charter another vessel 
 in her place. lie knew that he was then 
 not far from the Canaries, although the 
 pilots, either because their minds were 
 already weakening under the strain of 
 their commander's conversation, or be- 
 cause they were ready to contradict him 
 at every possible opportunity, insisted that 
 the islands were a long way off. Colum- 
 bus was right, and on the 9th of August 
 they reached the Canaries, where we may 
 suppose the pilots were permitted to go 
 ashore and obtain a little rest. 
 
 For three weeks Columbus waited in 
 hopes of finding an available ship, but he 
 was disappointed. The Piiita was there- 
 fore repaired to some extent, and the Nina 
 was provided with a new set of sails. A 
 report here reached Columbus that three 
 Portuguese men-of-war were on their way 
 to capture him — doubtless on the charge 
 
70 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 of having compassed the death of several 
 Portuguese subjects with violent and pro- 
 longed conversation. He therefore set 
 sail at once, and as he passed the volcano, 
 which was then in a state of eruption, the 
 crews were so much alarmed that they were 
 on the point of mutiny. Columbus, how- 
 ever, made them a speech on the origin, 
 nature, and probable object of volcanoes, 
 which soon reduced them to the most ab- 
 ject state of exhaustion. 
 
 Nothing was seen of the Portuguese men- 
 of-war, and it has been supposed that some 
 practical joker alarmed the Admiral by 
 filling his mind with visions of hostile ships, 
 when the only Portuguese men-of-war in 
 that part of the Atlantic were the harmless 
 little jelly-fish popularly known by that 
 imposing title. 
 
 It was the 6th day of September when 
 the expedition left the Canaries, but owing 
 to a prolonged calm it was not until the 
 Qth that the last of the islands was lost 
 sight of. We can imagine what the de- 
 voted pilots must have suffered during 
 
1492] HE IS COMMISSIONED. /I 
 
 those three days in which Columbus had 
 nothing to do but talk ; but they were 
 hardy men, and they survived it. They 
 remarked to one another that they could 
 die but once ; that care had once killed a 
 vague and legendary cat ; and in various 
 other ways tried to reconcile themselves to 
 their fate. 
 
 The crew on losing sight of land became, 
 so we are told, utterly cast down, as they 
 reflected upon the uncertainty of ever again 
 seeing a Christian grog-shop, or joining 
 with fair ladies in the cheerful fandango. 
 Mr. Irving says that '' rugged seamen shed 
 tears, and some broke into loud lamenta- 
 tion,'^ and that Columbus thereupon made 
 them a long speech in order to reconcile 
 them to their lot. The probability is that 
 Mr. Irving reversed the order of these two 
 events. If Columbus made a long speech 
 to his crew, as he very likely did, there is 
 no doubt that they shed tears, and lament- 
 ed loudly. 
 
 Lest the crew should be alarmed at the 
 distance they were rapidly putting between 
 
^2 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 themselves and the spirituous Hquors of 
 Spain, Columbus now adopted the plan of 
 daily falsifying his reckoning. Thus if the 
 fleet had sailed one hundred miles in any 
 given twenty-four hours, he would an- 
 nounce that the distance sailed was only sixty 
 miles. Meanwhile he kept a private log- 
 book, in which he set down the true courses 
 and distances sailed. This system may 
 have answered its purpose, but had the 
 fleet been wrecked, and had the false and 
 the true log-books both fallen into the 
 hands of the underwriters, Columbus would 
 not have recovered a dollar of insurance, 
 and would probably have been indicted for 
 forgery with attempt to lie. The lawyer 
 for the insurance company would have put 
 in evidence the two entries for, let us say, 
 the loth of September; the one reading, 
 "Wind E.S.E., light and variable ; course 
 W. by N. ; distance by observation since 
 noon yesterday, 6i miles;" and the other, 
 or true entry, reading, ''Wind E.S.E. ; 
 course W. by N. ; distance by observa- 
 tion since noon yesterday, 1 1 7 miles. At 
 
1492] HE IS COMMISSIONED. 73 
 
 seven bells in the morning watch, furled 
 main-top-gallant sails, and put a single reef 
 in all three topsails. This day ends with a 
 strong easterly gale." With such evidence 
 as this, he would easily have proved that 
 Columbus was a desperate villain, who had 
 wrecked his vessels solely to swindle the 
 insurance companies. Thus we see that 
 dishonesty will vitiate the best policy, pro- 
 vided the underwriters can prove it. 
 
 It was perhaps this same desire to lead 
 his crew into the belief that the voyage 
 would not be very long, which led Colum- 
 bus to insert in the sailing directions given 
 to the two Pinzons an order to heave-to 
 every night as soon as they should have 
 sailed seven hundred leagues west of the 
 Canaries. He explained that unless this 
 precaution were taken they would be liable 
 to run foul of China in the night, in case 
 the latter should not happen to have lights 
 properly displayed. This was very thought- 
 ful^ but there is no reason to think that it 
 deceived the Pinzons. They knew per- 
 fectly well that Columbus had not the least 
 
74 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 56 
 
 idea of the distance across the Atlantic, 
 and they probably made remarks to one 
 another in regard to the difficulty of catch- 
 ing old birds with chaff, which the Admi- 
 ral would not have enjoyed had he heard 
 them. 
 
 Thus cheerfully cheating his sailors, and 
 conversing with his pilots, Columbus en- 
 tered upon his voyage. A great many 
 meritorious emotions are ascribed to him 
 by his biographers, and perhaps he felt sev- 
 eral of them. We have, however, no evi- 
 dence on this point, and the probability is 
 that he would not have expressed any feel- 
 ing but confidence in his success to any 
 person. He had long wanted to sail in 
 quest of new continents, and his wish was 
 now gratified. He ought to have been con- 
 tented, and it is quite possible that he w^as. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 IN those days everybody supposed that 
 the needle always pointed due north. 
 Great was the astonishment of Columbus 
 when, a few days after leaving the Cana- 
 ries, he noticed what is now called the vari- 
 ation of the compass. Instead of point- 
 ing to the north, the needle began to 
 point somewhat to the west of north ; 
 and the farther the fleet sailed to the west, 
 the greater became the needle's variation 
 from the hitherto uniform direction of all 
 respectable needles. Of course Columbus 
 at first supposed that his compass was out 
 of order, but he soon found that every com- 
 pass in the fleet was conducting itself in the 
 same disreputable way. The pilots also 
 noticed the startling phenomenon, and said 
 it was just what they had expected. In seas 
 so remote from the jurisdiction of Spain, 
 
76 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [..f:t. 56 
 
 who could expect that the laws of Nature 
 would be observed ? They did not like to 
 grumble, but still they must say that it was 
 simply impious to sail in regions where 
 even the compass could not tell the truth. 
 But Columbus was not the man to be put 
 to confusion by remarks of this kind. He 
 calmly told the pilots that the compass was 
 all right ; it was the North Star that was 
 wrong, and he never had felt much confi 
 dence in that star, anyway. Then inviting 
 the pilots to come down into his cabin 
 and take a little — well, lunch, he explained 
 to them with such profound unintelligi- 
 bility the astronomical habits and customs 
 of the North Star, that they actually be- 
 lieved his explanation of the variation of 
 the compass. There are those who hold 
 that Columbus really believed the North 
 Star was leaving its proper place ; but the 
 theory does gross injustice to the splendid 
 mendacity of the Admiral. The man who 
 could coolly assert that if his compass dif- 
 fered from the stars the latter were at fault, 
 deserves the wonder and admiration of 
 
1492] THE VOYAGE. 77 
 
 even the most skilful editor of a campaign 
 edition of an American party organ. 
 
 The sailors would probably have grum- 
 bled a good deal about the conduct of 
 the compass had they noticed it ; but it 
 does not appear that they had any sus- 
 picion that it had become untrustworthy. 
 Besides, the fleet was now fairly in the 
 trade-wind, and very little labor was re- 
 quired in the management of the vessels. 
 The sailors, having little to do, were in 
 good spirits, and began to see signs of 
 land. A large meteor was seen to fall into 
 the sea, and soon after a great quantity of 
 sea-weed w^as met, among which tunnj^- 
 fish made their home. The Admiral also 
 caught a small crab. Crabs, tunny-fish, 
 sea-weed, and meteors must h^ve been, in 
 those days, exclusively products of the 
 land ; otherwise, there was no reason why 
 Columbus and his men should have re- 
 garded them as proofs of the vicinity of 
 land. They did, however, meet with a 
 bird of a variety — so the oldest mariners 
 asserted — that never sleeps except on a 
 
78 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 good substantial roosting-place. This really 
 did give them some reason to imagine that 
 land was not very far off; but as the result 
 showed, the bird was painfully untrust- 
 worthy. 
 
 Day after day the so-called signs of land 
 were seen. A large reward was offered to 
 the first person who should see the sought- 
 for continent, and consequently everybody 
 was constantly pretending that a distant 
 cloud or fog-bank was land, and then find- 
 ing fault with the Admiral because he 
 would not change his course. One day 
 a pair of boobies — a bird singularly mis- 
 named, in view of the fact that it rarely 
 flies out of sight of land — rested in the 
 rigging. Another day three birds of a 
 kind — which, every one knows, were even 
 better than two pairs — came on board 
 one of the ships in the morning, and flew 
 away again at night, and it was the uni- 
 versal opinion that they sang altogether 
 too sweetly for sea-birds ; the voices of the 
 gull, the stormy petrel, and the albatross 
 being notoriously far from musical. 
 
1492] THE VOYAGE. 79 
 
 After a time these signs ceased to give 
 the crews any comfort. As they forcibly 
 observed, ''What is the use of all your 
 signs of land, so long as you don't fetch 
 on your land ?" They became convinced 
 that the sea was gradually becoming 
 choked up with sea-weed, and that the 
 fact that the surface of the water re- 
 mained unruffled, although there was a 
 steady breeze from the east, was proof 
 that something was seriously wrong. We 
 now know that the expedition was in the 
 Sargasso Sea, a region of sea-weed and 
 calms, and that in point of fact Columbus 
 was lucky in not being becalmed for a 
 year or two without any means of bring- 
 ing his vessels to a more breezy region. 
 This, however, he did not know, and he 
 explained the quiet of the sea by asserting 
 that the fleet was already in the lee of the 
 unseen land. 
 
 The men nevertheless continued to be 
 discontented, and declined any longer to 
 believe that land was near. Even the 
 sight of a whale — which, as every one 
 
80 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 knows, is a land animal — failed to raise 
 their spirits, although Columbus told them 
 that, now that he had seen a whale, he 
 knew they must be very near the shore. 
 The sailors would not listen to his argu- 
 ment, and openly insulted his whale. They 
 said he had brought them to a region 
 where the wind either blew steadily from 
 the east or scarcely blew at all ; in either 
 case opposing an insuperable obstacle to 
 sailing back to Spain, for which reason, 
 with the charming consistency of sailors, 
 they wanted to turn back immediately 
 and steer for Palos. Still, they did not 
 break into open mutiny, but confined 
 themselves to discussing the propriety of 
 seizing the vessels, throwing Columbus 
 overboard, and returning to Spain, where 
 they could account for the disappearance 
 of the Admiral by asserting that he had 
 been pushed overboard by the cat, or had 
 been waylaid, robbed, and murdered by 
 the James boys ; or by inventing some 
 other equally plausible story. Happily, 
 the wind finally sprang up again, and the 
 
1492] THE VOYAGE. 8 1 
 
 sailors, becoming more cheerful, postponed 
 their mutiny. 
 
 The typical biographer always begs us 
 to take notice that Columbus must have 
 been a very great man, for the reason that 
 he prosecuted his great voyage in spite of 
 the frequent mutinies of the sailors ; and 
 as we shall hereafter see, Columbus was 
 troubled by mutinies during other voy- 
 ages than his first one. At the present 
 day, however, the ability of a sea-captain 
 would not be estimated by the number of 
 times his crew had mutinied. If Colum- 
 bus was really an able commander, how 
 did it happen that he ever allowed a mu- 
 tiny to break out ? Very likely his flag- 
 ship was short of belaying-pins and hand- 
 spikes, but did not the Admiral wear a 
 sword and carry pistols ? and was he not 
 provided with fists and the power to use 
 them ? Instead of going on deck at the 
 first sign of mutinous conduct on the part 
 of any one of the crew, and striking terror 
 and discipline into the offender with the 
 first available weapon, he seems to have 
 
82 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 waited quietly in the cabin until the sailors 
 had thrown off all authority, and then to 
 have gone on deck and induced them to 
 resume work by delivering a lecture on 
 geography and the pleasures of explora- 
 tion. But we should remember that he 
 was in command of Spanish vessels, and 
 that Spanish views of seamanship and dis- 
 cipline are peculiar. 
 
 On the 25th of September, Martin Pin- 
 zon, whose vessel happened to be within 
 hailing distance of Columbus, suddenly 
 shouted that he saw land in the south- 
 west, and wanted that reward. The al- 
 leged land rapidly became clearly visible, 
 and seemed to be a very satisfactory piece 
 of land, though it was too far off to show 
 any distinctively Japanese, Chinese, or East 
 Indian features. Columbus immediately 
 called his men together, made a prayer, 
 and ordered them to sing a psalm. The 
 fleet then steered toward the supposed 
 land, which soon proved to be an exas- 
 perating fog-bank, whereupon the sailors 
 unanimously agreed that Columbus had 
 
1492] THE VOYAGE, 83 
 
 trifled with the hoHest feehngs of their 
 nature, and that they could not, with any 
 self-respect, much longer postpone the 
 solemn duty of committing his body to 
 the deep. 
 
 About this time a brilliant idea occurred 
 to the Pinzons. It was that the true direc- 
 tion in which to look for land was the 
 south-west, and that Columbus ought to 
 give orders to steer in that direction. As 
 they had no conceivable reason for this be- 
 lief, and could advance no argument what- 
 ever in support of it, they naturally adhered 
 to it with great persistency. Columbus 
 decHned to adopt their views — partly be- 
 cause they were the independent views of 
 the Pinzons, and, as is well known, no 
 subordinate officer has any right to inde- 
 pendent views, and partly because they 
 were entirely worthless. The Pinzons 
 were therefore compelled to console them- 
 selves by remarking that of course the 
 Admiral meant well, but they were sadly 
 afraid he was a grossly incompetent dis- 
 coverer. On the 7th of October the spirits 
 
84 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 of the sailors were temporarily raised by a 
 signal from the Nma, which was a short 
 distance in advance, announcing that land 
 was positively in sight. This also proved 
 to be a mistake, and doubts began to be 
 entertained as to whether, in case land 
 should be discovered, it would wait for 
 the fleet to come up with it, or would 
 melt away into invisibility. 
 
 Although Columbus would not change 
 his course at the request of the Pinzons, 
 he now announced that he had seen sev- 
 eral highly respectable birds flying south- 
 west, and that he had made up his mind to 
 follow them. This may have pleased the 
 Pinzons, but it did not satisfy the sailors. 
 They came aft to the sacred precincts of 
 the quarter-deck, and informed Columbus 
 that they were going home. Unhappy 
 men ! The Admiral instantly began a 
 speech of tremendous length, in which he 
 informed them that he should continue 
 the voyage until land should be reached, 
 no matter how long it might last. The 
 
1492] THE VOYAGE, 8^ 
 
 more the men clamored, the more per- 
 sistently Columbus continued his speech, 
 and the result was that they finally went 
 back to their quarters, exhausted and quite 
 unable to carry out their intention of 
 throwing him overboard. 
 
 The very next morning a branch of a 
 thorn-bush; a board which had evidently 
 been subjected to the influences of some 
 sort of saw-mill, and a stick which bore 
 the marks of a jack-knife, floated by. 
 There could be no doubt now that land 
 was near at last, and the mutinous sailors 
 became cheerful once more. 
 
 It was certainly rather odd that those 
 branches, boards, and sticks happened to 
 come in sight just at the moment when 
 they were needed to revive the spirits 
 of the men, and that during the entire 
 voyage, whenever a bird, a whale, a meteor, 
 or other sign of land was wanted, it always 
 promptly appeared. Columbus expresses 
 in his journal the opinion that this was 
 providential, and evidently thought that, 
 
86 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 56 
 
 on the whole, it was a handsome recog- 
 nition of his transcendent merits. Con- 
 cerning this we are not required to give 
 any decision. 
 
 The wind blew freshly from the east, 
 and the fleet sailed rapidly before it. In 
 the evening Columbus fancied that he saw 
 a light, which he assumed to be a lantern 
 in the hands of some one on land. He 
 called the attention of a sailor to it, who 
 of course agreed with his commander that 
 the light was a shore light. At about two 
 o'clock on the following morning — the 
 1 2th of October — a sailor on board the 
 Pmta, named Rodrigo de Triana, posi- 
 tively saw land — this time without any 
 postponement. 
 
 Most of us have been taught to believe 
 that the discovery of the New World was 
 signalized by the joyful cry of '' Land ho ! 
 from the Pintar A little reflection will 
 show the gross impossibility that this ex- 
 clamation was ever made by anybody 
 connected with the expedition. In the 
 first place, "• Land ho ! from the Pmta' is 
 
1492] THE VOYAGE, 8/ 
 
 an English sentence, and, so far as is 
 known, neither Columbus nor any of his 
 officers or men knew a word of English. 
 Then the expression would have been- 
 meaningless. What was '' Land ho ! from 
 the Pinta' ? and why should the sailors 
 have referred to vague and unintelligible 
 land of that nature, when their thoughts 
 were fixed on the land which lay on the 
 near horizon ? Obviously this story is 
 purely mythical, and should no longer have 
 a pl^ce in history. 
 
 As soon as it was certain that land was 
 in sight, the fleet hove-to and waited for 
 daylight. The voyage was ended, at last. 
 Columbus was about to set foot on trans- 
 atlantic soil, and the sailors were full of 
 hope that the rum of the strange land 
 would be cheap and palatable. Perhaps 
 the only unhappy man on board the fleet 
 was Rodrigo de Triana, who first saw the 
 land but did not receive the promised re- 
 ward ; Columbus appropriating it to him- 
 self, on the ground that, having fancied 
 he saw a hypothetical lantern early in the 
 
S8 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 56 
 
 evening, he was really the first to see land, 
 and had honestly and fairly earned the 
 reward. Let us hope that he enjoyed it, 
 and felt proud whenever he thought of his 
 noble achievement. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY. 
 
 WHEN the day dawned, an island was 
 seen to be close at hand, and the de- 
 sire to go ashore was so keen that in all 
 probability little attention was paid to 
 breakfast. The officers put on all their 
 best clothes, and Columbus and the two 
 Pinzons, each bearing flags with appro- 
 priate devices, entered the boats and were 
 rowed ashore. What were considered ap- 
 propriate devices to be borne on banners 
 such as were used on the occasion of the 
 landing of Columbus, we do not know, the 
 liistorians having forgotten to describe 
 the banners with minuteness. Perhaps 
 " Heaven bless our Admiral " and " Cuba 
 Libre" were the so-called appropriate 
 devices. 
 
 The natives, assuming that Columbus 
 and his companions had a brass band with 
 
90 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 them, which would begin to play when the 
 boats should reach the shore, precipitately 
 fled, and concealed themselves. As soon 
 as he landed, Columbus threw himself on 
 his knees, kissed the earth, and recited a 
 prayer. He then took possession of the 
 island in due form, and announced that it 
 was called San Salvador ; though how he 
 had thus early discovered its name we 
 are not told. Everybody was then made 
 to take an oath of allegiance to Columbus 
 as Viceroy, in the presence of the notary 
 whom he had so thoughtfully brought with 
 him. 
 
 Business being thus properly attended 
 to, the sailors were allowed to amuse them- 
 selves by tasting the strange fruits which 
 they saw before them, and by searching 
 earnestly but without success for a wine- 
 shop. 
 
 The natives gradually took courage and 
 approached the strangers, whom they de- 
 cided to be emigrants from heaven. Co- 
 lumbus smiled sweetly on them, and gave 
 them beads, pocket-knives, pin-cushions, 
 
1492] THE DISCOVERY. 9 1 
 
 back numbers of the Illustrated Londo7z 
 News, and other presents such as are popu- 
 larly believed to soothe the savage breast. 
 As, however, they did not seem to appre- 
 ciate the Admiral's speeches, and as the 
 sailors could find no rum, the order was 
 given to return to the ships. The natives 
 thereupon launched their canoes and pad- 
 dled out to the vessels to return the visit of 
 the Spaniards. They brought with them 
 specimens of a novel substance now known 
 35 cotton, and a few small gold ornaments, 
 which created much enthusiasm among the 
 sailors. The Admiral promptly proclaimed 
 that gold, being a royal monopoly, he only 
 had the right to buy it, and that, in view of 
 the immense importance which he foresaw 
 that cotton would assume in dressmaking 
 and other industries, he should conduct 
 the cotton speculations of that expedition 
 himself. As the natives, when the conver- 
 sation turned upon gold, mentioned that, 
 though there was no gold in San Salvador, 
 the islands farther south were full of it, 
 Columbus only waited to lay in wood and 
 
92 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 56 
 
 water, improving the time by a boat expe- 
 dition along the coast, and then set sail 
 in search of fresh discoveries. 
 
 During the next few days a number of 
 small islands were discovered, all of which 
 were flowing with copper-colored natives 
 and wild fruit, but they did not appear 
 to produce gold. The natives were in all 
 cases amiable and full of respect for the 
 supposed heavenly visitors, but they stoutly 
 denied that they had any gold. Indeed, 
 had they been questioned about chills and 
 fever, instead of gold, they could not have 
 been more unanimous in asserting that 
 their particular island was entirely free 
 from it, but that it abounded in the next 
 island farther south. 
 
 All these islands belonged to the Bahama 
 group, but Columbus assumed that they 
 were in the neighborhood of Japan, and 
 that the mainland of Asia must be within 
 a few days' sail. As soon therefore as the 
 sameness of constantly discovering new 
 islands began to pall upon him, he set sail 
 for Cuba, where, as the natives told him, 
 
1492] THE DISCOVERY. 93 
 
 there was a king whose commonest arti- 
 cles of furniture were made of gold. He 
 thought it would be well to visit this de- 
 serving monarch, and buy a few second- 
 hand tables and bedsteads from him, and 
 then to sail straight to Asia; and so ac- 
 complish the real purpose of his voyage. 
 
 It is a pity that we are not told whether 
 the natives talked Spanish, or whether Co- 
 lumbus spoke the copper-colored language. 
 When so many discussions on the subject 
 of gold were had, it is evident that some- 
 body must have made rapid progress in 
 learning one language or the other, and 
 from what we know of the Admiral's con- 
 versational powers, it is quite probable that 
 he mastered the San Salvadorian grammar 
 and spelling-book, and was able to read, 
 write, and speak the language within the 
 first twenty-four hours after landing. 
 
 On the 28th of October Columbus 
 reached Cuba, having picked up a host of 
 small islands on the way. He was delight- 
 ed with its appearance, and decided that, 
 instead of being an island, it must be the 
 
94 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 56 
 
 mainland. For days he coasted along the 
 shore, frequently landing and examining 
 the deserted huts from which the inhabi- 
 tants had fled on his approach. Judging 
 from the entries made by Columbus in his 
 journal, there was never such another 
 island since the world began ; but he is 
 compelled to admit that the natives were 
 not sociable. In fact, he never exchanged 
 words with them until the interpreter whom 
 he had brought from San Salvador threw 
 himself overboard and swam ashore. The 
 natives, regarding him as less ferocious and 
 dangerous than a boat, permitted him to 
 land, and- listened to his account of the 
 Spaniards. They were even induced to 
 launch their canoes and visit the ships, 
 where they were received by Columbus, 
 who assured them that he had no connec- 
 tion with the Emperor of China — a state- 
 ment which must have struck them as 
 somewhat irrelevant and uncalled for. 
 
 The place where this interview was held 
 is now known as Savanna la Mar. The 
 harbor being a safe one, Columbus de- 
 
1492] THE DISCOVERY. 95 
 
 cided to remain and repair his ships, and 
 to send an embassy by land to Pekin, 
 which he was confident could not be more 
 than two days' journey into the interior. 
 Two Spaniards and the San Salvadorian 
 native were selected as ambassadors, and 
 supplied with a letter and presents for the 
 Chinese Emperor, and Columbus with 
 much liberality gave them six days in 
 which to go to Pekin and return. 
 
 After they had departed, the ships were 
 careened and caulked, and other little jobs 
 were invented to keep the men out of mis- 
 chief As to gold, the natives told the 
 old story. There was none of it in their 
 neighborhood, but there was an island 
 farther south where it was as common 
 and cheap as dirt. Seeing how the de- 
 scription pleased the Admiral, they kindly 
 threw in a tribe of natives with one eye 
 in their forehead, and a quantity of select 
 cannibals, and thus increased his desire to 
 visit so remarkable an island. 
 
 In six days the ambassadors returned. 
 They had found neither Pekin nor the 
 
96 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 Chinese Emperor — nothing, in fact, ex- 
 cept a small village, a naked chief, and a 
 community of placid savages who had no 
 gold and were entirely devoid of interest. 
 They brought back with them a few cold 
 potatoes, a vegetable hitherto unknown to 
 Europeans, and they casually mentioned 
 that they had seen natives in the act of 
 smoking rolls of dark-colored leaves, but 
 they attached no importance to the dis- 
 covery, and regarded it as a curious evi- 
 dence of pagan degradation. Little did 
 they know that the dark-colored leaves 
 were tobacco, and that the natives were 
 smoking Partagas, Villar - y - Villar, In- 
 timidads, and other priceless brands of 
 the Vuelt Abajo. The sailors were curs- 
 ing the worthlessness of a new continent 
 which produced neither rum, wine, nor 
 beer, and yet it was the native land of 
 tobacco ! Thus does poor fallen human 
 nature fix its gaze on unattainable rum 
 and Chinese Emperors, and so overlook 
 the cigars that are within its reach. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ADVENTURES ON LAND. 
 
 ON the 1 2th of November Columbus 
 set sail in seareh of the gold- and 
 cannibal-bearing island described by the na- 
 tives and called Babeque. He took with 
 him a few pairs of Cubans for the Madrid 
 Zoolomcal Garden, whom he intended to 
 convert to Christianity in his leisure hours. 
 Babeque was said to be situated about 
 east-by-south from Cuba, and accordingly 
 the fleet steered in that direction, skirting 
 the Cuban coast. Two days later a head- 
 wind and a heavy sea induced Columbus 
 to put back to Cuba, where he waited for 
 a fair wind. On the 19th he again put to 
 sea, but was soon compelled for the second 
 time to return. 
 
 When Martin Alonzo Pinzon, on board 
 the Pinta, which was in the advance, saw 
 the Admiral's signal of recall, he promptly 
 
98 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 and with great energy paid no attention 
 to it. He astutely observed that as there 
 might not be gold and cannibals enough 
 in Babeque for the whole fleet, it would 
 save trouble if he were to take in private- 
 ly a full cargo, and thus avoid the hard 
 feelings which might result from an at- 
 tempt to divide with the crews of the 
 other vessels. Pinzon therefore kept the 
 Pinta on her course, and the next morn- 
 ing she was out of sight of the flag-ship. 
 Columbus, not understanding the excel- 
 lent intentions of his subordinate, was 
 greatly vexed, and feared that Pinzon 
 would sail back to Spain and claim the 
 whole credit of discovering the New 
 World. However, pursuit was out of the 
 question, the Pinta being the fastest vessel 
 of the fleet ; and the Admiral therefore 
 sailed back to Cuba, and while awaiting a 
 change of wind renewed his exploration 
 of the coast. 
 
 On the 5th of December, the weather 
 having improved, Columbus started for 
 the third time in search of Babeque. He 
 
1492] ADVENTURES ON LAND. 99 
 
 soon sighted a large and beautiful island, 
 at which his Cubans besought him not to 
 land, since it was inhabited by one-eyed 
 cannibals who made it a point to eat all 
 visitors, either from motives of hunger or 
 as a mark of respect. The Cubans admit- 
 ted that the island contained gold as well 
 as cannibals, but maintained that it was 
 not Babeque, but Bohio. 
 
 Of course Columbus disregarded their 
 advice, and, after anchoring for a night in 
 a convenient harbor, proceeded to sail 
 along the coast, landing from time to 
 time. He found that it was a very re- 
 spectable island, but the natives refused 
 to have anything to do with him, and fled 
 into the forest as soon as his boats touched 
 the shore. One day, however, his men 
 succeeded in capturing a young woman — 
 with the usual amount of eyes, and fash- 
 ionably dressed in a gold nose-ring — 
 whom they carried before the Admiral. 
 The latter, putting on a pair of thick 
 blue goggles in the interests of propriety, 
 spoke kindly to the young person, and 
 
lOO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 gave her some clothes. It may be doubt- 
 ed whether the Admiral's old coats and 
 trousers were particularly becomijig to the 
 fair prisoner ; but as they were novelties in 
 dress, she was greatly pleased with them, 
 and agreed to accompany a party of mjd- 
 dle-aged and discreet sailors to her father's 
 village. Thus friendly relations were at 
 last established with the natives, and Co- 
 lumbus, seeing the effect of clothing on 
 the female mind, was so closely reminded 
 of the women of Spain that he named the 
 new island Hispaniola. 
 
 The absence of both gold and one-ej^ed 
 cannibals convinced him that Hispaniola 
 could not be Babeque, and on December 
 14th he once more set sail in search of 
 that mythical island. He found nothing 
 but the little island of Tortugas, and was 
 finally compelled by head-winds to sail 
 back to Hispaniola. He now made up 
 his mind that Babeque was the Mrs. 
 Harris of islands, and that in fact there 
 was no such place. It pained him to give 
 up all hope of seeing the one-eyed canni- 
 
1492] ADVENTURES ON LAND. lOI 
 
 bals ; but after all he must have perceived 
 that, even if he had found them, they 
 could not have been any real comfort to 
 him, unless he could have seen them sit- 
 ting down to dine off the faithless Pinzon. 
 On the 1 6th of December we find him 
 anchored near Puerto de Paz, enjoying the 
 society of a cacique, or native chief, who 
 told him the old, old story of gold-bearing 
 islands farther south, and in other ways 
 did his best to meet the Admiral's views. 
 Six days later, when near the Bay of Acul, 
 the flag-ship was met by a canoe contain- 
 ing an envoy of the cacique Guacanagari, 
 the most powerful of the native chiefs of 
 that region. Guacanagari sent Columbus 
 presents of cotton cloth, dolls, parrots of 
 great resources in point of profanity, and 
 other welcome articles. He invited Co- 
 lumbus to visit him at his palace, which 
 invitation was accepted, and the cacique 
 and the Admiral became warm friends. 
 A few bits of gold were given to the 
 Spaniards, and the usual story concerning 
 Babeque was told ; but Columbus had 
 
102 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 56 
 
 now pledged himself to total abstinence 
 from Babeque in every form, and paid no 
 attention to it. 
 
 Guacanagari's village was situated a few 
 miles east of the Bay of Acul, and thither 
 Columbus resolved to bring his ships. 
 About midnight on Christmas eve Co- 
 lumbus went below, because, as he al- 
 leged, there was a dead calm and his 
 presence on deck was not required. The 
 judicial mind will, however, note the fact 
 that it is not unusual for mariners to feel 
 the need of sleep after the festivities of 
 Christmas eve. Following the example 
 of their commander, the entire crew has- 
 tened to fall asleep, with the exception of 
 a small-boy to whom the wheel was con- 
 fided by a drowsy quartermaster. A cur- 
 rent steadily drifted the vessel toward the 
 land, and in a short time the boy at the 
 wheel loudly mentioned that the ship had 
 struck. The Admiral was soon on deck 
 — which shows that perhaps, after all, it 
 was nothing stronger than claret punch — 
 and in time succeeded in awakening the 
 
1492] ADVENTURES ON LAND. IO3 
 
 crew. The ship was hard and fast on a 
 reef, and he ordered the mast to be cut 
 away, and dispatched a boat to the Nina 
 &)r assistance. It soon became evident 
 that the Santo. Maina would go to pieces, 
 and accordingly Columbus and all his men 
 sought refuge on board the other vessel. 
 
 Guacanagari was full of grief at the dis- 
 aster, and sent his people to assist in sav- 
 ing whatever of value the wreck contained. 
 He came on board the Niiia and invited 
 the Spaniards to come to his village and 
 occupy houses which he had set apart for 
 them. Here he entertained them with 
 games — base-ball, pedestrian matches, and 
 such Hke pagan spectacles — while the 
 Spaniards, not to be outdone in polite- 
 ness, fired off a cannon, and thereby nearly 
 frightened the natives to death. Mean- 
 while Columbus kept up a brisk trade, 
 exchanging rusty nails for gold, of which 
 latter metal the natives now produced 
 considerable quantities. The cacique, 
 finding that gold was the one thing 
 which, above all others, distracted the 
 
104 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 5^> 
 
 Admiral's mind from his unfortunate ship- 
 wreck, sent into the interior and collected 
 so much that the Spaniards imagined that 
 at last they had really reached the golden 
 island of Babeque. 
 
 The sailors were delighted with the place. 
 To be sure, there was no rum ; but with 
 that exception they had everything that 
 the seafaring heart could desire. They 
 spent their time lying in the shade, waited 
 on by obsequious natives and fed with 
 turtle-soup and roast chicken. The longer 
 they tried this sort of life, the more they 
 perceived the folly of going back to the 
 forecastle and its diet of salt horse. They 
 therefore proposed to Columbus that, in- 
 stead of building a new ship, he should 
 leave half of his men on the island as 
 colonists. The Admiral was pleased with 
 the plan. It would be cheaper to leave 
 two or three dozen men behind him than 
 to carry them back to Spain, and if he 
 had a real colony in his newly discovered 
 western world, it would add to his im- 
 portance as Viceroy. So he announced 
 
14921 ADVENTURES ON LAND, 10$ 
 
 that he had decided to colonize the island, 
 and ordered his men to build a fort with 
 the timbers of the wrecked flag-ship. The 
 natives lent their aid, and in a short time 
 a substantial fort, with a ditch, drawbridge, 
 flag-staff, and everything necessary to the 
 comfort of the garrison, was erected. It 
 was mounted with two or three spare 
 cannons, and Guacanagari was told that it 
 was designed to defend his people from 
 the attacks of the Caribs, a tribe which 
 frequently made war on the peaceful 
 islanders. The fort was then dignified 
 with the title of '' La Navidad," — which is 
 the Spanish way of spelling ''nativity," 
 although it does not do the Spaniards 
 much credit, — and the flag of Castile and 
 Aragon was hoisted on the flag-staflf. 
 
 Thirty-nine men, under the command of 
 Diego de Arana, the notary, were selected 
 to garrison La Navidad. Among them 
 were a tailor, a carpenter, a baker, and a 
 shoemaker, while De Arana in his capacity 
 of notary was of course able to draw up 
 wills, protest bills of exchange, and take 
 
I06 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 56 
 
 affidavits. Columbus did not venture to 
 leave a plumber behind him, justly fearing 
 that if he did the plumber would send in 
 bills to the natives which would goad 
 them into an indiscriminate massacre of 
 the whole colony. All other necessary 
 trades were, however, represented among 
 the colonists, from which circumstance 
 we gather that the Spanish marine was 
 manned chiefly by mechanics. 
 
 Having organized his colony, Colum- 
 bus determined to hasten back to Spain, 
 lest Pinzon should reach home before him 
 and publish an unauthorized work with 
 some such striking title as ''How I found 
 the New World," and thereby injure the 
 reputation of the Admiral and the sale of 
 the only authentic account of the expe- 
 dition. There were rumors that Pinzon's 
 vessel had been seen lying at anchor on the 
 eastern side of the island, but all efforts to 
 find him failed. It was only too probable 
 that he was on his way back to Spain, and 
 it was important that he should not arrive 
 home before his rightful commander. 
 
.1492] ADVENTURES ON LAND. I07 
 
 Before sailing, Columbus made a fare- 
 well address to the colonists, closely 
 modelled upon the Farewell Address of 
 Washington. He warned them to beware 
 of entangling alliances with the native 
 women, and to avoid losing the affection 
 and respect of Guacanagari and his people. 
 The sailors promised to behave with the 
 utmost propriety, and winked wickedly at 
 one another behind the Admiral's back. 
 The Spaniards then gave a grand farewell 
 entertainment to the estimable cacique, 
 who once more wept on the bosom of the 
 Admiral, and finally, on the 4th of Janu- 
 ary, 1493, Columbus sailed for Spain. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 
 
 THE wind, as usual, was dead ahead, 
 and the Niiia made slow progress. 
 For two days she lay at anchor in a quiet 
 bay, but the Admiral was so anxious to 
 reach Spain in advance of Pinzon that he 
 would not wait any longer for a change 
 of wind. Before he had succeeded in get- 
 ting out of sight of land, the missing Pinta 
 was sighted, and, Columbus's anxiety being 
 partially relieved, the two ships put back 
 and anchored at the mouth of a river. The 
 interview between Pinzon and the Admiral 
 must have been interesting. It is evident 
 from many things that, since his great 
 voyage had been successful, Columbus had 
 ceased to be the conversational bane of 
 humanity, and had become a reasonably 
 taciturn man. On this occasion Pinzon 
 found him painfully silent. That troubled 
 
1493] THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. IO9 
 
 mariner attempted to account for his de- 
 sertion by saying it was all an accident, 
 and that he had lain awake night after 
 night bewailing the cruel fate which had 
 separated him from his beloved com- 
 mander. He was ready to swear all sorts 
 of maritime oaths that he had never meant 
 to part company and cruise alone. 
 
 The Admiral gloomily remarked that, 
 while no man should be held accountable 
 for an accident, he felt that it was his duty 
 to mention that hereafter any officer found 
 guilty of the commission of a similar acci- 
 dent would be court-martialled and hanged, 
 after which Pinzon was permitted to return 
 to his ship. 
 
 In view of the fact that Pinzon com- 
 manded the larger ship and could probably 
 have beaten the Nina m a fair fight, the 
 Admiral v/as wise in accepting his excuses 
 and affecting to believe his story. He 
 afterward learned that Pinzon had really 
 been at anchor on the eastern side of the 
 island, vv^here it was reported that he had 
 been seen, and that he had secured a large 
 
no CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 quantity of gold ; but it was judged inju- 
 dicious to ask him to surrender the gold 
 to the Admiral. Thus harmony between 
 Columbus and Pinzon was thoroughly re- 
 stored, and they hated and distrusted each 
 other with great vigor. 
 
 The meeting of the Pznta and the Nzfta 
 was, we may presume, celebrated in due 
 form, for Columbus, although he was a 
 very abstemious man, asserts in his journal 
 that at this time he saw several mermaids. 
 We do not know what Pinzon saw ; but if 
 the abstemious Admiral saw mermaids, the 
 less decorous Pinzon probably saw a sea- 
 serpent and a procession of green mon- 
 keys with spiked Prussian helmets on their 
 heads. 
 
 On the 9th of January the ships again 
 weighed anchor and sailed along the coast, 
 stopping from time to time to trade with 
 the natives. At Samana Bay the Span- 
 iards found a tribe of fierce savages, with 
 whom they had a skirmish which resulted 
 in wounding two of the enemy. Never- 
 theless, the local cacique made peace the 
 
1493] THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. Ill 
 
 next day, and told Columbus a very meri- 
 torious and picturesque lie concerning an 
 island inhabited by a tribe of Amazons. 
 Recent events indicate that in fighting and 
 lying the present inhabitants of Samana Bay 
 are no unworthy representatives of those 
 whom Columbus met. 
 
 When, on the i6th of January, Colum- 
 bus made positively his last departure for 
 Spain, he intended to stop on the way and 
 discover Porto Rico, which lay a little 
 southward of his true course. To this, 
 however, the sailors strongly objected. 
 They had discovered as many islands as, 
 in their opinion, any reasonable man could 
 desire, and they pined for Palos and its 
 rum-shops. They did not break out into 
 mutiny, but they expressed their feelings 
 so plainly, by singing '' Home Again" and 
 other depressing songs, that Columbus felt 
 the wisdom of gratifying them — especially 
 in view of the probability that Pinzon 
 would again give him the slip at the first 
 opportunity. The sailors were therefore 
 ordered to square away the yards, and the 
 
112 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 ships were put before the fair west wind 
 with their several bowsprits pointing 
 straight toward Palos. Joy filled the 
 bosoms and heightened the ruddy tint of 
 the noses of the crew. That night they 
 thought more highly of Columbus than 
 ever before, and remarked among them- 
 selves that they were glad to see that the 
 old man could restrain his unnatural thirst 
 for islands when it became clearly necessary 
 for him to do so. 
 
 It was not long before the fleet — if two 
 vessels can be regarded as a fleet, except 
 in the United States Navy — came into the 
 region where the trade-winds constantly 
 blow from the east. Columbus may not 
 have recognized them as trade-winds, but he 
 perfectly understood that they were head- 
 winds, and with a view of avoiding them 
 steered in a northerly direction. He suc- 
 ceeded in getting out of the region of 
 perpetual east winds, but he reached the 
 latitude where storms-centres moving rapid- 
 ly to the east and south, together with areas 
 of depression in the region of the lakes and 
 
1493] THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. II3 
 
 rain in the New England and Middle 
 States — in short, all the worst varieties 
 of weather in the repertoire of the Signal 
 Service Bureau — prevail. The pilots soon 
 lost all idea of the course which the ves- 
 sels had sailed, and as each one entertained 
 a different opinion about the matter, while 
 Columbus differed from them all and made 
 it a practice to confuse their minds with 
 opinions on navigation of the most intri- 
 cate character, there was a certain lack of 
 cordial and intelligent agreement among 
 the navigators of the fleet. 
 
 About the middle of February a succes- 
 sion of tremendous tempests overtook the 
 vessels. For days they drove before a gale 
 which carried them in a north-easterly 
 direction and threatened every moment to 
 sink them and hide all vestiges of the great 
 transatlantic expedition beneath the waves. 
 Pinzon, owing to the injured condition of 
 his mast, had no control over his ship, and 
 was soon carried out of sight of Columbus. 
 The latter felt that the time had come to 
 employ all his knowledge of seamanship. 
 
114 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 57 
 
 An ordinary prosaic ship-captain of the 
 present day, finding himself in a like situ- 
 ation, would have brought his ship down 
 to a close-reefed maintopsail, and, bring- 
 ing the wind on his starboard quarter, 
 would have steered about east by south, 
 and so carried the ship out of the cyclone 
 in two or three hours. Columbus, how- 
 ever, was far too scientific a navigator to 
 adopt any such commonplace expedient. 
 He mustered his crew, and ordered them to 
 draw lots to see who should vow to make 
 pilgrimages in case they should succeed 
 in reaching land. He himself drew a lot 
 which required him to make one pilgrim- 
 age to Santa Clara de Moguer, and another 
 to Santa Maria de Guadalupe, and, in 
 addition, to pay for a series of masses and 
 to present candles to the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 As this manoeuvre, which was at that 
 time regarded as one of the most abstruse 
 known to mariners, unaccountably failed 
 to better the condition of the ship, the 
 entire crew vowed to march to the first 
 available church bare-footed and clad only 
 
1493] THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. II5 
 
 in their shirts. The frightful nature of the 
 storm may be imagined from the fact that, 
 in spite of this splendid display of Spanish 
 seamanship, the Nina continued to exhibit 
 a determined propensity to go to pieces or 
 to founder. Having thus done everything 
 that a sailor could do, and all without 
 avail, Columbus yielded to the promptings 
 of superstition, and filling a quantity of 
 empty casks with sea-water placed them 
 in the hold, where he hoped they would 
 render the ship somewhat stiffer. The 
 Nina at once became steadier and ceased 
 to try to lie over on her side, and it is quite 
 possible that Columbus believed that his 
 superstitious use of casks had more to do 
 with the salvation of the ship than all the 
 combined vows of the Admiral and his 
 men. 
 
 While in imminent danger of drowning, 
 Columbus had the cool forethought to 
 write a full account of his discoveries. He 
 enclosed the manuscript in a water-tight 
 barrel, which he threw overboard after 
 having attached to it a written request that 
 
Il6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 57 
 
 the finder would return it to Christopher 
 Columbus, or his representatives at Cadiz, 
 Spain, where he would be suitably re- 
 warded. It has not yet been found, but it 
 is the intention of Dr. Schliemann, the 
 discoverer of the personal jewelry of 
 Helen of Troy, to discover it whenever he 
 can spare a few days from more important 
 discoveries. 
 
 On the 15th of February land was 
 sighted. It was the island of St. Mary's, 
 one of the Azores, but no one except 
 Columbus had any idea that the Nina was 
 farther north than the latitude of Lisbon. 
 No sooner had the land been sighted than 
 the wind changed to the north-east, and 
 it was two days before the Niiia could 
 reach the island and anchor under its lee. 
 
 As for the Pinta, it was believed that in 
 her crippled condition she must have per- 
 ished in the storm, and as a matter of course 
 Columbus felt extremely sorry that Pinzon 
 could no longer display his insubordinate 
 and unprincipled want of respect for his 
 superior officer. 
 
1493] THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 1 17 
 
 Of course everybody was anxious to go 
 ashore at once. The sailors anticipated 
 that rum could be found on the island, it 
 being inhabited by civilized and Christian 
 people, and Columbus, who, we may sup- 
 pose, was not very well satisfied that he 
 had been selected by lot to make two 
 pilgrimages and spend a quantity of 
 money in masses and candles, was anxious 
 to see the crew parade for attendance on 
 divine worship in their shirts. But the 
 Azores belonged to Portugal, and though 
 the Portuguese king had refused to assist 
 Columbus in his plans of exploration, he 
 was very indignant that any other mon- 
 arch should have helped the Italian ad- 
 venturer, and felt that Columbus had 
 treated him disrespectfully by accepting 
 Spanish help. Knowing all this, Colum- 
 bus remained on shipboard and sent a 
 boat ashore to inquire if there was a 
 church near at hand. 
 
 The inhabitants of the island were greatly 
 astonished to learn that the weather-beaten 
 ship lying at anchor was the remnant of 
 
Il8 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 the exploring expedition which had sailed 
 six months earlier from Palos. The Gov- 
 ernor of the island, Juan de Casteneda, had 
 been ordered by the Portuguese king to 
 arrest Columbus, in case he should visit 
 the Azores, for the offence of discovering 
 continents without a license from the Por- 
 tuguese. De Casteneda therefore was 
 anxious to induce Columbus to land, but 
 by too great zeal he overreached him- 
 self. 
 
 As soon as it was ascertained that there 
 was a shrine on the island, Columbus 
 ordered his men to -fulfil their vow by 
 marching in procession to it in their un- 
 trammelled shirts. One half the crew were 
 detailed for this pious duty, and the Ad- 
 miral intended to march with the other half 
 as soon as the first division should return. 
 The hasty Governor waited till the proces- 
 sion had entered the shrine, and then 
 arrested every one of its members, on the 
 frivolous plea of dressing in a way adapted 
 to outrage the feelings of the public and 
 to excite a breach of the peace. When 
 
14931 THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. IIQ 
 
 Columbus found his men did not return, 
 he weighed anchor and stood in toward the 
 shore. He was met by a boat containing 
 the Governor, who decHned to come on 
 board the Nzfta, and conducted himself 
 generally in such a suspicious way that Co- 
 lumbus lost his temper and called him un- 
 pleasant names. He held up his commis- 
 sion with its enormous seal, and told the 
 Governor to look at it and comprehend that 
 sealing-wax was not lavished in that way 
 except upon officers of distinguished merit. 
 The Governor not only insulted Columbus, 
 but he spoke derisively of the sealing-wax, 
 and then rowed back to land, resolved to 
 keep his shirt-clad prisoners until he could 
 add Columbus himself to the collection. 
 
 The usual gale soon after sprang up, and 
 the Nina was driven out to sea and kept 
 there in very unpleasant circumstances for 
 several days. When at length Columbus 
 again returned to his anchorage, De Cas- 
 teneda sent two priests and a notary to 
 inspect his papers. They found that his 
 commission was properly made out, that 
 
120 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 the ship had a clean bill of health, and that 
 her clearance from Guacanagari's custom- 
 house was without a flaw. They then in- 
 formed him that the Governor had been 
 compelled to exercise a little caution lest 
 vessels arriving from the West Indies 
 should introduce yellow fever into the 
 Azores, but that he was now entirely 
 satisfied and would be glad to have Co- 
 lumbus call on him. The next morning 
 he liberated the men whom he had made 
 prisoners, and let them return to their 
 ship and their trousers, it being evident 
 that he could not hope to arrest Colum- 
 bus, now that the latter was on his guard. 
 Having regained possession of his men, 
 Columbus set sail for home on the 24th 
 of the month. In about a week another 
 storm, more violent than any which had 
 preceded it, struck the unhappy voyagers. 
 Once more the splendid seamanship of the 
 commander was displayed by an order for all 
 hands to draw lots for pilgrimages. This 
 time the loser was to walk barefooted to 
 the shrine of Santa Maria de la Cueva, and 
 
1493] THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 121 
 
 when Columbus found that he had once 
 more drawn the losing lot, he must have 
 made a private vow to play henceforth 
 some other game in which he might have 
 some little chance to win something. It 
 is impossible to repress the suspicion that 
 the vow afterward made by the crew to 
 eat nothing but bread and drink nothing 
 but water for a week, was made in accor- 
 dance with the determination of the Ad- 
 miral that he should not be the only person 
 to perform painful and difficult feats of 
 practical seamanship. 
 
 During the worst of the storm, and in 
 the middle of the night, land was seen, 
 and the ship had a narrow escape from 
 being dashed upon it. When daylight 
 appeared, it was found that the mouth of 
 the Tagus was close at hand ; and although 
 it was obviously dangerous for Columbus 
 to venture into Portuguese waters, he 
 sailed into the river and anchored in a 
 sheltered place near the rock of Cintra. 
 He lost no time in sending letters, by 
 the District Telegraph messengers of the 
 
122 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 57 
 
 period, to the Spanish and Portuguese 
 monarchs, and asked of the latter permis- 
 sion to sail up the river to Lisbon. This 
 request was obviously a hollov/ form. 
 Lisbon was the last place to which the Ad- 
 miral would have been willing to take his 
 ship, but he wanted to convince the Portu- 
 guese king that he had the utmost confi- 
 dence in him. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HIS RECEPTION, AND PREPARATION FOR A 
 SECOND EXPEDITION. 
 
 EVERYBODY who could hire a horse 
 or a boat came from the surrounding 
 country to see the ship that had crossed the 
 Atlantic. The Portuguese nobly forgot the 
 years in which Columbus had lived in Por- 
 tugal and talked their fellow-countrymen 
 into untimely graves, and they gave him 
 as enthusiastic reception as an American 
 town gives to a successful pedestrian. 
 Presently there came a letter from King 
 John of Portugal, inviting Columbus to 
 come to his palace at Valparaiso, near Lis- 
 bon. The crew of the Ninay having reached 
 a Christian country where, by the orders of 
 the King, they were supplied with wine 
 without limit and without price, were per- 
 fectly contented to defer returning to their 
 families at Palos, and were, on the whole, 
 
124 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 57 
 
 rather anxious that their commander should 
 leave them for a few days. Columbus, 
 much against his will, felt compelled to ac- 
 cept the King's invitation, and was kindly 
 received at Valparaiso. 
 
 Of course Columbus, when he described 
 the results of his voyage, could not deny 
 himself the pleasure of reminding King 
 John that he might have had the glory of 
 sending out the expedition. He told the 
 King that he was really sorry for him, and 
 hoped it would be a lesson to him never 
 to refuse an offer made by a meritorious 
 Genoese to find new continents for him. 
 King John expressed his pleasure at the 
 success of Columbus, but incidentally re- 
 marked that he presumed his seafaring 
 friend was aware that, by the provisions of 
 an ancient treaty and a papal bull, all the 
 countries that Columbus had discovered 
 undoubtedly belonged to Portugal. 
 
 This conversation was not altogether 
 satisfactory to Columbus, but he would 
 have been still more dissatisfied had he 
 known the advice which the King's coun- 
 
1493] HIS RECEPTION. 1 25 
 
 cillors gave him. They said there was 
 not the least doubt that the native In- 
 dians on board the Nina had been stolen 
 from the Portuguese East Indies, and that 
 Columbus ought to be immediately killed. 
 The King did not favor the death of Co- 
 lumbus, but suggested that the truly hon- 
 orable course to pursue would be to dis- 
 miss Columbus in the respectful manner 
 due to his gallant conduct, and to send im- 
 mediately a secret expedition to take pos- 
 session of the countries which he had dis- 
 covered. In accordance with this decision, 
 Columbus was treated with great polite- 
 ness, and returned to his ship, quite igno- 
 rant of his narrow escape from death, and 
 in excellent spirits with the exception of 
 a slight uneasiness as to the amount of 
 truth that might exist in the King's remark 
 about ancient treaties and papal balls. 
 Sailing from the Tagus, he reached Palos 
 in two days, and landed on the 15th of 
 March. 
 
 The return of Columbus created im- 
 mense surprise, and with the exception of 
 
126 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 the wives of his sailors, who, having as- 
 sumed that their husbands never would re- 
 turn, had married again, everybody received 
 him with enthusiasm. The shops were 
 closed, all the boys in the schools were 
 given a half-holiday, and the entire popu- 
 lation flocked to the church whither Co- 
 lumbus and his men betook themselves as 
 soon as they landed, to return thanks for 
 their preservation. Columbus was no 
 longer, in public estimation, the tedious 
 foreigner who ought to be sent out of 
 the country at any cost ; he was one of 
 the most remarkable men in Spain, who 
 deserved all sorts of honors. There were 
 any number of men who now recollected 
 that they had always said he was a great 
 man and would certainly discover a first- 
 class continent, and there were very few 
 persons in all Palos who were not con- 
 fident that the encouragement which they 
 had given to Columbus had been one of 
 the chief causes of his success. 
 
 The King and Queen were at Barcelona, 
 but the Admiral, having had all the sea- 
 
1493] HIS RECEPTION. 12/ 
 
 voyaging that his system seemed to re- 
 quire, decided to go to Barcelona by land 
 instead of by water, and after writing to 
 the monarchs, announcing his arrival, he 
 set out for Seville, to wait for orders. 
 
 The same day on which Columbus land- 
 ed, and about twelve hours later, the Pinta 
 arrived. Pinzon had been driven by the 
 storm which separated him from the Nina 
 into Bayonne. Making up his mind that 
 Columbus was safely drowned, he wrote to 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, announcing that he 
 had made remarkably valuable discoveries ; 
 that he would hasten to Spain to report to 
 them in person ; and that he was sorry to 
 say that Columbus had found a watery 
 grave. When he entered the harbor of 
 Palos, and saw the Nina at anchor, he felt 
 that life was a hollow mockery. He went 
 quietly to his own house, and wrote to the 
 monarchs a letter which, we may assume, 
 differed somewhat in its tone from the one 
 he had written from Bayonne. The reply 
 was extremely cold, and forbade Pinzon to 
 present himself at court. 
 
128 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 57 
 
 The people of Palos, having already cele- 
 brated, to the utmost of their power, the 
 arrival of Columbus, were rather annoyed 
 at Pinzon's appearance, and thought that 
 on the whole it was an unwarrantable lib^ 
 erty. That Pinzon was a really intelligent 
 man is proved by the fact that he hastened 
 to die a few days after he had received the 
 monarch's unpleasant letter. There was 
 obviously nothing else left for him to do, 
 and he deserves credit for thus clearly per- 
 ceiving his duty. 
 
 Columbus, soon after his arrival at Se- 
 ville, received a flattering letter from Fer- 
 dinand and Isabella, who thanked him for 
 his services, invited him to come to court, 
 and mentioned that the sooner he could fit 
 out a new expedition the better it would 
 be. Accompanied by six Indians and a 
 quantity of parrots, together with a collec- 
 tion of stuffed animals and specimens of 
 novel trees and late West Indian designs 
 in minerals, the Admiral proceeded to Bar- 
 celona, exciting immense enthusiasm at 
 every town on the road, and being mistaken 
 
1493] HIS RECEPTION, 1 29 
 
 by the youth of Spain for some new kind 
 of circus. On his arrival at court, the mon- 
 archs received him in great state, and asked 
 him to take a chair and make himself at 
 home ; this being the first time within the 
 memory of man that they had ever asked 
 any one to be seated. 
 
 As has been said, Columbus had greatly 
 improved in point of reticence after his 
 discovery of the New World, but on this 
 occasion he appears to have relapsed into 
 his old habits. At any rate, the lecture 
 which he proceeded to deliver was of such 
 appalling length that when it was finished 
 the King and Queen both fell on their re- 
 spective knees in thankful prayer, and after- 
 ward ordered the Te Deum to be sung. 
 
 There was a slight portion of truth in the 
 remarks made by King John of Portugal 
 to Columbus concerning a papal bull as- 
 signing certain countries to the Portuguese 
 Crown. It was conceded by all Christian 
 nations of that period that the Pope owned 
 in fee simple all the heathen countries 
 wheresoever situated. One of the Popes 
 
130 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 57 
 
 had assigned to the Portuguese all those 
 certain heathen lands situate, lying, and 
 being in the continent of Africa, together 
 with all and singular the heathen and other 
 objects thereunto belonging or in any wise 
 appertaining. This was the bull to which 
 King John referred. It is true that it did 
 not give him any right to lands and heath- 
 en in America, but the Spanish monarchs 
 thought it would be wise to obtain a bull 
 formally assigning America to them. They 
 therefore wrote to Pope Alexander VI., 
 informing him that they had discovered a 
 new continent full of desirable heathen ad- 
 mirably fitted for conversion, and request- 
 ing a formal grant thereof. At the same 
 time, Columbus, in order to prove the 
 pious character of his expedition, ordered 
 his six best Indians to be baptized. 
 
 The Pope issued the desired bull, and, 
 in order to avoid any objection on the 
 part of the Portuguese, divided the At- 
 lantic by a meridian one hundred miles 
 west of the Azores, giving to the Portu- 
 guese all the heathen lands which they 
 
1493] ^^S RECEPTION. I3I 
 
 might discover east of this meridian, and 
 to the Spaniards all that they might dis- 
 cover west of it. This was very hand- 
 some on the part of the Pope, and showed 
 that he was liberal and open-handed. 
 
 The news of the return of Columbus 
 filled every European monarch with the 
 conviction that the discovery of new con- 
 tinents was the only proper occupation 
 for a monarch of spirit, and with the de- 
 termination to make discoveries first and 
 to call on the lawyers to find flaws in the 
 Pope's bull afterward. It was therefore 
 important that there should be no delay in 
 sending out a second Spanish expedition. 
 Orders were issued by the monarchs of 
 Castile and Aragon, authorizing Columbus 
 to buy, hire, or seize any vessels that he 
 might find in the ports of Andalusia that 
 were suited for exploring purposes, and to 
 impress any officers or sailors that might 
 suit his fancy. For ships, provisions, 
 stores, and men thus seized fair prices 
 were to be paid, and money was raised 
 for this purpose from all available sources. 
 
132 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. \_JEt 57 
 
 though no man seems to have thought of 
 the expedient of printing paper-money, 
 and thus creating out of nothing currency 
 enough to defray the cost of a voyage to 
 America, and to move the West India 
 gold and slave crops. 
 
 To assist Columbus and to conduct the 
 business of exploration and colonization. 
 Archdeacon Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca 
 was made a sort of Secretary of Explora- 
 tion and Superintendent of Indian Af- 
 fairs, and was given very extensive powers. 
 It may seem to us strange that a priest 
 should have received this appointment, 
 but priests were as numerous in Spain 
 as Colonels now are in South Caro- 
 lina, and probably all the men who were 
 not priests were either in jail or had 
 volunteered to join Columbus as sailors 
 and gold-hunters. It was this able Arch- 
 deacon who chiefly organized the second 
 expedition of Columbus, and he engaged 
 twelve active priests well acquainted with 
 the screw, the pulley, the wheel, and the 
 other theologico-mechanical powers, and 
 
1493] ^^S RECEPTION. 1 33 
 
 commanded by the Apostolic Vicar Rev. 
 Bernardo Boyle, to convert the heathen 
 as fast as they should be discovered. 
 
 It would violate all precedent if the 
 story of Columbus and the tgg were to 
 be spared the readers of this volume. It 
 is briefly as follows : Soon after his return 
 to Spain he dined with Cardinal de Men- 
 doza, an eminent clergyman with a talent 
 for dinner. An objectionable young man 
 who was present, and who undoubtedly 
 had taken more champagne than was 
 good for his fellow-diners, asked the Ad- 
 miral if he did not think that if he had not 
 discovered the New World some one else 
 would very shortly have discovered it. He 
 was unquestionably an impertinent young 
 man, but he was undoubtedly right in as- 
 suming that sooner or later the Atlantic 
 would have been crossed, even if Colum- 
 bus had never been born. Historians tell 
 us that Columbus, in reply, asked the 
 young man if he could stand an tgg on 
 its little end ; and when the young man, 
 after rudely inquiring what Columbus was 
 
134 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 giving him, was constrained to admit that 
 he could not perform the feat in question, 
 the great explorer simply flattened the 
 little end of the ^gg by knocking it against 
 the table, and then easily made it stand 
 upright. The whole company instantly 
 burst into tears, and exclaimed that Co- 
 lumbus was the greatest and noblest of 
 mankind. 
 
 If this trick of flattening an ^gg was 
 really regarded as a brilliant repartee, by 
 which the impertinent young man ought 
 to have been utterly withered up, it gives 
 us a melancholy view of the state of 
 the art of repartee among the Spaniards. 
 The real facts of the case are probably 
 these : Cardinal De Mendoza, the dinner, 
 and the impertinent young man doubtless 
 existed in the form and manner specified ; 
 and the impertinent young man, in an 
 advanced state of champagne, probably 
 said something insulting to the Admiral. 
 The latter, disdaining to notice the affront 
 by words, and reluctant to cause any un- 
 pleasant scene at the Cardinal's dinner- 
 
1493] His RECEPTION. 135 
 
 table, merely threw an tg^ at the offender's 
 head, and pursued his conversation with 
 his host. Subsequent writers, determined 
 to give a profoundly scientific character to 
 everything the Admiral did, built up from 
 this slight basis of fact the egg-balancing 
 story. In point of fact, any one can 
 balance an ^g^ on its little end by the 
 exercise of little care and patience, and it 
 is rather more easy to do this with an ^^^ 
 that has not been flattened than with one 
 that has. 
 
 There is another contemporaneous story 
 which is far more credible, and requires no 
 explanation. While Columbus was enjoy- 
 ing the honors which were everywhere 
 lavished upon him, and was on visiting 
 terms with the King and Queen, and 
 dining with Cardinals and Aldermen and 
 Chambers of Commerce, the unhappy 
 sailor who first saw land, but whose 
 promised reward was appropriated by 
 Columbus, went to Africa and turned 
 Mahometan, in disgust at his treatment. 
 Probably Columbus thought that, in the 
 
13^ CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 57 
 
 circumstances, this was a delicate and con- 
 siderate act, for the sight of the man could 
 hardly have given much satisfaction to 
 the Admiral who had pocketed the re- 
 ward. 
 
 Meanwhile King John of Portugal was 
 busy fitting out an expedition ostensibly 
 to explore the coast of Africa, but really 
 to discover transatlantic countries. He 
 tried to induce the Pope to give him the 
 islands discovered by Columbus, and in- 
 formed Ferdinand and Isabella that he 
 was advised by his counsel that, under the 
 authority of the early bull already referred 
 to, any countries that might be discovered 
 south of a line drawn westward from the 
 Canaries were, in the eye of the law, a 
 part of Africa, and as such would belong 
 to Portugal. The Spanish monarchs con- 
 ducted the diplomatic dispute with him in 
 the ablest manner, sending to Portugal 
 their most tedious ambassadors, and thus 
 prolonging the negotiations as long as 
 possible. 
 
 Columbus, refusino^ all offers to lecture 
 
1493] HIS RECEPTION, I37 
 
 before the Spanish lyceums, hurried for- 
 ward his own expedition so as to sail be- 
 fore the Portuguese fleet could be made 
 ready. With the aid of Fonseca and the 
 latter's two chief assistants, Francisco Pi- 
 nelo and Juan de Soria, he collected seven- 
 teen ships, their crews, and a large com- 
 pany of colonists, and all the supplies and 
 live-stock needed for planting an imposing 
 colony. There was no lack of volunteers. 
 Every man who thirsted for adventure, 
 and every ruined nobleman who wanted 
 to repair his broken fortunes, was eager to 
 accompany Columbus ; and even the small- 
 boys, excited by a desire to scalp Indians, 
 were anxious to run away and ship as 
 cabin-boys on board the fleet. No less 
 than fifteen hundred persons were either 
 accepted as volunteers or accompanied the 
 expedition as stowaways, and among them 
 was as fine and varied a collection of 
 scoundrels as had ever set sail from an 
 alleged Christian country. 
 
 The expedition was not organized with- 
 out several disputes between Columbus 
 
138 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 57 
 
 and Fonseca. The latter complained that 
 the Admiral wanted too many servants, 
 including footmen, coachmen, and other 
 gaudy and useless followers ; while the 
 Admiral, in his turn, insisted that the Arch- 
 deacon could not be made to understand 
 that footmen were absolutely necessary to 
 the work of exploration. The King, when 
 appealed to, always decided that Columbus 
 was right; but it is doubtful if Fonseca's 
 affection for the Admiral was thereby 
 greatly increased. Finally all was ready, 
 and on the 25th of September, 1493, the 
 second personally conducted transatlantic 
 expedition of Christopher Columbus set 
 sail from Cadiz. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 THE voyage was smooth and prosper- 
 ous. The expedition reached the 
 Canaries on the ist of October, where 
 Columbus laid in a supply of chickens, 
 sheep, goats, calves, and pigs. It is in- 
 teresting to know that these were the 
 pioneer pigs of America. They were 
 eight in number, and from them descend- 
 ed most of the pigs that now inhabit the 
 West India islands. On October 7th the 
 fleet again weighed anchor, and by order 
 of its Admiral steered in a rather round- 
 about direction for the islands which were 
 supposed to lie south of Hispaniola. Co- 
 lumbus was determined — of course for the 
 noblest and most public-spirited reasons — 
 that no one but himself should know the 
 true route to the New World ; but his 
 trick of steering first in one direction and 
 
140 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 then in another could not have had the 
 desired effect of puzzling any really intel- 
 ligent sailor. This time whales, floating 
 bushes, and other signs of land were not 
 needed to cheer the crews, and conse- 
 quently they were not seen — a circum- 
 stance that strengthens in the minds of 
 some persons the belief that Columbus on 
 his first voyage secretly dropped these signs 
 of land overboard from the bow of his 
 vessel, and then called his men to look at 
 them. In the latter part of the voyage a 
 heavy thunder-storm occurred, and while 
 it was in progress lights were seen at 
 the tops of the masts and elsewhere aloft. 
 These electrical phenomena, called by the 
 sailors '* St. Elmo's candles," were received 
 with much satisfaction as evident tokens 
 that the saint was busily taking care of 
 the vessels. As he is an able and careful 
 saint, it is perhaps impertinent to criti- 
 cise his methods, but it does seem rather 
 odd that he cannot take care of a ship 
 without running the risk of setting her on 
 fire by the reckless use of naked and un- 
 
1493] EXPLORATIONS IN WEST INDIES. I4I 
 
 protected lights. This was the only storm 
 of consequence that was met on the pas- 
 sage, and, thanks to St. Elmo! it does not 
 seem to have done any harm. 
 
 On the 3d of November, which was 
 Sunday, the island of Dominica was 
 sighted, and the usual hymns were sung 
 and prayers were said. So many islands 
 soon came in sight that it was difficult to 
 select one on which to land. In this em- 
 barrassment of riches, the Admiral finally 
 landed on an island which he called Mari- 
 galante, after the name of the flag-ship. 
 It was a fair average sort of island, but 
 after taking formal possession of it and of 
 all other islands, visible and invisible, be- 
 longing to the same group, Columbus 
 left it and sailed to the island of Guada- 
 lupe, a few miles distant, where he landed 
 on November 4th. 
 
 There was a village near the shore, but 
 the inhabitants fled as the Spaniards 
 landed, leaving behind them only a few 
 useless babies. Searching the houses, 
 Columbus discovered the stern-post of a 
 
142 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 57 
 
 European vessel, which must have drifted 
 across the Atlantic, since it was much too 
 large to have been sent through the Post 
 Office, even if we assume — which is gross- 
 ly improbable — that any native had writ- 
 ten to Europe and ordered a stern-post. 
 From the number of human bones which 
 were found in the ash-barrels and garbage- 
 boxes at this village, it was suspected that 
 the people were cannibals, as in fact they 
 were, being no other than the fierce and 
 cruel Caribs. 
 
 Pursuing his voyage along the coast, 
 Columbus again landed and explored more 
 deserted villages, capturing a woman and 
 a boy who had lingered a little too long 
 behind the absconding villagers. On re- 
 turning to his ship, the Admiral was pained 
 to learn that one of his officers, Captain 
 Diego Marque, and eight men, who had 
 gone ashore without orders, had not yet 
 returned, and were probably already under- 
 going preparation for a Caribbean dinner. 
 Alonzo de Ojeda, a young nobleman who 
 afterward became famous as one of the 
 
1493] EXPLORATIONS IN WEST INDIES. 143 
 
 ablest and most cruel of Spanish explorers, 
 was sent on shore in command of a de- 
 tachment to search for the missing men, 
 and to bring back as much of them as 
 might remain uneaten. Ojeda searched in 
 vain, and returned with the report that 
 Marque and his comrades could not be 
 found, even in the unsatisfactory shape of 
 cold victuals. Several women who came 
 on board the fleet, announcing that they 
 were runaway slaves, told frightful stories 
 of the atrocities perpetrated by the Caribs, 
 and the missing men were universally be- 
 lieved to have been killed and eaten. At 
 last, after several days. Marque and his 
 men appeared on the shore, extremely 
 ragged and hungry. They had merely 
 lost themselves in the woods, and had not 
 seen a single cannibal. Of course some 
 indignation was felt at this trivial end of 
 what had been mistaken for a terrible 
 tragedy, and Columbus promptly punished 
 the dehnquents, ostensibly for being ab- 
 sent without leave. 
 
 On the 14th of November, after sailing 
 
144 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 57 
 
 hither and thither through the Caribbean 
 archipelago, the fleet anchored at the island 
 of Santa Cruz. The natives fled into the 
 interior as usual, but a canoe-load of Indi- 
 ans made its appearance a little later, and, 
 on being chased by one of the Spanish 
 boats, shot showers of poisoned arrows at 
 the pursuers. After a lively battle, in 
 which a Spaniard was fatally wounded and 
 one of the Indians was killed, the canoe 
 was sunk and the survivors captured. 
 They were so fierce and ugly in appear- 
 ance that they were instantly judged to be 
 cannibals of the deepest dye, and were 
 loaded with chains and afterward sent to 
 Spain as curiosities. 
 
 So many new islands were now sighted 
 that Columbus, whose stock of names was 
 growing small, called one of them St. 
 Ursula, and the others her eleven thou- 
 sand virgins. It is true that there were 
 not eleven thousand islands ; but as St. 
 Ursula never had eleven thousand virgins, 
 the name was not so extremely inappro- 
 
1493] EXPLORATIONS IN WEST INDIES. 145 
 
 priate. The exact number of these islands 
 was finally ascertained to be fifty. 
 
 Discovering Porto Rico, and devoting 
 two days to exploring its coast-line, Co- 
 lumbus steered for Hispaniola, which he 
 reached on the 2 2d of November. The 
 natives came off to the fleet in boats, and 
 were remarkably polite ; but Columbus 
 did not land until he reached Samana Bay. 
 Here he sent one of his converted Indians 
 on shore, dressed in the best Spanish 
 fashion, with instructions to lecture to the 
 natives on the grandeur of Spain ; but 
 whether the lecturer was tedious and met 
 a deserved death at the hands of his first 
 audience, or whether he seized the oppor- 
 tunity to return to the comforts of naked 
 paganism, was never known. In any case, 
 he never returned, and it is greatly to be 
 feared that in his case the trouble and ex- 
 pense of conversion wxre wasted. 
 
 On the 25th the expedition anchored in 
 a harbor to which the Admiral gave the 
 name of Monte Christo, in honor of M. 
 
146 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 57 
 
 Alexandre Dumas. On landing, the Span- 
 iards were shocked to find four bodies, one 
 of which was recognized by its beard as 
 the body of a Spaniard. The circumstan- 
 ces in which these bodies were found 
 showed that they had been the victims of 
 violence, and it was at once feared that 
 the colony of La Navidad had met with a 
 disaster. The natives said they knew 
 nothing about the bodies, and were so in- 
 nocent in their demeanor that no one 
 cared to suspect them of murder. The 
 Admiral, in an anxious frame of mind, 
 made haste to arrive at La Navidad, which 
 he reached on the 27th, but at too late an 
 hour to venture to land. Guns were fired 
 and Coston night-signals burned on board 
 the fleet, but there was no sign of life from 
 the fort. That night a suspicion dawned 
 upon the minds of some of the fifteen hun- 
 dred adventurers that the New World was 
 not worth finding, and that colonization 
 was a delusion and a snare. 
 
 Before morning a canoe containing a 
 cousin of Guacanagari came out to the 
 
1493] EXPLORATIONS IN WEST INDIES. 147 
 
 fleet in search of Columbus, bringing for 
 him some valuable presents. The visit- 
 ors reported that Caribs had invaded the 
 island, and that Guacanagari had been 
 wounded in battle with them, and was at a 
 distant village under the care of a doctor, — 
 whose certificate to that effect, however, he 
 failed to produce. As to the colony of 
 La Navidad, he did not seem to know 
 very much about it. He said it was his 
 impression that the colonists had been sick ; 
 he believed some of them had moved away ; 
 and he had a vague idea that they had 
 fought a little among themselves. Having 
 thus cheered up the Admiral, the friendly 
 native returned to the shore, and the 
 Spaniards waited anxiously for daylight. 
 
 When the day finally dawned, and the 
 Spaniards prepared to land, they were sur- 
 prised to find that not a native was visible. 
 On landing, they were still more surprised 
 to find that the colonists had totally disap- 
 peared, that the fort was in ruins, and that 
 Guacanagari's village was a heap of ashes. 
 From the appearance of the fort, it was evi- 
 
148 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 5? 
 
 dent that it had been captured and sacked. 
 Further search resulted in the discovery of 
 the buried bodies of eleven Spaniards, 
 while in the native houses farther in the 
 interior, from which the inhabitants hastily 
 fled, were found articles which had for- 
 merly been the property of the missing 
 colonists. 
 
 Gradually the natives overcame their 
 fears, and came to meet Columbus. They 
 told a story which was intrinsically proba- 
 ble, and doubtless true. The colonists had 
 conducted" themselves as sailors left to 
 themselves in a tropical climate, among 
 gentle savages, might have been expected 
 to. They refused to work, they adopted 
 polygamy as their chief occupation, and, 
 not content with quarrelling among them- 
 selves, they insulted and outraged the na- 
 tives until the latter began to feel seriously 
 provoked. After a time the two lieuten- 
 ants of Don Diego de Arana, the Gover- 
 nor, headed a rebellion against him, but, 
 being defeated, marched off with nine men 
 and a large supply of wives to search for 
 
1493] EXPLORATIONS IN WEST INDIES I49 
 
 gold in the interior. Reaching the domi- 
 nions of the cacique Caonabo, a powerful 
 chief of Carib birth, they were pleasantly 
 welcomed and cheerfully put to death. 
 Being of the opinion that there were still 
 more Spaniards on the island than were 
 really needed, Caonabo formed an alliance 
 with another chief of like views, and, fall- 
 ing upon the fort at night, captured it and 
 massacred every colonist with the excep- 
 tion of a few who saved themselves by 
 rushing into the sea and drowning in pri- 
 vacy. The friendly natives further said 
 that they fought under the leadership of 
 Guacanagari on the side of the Spaniards, 
 and were badly beaten. 
 
 A coasting expedition having discovered 
 the village where Guacanagari was resid- 
 ing, Columbus went to see him. He 
 found the cacique lying in bed, surrounded 
 by seven wives and suffering greatly. 
 Guacanagari repeated the story of the cap- 
 ture of the fort, and put in evidence his 
 wounded leg, marked '' Exhibit A," as 
 proof of the truth of his story. Unfortu- 
 
150 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 nately, no wound was visible, and although 
 the cacique insisted that his leg had been 
 utterly ruined by a heavy stone which had 
 struck it, the Spanish surgeon was of opin- 
 ion that nothing was the matter. Father 
 Boyle, who was a most zealous ecclesiastic, 
 held that this was an excellent opportunity 
 for showing the islanders the merits of the 
 Christian religion, and recommended that 
 Guacanagari should be promptly burned 
 at the stake. But the Admiral, although 
 he admitted that it was difficult to explain 
 the cacique's leg in a satisfactory way, ar- 
 gued that he would be much more useful 
 raw than he would if roasted, and to prove 
 this assertion exchanged a large quantity 
 of glass beads with the cacique for merely 
 their weight in gold. This demonstration 
 satisfied the Spaniards temporarily, with 
 the exception of Father Boyle, who was 
 pained to find Columbus apparently sub- 
 ordinating Christian duty to a love of gain. 
 Guacanagari went on board the flag- 
 ship with the Admiral, where he was 
 much pleased with the horses, which he 
 
1493] EXPLORATIONS IN WEST INDIES. 151 
 
 saw for the first time, and pronounced to 
 be very able and ingenious animals. He 
 was also observed to take altogether too 
 much interest in ten women whom Co- 
 lumbus had carried off from the Carib- 
 bean islands. The conversation between 
 Guacanagari and the Spaniards is said to 
 have been constrained and awkward, as 
 indeed it doubtless was, for no one could 
 converse easily and pleasantly with a 
 cacique who was constantly gazing in 
 admiration at ten different women. Co- 
 lumbus, as a token of good-will, hung an 
 image of the Virgin around Guacanagari's 
 neck, who, when lie learned that the 
 Christians worshipped it, said he would 
 rather not wear it, lest he should become 
 a Christian and covet his neighbor's wife 
 and break his neighbor's skull, like the 
 late Christian colonists. Father Boyle 
 was more anxious to burn him than ever 
 after hearing this blasphemous remark ; 
 but Columbus very properly said it was 
 inhospitable and unjustifiable to burn 
 visitors, except in the case of a surprise- 
 
152 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 57 
 
 party, and that the cacique should go on 
 shore safely, which he shortly did. 
 
 The next day Guacanagari did not re- 
 turn to the ship, but in his place sent his 
 brother, who paid a great deal of attention 
 to the Carib women, talking with them — 
 as he said — on scientific matters. That 
 night the ten Carib women jumped over- 
 board and swam ashore, and when the 
 Spaniards landed in the morning to search 
 for them, no trace could be found either of 
 the women or of Guacanagari. It was too 
 evident that the cacique had fallen in love 
 ten deep, and had eloped with his ten heart's 
 idols. The Spaniards, who of course took 
 no interest in the women, were shocked 
 at the painful example of immorahty set 
 by Guacanagari, and agreed that they 
 were now convinced that he and his hypo- 
 critical savages had either betrayed the 
 colonists to Caonabo, or had slaughtered 
 them and then invented Caonabo and laid 
 the blame upon him. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. 
 
 GUACANAGARI, in his last interview 
 with Columbus, had advised him not 
 to plant a new colony at La Navidad. 
 He said that, while he was extremely anx- 
 ious to have the Spaniards as neighbors, 
 duty compelled him to admit that the 
 locality was an unhealthy one, and that 
 foreigners settling there were sure to con- 
 tract chills and fever. Columbus shared 
 the opinion that it was an unhealthy place, 
 but he thought that colonists would be 
 more apt to contract bloodthirsty native 
 chiefs than peaceful malarious fever. At 
 any rate, he was clear that it would be 
 unwise to repeat the experiment of colon- 
 ization at a place with such unpleasant as- 
 sociations. 
 
 Expeditions were sent along the coast 
 to find a new location, but as no eligible 
 
154 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 58 
 
 building spots were found, the fleet set sail 
 for Monte Christo. About thirty miles 
 east of Monte Christo a fine harbor was 
 found, and, on landing, the Admiral was so 
 pleased with the place that he resolved to 
 build a city without further delay. The 
 ships were unloaded, and the animals were 
 set on shore. A nice city, called the city 
 of Isabella, was then laid out, with a church, 
 a government-house, a town-pump, a cus- 
 tom-house, a jail, and everything that could 
 make the colonists feel comfortable and at 
 home. 
 
 This done, the Spaniards, including Co- 
 lumbus, fell sick with great unanimity. 
 Most of them felt that they could have 
 been sick to more advantage in Spain, 
 and that, on the whole, they wanted their 
 money back. If exploration consisted in 
 crossing an inexcusably wide ocean merely 
 to build houses among unsociable savages, 
 and to contract marsh-fever, they were 
 confident that they had had quite enough 
 of it. Columbus knew that he must soon 
 send the fleet back to Spain for fresh sup- 
 
1494] A TTEMPTS A T COLONIZA TION. 1 5 5 
 
 plies of food, medicine, and clothing ; but 
 he disliked to send home the unsatisfactory 
 report that the first set of colonists were 
 all dead, and the second all sick. He 
 therefore ordered Ojeda to get together a 
 few comparatively well men, and to march 
 into the interior and discover something 
 that could be mentioned to advantage in 
 his official report. 
 
 With a small force Ojeda marched 
 across the mountain range that lay back 
 of Isabella, and descended into a delight- 
 ful plain, where every prospect pleased 
 him, and the natives were less than usually 
 vile. Gold was found to be really plenti- 
 ful, and when Ojeda returned Columbus 
 saw his way clear to writing a brilliant re- 
 port, and the colonists' spirits revived. 
 
 Twelve of the ships were immediately 
 got ready for sea and loaded with specimens 
 of plants for the Agricultural Bureau, 
 gold for the Spanish monarchs, and Ca- 
 ribs for the church. Columbus, in his 
 report, passed lightly and skilfully over 
 the unpleasant features of the expedition, 
 
15^ CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [M\.. 58 
 
 and dwelt eloquently upon the beauty of 
 the island, the healthful situation of the 
 city, and the enormous wealth of the gold- 
 mines. He also forcibly pointed out the 
 great need which the cannibal Caribs had 
 of being promptly converted. He pro- 
 posed that Spain should send out ships 
 laden with supplies, which he would pay 
 for with Carib slaves, and that when the 
 slaves reached Spain they could be con- 
 verted at Httle expense, and made to do a 
 great deal of work. Thus the cause of 
 missions could be carried on at a profit of 
 at least a hundred per cent and a joint 
 stock company for the enslavement and 
 conversion of Caribs would be able to de- 
 clare large and frequent dividends. 
 
 Columbus had always maintained that 
 his chief object in discovering America 
 was to spread the Gospel, and this pro- 
 posal to enslave the Caribs shows that he 
 was sincere. Nevertheless, Queen Isa- 
 bella said it would be a shame to make 
 the poor Caribs slaves, and that she was 
 surprised that Columbus should think of 
 
1494] ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. 1^7 
 
 such a thing. Thus the Admiral's great 
 missionary scheme proved abortive, but 
 his arguments were afterward used with 
 great success in defence of the slave-trade 
 which stocked the Georgian and South 
 Carolinian plantations. 
 
 On the 2d of February, 1494, the twelve 
 ships set sail for Spain, and Columbus felt 
 that unless the officers should prove indis- 
 creet and tell unpleasant truths, his report 
 would be accepted as a proof of the suc- 
 cess of his second great expedition. 
 
 The colonists' spirits had been raised 
 by the sight of the gold brought back by 
 Ojeda, but they fell to a very low ebb 
 when the ships departed. The prospect 
 of remaining behind to die of fever, while 
 their more fortunate companions could go 
 home and tell magnificent stories with no 
 one to contradict them, was very depress- 
 ing. In vain did Father Boyle celebrate the 
 very highest kind of mass in the church, 
 and in vain did Columbus put the jail in the 
 best possible order. Nothing could make 
 the colonists feel contented and happy. 
 
158 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 58 
 
 In these circumstances, they naturally 
 abused the Admiral. They said he was 
 only an Italian, any way, and had no right 
 to command Spanish gentlemen. They 
 even went so far as to make personal and 
 disparaging remarks concerning organ- 
 grinders, and expressed the opinion that 
 an organ-grinder should stick to his 
 monkey and refrain from meddling with 
 exploration. There was an alleged scien- 
 tific person among them — one Fermin 
 Cedo — who pretended there were no gold- 
 mines on the island. He said he had an- 
 alyzed the gold brought back by Ojeda, 
 and it was grossly adulterated. He ad- 
 mitted that the Indians did have a little 
 real gold, but maintained that they had 
 inherited it from their ancestors and could 
 not find any more even if they were to 
 try. The malcontents, under the leader- 
 ship of Bernal Diaz, the comptroller, who 
 appears to have had all the obstinacy and 
 wrong-headedness that pertain to that office 
 in our own day, resolved to seize the re- 
 maining ships and return to Spain, leav- 
 
1494] ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. 1 59 
 
 ing Columbus to enjoy the fever by him- 
 self. Columbus, however, discovered the 
 plot and immediately recovered his health 
 sufficiently to arrest Diaz, to punish the 
 least respectable of his followers, and thus 
 to suppress the mutiny. 
 
 In order to divert his men from thoughts 
 of fever and mutiny, the Admiral now pre- 
 pared to lead an expedition into the in- 
 terior. He appointed his brother Diego 
 Governor of Isabella during his absence, 
 and with four hundred men — all, in fact, 
 who were well enough to march — he set 
 out for the gold-bearing mountains of 
 Cibao. Following the route taken by 
 Ojeda the party crossed the nearest range 
 of mountains, and entered the fertile plain 
 previously mentioned. The natives were 
 at first greatly frightened by the horse- 
 men ; and when they discovered that a 
 horse and his rider were not made in 
 one piece, but could be taken apart, they 
 were more than ever filled with admira- 
 tion at the mechanical ingenuity of the 
 Spaniards. 
 
l6o CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 58 
 
 Crossing the plain, Columbus penetrated 
 into the mountainous region of Cibao, over 
 which the Carib chief Caonabo ruled. 
 Nothing, however, was seen of him, and 
 the natives were as friendly as those of 
 the plain. They brought gold-dust and 
 small nuggets to Columbus, and assured 
 him that at the distance of about a day's 
 march gold could be found in nuggets of 
 the size of a piece of chalk. 
 
 This originally meritorious story had 
 now become so old that Columbus paid 
 no attention to it, knowing that if he 
 were to march all the rest of his life, the 
 richest gold-mines would always be a lit- 
 tle farther off. So he selected a con- 
 venient mountain, where he built a fort, 
 calling it St. Thomas, which he garri- 
 soned with fifty-six men commanded by 
 Pedro Margarite. There appears not to 
 have been any reason for building and 
 garrisoning this fort, unless it was a desire 
 on the part of the Admiral to station Mar- 
 garite and his men where they could not 
 take part in any future mutiny in Isabella. 
 
1494] ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. l6l 
 
 Returning with the rest of the force, 
 Columbus reached Isabella on the 29th 
 of March, stopping by the way to trade 
 with the natives and to learn their method 
 of living. He found the people whom he 
 had left at Isabella in a more gloomy state 
 than ever. Their stock of medicines was 
 nearly exhausted, and their provisions 
 were growing scarce. He was compelled 
 to put them on half rations, and to build 
 a mill for grinding corn. The mill was a 
 happy thought ; but when it was built, 
 tbe colonists unanimously agreed that 
 Spanish gentlemen could not grind corn 
 without losing their self-respect. Colum- 
 bus said he rather thought they could, and 
 he compelled every man to take his turn 
 at grinding, thereby confirming them in 
 the opinion that no Italian accustomed to 
 grind out "Annie Laurie" and *' Baby 
 Mine" could possibly understand the feel- 
 ings of a gentleman. 
 
 A messenger soon arrived from Fort St. 
 Thomas, announcing that Caonabo was 
 about to attack it. Ojeda was therefore 
 
l62 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 58 
 
 put in command of three hundred and 
 ninety-six men, and ordered to capture 
 Caonabo and inaugurate the new jail with 
 him. Ojeda, promptly started, and on his 
 way met a Spaniard who had been robbed. 
 Being a just man, Ojeda thereupon seized 
 the cacique of the province, his son, and 
 nephew, and sent them to Isabella, where 
 Columbus, filled with horror at the crime 
 which they had not committed, sentenced 
 them to death — a sentence which he after- 
 ward revoked in order to show his cle- 
 mency. 
 
 As nearly all the able-bodied colonists 
 were now in the interior, Columbus 
 thought it would be safe to undertake a 
 small exploring voyage, and so, leaving 
 Don Diego in charge of the city, he took 
 three of the ships and sailed for Cuba. 
 Had he been a selfish and heartless man, 
 he might have imagined that during his 
 absence the sick at Isabella would die, 
 and the Spaniards in the interior would 
 either starve to death or be killed by 
 Caonabo — thus ridding him of much care 
 
\ 
 
 1494] ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. 1 63 
 
 and vexation. As he was not this kind 
 of man, we can only wonder at his sim- 
 plicity in dividing his forces in the face 
 of a cruel enemy, and then calmly sailing 
 away with the most useful of the ships. 
 He left reams of written instructions to 
 Margarite, Ojeda and Don Diego, point- 
 ing out to them the wickedness of quar- 
 relling, and recommending them not to 
 allow Caonabo to exterminate them. He 
 also left Father Boyle behind him, proba- 
 bly because that zealous ecclesiastic's long- 
 ing to burn somebody made him an unsafe 
 person to take to sea, where the utmost 
 caution in regard to fire is necessary. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SEARCH FOR CHINA. — SUBJUGATION OF HIS- 
 PANIOLA. 
 
 ON the 24th of April Columbus set sail, 
 determined this time to reach the Em- 
 pire of China. He anchored for a night 
 at La Navidad, but saw nothing of Gua- 
 canagari. Sailing thence, he reached Cuba 
 and began to coast along the south side of 
 the island. The natives ran away as usual, 
 and were afterward coaxed back with 
 beads. They told him, with some varia- 
 tions, the familiar story of a gold-bearing 
 island farther south, and Columbus de- 
 cided to give them one more chance to 
 prove its truth. He steered south in 
 search of the mythical Babeque, and when 
 he came within sight of a fine large island, 
 he began to hope that Babeque was found 
 at last ; but it proved to be only Jamaica. 
 Instead of running away, the natives 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA. 165 
 
 came out in canoes to welcome the Span- 
 iards with bloody lances to hospitable 
 drowning-places. Without stopping to 
 fight the first batch of seventy canoes, 
 the fleet sailed on in search of a good 
 harbor. When an apparently eligible 
 place for anchoring was found, a boat was 
 sent to make soundings, and was attacked 
 by the natives, who swarmed on the beach. 
 A force was therefore landed to convince 
 the natives that their conduct was impo- 
 lite; and after many of them had been 
 shot and the rest driven into the w^oods in 
 terror, with a savage dog in hot pursuit, 
 they were convinced of their error. The 
 local cacique sent envoys and negotiated a 
 treaty, after which the Spaniards were per- 
 mitted to repair their vessels and take in 
 water in peace. Columbus explored the 
 coast for some little distance to the west- 
 ward, but finding no signs of gold, or of 
 the rum for which it afterward became 
 famous, returned to Cuba and resumed his 
 search for China. 
 
 Day after day he sailed slowly westward, 
 
l66 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 5^ 
 
 keeping near the coast and frequently 
 landing to inquire if China was close at 
 hand. Sometimes the information he re- 
 ceived gave him great encouragement. 
 For example, one able and imaginative 
 cacique told him of a tribe of men with 
 tails. As it was notorious that men with 
 tails inhabited a part of Asia, Columbus 
 naturally thought the cacique's story re- 
 ferred to them, and that he would soon 
 reach the region described by the vera- 
 cious Sir John Mandeville. Another ca- 
 cique told him of a king who habitually 
 wore a w^hite garment and was called a 
 saint. This king Columbus immediately 
 identified with Prester John, though he 
 ought to have remembered that no true 
 Presbyterian would dream of wearing- 
 white robes except in the seclusion of his 
 bedchamber. Encouraged by these sto- 
 ries, the hopeful explorer sailed on toward 
 China, now narrowly escaping shipwreck 
 in the maze of small islands known to us 
 as the '* Keys," and now learning with as- 
 tonishment what violent thunder-storms 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA. 167 
 
 the West Indies can produce when they 
 are needed. At one time the sea became 
 the color of milk, which greatly alarmed 
 the sailors. They said that putting milk 
 into the sea was a defiance of the laws of 
 nature, which provide that water should 
 always be put into milk, and that they did 
 not like to cruise in latitudes where so un- 
 natural a practice was followed. Still, Co- 
 lumbus persevered. Cuba seemed really 
 to have no end, or to be, in other words, a 
 continent. 
 
 Finally, at the end of fifty days, when 
 not a particle of China had been found, 
 and the vessels were so strained as to be 
 entirely unseaworthy, the sailors informed 
 Columbus that this thing had gone 
 quite far enough, and that it was time to 
 turn back. The Admiral was so sure that 
 Pekin must be within a few days' sail that 
 he was very anxious to pursue the voyage, 
 but he finally agreed to compromise the 
 matter. He said he would turn back, 
 provided every officer, sailor, and boy 
 would make an affidavit that Cuba was a 
 
l68 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 58 
 
 part of the mainland of Asia. This they 
 consented to do with much alacrity, and 
 when every affidavit had been duly sworn 
 in the presence of a notary, Columbus an- 
 nounced that any person who should at 
 any time express the view that Cuba was 
 an island would be judged guilty of per- 
 jury and punished by a fine of ten thou- 
 sand maravedies, or by a hundred lashes 
 and the amputation of the tongue. 
 
 Having thus conclusively ascertained 
 that Cuba was Asia, he steered south-east, 
 and on the 13th of June anchored at the 
 Isle of Pines. Had he only kept on his 
 voyage westward a day or two longer, he 
 would have reached the w^estern extremity 
 of Cuba, and would have learned that it 
 was an island. 
 
 The voyage back along the Cuban coast 
 was laborious, the weather being often 
 boisterous and the winds adverse. The 
 sailors became so worn out that Columbus 
 was compelled to anchor in a convenient 
 harbor and live on shore with his men for 
 more than a week, in order that they might 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA. 1 69 
 
 rest. Here he met with a venerable ca- 
 cique, who gave him excellent advice as to 
 his future conduct, and assured him that if 
 he did not treat the natives justly he would 
 be punished in a future world. Judging 
 from the report of the cacique's sermon, he 
 was almost as good a Christian as Father 
 Boyle. 
 
 When his men were sufficiently repaired, 
 Columbus sailed to Jamaica and resumed 
 the exploration of its coast-line. He 
 circumnavigated the island without meet- 
 ing with any hostile demonstrations from 
 the natives, and, although he saw no gold, 
 he was kind enough to speak well of Ja- 
 maica in his official report. He was rather 
 embarrassed by a particularly gorgeous 
 cacique, arrayed in a cotton helmet and 
 a necklace of green stones, who with his 
 entire family boarded the flag-ship and in- 
 formed the Admiral that he intended to 
 go to Spain with him. Columbus had 
 some difficulty in declining the cacique's 
 company, but he finally convinced him that 
 if he wished to take passage he must apply 
 
170 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 58 
 
 at the office of the company and provide 
 himself with tickets in the usual way. The 
 truth is, the female part of the cacique's 
 family was numerous and beautiful, and 
 the judicious Admiral feared that the 
 presence of the ladies would seriously in- 
 terfere with the duties of his officers. 
 
 On the 20th of August the fleet reached 
 Hispaniola, but Columbus did not recog- 
 nize it, and fancied that he had discovered 
 a new island. A day or two later a cacique 
 came off to meet him in a canoe, and, ad- 
 dressing him in broken Spanish, informed 
 him of his true locality. Columbus there- 
 fore landed nine of his men, with orders to 
 proceed to Isabella and report to Don 
 Diego, and then continued his voyage along 
 the south coast of the island. The winds, 
 however, persistently opposed him, and he 
 was compelled to lie at anchor for many 
 days. This slow progress, added to the 
 toils and cares which he had lately experi- 
 enced, told heavily on the Admiral's health, 
 already enfeebled by his illness at Isabella. 
 He kept on his feet till the last moment, 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA, 1 71 
 
 but on the 24th of September was struck 
 down by an an attack which rendered him 
 totally insensible, and in that condition he 
 remained for several days, while the fleet 
 pursued its way and finally reached Isa- 
 bella. 
 
 One of the first to welcome the Admiral 
 when he landed was his brother Bartholo- 
 mew. Years before, when Columbus was 
 seeking some monarch who would take an 
 interest in exploration, he sent Bartholo- 
 mew to England to see if King Henry 
 VII. was that kind of king. Either the 
 Post Office of the period was badly 
 managed, or Christopher Columbus was 
 so much occupied with thoughts of explora- 
 tion that he forgot the existence of Bartho- 
 lomew. At any rate, neither brother ap- 
 pears to have heard a word from the other 
 until Bartholomew accidentally learned 
 that the Admiral had actually discovered 
 the New World and was on the point of 
 fitting out a second expedition. Bartholo- 
 mew had at last induced King Henry to 
 agree to give his brother the command of 
 
172 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 58 
 
 an exploring expedition, but of course the 
 news from Spain rendered this agreement 
 useless. Bartholomew hastened to Spain 
 by the most rapid route, and when he 
 found on arriving that his brother had 
 already sailed, he called on Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, who immediately gave him three 
 ships and sent him with supplies to the new 
 colony. 
 
 There is no doubt that Bartholomew 
 Columbus was an able man, to whom full 
 justice has never been done. He was sent 
 to England on an errafid, and he stayed 
 till it was accomplished, although it took 
 him ten years to do it. Where is the man 
 of the present day who would execute the 
 wishes of a brother with this strict and 
 patient fidelity, especially if during the 
 whole time he should never receive a 
 letter or a telegram from home? That 
 Bartholomew was a bold and skilful sailor 
 is proved by the fact that he found his 
 way across the Atlantic to Isabella with- 
 out any sailing directions, and in spite of 
 the care that Christopher had taken to 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA. 1^3 
 
 conceal the knowledge of the direct route. 
 Evidently Bartholomew could both obey 
 and command, and there is no reason to 
 suppose that he was in any way inferior to 
 his more famous brother. 
 
 The Admiral appears to have recalled 
 without much difficulty the fact that he 
 had once had a brother Bartholomew, and 
 to have readily recognized him. Probably 
 he explained that, owing to a pressure of 
 business, Bartholomew had escaped his 
 memory, and he certainly showed that 
 he was glad to see him by appointing him 
 Adelantado, or Deputy Governor, of His- 
 paniola. As he was still confined to his 
 bed, the arrival of his brother was a very 
 fortunate thing, affairs in the colony being 
 in a precarious and dangerous state. 
 
 When Ojeda and his army had reached 
 Fort St. Thomas, Margarite, as ranking 
 officer assumed the supreme command, and, 
 leaving Ojeda with fifty men to garrison 
 the fort, he set out, ostensibly to explore 
 the island and intimidate Caonabo and 
 other hostile chiefs. Instead of carrying 
 
174 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 58 
 
 out this plan, he descended to the fertile 
 plain at the foot of the mountains, where 
 he quartered his troops on the natives and 
 began to enjoy himself. Following his 
 example, the soldiers conducted them- 
 selves after the usual manner of idle and 
 dissolute soldiers, and in a short time 
 earned the enthusiastic hatred of the 
 natives. Don Diego sent a remonstrance 
 to Margarite, which that high-spirited 
 gentleman regarded as an unwarrantable 
 liberty. He refused to acknowledge 
 Diego's authority, and, supported by his 
 officers, set him at defiance. When it was 
 evident that the patience of the natives 
 would soon be exhausted, Margarite and 
 some of his friends, including Father 
 Boyle — who had become worn out by 
 vainly waiting for an opportunity to exper- 
 iment with a combustible heretic — seized 
 one of the ships and sailed away to Spain. 
 The soldiers, being left without any com- 
 mander, lost all organization, and the army 
 melted away. The natives found steady 
 and pleasant employment in killing them 
 
I404] SEARCH FOR CHINA. 1^5 
 
 in small quantities at a time, and about a 
 hundred of them took refuge with our old 
 friend Guacanagari. Caonabo thought 
 this would be a good opportunity for cap- 
 turing Fort St. Thomas, and accordingly he 
 besieged it with a large force, but after 
 thirty days withdrew, completely baffled 
 by the bravery of Ojedaand his handful of 
 men. He then undertook to unite the 
 caciques in a league against the Spaniards, 
 and succeeded in inducing all of them to 
 join him, with the exception of Guacana- 
 gari. The latter went to Isabella soon af- 
 ter Columbus arrived, and warned him 
 that an overwhelming force was about to 
 attack the city. Troops were sent out to 
 attack the nearest of the hostile caciques, 
 who was soon reduced to submission. 
 
 In the mean time, Ojeda with a small 
 escort went to Caonabo's village and in- 
 vited the cacique to visit Columbus and 
 make a treaty with him, pledging him a 
 safe-conduct. The cacique, weakly be- 
 lieving Ojeda's promise, accepted the invi- 
 tation and started with a small army of 
 
1/6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 58 
 
 followers. On the march Ojeda showed 
 the cacique a pair of handcuffs, which he 
 said were a decoration which the Spanish 
 King conferred only on the most eminent 
 of his subjects. Such, however, was the 
 high opinion that the King had of Cao- 
 nabo, that Ojeda was authorized to confer 
 this splendid distinction upon him. As a 
 preliminary, it would be necessary for 
 Caonabo to mount on horseback, the brace- 
 lets being conferred only on mounted 
 knights. Caonabo, feeling himself highly 
 honored, climbed on Ojeda's horse, behind 
 that astute officer, and submitted to be 
 manacled. No sooner was this done than 
 Ojeda, and his escort galloped away and 
 brought the captive cacique to Isabella, 
 where he was safely lodged in jail. 
 
 That Ojeda's conduct in this affair was 
 treacherous and dishonorable there can be 
 no question. Indeed, had he been the 
 United States Government, and had Cao- 
 nabo been a Black Hill Sioux, he could 
 hardly have conducted himself more dis- 
 honorably than he did. 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA. l^J 
 
 The native league was thus temporarily 
 broken up, and the arrival of four ships 
 from Spain, bringing, besides colonists and 
 stores, a doctor and an entire apothecary's 
 shop, gave Columbus strength enough to 
 get out of bed before the doctor could be- 
 gin operations on him. The King and 
 Queen sent Columbus a letter, announcing 
 that they took their several pens in hand to 
 say that they were well and hoped Columbus 
 was enjoying the same blessing, and that 
 they had the utmost confidence in him. 
 This letter completed the Admiral's cure, 
 and he immediately organized an expedi- 
 tion against the natives, who were about 
 to resume hostilities under the leadership 
 of a brother of Caonabo. 
 
 Before setting out, he sent Diego back 
 to Spain, ostensibly to look after his in- 
 terests. Perhaps the true reason was that 
 Diego was of very little use and was ex- 
 tremely unpopular. He was a well-mean- 
 ing man, but his true sphere in fife was 
 that of a justice of the peace in Connecti- 
 cut ; and as Connecticut was not yet ready 
 
178 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 58 
 
 for him, Columbus thought he had better 
 go home and wait until a good opening in 
 East Lyme or Falls Village should present 
 itself. At the same time, five hundred 
 natives were sent to Spain to be sold as 
 slaves, Columbus remarking that he hoped 
 in this way to prepare their precious souls 
 for the humanizing influence of the Gospel. 
 Having seen Diego safely started, Co- 
 lumbus, with Bartholomew, two hundred 
 and twenty Spaniards, and twenty other 
 bloodhounds, started to attack the sav- 
 ages. He met a hundred thousand of 
 them — so the story goes — and defeated 
 them with great slaughter. It is very 
 probable that the number of the enemy 
 was exaggerated, and that there were not 
 more than ninety-nine thousand nine hun- 
 dred and ninety-six, with perhaps two 
 small-boys. There is no doubt, however, 
 that they were shot down by the soldiers, 
 ridden down by the horses, and mangled 
 by the dogs to an immense extent, and 
 that the battle was a glorious triumph of 
 civilization over barbarism. 
 
1494] SEARCH FOR CHINA, 1/9 
 
 The victory was followed up by Colum- 
 bus with energy. He marched through 
 almost the entire length and breadth of 
 the island, and compelled the caciques to 
 make peace and pay a heavy tribute to 
 the Spaniards. Every native was taxed 
 either a certain amount of gold or its 
 equivalent in cotton, according to Co- 
 lumbus's view of their relative value ; 
 and to secure his conquest, the Admiral 
 built and garrisoned forts in different 
 parts of the island, the most important 
 of which was called Fort Concepcion, and 
 was situated in the beautiful plain lying 
 back of Isabella. Even Guacanagari and 
 his people, who had remained faithful to 
 Columbus, were taxed as heavily as the 
 hostile natives, and that amiable cacique 
 was so disgusted by this reward of his 
 fidelity that he resigned his chieftainship 
 and died of what in the case of a white 
 monarch would be called a broken heart, 
 
 The yoke that the Spaniards had put 
 on the native neck was too heavy to be 
 borne. The savages resolved to starve 
 
l80 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 58 
 
 their oppressors, and with this view de- 
 stroyed their crops and retired to the 
 mountains, to Hve on roots until the 
 Spaniards should die of starvation. The 
 plan was not successful. The Spaniards 
 hunted the natives with dogs and dragged 
 them back to work as slaves. Within a 
 few months the free and happy people 
 who had welcomed the Spaniards to the 
 island, and were ready to worship them 
 as superior beings, were converted into a 
 horde of cowed and wretched slaves. 
 
 In later years, when Columbus had seen 
 his own authority in Hispaniola set aside, 
 and the island under the control of his 
 rivals and enemies, he protested that the 
 sight of the sufferings of the unhappy na- 
 tives filled him with grief and horror. It 
 was, however, to his political advantage 
 at just that time to have his heart bleed 
 for the poor savages, and the unprejudiced 
 reader must regret that it did not bleed at 
 an earlier period. It was under the im- 
 mediate rule of Columbus that the natives 
 of Hispaniola were first reduced to sla- 
 
14941 SEARCH FOR CHINA, l8l 
 
 very, and it was Columbus who made his 
 old friend and faithful ally, Guacanagari, 
 suffer the same fate as the chiefs who had 
 rebelled against the Spaniards. Then it 
 cannot be forgotten that, in spite of the 
 direct and repeated commands of Queen 
 Isabella, Columbus sent cargo after cargo 
 of slaves to Spain. He may have been 
 very sorry to see the natives oppressed by 
 Spaniards whom he disliked, but he cer- 
 tainly oppressed them quite as vigorously 
 as did any of his successors. The contrast 
 between his pious and humane protesta- 
 tions and his acts as an oppressor and a 
 slave-trader is not easily explicable if we 
 adopt the usual theory that he was one of 
 the most sincere and noble of men. We 
 may concede that he was naturally kind- 
 hearted, and that he would have preferred 
 gold-mining to slave-hunting ; but when 
 his interest urged him to cruelty, he usu- 
 ally listened to it with respectful attention, 
 and straightway showed by his conduct 
 that, although he was not a countryman 
 of Ojeda and Pizarro, he was not alto- 
 gether unfit to hold a Spanish commission. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES AND DISCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 MARGARITE and Father Boyle, as 
 has been mentioned, had sailed for 
 Spain while Columbus was absent on his 
 cruise in search of China. Arriving in 
 Spain, they told a series of able and effect- 
 ive falsehoods, judiciously seasoned with a 
 little genuine truth. They said it gave 
 them the greatest pain to speak in dis- 
 paraging terms of their superior officer, 
 but a stern sense of duty compelled them 
 to say that the misguided man was a liar 
 and a scoundrel. All the Admiral's sto- 
 ries of fertile islands, rich gold-mines, de- 
 lightful climate, and amiable heathens 
 clamoring for conversion, were without any 
 foundation. Hispaniola was a wretched, 
 fever-stricken place, wholly unfit for colo- 
 nization. As for Columbus and his brother 
 Bartholomew, they were cruel tyrants, who 
 
1495] DIFFICULTIES. I83 
 
 required Spanish gentlemen to work and 
 made sick men get out of their beds, 
 where they were comparatively comforta- 
 ble, in order to engage in ridiculous expe- 
 ditions after gold that never existed. Of 
 the two, Don Bartholomew was perhaps 
 the more objectionable, which was un- 
 fortunate, inasmuch as the Admiral, hav- 
 ing put to sea in search of more of his 
 worthless islands, had undoubtedly been 
 drowned. 
 
 It must be confessed that, in one re- 
 spect, Margarite and Boyle did tell the 
 truth. There were chills and fever in 
 the new colony, and when the King and 
 Queen saw the returned colonists visibly 
 shaking before them, they believed in the 
 unhealthfulness of Hispaniola and all the 
 accompanying lies told by the malicious 
 and malarious complainants. They there- 
 fore resolved to send one Diego Carillo to 
 Hispaniola as an investigating committee, 
 to ascertain if there was anybody capable 
 of telling the exact truth about the state 
 of affairs. 
 
1 84 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 59 
 
 But before Carillo could sail, Don Diego 
 Columbus arrived, and as he brought con- 
 siderable gold with him, the monarchs 
 formed the opinion that he had the air of 
 a man of strict veracity. He admitted 
 that there was a part of the island of His- 
 paniola, a long distance from the colony, 
 where it was said that chills and fever pre- 
 vailed, and he was inclined to believe that 
 the report was true. As for the climate 
 of Isabella and its vicinity, he regarded it 
 as exceptionally healthful. He reported 
 that the Admiral had positively been to 
 the mainland of China, and regretted that 
 he had thoughtlessly forgotten to bring 
 back confirmatory tea-chests. 
 
 Don Diego further assured the King 
 and Queen that since the fortunate de- 
 parture from Hispaniola of two objection- 
 able persons whom he would not name, 
 but who, he was informed, had recently 
 arrived in Spain with a full cargo of as- 
 sorted falsehoods, the affairs of the colony 
 had been very prosperous. Of course, to 
 bold and restless spirits there was a certain 
 
1495] DIFFICUL TIES. I S $ 
 
 monotony in swinging in hammocks all 
 day long, and eating delicious fruit, in a 
 climate that was really perfect, and there 
 were men who even grew tired of picking 
 up nuggets of gold ; but Don Diego was 
 confident that, with a very few exceptions, 
 the colonists enjoyed their luxurious hfe 
 and, on the whole, preferred Hispaniola to 
 Paradise. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella weighed the gold 
 brought by Don Diego, and decided to 
 believe him. They thereupon cancelled 
 Carillo's appointment, and appointed in 
 his place Juan Aguado, a personal friend 
 of Columbus, who, it was understood, 
 would go to Hispaniola in the character 
 of a visiting statesman, and, after examin- 
 ing such witnesses as Columbus might 
 introduce to him, would return home and 
 make a report that would completely sat- 
 isfy the Admiral. 
 
 In spite of this apparently friendly ac- 
 tion, they gave Columbus just cause of 
 complaint by throwing open the business 
 of exploration, the monopoly of which 
 
1 86 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 59 
 
 they had formally given to him. They 
 authorized any Spaniard to fit out ex- 
 ploring expeditions, under certain restric- 
 tions, and to discover continents, islands, 
 and seas, without any limitation as to num- 
 ber ; the discoverers to pay the Crown one 
 third of all the gold they might find. Co- 
 lumbus was greatly grieved at this, not only 
 because he feared that injudicious explorers 
 would discover unhealthy islands, and 
 would thus bring exploration into disrepute, 
 but because it was a distinct breach of faith 
 on the part of the King and Queen. As 
 for the gracious permission which they 
 gave him to freight a vessel to trade with 
 the New World whenever any other ex- 
 plorer should freight one for the like pur- 
 pose, he evidently did not trust himself 
 to express his opinion of such a hollow 
 mockery of his rights. 
 
 In August, 1495, Don Juan Aguado 
 sailed for Hispaniola with a fleet loaded 
 with supplies and a pocket filled with a 
 royal decree, written on the best of parch- 
 ment and ordering that the colony of 
 
1495] DIFFICULTIES. 1 8/ 
 
 Isabella should consist of not over five 
 hundred people. The astute monarchs 
 had perceived that the larger the colony 
 might be the more numerous and contra- 
 dictory would be the complaints which the 
 colonists would make, and hence they re- 
 solved to limit the complaint-producing 
 capacity of the colony, and to render it 
 impossible for more than five hundred 
 distinct accounts of the infamy of Colum- 
 bus and the climate to be brought to their 
 royal ears. 
 
 As Aguado was supposed to be a firm 
 friend of the Admiral, Don Diego Colum- 
 bus decided to return with him to Isabella, 
 which he accordingly did, arriving some 
 time in October. We can imagine how 
 glad Columbus must have been to find 
 that his good though tedious brother's 
 affection forbade him to desert his own 
 dear Christopher. The latter was in the 
 interior when Aguado arrived, and that 
 officer immediately proceeded to astonish 
 Don Bartholomew by putting on what 
 Bartholomew rightly characterized as airs. 
 
1 88 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 59 
 
 Aguado announced that he had come to 
 put things to rights, and that the colonists 
 now had a real friend to whom they 
 could complain when insulted and op- 
 pressed by domineering Italians. As Isa- 
 bella was undoubtedly a dull place, the 
 colonists eagerly availed themselves of the 
 new occupation of making complaints 
 against Columbus and his brother, and 
 displayed a promptness and industry of 
 which they had never before given any 
 signs. Don Bartholomew instantly sent 
 word to his brother that a new and alarm- 
 ing kind of lunatic had arrived from 
 Spain, with a royal commission authorizing 
 him to raise the great adversary of man- 
 kind, and that the sooner the Admiral re- 
 turned the better. 
 
 Columbus hastened to Isabella, where 
 he orreeted Ac^uado with such overwhelm- 
 ing politeness that the fellow became 
 wretchedly unhappy. Pie had hoped to 
 be able to report that Columbus had in- 
 sulted him and treated the royal commis- 
 sion with contempt, but he was disap- 
 
1495] DIFFICULTIES, 1 89 
 
 pointed. He was a little cheered up, 
 however, by a tremendous hurricane 
 which wrecked all the Spanish ships ex- 
 cept one, and kept the air for a time 
 full of Spanish colonists, natives, and 
 fragments of ruined buildings. This he 
 thought would read very well in his in- 
 tended report on the general infamy of the 
 climate, and, despairing of obtaining any- 
 thing better, he resolved to return to 
 Spain as soon as a new vessel could be 
 built. The Admiral announced that he 
 intended to return with him, a piece of 
 news that greatly discontented Aguado, 
 who foresaw that after he had made his 
 report concerning Columbus the latter 
 would be entirely capable of making a re- 
 port concerning Aguado. 
 
 About this time a young Spaniard ar- 
 rived from the interior with a most wel- 
 come story. He had run away from Isa- 
 bella on account of having nearly killed a 
 fellow-colonist, and had met a beautiful 
 female cacique living on the river Ozema, 
 near the present site of San Domingo, 
 
190 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 60 
 
 who had fallen violently in love with him. 
 From her he had learned of rich 2:old- 
 mines, and he humbly trusted that Colum- 
 bus would condescend to look at them 
 and to overlook his little indiscretion in 
 the matter of his fellow-colonist. The 
 Admiral, secretly feeling that any man 
 who killed one of his colonists was a bene- 
 factor of the human race, kindlv fororave 
 him and went with him to inspect the 
 mines, which he found to be apparently so 
 rich that he instantly overhauled his Old 
 Testament and his Geography, and de- 
 cided that he had found the original land 
 of Ophir. 
 
 A new scientific person, who had been 
 sent out to supersede the worthless Fermin 
 Cedo, was ordered to take his crucibles, 
 transit instruments, and other appara- 
 tus, and make a satisfactory assay of the 
 mines. He did so, and, being a clever 
 man, reported to the Admiral that the 
 gold was unusually genuine, and that the 
 ore would probably average three hundred 
 dollars to the ton. At least, that is what 
 
1496] DIFFICULTIES, IQI 
 
 he would have reported had he been a 
 modern expert investigating mining pro- 
 perty in behalf of British capitalists, and 
 we need not suppose that there were no 
 able assayers prior to the discovery of 
 silver in Colorado. Columbus read the 
 report, expressed a high opinion of the sci- 
 entific abilities of the assayer, and ordered 
 a fort to be built in the neigborhood of 
 the mines. 
 
 Carrying with him specimens of gold 
 from the new mines, and the report of the 
 scientific person, Columbus sailed for 
 Spain, in company with Aguado, on the 
 loth of March, 1496. He left Don Bar- 
 tholomew as Governor during his absence, 
 and took with him the captive chief Cao- 
 nabo, either as a specimen of the kind of 
 heathen produced by the islaiTd, or because 
 he thought it might be possible to convert 
 the chief with the help of the many appli- 
 ances in the possession of the church at 
 home. He wisely refrained from taking 
 any slaves, Don Diego having informed 
 him that the Queen had ordered his previa 
 
192 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 60 
 
 ous consignment of five hundred to be 
 sent back to Hispaniola and set at liberty. 
 
 The homeward-bound fleet consisted of 
 only two vessels, but they met with as much 
 head-wind as if they had been a dozen 
 ships of the largest size, and on the loth 
 of April they were compelled to stop at 
 Guadaloupe for water and provisions. Here 
 they were attacked by armed women as 
 well as men. Several of these early 
 American advocates of the equality of the 
 sexes were captured, and set at liberty 
 again when the ships sailed. One of them, 
 however, improved the tim-e by falling in 
 love with Caonabo, whom she insisted upon 
 accompanying, and Columbus consented 
 to carry her to Spain as a beautiful illus- 
 tration of the affectionate character of the 
 Western heathen. 
 
 It was the 20th of April when the fleet 
 left Guadaloupe, and Cadiz was not reached 
 until the nth of June. The provisions 
 were so nearly exhausted that during the lat- 
 ter part of the voyage the sailors were almost 
 in a state of starvation. Of course, when 
 
1496] DIFFICULTIES. 193 
 
 the provisions were scarce and the men 
 were put on short allowance, the prisoner 
 Caonabo and his affectionate female friend 
 received their share of food, for Columbus 
 would never have permitted the unfortu- 
 nate pair to starve. Still, it did happen 
 that Caonabo died on the voyage, and his- 
 tory is silent as to what became of his 
 companion. 
 
 The returned colonists told dismal sto- 
 ries of their sufferings, but their stories 
 were superfluous. Their wretched appear- 
 ance ; the way in which they clung to the 
 lamp-posts and shook them till the glass 
 rattled ; and the promptness with which 
 they rushed into the drug-stores and de- 
 manded — each for himself, in a single breath 
 — '' Six - dozen-two-grain - quinine-pills-and- 
 be - quick - about - it !" furnished sufficient 
 evidence of the sort of climate in which 
 they had lived. It was useless for Colum- 
 bus and his friends to say that the appear- 
 ance and conduct of the shaking colonists 
 were due to sea-sickness and long confine- 
 ment on shipboard without proper pro- 
 
194 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 60-62 
 
 visions. The incredulous public of Cadiz 
 could not be thus imposed upon, and the 
 visible facts as to the colonists offset in 
 the popular mind the magnificent stories 
 of the mines of Ophir which the Admiral 
 circulated as soon as he landed. The 
 monarchs sent him a courteous invita- 
 tion to visit the court, but he was in great 
 doubt as to the kind of reception which 
 Margarite, Father Boyle, and Aguado 
 would prepare for him. In order to show 
 that he felt himself greatly humiliated by 
 the credence which had been given to the 
 reports against him, he dressed himself in 
 a Franciscan's coarse gown, and let his 
 beard grow. On his way to court he 
 paraded some thirty Indians whom he had 
 brought with him, dressed principally in 
 gold bracelets, and thereby created the 
 false and alarming impression on the pub- 
 lic mind that the Black Crook had broken 
 out with much violence. 
 
 The King and Queen, when they saw 
 the gold that Columbus had brought, and 
 read the scientific person's certificates that 
 
1496-98] DIFFICULTIES. I95 
 
 it was genuine, decided to disregard all 
 the complaints against the Admiral. 
 Aguado had nothing to repay him for 
 his long voyage, and no one would listen 
 to his report. It is believed that he final- 
 ly published it as an advertisement at so 
 much a line in the local Cadiz paper, and 
 sent marked copies to all his friends. If 
 so, he benefited no one but the printers, 
 and did Columbus no apparent injury. 
 
 Columbus was promised eight ships for 
 a third exploring expedition, but the 
 money was not in the treasury, or, at all 
 events, the King and Queen could not 
 make up their minds to spare it. They 
 were engaged in two or three expensive 
 wars and one or two difficult marriages, 
 and were really quite pinched for money. 
 At last, however, they gave Columbus an 
 order for the amount ; but before it was 
 paid, Pedro Alonzo Nino, who had been 
 sent with supplies to Hispaniola, returned 
 to Cadiz and announced that his ships 
 were filled with gold. The monarchs 
 therefore recalled their order, and in its 
 
196 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 60 
 
 Stead gave Columbus a draft on Nino, to 
 be paid from his cargo of gold. Further 
 investigation showed that Niilo had spo- 
 ken figuratively, and that he had no actual 
 gold, but only a cargo of slaves, who, he 
 estimated, would bring more or less gold 
 if sold in the market. 
 
 Meanwhile the monarchs had appropri- 
 ated all their ready money for purposes of 
 slaughter and matrimony, and so were 
 compelled to decline advancing funds for 
 the new expedition until their business 
 should improve. 
 
 Columbus had already lost much of his 
 original popularity, and was daily losing 
 what remained. That he had discovered 
 new countries nobody denied ; but the 
 complaint was that he had selected cheap 
 and undesirable countries. The Queen, 
 however, still admired and trusted him, 
 for the Admiral was a man of remarkably 
 fine personal appearance. She confirmed 
 all the previous honors and privileges that 
 had been promised to him, which looks as 
 if in those days a royal promise became 
 
1496-98] DIFFICULTIES. 1 97 
 
 outlawed, as the lawyers say, in one or 
 two years unless it was renewed — a rule 
 which must have greatly simplified the 
 practice of diplomacy. Inasmuch as there 
 had been a vast excess of expenses over 
 receipts in the exploration business, Co- 
 lumbus was released from the obligation 
 to pay an eighth of the cost of every ex- 
 pedition, and was given a large tract of 
 land in Hispaniola, with the title of Duke, 
 which title he refused, since it was inferior 
 in rank to his title of Admiral. 
 
 While waiting for the expedition to be 
 made ready, Columbus improved the time 
 by making his will. In this document he 
 committed the task of recovering the Holy 
 Sepulchre to his son Diego, and directed 
 him to save up his money by putting it 
 in the savings bank, until he should have 
 enough to pay for a crusade. Curiously 
 enough, Don Diego never was able to ac- 
 cumulate the necessary sum, and the Holy 
 Sepulchre is still waiting to be delivered. 
 It was wise, however, in the Admiral to 
 delegate this great duty to his son, and 
 
198 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.£1.62 
 
 thus to free himself from an obligation 
 which could not but interfere with the 
 business of exploration. The more we can 
 shift our burdens upon our descendants, 
 the better time we shall have. This is the 
 great principle upon which all enlightened 
 nations base their financial policy. 
 
 Early in 1498 the royal business had so 
 far improved that two vessels loaded with 
 supplies were sent to Hispaniola, and 
 preparations were made for fitting out a 
 fleet of six ships and a force of five hun- 
 dred men. The five hundred men were 
 not easily found. It was the popular be- 
 lief that chills and fever were not worth 
 the trouble of so long a voyage, and that 
 there was little else to be got by serving 
 under Columbus. In this emergency, the 
 sentences of criminals in the Spanish jails 
 were commuted to transportation to the 
 New World, and a pardon was offered to 
 all persons for whom the police were look- 
 ing — with the exception of heretics and a 
 few other choice criminals— who should 
 surrender themselves and volunteer to join 
 
1498] DIFFICULTIES, 199 
 
 the fleet. In this way the required num- 
 ber of men was gradually obtained. In 
 point of moral character the expedition 
 might have competed with an equal num- 
 ber of Malay pirates or New York plumb- 
 ers. We are even told that some hardened 
 and habitual musicians were thus carried 
 by Columbus to the once peaceful and 
 happy island of Hispaniola, taking with 
 them their accordions and guitars. This 
 is a blot upon the Admiral's character 
 which his most ardent admirers cannot 
 overlook. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 
 
 THE perseverance of Columbus tri- 
 umphed over all obstacles. The ex- 
 pedition was finally ready, and on the 
 30th of May, 1498, the Admiral went on 
 board the flag-ship and, after remarking 
 ''All ashore that's goin !" and "All 
 aboard !" rang the final bell and started 
 once more for the New World. Just as 
 he was about to embark, one Breviesca, a 
 clerk in the Indian Agents' Bureau, met 
 him on the wharf and told Columbus that 
 he would never return. 
 
 "What, never?" exclaimed the aston- 
 ished Admiral. 
 
 "Well, hardly ever," replied the mis- 
 creant. 
 
 Of course Columbus instantly knocked 
 him down, and went on board his vessel 
 in a just but tremendous rage. He wrote 
 
1498] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION, 201 
 
 to the Queen, informing her of the affair, 
 and sincerely regretting that he had lost 
 his temper. Long afterwards his enemies 
 were accustomed to refer to the brutal 
 way in which he had attacked an estima- 
 ble and inoffensive gentleman, as a proof 
 of his ungovernable temper, his Italian 
 fondness for revenge, and his general un- 
 fitness for any post of responsibility. 
 
 The fleet steered first for Madeira, and 
 then for the Canary Islands, touching at 
 both places ; and at the latter surprising — 
 as historians assure us — a French privateer 
 with two Spanish prizes. What there was 
 about Columbus or his fleet that was so 
 surprising, has, of course, been left to our 
 imagination, in accordance with the habit 
 of historians to omit mentioning details 
 of real interest. The Frenchman was at- 
 tacked by the Spaniards, but managed to 
 escape together with one of his prizes. 
 The other prize was retaken by the Span- 
 ish prisoners on board of her, and given up 
 to Columbus, who turned the vessel over 
 to the local authorities. 
 
202 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 62 
 
 From the Canaries the fleet sailed to 
 the Cape Verde Islands, where the Admi- 
 ral divided his forces. Three ships he 
 sent direct to Hispaniola, and with the 
 other three he steered in a south-westerly 
 direction, to make new discoveries. He 
 soon discovered the hottest region in 
 which he had ever yet been — the great 
 champion belt of equatorial calms. There 
 was not a breath of wind, and the very 
 seams of the ships opened with the in- 
 tense heat. It was evident to the sailors 
 that they must be very close to the region 
 where, according to the scientific persons 
 of the period, the sea was perpetually boil- 
 ing, and they began to fear that they would 
 be roasted before the boiling process could 
 begin. Luckily, a gentle breeze finally 
 sprung up, and Columbus, abandoning the 
 rash attempt to sail farther south, steered 
 directly west, and soon passed into a com- 
 forting, cool, and pleasant climate. 
 
 On the 31st of July he discovered the 
 island of Trinidad, and in view of the fact 
 that his ships were leaky, his water almost 
 
1498] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 203 
 
 gone, and his body alternately shaken by 
 fever and twisted by gout, it was high 
 time that land should have been found. 
 
 The following day the flag-ship was sud- 
 denly attacked by a canoe full of fierce 
 natives, who threw spears and other 
 unpleasant things at the Spaniards, and 
 fought with great bravery. Columbus, 
 determined to strike terror into the ene- 
 my, ordered his musicians to assemble on 
 deck and play familiar airs — probably from 
 *' Pinafore." The result surpassed his most 
 sanguine expectations. The unhappy na- 
 tives fled in wild dismay as soon as the 
 music began, and yelled with anguish 
 when the first cornet blew a staccato 
 note, and the man with the bass trombone 
 played half a tone flat. When we re- 
 member that the good Queen Isabella 
 had particularly ordered Columbus to 
 treat the natives kindly, we must earnest- 
 ly hope that this cruel" incident never 
 came to her presumably pretty ears. 
 
 The fleet was now off the south shore of 
 Trinidad, and the mainland was in plain 
 
204 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 62 
 
 sight farther west. Columbus at first sup- 
 posed that the mainland was only another 
 island, and after taking in water he sailed 
 west, with the intention of sailing beyond 
 it. Passing through the narrow strait be- 
 tween Trinidad and the continent, he en- 
 tered the placid Gulf of Paria, where to his 
 astonishment he found that the water was 
 fresh. Sailing along the shore, he landed 
 here and there and made friendly calls on 
 the natives, whom he found to be a pleas- 
 ant, light-colored race, with a commend- 
 able fondness for exchanging pearls for 
 bits of broken china and glass beads. 
 No opening could be found through which 
 to sail farther westward, and Columbus 
 soon came to the opinion that he had 
 this time reached the continent of Asia. 
 
 One thing greatly astonished him. He 
 had been fully convinced that the nearer he 
 should approach the equator the blacker 
 would be the people and the hotter the 
 climate. Yet the people of Paria were 
 light-colored, and the climate was vastly 
 cooler than the scorching regions of the 
 
149S] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 205 
 
 equatorial calms. Remembering also the 
 remarkable conduct of the stars, which 
 had materially altered their places since he 
 had left the Cape Verde Islands, and re- 
 flecting upon the unusual force of the cur- 
 rents which had latterly interfered severe- 
 ly with the progress of the ship, Columbus 
 proceeded to elaborate a new and attrac- 
 tive geographical theory. He wrote to 
 Ferdinand and Isabella that, in his opin- 
 ion, the world was not exactly round, like 
 a ball or an orange, as he had hitherto 
 maintained, but that it was shaped like a 
 large yellow pear. He assumed that the 
 region which he had now reached corre- 
 sponded to the long neck of the pear, near 
 the stem, as it appears when the pear is 
 resting on its larger end. He had conse- 
 quently sailed up a steep ascent since leav- 
 ing Spain, and had by this means reached 
 a cool climate and found light-colored 
 heathen. 
 
 This was a very pretty theory, and one 
 which ought to have satisfied any reasona- 
 ble inventor of geographical theories ; but 
 
206 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 62 
 
 Columbus, warming with his work, pro- 
 ceeded still further to embellish it. He 
 maintained that the highest point of the 
 earth was situated a short distance west of 
 the coast of Paria, and that on its apex the 
 Garden of Eden could be found. He ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the Garden was 
 substantially in the same condition as when 
 Adam and Eve left it. Of course a few 
 weeds might have sprung up in the 
 neglected flower-beds, but Columbus was 
 confident that the original tree of the 
 knowledge of good and evil, and the con- 
 versationally disposed animals, were all to 
 be found in their accustomed places. As 
 for the angel with the two-edged sword, 
 who had been doing sentry duty at the 
 gate for several thousand years, there could 
 be no doubt that should an explorer pre- 
 sent to him a written pass signed by the 
 Pope, the angel w^ould instantly admit him 
 into the Garden. 
 
 Columbus now felt that, whatever fail- 
 ures might seem to characterize his new 
 exploring expedition, he had forever se- 
 
1498] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION, 20/ 
 
 cured the gratitude and admiration of the 
 pious Queen. To have almost discovered 
 the Garden of Eden in a nearly perfect 
 state of repair was certainly more satisfac- 
 tory than the discovery of any amount of 
 gold would have been. Still, he thought 
 it could do no harm to mention in his let- 
 ter to the Queen that pearls of enormous 
 value abounded on the coast, and that the 
 land was fertile, full of excellent trees and 
 desirable fruits, and populous with parrots 
 of most correct conversational habits, and 
 monkeys of unusual moral worth and comic 
 genius. 
 
 Although Columbus failed to visit the 
 Garden of Eden, either because he had no 
 pass from the Pope or because he could 
 not spare the time, it must not be imagin- 
 ed that he did not believe his new and sur- 
 prising theory. In those happy days men 
 had a capacity for belief which they have 
 since totally lost, and Columbus himself 
 was probably capable of honestly believing 
 even wilder theories than the one which 
 gave to the earth the shape of a pear and 
 
208 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 62 
 
 perched the Garden on the top of an ima- 
 ginary South American mountain. 
 
 As the provisions were getting low, and 
 the Admiral's fever was getting high — not 
 to speak of his gout, which manifested a ten- 
 dency to rise to his stomach — he resolved 
 to cease exploring for a time, and to sail 
 for Hispaniola. He arrived there on the 
 19th of August, after discovering and nam- 
 ing a quantity of new islands. The cur- 
 rents had drifted him so far out of his 
 course, that he reached the coast of His- 
 paniola a hundred and fifty miles west of 
 Ozima, his port of destination. Sending 
 an Indian messenger to warn Bartholomew 
 of his approach, he sailed for Ozima, where 
 he arrived on the 30th of August, looking 
 as worn out and haggard as if he had been 
 engaged in a prolonged pleasure-trip to the 
 Fishing Banks. 
 
 Don Bartholomew received his brother 
 with the utmost joy, and proceeded to 
 make him happy by telling him how badly 
 affairs had gone during his absence. Bar- 
 tholomew had followed the Admiral's 
 
1498] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 209 
 
 orders, and had proved himself a gallant 
 and able commander. He had built a fort 
 and founded a city at the mouth of the 
 Ozima, which is now known as San Do- 
 mingo. Leaving Don Diego Columbus 
 in command of the colony, he had marched 
 to Xaragua, the western part of the island, 
 and induced the Cacique Behechio and his 
 sister Anacaona, the widow of Caonabo, to 
 acknowledge the Spanish rule and to pay 
 tribute. He had also crushed a conspiracy 
 of the natives, which was due chiefly to the 
 burning of several Indians at the stake who 
 had committed sacrilege by destroying a 
 chapel. These were the first Indians who 
 were burnt for religious purposes, and it is 
 a pity that Father Boyle had not remained 
 in Hispaniola long enough to witness the 
 ceremony which he had so often vainly 
 urged the Admiral to permit him to per- 
 form. Probably Don Bartholomew was 
 not responsible for the burning of the 
 savages, for he evidently sympathized 
 with the revolted natives, and suppressed 
 the conspiracy with hardly any bloodshed. 
 
2IO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. \J£x. 62 
 
 The colonists, both old and new, were 
 of course always discontented, and cordi- 
 ally disliked the two brothers of the Ad- 
 miral. The chief judge of the colony, 
 Francisco Roldan, undertook to over- 
 throw the authority of the Adelentado, and 
 to make himself the ruler of the island. 
 After much preliminary rioting and strong 
 language Roldan openly rebelled, and with 
 his followers besieged Don Bartholomew 
 in Fort Concepcion, in which he had taken 
 refuge, and from which he did not dare to 
 sally, not feeling any confidence in his men. 
 Roldan was unable to capture the fort, 
 but he instigated the natives to throw off 
 Bartholomew's authorfty, and convinced 
 them that he, and not the Adelentado, 
 was their real friend. 
 
 The opportune arrival of the two supply 
 ships, which sailed from Spain while Co- 
 lumbus was fitting out his third expedition, 
 probably saved the authority and the life 
 of Don Bartholomew. He immediately 
 left the fort and, going to San Domingo, 
 took command of the newly arrived troops, 
 
1498-1500] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 211 
 
 and proclaimed Roldan a traitor, which 
 greatly relieved his mind. The traitor 
 thereupon marched with his men to Xara- 
 gua, where they led a simple and happy 
 life of vice and immorality. The discord 
 among the Spaniards induced the natives 
 to make another attempt to gain their 
 liberty, but the Adelentado, in a brilliant 
 campaign, once more reduced them to 
 subjection. Two native insurrections, a 
 Spanish rebellion, and unusual discontent 
 were thus the chief features of the pleasant 
 story with which Columbus was welcomed 
 to Hispaniola. 
 
 Before he could take any active measures 
 against Roldan, except to issue a proclama- 
 tion expressly confirming Don Bartholo- 
 mew's assertion that he was a traitor, the 
 three ships which he had sent direct to 
 Hispaniola when he divided his fleet at 
 the Cape Verde Islands, arrived off the 
 coast of Xaragua, and perceiving Spaniards 
 on the shore, imagined that they were 
 respectable colonists. Roldan fostered 
 that delusion until he had obtained arms 
 
212 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 62-64 
 
 and supplies, when he admitted that from 
 the hohest motives he had rebelled against 
 the tyranny of the Adelentado. 
 
 The men of the fleet, learning that Rol- 
 dan's followers were a set of reckless 
 scoundrels, were inclined to think that 
 perhaps transportation was not such a 
 terrible affair after all, and began to de- 
 sert with great alacrity, and to join the 
 rebels. The ships therefore put to sea, 
 and their commander, on arriving at San 
 Domingo, informed Columbus that Rol- 
 dan would probably surrender if it was 
 made an object to him to do so. 
 
 The Admiral was anxious to march on 
 Xaragua, capture Roldan, and make an 
 example of him ; but his unpopularity and 
 that of his brothers was so great that he 
 did not dare to risk leaving San Domingo, 
 lest it should rebel as soon as his back was 
 turned. In order to rid himself of some 
 of the malcontents, he fitted out five ves- 
 sels, and offered a free passage to Spain 
 to every one who wished to return. The 
 ships sailed, carrying letters from both 
 
1498-1500] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 213 
 
 Columbus and Roldan, in which each 
 described the other in uncomplimentary 
 terms. 
 
 Columbus would now have marched 
 against Roldan, but he could not find 
 more than seventy men who felt well 
 enough to march with him. The rest said 
 they had headaches, or had sprained their 
 ankles, and really must be excused. There 
 was nothing left to do but to negotiate 
 with the rebel leader, and compromise 
 matters. Columbus began by offering a 
 free pardon to Roldan if he would imme- 
 diately surrender. Roldan, in his turn, 
 offered to pardon Columbus if he would 
 agree to certain conditions. These nego- 
 tiations were continued for a long time, 
 and after various failures the Admiral suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining a compromise. He 
 agreed to reappoint Roldan Chief Judge 
 of the colony ; to grant him a certificate 
 that all the charges which had been made 
 against him were malicious lies ; to give 
 him and his followers back pay, slaves, 
 and compensation for their property which 
 
2 14 CHRIS TOP HER COL UMB US. [JEu 62-64 
 
 had been destroyed ; to send back to Spain 
 such of the rebels as might wish to return, 
 and to give the remainder large grants of 
 land. On these conditions Roldan agreed 
 to overlook what had passed and to rejoin 
 the colony. This successful compromise 
 served years afterwards as a model for 
 Northern Americans when dealing with 
 their dissatisfied brethren, and entitles Co- 
 lumbus to the honor of being the first 
 great American compromiser. 
 
 Having thus settled the dispute, the 
 Admiral wrote to Spain, explaining that 
 the conditions to which he had agreed had 
 been extorted by force and were therefore 
 not binding, and that on Roldan's massive 
 cheek deserved to be branded the legend 
 Fraud first triumphant i7i American 
 Histoiy. He asked that a commissioner 
 should be sent out to arrest and punish 
 the rebel chief, and to take the place of 
 Chief Judge now fraudulently held by 
 Roldan. 
 
 There is of course no doubt that Co- 
 lumbus would have hung Roldan with 
 
1498-1500] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 21$ 
 
 great pleasure had he been able to do so. 
 He was compelled by force of circum- 
 stances to yield to all the rebel's demands, 
 but nevertheless it was hardly fair for him 
 to claim that his acts and promises were 
 not binding. Still, it should be remem- 
 bered that he was suffering from malarial 
 fever, and it is notorious that even the 
 best of men will tell lies without remorse 
 if they live in a malarious region and have 
 houses for sale or to let. 
 
 The Admiral, having thus restored or- 
 der, was about to return to Spain to ex- 
 plain more fully his conduct and that of 
 Don Bartholomew, when he heard that 
 four ships commanded by Alonzo de 
 Ojeda had arrived at Xaragua. He im- 
 mediately suspected that something was 
 wrong, and that in Ojeda he would have 
 a new and utterly unscrupulous enemy to 
 deal with. Foreseeing that an emergency 
 was about to occur in which a skilful 
 scoundrel might be of great assistance to 
 him, he gave Roldan the command of two 
 ships, and sent him to ascertain what 
 
2l6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 62-64 
 
 Ojeda intended to do. The wily Roldan 
 anchored just out of sight of Ojeda's fleet, 
 while the latter, with fifteen men only, 
 was on shore. Landing with a strong 
 force, and placing himself between Ojeda 
 and his ships, he waited for the latter to 
 meet him and explain matters. 
 
 Ojeda soon appeared, and was delighted 
 to see a gentleman of whom he had heard 
 such favorable reports. He said he was 
 on his way to San Domingo, and had 
 merely landed for supplies. He had been 
 authorized to make discoveries by Fon- 
 seca, the Secretary of Indian Affairs, and 
 his expedition had been fitted out with 
 the assistance of Amerigo Vespucci and 
 other enterprising merchants. He had 
 been cruising in the Gulf of Paria, and 
 had his ships loaded with slaves. As soon 
 as he could he intended to visit Columbus, 
 who, he regretted to say, was probably 
 the most unpopular man in Spain, and 
 would soon be removed from his com- 
 mand. Roldan returned to San Domingo 
 with this information, and both he and the 
 
1498-1500] HIS THIRD expedition: 217 
 
 Admiral agreed that they did not believe 
 anything that Ojeda had said. 
 
 Meanwhile Ojeda, having met with 
 many of Roldan's former adherents, who 
 still lingered in Xaragua, was informed by 
 them that Columbus had not given them 
 their back pay. Ojeda said that such in- 
 justice made his blood boil, and that if 
 they would join him he would march to 
 San Domingo and put an end to the base 
 Italian tyrant. The new rebellion was 
 prevented by the arrival of Roldan with 
 a respectable array of troops, and Ojeda 
 promptly went on board his flag-ship. 
 Roldan wrote to him asking for an inter- 
 view, and reminding him that rebellion 
 was a crime which every good man ought 
 to abhor. Ojeda, replied that such was 
 precisely his opinion, and he must refuse 
 to have anything to do with a man who 
 had lately been a rebel. 
 
 Soon afterward Ojeda sailed away in 
 a northerly direction, keeping near the 
 shore, and Roldan marched along the 
 coast to intercept him in case he should 
 
2l8 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 62-64 
 
 land. Arriving at a place called by the 
 natives Cahay, Ojeda sent a boat ashore, 
 which was captured by Roldan, and in 
 order to regain it he was finally forced to 
 consent to parley with his antagonist. 
 The result was that Ojeda promised to 
 sail immediately for Spain. Having made 
 this promise he naturally landed soon after 
 on another part of the island, but being 
 followed by Roldan he finally abandoned 
 Hispaniola and sailed for Cadiz with his 
 cargo of slaves. 
 
 The Admiral was greatly pleased at this 
 signal illustration of the wisdom of the 
 proverb about setting a rogue to catch a 
 rogue, and writing Roldan a compliment- 
 ary letter, requested him to remain for a 
 little while in Xaragua. 
 
 While Ojeda's ships were at Xaragua, 
 Columbus had passed sentence of banish- 
 ment on Hernando de Guevara, a disso- 
 lute young Spaniard, and sent him to 
 embark on board one of Ojeda's vessels. 
 He arrived at Xaragua after the ships had 
 left, and Roldan ordered him to go into 
 
1498-1500] HIS THIRD EXPEDITION. 219 
 
 banishment at Cahay. Guevara, however, 
 had fallen m love with an Indian maid, tha 
 daughter of Anacaona, and wanted to re- 
 main in Xaragua and marry her. Roldan 
 would not Hsten to him, and the unhappy 
 youth went to Cahay, where he stayed 
 three days and then returned. There was 
 a spirited quarrel between him and Rol- 
 dan, and the latter finally yielded and 
 allowed Guevara to remain. 
 
 The grateful young man immediately 
 conspired against Roldan and the Admiral. 
 He had a cousin, De Mexica, a former 
 associate of Roldan's in rebellion, who im- 
 mediately took up the cause of the exile. 
 De Mexica soon convinced his ex-rebel 
 friends that the spectacle of Roldan, as 
 an upright, law-abiding man, was simply 
 revolting, and that he and Columbus 
 ought to be killed. He had gathered a 
 small force together, when he and his 
 chief associates were suddenly surprised 
 by the Admiral, arrested, tried, and hanged 
 before they had time to realize that any- 
 thing was the matter. 
 
220 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 62-64 
 
 Don Bartholomew was dispatched to 
 Xaragua to aid Roldan, and the two, after 
 arresting Guevara, stamped out the new 
 rebellion with remorseless energy. This 
 time there was no compromise, and a sus- 
 picion began to prevail that rebellion was 
 not so safe and profitable an industry as it 
 had been hitherto. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 
 
 ON the 23d of August, 1500, two ships 
 arrived at San Domingo, commanded 
 by Don Francisco de Bobadilla, who had 
 been sent out by the Spanish monarchs as 
 a commissioner to investigate the state of 
 the colony. The enemies of Columbus 
 had at last succeeded in prejudicing Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella against him. Ojeda, the 
 returned colonists, Roldan's rebels, and 
 the letters of Roldan himself, all agreed in 
 representing the Admiral as a new kind of 
 fiend, with Italian improvements, for whom 
 no punishment could be sufficiently severe. 
 Ferdinand calculated the total amount 
 of gold which Columbus had either carried 
 or sent to Spain, and, finding it smaller 
 than he had expected, could no longer con- 
 ceal his conviction that Columbus was a 
 cruel, tyrannical, and wicked man. Isabella 
 
222 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 64 
 
 had hitherto believed in the Admiral, and 
 had steadily stood by him while under fire, 
 but in face of the evidence which had lat- 
 terly been submitted to her, and in view of 
 the cargo of slaves that had been sent from 
 Hispaniola to Spain in spite of her orders, 
 she was compelled to admit that an inves- 
 tigation should be made, and sanctioned 
 the appointment of Bobadilla, with the 
 understanding that he would let no guilty 
 man escape. 
 
 The average historian is always very in- 
 dignant with the monarchs for sending 
 Bobadilla to San Domingo, and regards 
 that act as a wanton persecution of a great 
 and good man. But the cold and scepti- 
 cal inquirer will ask how it happened that 
 every person who came under the Admi- 
 ral's authority, with the exception of his 
 tw^o brothers, invariably made complaints 
 against him. It is true that the majority 
 of the colonists were men whose word was 
 unworthy of credit, but had Columbus 
 been a just and able ruler, surely some one 
 outside of his own family would have 
 
I500] HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 223 
 
 spoken favorably of him. We need not 
 suppose that he was responsible for the 
 chills and fever which harassed the colo- 
 nists, or that he originated all the hurri- 
 canes and earthquakes that visited the 
 island ; but there is sufficient reason to be- 
 lieve that he was not well fitted to win the 
 obedience or respect of the colonists, and 
 in the circumstances we may restrain our 
 indignation at the appointment of the in- 
 vestigating commissioner. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella evidently had 
 cofidence in the judgment and integrity of 
 Bobadilla, for they gave him three or four 
 different commissions, with authority to 
 use any or all of them, as he might see fit. 
 As the event proved, he was unworthy of 
 this confidence ; but it would not be fair to 
 accuse the monarchs of deliberate cruelty 
 because they overrated their commissioner's 
 intelligence. 
 
 Bobadilla arrived at San Domingo just 
 after the suppression of Mexica's rebellion, 
 and while Columbus was still absent at 
 Fort Concepcion. As he entered the river 
 
224 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 64 
 
 he saw two gibbets decorated with rebel 
 corpses, and the sight was not adapted to 
 remove the impression, which he undoubt- 
 edly had, that Columbus was cruel and 
 tyrannical. 
 
 His first act was to publish a proclama- 
 tion that he had come to redress griev- 
 ances, and that every one in San Domingo 
 who had any cause of complaint against 
 Columbus or his brothers should at once 
 speak out, or ever after hold his peace. 
 The entire population, with the solitary 
 exception of those who were locked up in 
 jail, at once hastened to Bobadilla and told 
 their grievances. 
 
 The commissioner, appalled at the flood 
 of accusation w^hich he had set loose, 
 strengthened his mind by attending mass, 
 and then caused his commission appoint- 
 ing him to inquire into the late rebellion 
 to be read. This having been done, he 
 demanded that Don Diego Columbus, who 
 was in command of San Domingo, should 
 surrender to him Guevara and the other 
 rebel prisoners. Don Diego said that he 
 
I500J HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 225 
 
 held the prisoners subject to the Admiral's 
 order, and must therefore decline to sur- 
 render them. Bobadilla next produced a 
 second commission appointing him Gov- 
 ernor of the New World, and remarked 
 that perhaps Don Diego would now con- 
 descend to give up the prisoners. Don 
 Diego conceded that the commission was 
 a very pretty one, especially in point of 
 seals and ribands, but maintained that his 
 brother had a better one, and that, on the 
 whole, he must decline to recognize Boba- 
 dilla as Governor. Exasperated by this 
 obstinacy, Bobadilla now produced a third 
 commission, ordering the Admiral and his 
 brothers to surrender all the forts, public 
 buildings, and public property to him, and 
 forcibly argued that since Guevara was in a 
 fort, the surrender of the fort would include 
 the surrender of Guevara, in accordance 
 with the axiom that the greater includes the 
 less. Don Diego calmly insisted that this 
 was not a case in which mathematics were 
 concerned, and that he proposed to obey 
 the Admiral's orders, no matter if Bobadilla 
 
226 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 64 
 
 should keep on producing new commis- 
 sions at the rate of sixty a minute for the 
 rest of his natural life. 
 
 Bobadilla, finding that Don Diego's ob- 
 stinacy was proof against everything, went 
 to the fort and called on the commander 
 to give up his prisoners, and when the 
 commander refused, broke into the fort, at 
 the head of the delighted colonists, and 
 seized on Guevara and his rebel compan- 
 ions. He then took possession of all the 
 property and private papers belonging to 
 the Admiral, and, moving into his house, 
 proceeded to assume the duties of Gover- 
 nor and investigator. 
 
 Columbus, when he heard of these pro- 
 ceedings, was somewhat astonished, and 
 remarked to his friends that he feared this 
 Bobadilla was a little rash and impolitic. 
 He wrote to him, welcoming him to the 
 island, and suggesting that it would be well 
 if he were to draw it mild — or words to 
 that effect. In reply, Bobadilla sent him 
 an order to appear before him at once, and 
 enclosed a letter from the sovereigns, or- 
 
1500] HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 22/ 
 
 dering Columbus to obey the combined 
 Governor and Commissioner in all things. 
 Being wholly without means of resistance, 
 Columbus perceived that magnanimity was 
 what posterity would expect of him, and 
 therefore immediately went to San Do- 
 mingo and presented himself before Boba- 
 dilla. 
 
 That amiable and delicate person re- 
 ceived the Admiral as if he were an Italian 
 brigand for whom a reward of $25,000 had 
 been offered, and ordered him and his 
 brother, Don Diego, to be put in irons, 
 As a striking instance of the irony of fate, 
 it may be mentioned that the man who 
 placed the irons on Columbus was his 
 former cook, whose self-respect had often 
 been wounded when his master complained 
 that the maccaroni was burned or that the 
 roast pork was insufficiently cooked. Now 
 the cook had his revenge, and we can 
 imagine with what zest he remarked, after 
 the fetters were riveted, that he hoped 
 that for once the Admiral would admit that 
 the job was well done, and would notice 
 
228 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 64 
 
 the rare pleasure with which his ex-cook 
 had performed it, whatever might have 
 been that humble but honest individual's 
 previous sins in respect to pork and mac- 
 caroni. Undoubtedly he said something 
 of the kind, for a man who could put 
 chains on Columbus was surely bad 
 enough to make puns without shame 01 
 remorse. At the command of Bobadilla, 
 Columbus wrote to Don Bartholomew, 
 who was in Xaragua, inviting him to come 
 and share the fetters of his illustrious 
 brother and the well-meaning Don Diego 
 — which the Adelentado accordingly did. 
 
 Having the entire Columbus family thus 
 safely in his power, Bobadilla proceeded 
 to take testimony against them, with all 
 the enthusiasm of a partisan Senate com- 
 mittee preparing material for a Presiden- 
 tial campaign. There was no lack of tes- 
 timony. The colonists made affidavits 
 with a wealth of imagination and fervency 
 of zeal which a professional detective em- 
 ployed to furnish evidence in an Indiana 
 divorce case might emulate but could not 
 
i5oo] HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 22g 
 
 surpass. Columbus was accused of nearly 
 all modern and ancient crimes, from steal- 
 ing pearls and gold-dust up to the crown- 
 ing infamy of requiring Spanish gentlemen 
 to work. It was conclusively shown that 
 he was the worst man then living, with the 
 possible exception of the Adelentado, and 
 that Guevara and the other rebels were 
 patent, direct-acting saints, who deserved 
 every possible honor. Having made up 
 an effective campaign document from this 
 mass of brilliant testimony, Bobadilla sent 
 it, together with Columbus and his two 
 brothers, to Spain. 
 
 Don Alonzo de Villejo, who com- 
 manded the vessel on board of which was 
 the fallen Admiral, was a gallant sailor, 
 and, as soon as the ship was safely out of 
 the harbor, said, in the strongest seafar- 
 ing language, that he would consent to 
 the immediate condemnation of his per- 
 sonal eyes if the Admiral should wear 
 those doubly condemned chains another 
 moment. But Columbus courteously and 
 firmly refused to be liberated. He said 
 
230 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 64 
 
 the chains had been put on him by order 
 of the King and Queen, and that the King 
 and Queen would have to take them off, 
 or he would wear them to his dying day, 
 and serve them right. This was a stout- 
 hearted resolution, but, perhaps just to 
 gratify Villejo, Columbus consented now 
 and then to slip one wrist out of his fetters, 
 which he must have found very inconve- 
 nient when he was engaged in writing 
 letters. 
 
 The voyage was uneventful, and in the 
 early part of October the ship reached 
 Cadiz and Columbus was delivered to the 
 local authorities. The moment it was 
 known that he had been brought home in 
 irons he became immensely popular, as 
 indeed the man who made so unexpected 
 and brilliant a sensation deserved to be. 
 Everybody said it was an outrage, and that 
 Bobabilla was clearly the beast spoken of 
 in the Apocalypse. 
 
 Columbus did not venture to write to 
 the Queen, but he wrote a long and elo- 
 quent account of his bad treatment to one 
 
i5oo] HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 23 1 
 
 of the ladies of the court, who he knew 
 would instantly read it to Isabella. That 
 estimable sovereign was greatly shocked, 
 and Ferdinand felt that, as a prudent hus- 
 band, he must share his wife's indignation. 
 The royal pair immediately wrote a letter 
 expressing the warmest sympathy for Co- 
 lumbus, inviting him to court, and en- 
 closing a check for nearly $8500 to pay 
 his travelling expenses and enable him to 
 buy a few clean collars and other neces- 
 saries. 
 
 The Admiral, taking off his chains and 
 putting them in his trunk as souvenirs of 
 royal favor, went to Granada, where the 
 court was then held, and being admitted 
 to the royal presence fell at the feet of 
 Isabella, which he appears to have care- 
 fully distinguished from Ferdinand's feet, 
 and burst into tears. The monarchs per- 
 sonally raised him up, in spite of his 
 weight, and Isabella told him it was a per- 
 fect shame, and that Bobadilla's conduct 
 was quite too awfully horrid. Ferdinand 
 behaved very properly, and agreed with 
 
232 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 64 
 
 Isabella that all the rights and honors of 
 Columbus should be restored to him, and 
 that he could feel perfectly easy as to the 
 future. Bobadilla's elaborate campaign 
 document was tossed aside with as little 
 attention as if it had been a Patent Ofhce 
 Report, and his attempt to fire the royal 
 Spanish heart was a complete failure. 
 
 Columbus now expected that he would 
 be directed to return immediately to San 
 Domingo, and to send Bobadilla home in 
 disgrace ; but the monarchs delayed to 
 issue the desired orders. Ferdinand had 
 evidently made up his mind to do nothing 
 of the sort. He considered himself a deeply 
 injured king. In the confident expecta- 
 tion that Columbus would be drowned, he 
 had consented to grant him unprecedented 
 honors and privileges, in the improbable 
 contingency of the discovery of a new 
 road to Asia or a new continent. Co- 
 lumbus had meanly taken advantage of 
 this to discover a continent and innumer- 
 able islands, and had, as Ferdinand felt, 
 cheated him out of a splendid title and a 
 
1500-2] HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE. 233 
 
 handsome revenue. Now that Columbus 
 had temporarily lost these ill-gotten ad- 
 vantages, Ferdinand did not think it neces- 
 sary to restore them. He therefore in- 
 formed the Admiral that it would be best 
 for him to remain in Spain for, say, ten 
 years, until things could be made pleasant 
 for him in Hispaniola. In the mean time 
 Don Nicholas de Ovando would be sent 
 out to supersede Bobadilla nd to ascer- 
 tain what damages Columbus and his 
 brothers had sustained, so that full pay- 
 ment could be made. He assured the 
 Admiral that everything should be ar- 
 ranged to his satisfaction, and that he 
 should lose nothing by remaining in Spain. 
 There is no reason to suppose that Co- 
 lumbus was deceived by the King's attenu- 
 ated explanation, but he could not well 
 find fault with it. De Ovando sailed for 
 San Domingo with a fleet of thirty vessels 
 and twenty-five hundred men. Columbus 
 took lodgings in Granada, and to employ 
 his time resolved to attend to the little 
 matter of recovering the Holy Sepulchre, 
 
234 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, [^t. 64-66 
 
 a duty which he had long neglected and 
 had recently bequeathed to his son. He 
 drew up a long memorial, urging the King 
 and Queen to organize a new crusade for 
 the capture of Jerusalem. He demonstra- 
 ted to his own satisfaction that he had 
 been born in order to discover a new 
 world and to redeem the Holy Sepulchre. 
 He had fulfilled the first of these duties, 
 and was now ready for the second. All 
 that he required was an army and a suffi- 
 cient supply of money. 
 
 Ferdinand did not embrace the sugges- 
 tion with much enthusiasm. He said he 
 would see about it, and hinted that as 
 crusading was an expensive business, it 
 might be well to ascertain whether the 
 Sultan would be wilhng to look at the 
 matter from a business point of view and 
 make some arrangement in regard to the 
 Holy Sepulchre which would settle the 
 matter in an amicable and inexpensive 
 way. 
 
 The crusading scheme being a failure, 
 the Admiral devised a new plan of explo- 
 
I500-2] HIS RETURN IN DISGRACE, 235 
 
 ration. He wrote another memorial, set- 
 ting forth the advantages of discovering 
 the Panama Canal. He admitted that 
 either China had been moved, or else it 
 lay farther west of Spain than he had at 
 first supposed. At any rate, it had become 
 clear to his mind that there was a conti- 
 nent which blocked up the direct route to 
 China, and that the only way to get 
 through this obstacle was to discover a 
 canal a niveau, cutting the Isthmus of 
 Panama. He had not the least doubt 
 that the canal was there, and that he could 
 find it with perfect ease were he to be 
 supplied with ships and men, and were a 
 proper reward to be offered for its dis- 
 covery. Now that he had time for re- 
 flection, he was inclined to think the 
 market had latterly been overstocked with 
 new countries — a result which he had feared 
 when the sovereigns so injudiciously — if 
 he might be allowed the expression — gave 
 to everybody the privilege of exploration. 
 In regard to the Panama Canal, however, 
 he was confident that it would meet a 
 
236 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 64-66 
 
 great public want, and that its discovery 
 would be warmly applauded by everybody, 
 with the possible exception of the inhabi- 
 tants of Bohemia, who, although they had 
 no commerce, might insist that the canal 
 should not be discovered unless the dis- 
 coverer would agree to present it to them. 
 The plan pleased Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella. A fleet of four ships was or- 
 dered to be made ready, and Columbus 
 was authorized to take with him his 
 brother Don Bartholomew and his per- 
 sonal son, Diego. The monarchs also 
 wrote Columbus a letter, in which they 
 said many pleasant and inexpensive things, 
 and promised him the restoration of all his 
 rights. He was now so enfeebled by age 
 and hardship that it seemed safe to promise 
 him anything, provided the promises were 
 not to be fulfilled until after his return 
 from his intended voyage. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HIS FOURTH EXPEDITION. 
 
 ON the 9th of May, 1502, Columbus 
 once more sailed from Cadiz. The 
 passage across the Atlantic was in no way 
 remarkable. The fleet touched as usual 
 at the Canaries, and on the 15th of June 
 arrived at one of the smaller Caribbean 
 islands. Columbus had been strictly for- 
 bidden to touch at San Domingo, be- 
 cause it was feared that he would get into 
 trouble with the local authorities, and 
 would then come back to Spain to defend 
 himself against false accusations. How- 
 ever, as one of his ships was unseaworthy, 
 he convinced himself that it was a matter 
 of necessity and mercy for him to go to 
 San Domingo and obtain a better vessel. 
 
 He arrived in due time at the forbidden 
 port, but Ovando refused to permit him 
 to land, and ordered him to put to sea 
 
238 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 66 
 
 immediately. Columbus then informed 
 Ovando that a hurricane was approach- 
 ing, and begged permission to lie at 
 anchor in the shelter of the harbor until 
 fair weather should appear ; but his peti- 
 tion was refused. Ovando said there was 
 not the least sign of an approaching hur- 
 ricane, and that he was a bird far too 
 advanced in years to be caught by the 
 Admiral's meteorological chafif. 
 
 There was at the time a large fleet of 
 vessels lying in the harbor, and on the 
 point of saihng for Spain. On board of 
 the fleet were Roldan, Bobadilla, many 
 discontented colonists, and a large quan- 
 tity of gold. Now Columbus, who was 
 learned in weather, was in earnest when 
 he prophesied a hurricane, and he felt sad 
 in view of the danger which threatened 
 the gold on board the fleet in case the 
 ships should put to sea before the hurri- 
 cane arrived. He warned Ovando not 
 to let the fleet depart, but Ovando and 
 everybody else laughed to scorn '' Old 
 Italian Probabilities," and mocked at his 
 
1502] HIS FOURTH EXPEDITION. 239 
 
 areas of barometrical depression and ap- 
 proaching storm-centres. 
 
 Columbus sailed away and sought shel- 
 ter under the lee of the island, and the fleet 
 with Bobadilla and the gold put to sea. 
 Two days later a hurricane that the Nev^' 
 York Herald would have been proud tc 
 launch against the shores of Great Britaii^ 
 wrecked the fleet, drowned Bobadilla and 
 Roldan, and sunk the gold to the bottom 
 of the sea. A few vessels managed to 
 work their way back to San Domingo, 
 but only one reached Spain. The fortu- 
 nate vessel had on board a quantity of 
 gold belonging to Columbus, and in his 
 opinion this fact was all that saved her. 
 
 The Admiral's vessels rode out the 
 storm safely, though they were much 
 damaged, and, after it was over, put into 
 Port Hermoso to refit. Having patched 
 up the vessels, Columbus set sail for the 
 Panama Canal, and after a voyage of 
 about six weeks he reached a group of 
 small islands on the coast of Honduras. 
 Here he met a large canoe filled with the 
 
240 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 66 
 
 ablest natives he had yet seen. They had 
 hatchets and other tools made of copper, 
 and were dressed in cotton garments 
 woven by themselves. They were proba- 
 bly from Yucatan, for they claimed to 
 belong to a civilized country situated 
 farther west and possessing magnificent 
 cities. The Admiral said he was not 
 looking for cities as much as he had been, 
 that he was on his way to India, and that 
 he had no time to go to Yucatan. Thus 
 he lost the chance of discovering the curi- 
 ous and fantastic Maya and Aztec civili- 
 zation which Cortez afterward found and 
 destroyed. 
 
 There was little in the early part of 
 the Admiral's voyage along the Central 
 American coast which deserves especial 
 notice. He coasted Honduras and Costa 
 Rica, finding an oppressive sameness of 
 savages and bad weather. The savages 
 were peaceful, but the weather was not. 
 It rarely condescended to indulge in any- 
 thing less violent than a hurricane, and 
 always blew from precisely the direction 
 
I502] HIS FOURTH EXPEDITION. . 24 1 
 
 in which the Spaniards wished to steer. 
 The Costa Rican savages told Columbus 
 that the Ganges was a few days' journey 
 farther west, and that vessels carrying can- 
 nons frequently came to the large city of 
 Ciguari, which was still nearer than the 
 Ganges. 
 
 This was, on the whole, the most able 
 and satisfactory aboriginal lie which had 
 yet been told to Columbus, and it made 
 him confident that he would arrive in India 
 in a few days. Lest the savages should 
 receive too much credit for inventive gen- 
 ius, it should be mentioned that they must 
 have been greatly assisted by leading ques- 
 tions put by the Spaniards, otherwise they 
 could not have hit upon the name of the 
 Ganges. The mention of the ships armed 
 with cannon which came to the mythical 
 city of Ciguari was, however, a master- 
 stroke for which the natives are entitled to 
 full credit. Travellers who have visited 
 Central America in our day would per- 
 haps find it easier to understand the habits 
 and customs of the people, were it gener- 
 
242 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 66 
 
 ally known that their remote Indian an- 
 cestors were likewise men of brilliant 
 imagination and utter fearlessness of as- 
 sertion. 
 
 Leaving these mendacious but encour- 
 aging savages, Columbus came to Veragua, 
 a country lying farther south and really 
 abounding in gold. But now that he had 
 finally reached a place where gold was 
 abundant, the precious metal for which 
 Columbus had searched so long and ea- 
 gerly seemed to have lost its charm. He 
 was too anxious to reach the Ganges to 
 be willing to stop for anything ; so, after 
 laying in a few gold plates, he stood on 
 his southward course. 
 
 The ships and the Admiral were by this 
 time greatly in want of repairs. Colum- 
 bus was suffering from gout, fever, and old 
 age, while the ships, in addition to the lat- 
 ter complaint, were leaky and covered 
 with barnacles. The crews began to grum- 
 ble loudly, and on the 5th of December, 
 Columbus having failed to find the Gan- 
 ges, the city of Ciguari, or the Panama 
 
1503] HIS FOURTH EXPEDITION. 243 
 
 Ship-Canal, thought it best to yield to the 
 force of public opinion before it should 
 express itself with handspikes and knives. 
 He therefore consented to abandon his 
 search and turn back to Veragua, where he 
 hoped to be able to collect enough gold to 
 convince Ferdinand and Isabella of his 
 wisdom in postponing his intended geo- 
 graphical discoveries. 
 
 No sooner had the ships turned and 
 stood to the northward, than the wind, with 
 a vicious display of ill-temper, shifted and 
 became once more a head-wind. It blew 
 if anything harder from its new quarter 
 than it had blown before, and it was not 
 until early in January that the fleet reached 
 Veragua and anchored in the river Belen. 
 
 The sailors were glad to go ashore ; for, 
 though there was nothing to drink, there 
 was gold to be got, and while on shore 
 they were rid of the task of sailing clumsy 
 and leaking ships. The Admiral, in his 
 feeble health, was greatly in need of rest, 
 and he was not aware that he had found 
 precisely the worst locality in the Western 
 
244 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 67 
 
 Hemisphere for fever and mosquitoes. 
 The Adelentado was sent with a large 
 force to explore the surrounding country, 
 from which he returned with the report 
 that the natives had a great deal of gold 
 in their possession. Of course the Span- 
 ish soldiers merely looked at this gold, and 
 complimented the natives on their posses- 
 sion of so valuable an article ; we need not 
 suppose they were so wicked as to steal 
 it, and thus convert the friendly Costa Ri- 
 cans into enemies. 
 
 Being satisfied with the Adelentado's re- 
 port, Columbus decided to leave most of 
 his men to found a colony on the banks of 
 the Belen, while he should return to Spain 
 for supplies. 
 
 The natives had hitherto been peaceable ; 
 but when they saw the Spaniards building 
 houses on their land, they felt that it was 
 time to take proceedings for dispossession. 
 Columbus received information that the 
 local cacique, Quibian, was collecting an 
 army to attack the colony, and he sent 
 Diego Mendez to investigate the matter. 
 
1503] HIS FOURTH expedition: 245 
 
 Quibian's village was on the river Vera- 
 gua, not far from the Belen, and Mendez 
 soon found his way thither. He was told 
 that the cacique was confined to his house 
 with a wounded leg. Mendez immediately 
 said that he was a doctor, and would re- 
 pair the leg ; but Quibian's son said, Oh 
 no, he rather thought Mendez would not 
 repair that particular leg just then. As 
 the savage followed up this remark by 
 hitting Mendez over the head, the latter 
 admitted that perhaps he was mistaken, 
 and hurriedly remembered • that he had an 
 engagement which would require his im- 
 mediate return to the colony. 
 
 There was now no doubt that Quibian 
 intended to fight, and the Adelentado, 
 remarking that a cacique in the hand was 
 better than several in the bush, proposed to 
 go in person and capture Quibian. Taking 
 seventy-four men with him, Don Bartholo- 
 mew managed to obtain an interview with 
 the cacique, whom he instantly seized and 
 bound. The natives offered no resistance, 
 and the Adelentado, gathering up the wives 
 
246 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^Et. 67 
 
 and children of Quibian, prepared to re- 
 turn. 
 
 The cacique was laid in the bottom of a 
 boat, and pretended to suffer so much pain 
 that the officer in charge of the boat 
 loosened his bonds. Quibian thereupon 
 jumped overboard and, as it was now night, 
 escaped safely to land; while the Span- 
 iards believed that he had been drowned. 
 
 The danger of an attack by the savages 
 being thus, in the opinion of the Admiral, 
 at an end, he prepared to depart for Spain. 
 The water on the bar at the mouth of the 
 river was so low that the ships could not 
 pass over it without being lightened. 
 Their stores were therefore disembarked, 
 and after getting into deep water the ships 
 were anchored and the stores were brought 
 back to them in boats. 
 
 When the fleet was nearly ready to sail, 
 Columbus sent Diego Tristan and eleven 
 men ashore to obtain water. As they 
 neared the settlement, they saw a horde of 
 savages rush out of the jungle and attack 
 the colonists. The savages were led by 
 
1503] HIS FOURTH EXPEDITION. 247 
 
 Quibian, who, being a heathen and a bar- 
 barian, imagined that he had more right to 
 his wives and children than the Spaniards 
 had. Tristan was an excellent old sailor, 
 who held that it was the first duty of man 
 to obey orders. He had been sent for 
 water and not for blood, and accordingly 
 he never thought of interfering in the 
 fight, but rowed steadily up the river in 
 search of fresh water. The Spaniards 
 fought bravely, and repulsed the attack of 
 the natives ; but the latter, instead of appre- 
 ciating Tristan's fidelity to duty, fell upon 
 him and killed him and his whole party, 
 with the exception of one man, who fled 
 to the settlement with his sanguinary 
 story. 
 
 The Spaniards were now convinced that 
 they had no more use for Central America, 
 and rushed to the ship that lay in the river, 
 determined to return to Spain with the 
 Admiral. The ship, however, could not 
 be got over the bar, and the terrified 
 colonists consented to listen to the Ade- 
 lentado's advice, and to attempt to fortify 
 
248 ' CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 67 
 
 the settlement. They went on shore 
 again, and threw up barricades — which, as 
 every one knows who is famihar with 
 French pohtics, consist of boxes, paving- 
 stones, omnibuses, news-stands, and other 
 heterogeneous articles piled together. 
 
 The barricades were better than nothing 
 as defensive works, but they were misera- 
 bly weak. Eleven Spaniards had been 
 killed and several more wounded, in- 
 cluding Don Bartholomew, and as the 
 savages vastly outnumbered them, the 
 prospect that any of the colonists would 
 escape was extremely small. 
 
 Columbus could not understand why 
 Tristan did not return. He knew that 
 Tristan was a faithful and obedient man, 
 and that there was no rum to be had at 
 the settlement, so that he finally began to 
 fear that the natives had been acting in a dis- 
 orderly way. This fear was increased by 
 the conduct of Quibian's wives and chil- 
 dren, who were on board one of the ves- 
 sels. During the night after Tristan's 
 departure these hasty and ill-bred prisoners 
 
1503] HIS FOURTH expedition: 249 
 
 began to commit suicide by hanging them- 
 selves or by jumping overboard, and con- 
 tinued this recreation so persistently that 
 by morning not one of them was left. If 
 women and children could do such an un- 
 civil thing as this, it was only too probable 
 that the men of the same race were capable 
 of creating riot and bloodshed ashore. 
 
 There was only one available small boat 
 at the commiand of the Admiral, and the 
 sea on the bar was so heavy when the dis- 
 appearance of the Quibian family was dis- 
 covered that Columbus did not dare to 
 send the boat ashore. Fortunately, one of 
 the pilots, Pedro Ledesma, offered to swim 
 ashore if the boat would carry him part of 
 the way. His offer was of course accepted, 
 and when the boat was a short distance 
 from the shore Ledesma sprang overboard 
 and successfully swam through the boiling 
 surf. He returned in a short time, bring- 
 ing the news that the colonists were in 
 immediate danger of being massacred. 
 
 Unless the sea should go down, Colum- 
 bus could give no assistance to the men 
 
250 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 67 
 
 on shore, and there was no prospect that 
 the sea would go down. 
 
 Most men in the position of the Admiral 
 would have been at a loss what to do, but 
 Columbus was a man of uncommon re- 
 sources. He promptly had a vision. A 
 voice spoke to him in the best Scriptural 
 style, and assured him that everything was 
 all right ; that the colonists would be saved, 
 and that no one need feel any uneasiness. 
 It is probable that this was the voice of a 
 sainted and remote ancestor of the late 
 William H. Seward, and it filled the Ad- 
 miral with confidence — which confidence 
 it is possible was shared by the sailors 
 when the story of the vision was told to 
 them. The voice proved to be a veracious 
 one, for the next morning there was a dead 
 calm, and the colonists, with all their por- 
 table property, were safely rafted on board 
 the ships, which immediately set sail for 
 San Domingo in order to refit. 
 
 It was now the end of April, but the 
 weather declined to improve. Probably 
 Columbus, like a skilful commander, made 
 
1503] HIS FOURTH EXPEDITION. 2$ I 
 
 his men draw lots with a view to pilgrim- 
 ages, and encouraged them to vow to at- 
 tend church in their shirts ; but there is no 
 mention of these manoeuvres in the Admi- 
 ral's log. The ships were nearly eaten up 
 by the teredo and could with difficulty be 
 kept afloat. One was abandoned, and the 
 crew taken on board the other two. These 
 reached the islands lying south of Cuba 
 which Columbus had discovered on his 
 second voyage, where they were detained 
 nearly a week by violent storms. When 
 the voyage was resumed the head-winds 
 promptly resumed also, and finally, with 
 his ships leaking like sieves out of repair, 
 and his provisions nearly exhausted, Co- 
 lumbus bore up for Jamaica, which he 
 reached on the 23d of June. The next 
 day he entered the harbor of Port Santa 
 Gloria, where his decrepit vessels were run 
 ashore to keep them from sinking, and 
 were firmly lashed together 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 HIS LAST YEARS. 
 
 THE ships were now hopeless wrecks, 
 and there was nothing more to be 
 done with them except to abandon them 
 to the underwriters and claim a total loss. 
 The only chance that the Spaniards could 
 avoid laying their bones in the bake-ovens 
 of the Jamaican natives was in communi- 
 cating with San Domingo, but in the 
 absence of any efficient postal service this 
 chance seemed very small. Diego Men- 
 dez, who was the captain of one of the 
 vessels, and who had earned the confidence 
 of Columbus by the skill with which he 
 superintended the escape of the beleagured 
 colonists from Quibian's hordes, volun- 
 teered to take a canoe and, with the hdp 
 of Indian paddlers, make his way across 
 the one hundred and twenty miles of sea 
 which stretched between Jamaica and His- 
 
1503] HIS LAST YEARS. 253 
 
 paniola. He started on his voyage, and 
 skirted the shore of Jamaica, so that he 
 could land from time to time and take in 
 provisions. 
 
 It struck the natives that they might as 
 well improve the opportunity to lay in 
 provisions for themselves, and accordingly 
 they attacked Mendez with great energy 
 and appetite, and made him and his Indian 
 paddlers prisoners. There being in all 
 seven prisoners, a dispute arose as to the 
 fairest way of dividing them, and the sava- 
 ges agreed to settle it by a game of chance 
 — which was probably ''seven-up." Men- 
 dez took advantage of the quarrelling to 
 which the game gave rise, and ran away. 
 At the end of a fortnight he appeared be- 
 fore the Admiral and announced that all 
 was lost except honor and his canoe. 
 
 The bold Mendez was not disheartened, 
 but volunteered to make a second attempt. 
 This time he was joined by Fresco, the 
 captain of the other wreck, together with 
 twelve Spaniards and twenty Indians. The 
 expedition started in two large canoes, and 
 
254 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 67 
 
 the Adelentado, with an armed force, 
 marched along the shore as far as the ex- 
 treme eastern point of the island to pro- 
 tect the canoes from any attack by the 
 natives. Mendez and his companions suf- 
 fered terribly from exposure and thirst, 
 and many of the Indian paddlers died — a 
 fact which shows either that the Spaniards 
 could endure thirst better than the Indi- 
 ans, or that the latter had less water to 
 drink than the former. 
 
 The expedition finally reached Hispani- 
 ola, having formed a very low opinion of 
 canoeing as an athletic sport. According 
 to the original plan, Mendez was to induce 
 Ovando to send a ship to Columbus, and 
 Fresco was to return with the news that 
 Mendez was at San Domingo, hard at 
 work inducing the Governor to send the 
 ship ; but as the surviving Indian paddlers 
 said they were satiated with paddling and 
 did not intend to return to Jamaica, 
 Fresco was compelled to remain in His- 
 paniola. 
 
 Ovando, hearing that Columbus was in 
 
I503] HIS LAST YEARS. 25$ 
 
 Jamaica, thought he had better stay there, 
 and instead of sending a vessel to his re- 
 hef, constantly promised to do so at the 
 earliest possible moment, and constantly 
 took good care that no such moment 
 should arrive. 
 
 Meanwhile the shipwrecked men were 
 becoming very discontented. When a 
 man has nothing to do but to think of 
 what he is to have for dinner, and then 
 never has it, he is reasonably sure to ex- 
 hibit a fretful spirit. This was the con- 
 dition of the Spaniards at Port Santa 
 Gloria. They were living on board the 
 wrecked vessels because they did not care 
 to tempt the appetites of the natives by 
 hving on shore ; and as the Admiral was 
 confined to his cabin with the gout, and 
 could not overhear them, they naturally 
 relieved their minds by constantly abusing 
 him, one to another. 
 
 Francesco de Porras, who had been a 
 captain of one of the ships — and it really 
 seems as if there were as many captains in 
 proportion to the size of the fleet as there 
 
256 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 67 
 
 are in the United States navy — thought 
 this was a favorable time for mutiny, and 
 accordingly proceeded to mutiny. He 
 reminded the men that Columbus was un- 
 popular in Spain, and was forbidden to 
 land in San Domingo. This being true, 
 why should he ever leave Jamaica, where 
 he had nothing to do except to lie in his 
 cabin and enjoy the pleasures of gout ? 
 He insisted that Mendez and Fresco would 
 never return, and that they were either 
 drowned or had gone to Spain. In short, 
 by lucid arguments such as these he con- 
 vinced the crews that Columbus intended 
 to keep them in Jamaica for the rest of 
 their lives. 
 
 Having thus induced the crews to mu- 
 tiny, Porras went into the Admiral's 
 state-room and demanded that he should 
 instantly lead the Spaniards back to Spain. 
 Columbus took the ground that this was 
 an unreasonable demand, since an ocean 
 voyage could not be successfully made 
 without vessels ; but Porras, disgusted 
 with such heartless quibbling, rushed on 
 
1503] HIS LAST YEARS, 257 
 
 deck and called on his followers to embark 
 in canoes and start for Cadiz without a 
 moment's delay. His proposal was en- 
 thusiastically received, and a tumult en- 
 sued which brought the crippled Admiral 
 on deck on his hands and knees, in the 
 vain hope of enforcing his authority. 
 
 It was hardly to be expected that in 
 such an attitude he could strike the mu- 
 tinous sailors with awe. Indeed, the 
 probability that they would strike him 
 instead was so great that the Adelentado 
 had his brother carried back to the cabin, 
 and there stood on guard over him as 
 coolly as if he were not at the mercy of an 
 armed mob. 
 
 The mutineers, to the number of fifty, 
 seized on a fleet of canoes and started for 
 Spain by way of San Domingo. Twice 
 they were driven back, and the second 
 time they gave up the attempt. They 
 then wandered through the island, rob- 
 bing the natives and alleging that they 
 were very sorry to do so, but they were 
 acting under express orders from Colum- 
 
258 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [iEt. 67 
 
 bus, and that, as disinterested friends of 
 the noble Jamaicans, their advice was that 
 the Admiral should be killed without 
 delay. 
 
 Weeks and months passed by, and no 
 word came from Mendez and Fresco. 
 The natives, finding the Spaniards at 
 their mercy, made a corner in provisions 
 and refused to sell except at an exorbi- 
 tant price. Thus famine began to threaten 
 the unfortunate explorers. It was then 
 that Columbus performed his celebrated 
 eclipse feat. He summoned the caciques, 
 and told them that in view of the enor- 
 mity of their conduct it had been decided 
 to withdraw the moon from heaven, and 
 that this purpose would be carried out at 
 the end of three days. The Admiral had, 
 of course, looked into his Public Ledger 
 Almanac, and had noticed that a total 
 eclipse of the moon, visible throughout 
 the Gulf States and the West Indies, 
 would take place on the night in question. 
 
 When the third night came, and the 
 eclipse began, the Indians were terribly 
 
1503] HIS LAST YEARS. 259 
 
 frightened, and begged the Admiral to 
 forgive them and give them back their 
 beloved moon. At first he refused to 
 listen to them, but when the eclipse 
 reached its period of greatest obscuration 
 he relented, and informed them that, for 
 the sake of the young men and young 
 women of Jamaica, to whom the moon 
 was almost indispensable, he would give 
 them one more chance. The natives, 
 overwhelmed with gratitude, and deter- 
 mined not to lose the moon if they could 
 help it, brought all the provisions that the 
 Spaniards wanted. 
 
 This was the first instance of turning 
 American celestial phenomena to prac- 
 tical uses ; but the example of Columbus 
 has since been followed with great success 
 by our scientific men, who induce the gov- 
 ernment to send them at vast expense to 
 all parts of the world, under the plausible 
 pretext of superintending total eclipses 
 and transits of Venus. 
 
 Mendez had been gone eight months 
 when a small vessel entered the harbor 
 
26b CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 67 
 
 where the shipwrecked vessels were lying. 
 It carried Don Diego de Escobar, bearer 
 of despatches from Ovando to Columbus. 
 Ovando wrote promising to send a ship to 
 rescue Columbus and his companions as 
 soon as he could find one suitable for the 
 purpose. Having delivered this message 
 and received an answer, De Escobar in- 
 stantly sailed away, to the immense dis- 
 gust of everybody. He was not altogether 
 a nice person, having been one of Roldan's 
 gang whom Bobadilla had released from 
 prison. The Admiral could not help think- 
 ing that it was hardly delicate in Ovando 
 to select such a messenger, but it was still 
 a satisfaction to know that Mendez had 
 reached San Domingo, and that in the 
 course of a few years Ovando might find 
 it convenient to send the promised ship. 
 
 Columbus now thought it was a good 
 time to offer an amnesty to Porras and his 
 companions, on condition that they would 
 return to duty. Porras rejected the offer 
 with disdain. He informed his men that 
 it was only a trap set by the wily Italian 
 
I503] HIS LAST YEARS. 26 1 
 
 to get them once more in his power. 
 When they timidly suggested that a mes- 
 senger from Ovando had really visited the 
 Admiral, and that this looked as if negotia- 
 tions were in progress for the purpose of 
 arranging for the rescue of the expedition, 
 Porras boldly insisted that the alleged 
 messenger and the vessel in which he was 
 said to have arrived had no existence. 
 They were simply *' materialized" by Colum- 
 bus, who was a powerful spiritual medium, 
 and they had already vanished into theno- 
 thingness from which they had been called. 
 
 Convinced by this able address, the 
 mutineers decided to remain under the 
 leadership of Porras, who immediately 
 marched with them to attack the Admiral 
 and to seize the stores that still remained. 
 Don Bartholomew met them, and after a 
 hard fight completely defeated them, taking 
 Porras prisoner. The survivors gladly 
 surrendered, and Columbus magnanimous- 
 ly forgave them. 
 
 In June, 1503, two ships arrived from 
 San .Domingo. One had been fitted out 
 
^^2 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. {Mt. 67 
 
 by Mendez, and the other by Ovando, 
 who saw that Columbus would be rescued, 
 and that he might as well earn part of the 
 credit therefor. The Spaniards hurriedly 
 embarked, and on the 23d of the month, 
 after a stay of more than a year in Jamaica, 
 they sailed for San Domingo, where they 
 arrived after a voyage of about six weeks. 
 Ovando professed to be exceedingly glad 
 to meet the Admiral, and told him that for 
 the last six or eight months he had been 
 steadily occupied in wasting to a mere 
 shadow, so anxious had he been to find a 
 favorable moment for deciding upon the 
 propriety of sending a vessel to the rescue 
 of his distinguished friend. Columbus re- 
 ceived his explanation with politeness, 
 remarking '' Ha !" and also '* Hum !" at 
 appropriate intervals, just to intimate that, 
 while he did not care to argue with Ovando, 
 he was not quite so credulous as some 
 people imagined. The populace were dis- 
 posed to overlook their bad treatment of 
 their former Governor, inasmuch as his 
 arrival at San Domingo was an interrup- 
 
1503] HIS LAST YEARS. 263 
 
 tion of the monotony of their life ; so they 
 cheered him when he passed through the 
 street, and gave the old man the last 
 glimpse of anything like popularity which 
 he was to see. 
 
 Columbus was not anxious to remain 
 long in the island. His business affairs 
 were in an intricate state of confusion, and 
 though a large sum of money was due to 
 him, he could not collect it. The condi- 
 tion of the Indians filled him with grief. 
 Under the rule of Ovando they had been 
 constantly driven to revolt by oppression, 
 and then mercilessly massacred, while the 
 Spanish priests had expended a great 
 deal of firewood and worn out several full 
 sets of controversial implements, such as 
 racks and thumbscrews, in converting them 
 to Christianity. Columbus saw that his 
 discovery of Hispaniola had led to the ruin 
 and misery of its people, and he could not 
 remain in any comfort amid so much suf- 
 fering. Porras had already been sent as a 
 prisoner to Spain, and on September 12th 
 Columbus followed him. Ovando had 
 
264 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [^t. 67 
 
 supplied two vessels, one commanded by 
 Columbus and the other by Don Bartho- 
 lomew, but one of them was soon sent 
 back as being unseaworthy. After a stormy 
 voyage the ship arrived at San Lucas on 
 November 7th, and the sick and crippled 
 Admiral was carried to Seville, where he 
 intended to rest before proceeding to 
 court. 
 
 This time he was not received with any 
 enthusiasm. He had so often returned 
 from voyages to China without bringing 
 with him so much as a broken tea-cup as a 
 sample of the Celestial Kingdom, that the 
 public had lost all interest in him. People 
 who read in their newspapers among the 
 list of hotel arrivals the name of Colum- 
 bus, merely remarked, '' So he's back again 
 it seems," and then proceeded to read the 
 criticism upon the preceding night's bull- 
 fight. The popular feeling was, that Co- 
 lumbus had entirely overdone the matter 
 of returning home from profitless explora- 
 tions. There were other explorers who 
 came back to Spain with stories much 
 
1503-1506] HIS LAST YEARS. 26^ 
 
 more imaginative than those which Colum- 
 bus could tell, and the Spanish public had 
 turned its attention from Prester John and 
 the Emperor of China to the Amazonian 
 warriors of South America and the Foun- 
 tain of Youth which explorers of real en- 
 terprise were ready to discover. 
 
 Had there been any knowledge of the 
 science of politics in Spain, Columbus 
 would have been a person of considerable 
 importance in his old age. The Radicals 
 would have rallied around him, and would 
 have denounced the atrocious manner in 
 w^hich a treacherous and reactionary mon- 
 archy had treated him. Columbian clubs 
 would have been established everywhere, 
 and he would have been made to serve as 
 the stalking-horse of an unprincipled and 
 reckless faction. 
 
 When we compare the way in which the 
 Italian republicans have used the name and 
 fame of Garibaldi as the most effective 
 weapon in striking at the monarchy which 
 has made United Italy possible, we cannot 
 but despise the ignorance of politics shown 
 
266 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 67-70 
 
 by the Spaniards in the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 Columbus, though utterly worn out, was 
 still able to write letters. He wrote to the 
 King, to the Queen, to everybody who had 
 any influence, asking that his honors and 
 privileges should be restored, and hinting 
 that he was ready to be sent back to San 
 Domingo as Governor. No one paid any 
 attention to him. Other men were fitting 
 out exploring expeditions, and Columbus, 
 with his splendid dreams and his peculiar 
 mixture of religion and geography, was re- 
 garded as a foolish old man who had out- 
 lived his original usefulness. He was too 
 sick to visit the court and personally ex- 
 plain why he had not discovered the Pana- 
 ma Canal, and the King, having failed to 
 keep his own promises, was naturally not 
 at all anxious to see him. Perhaps Isa- 
 bella would have still remained faithful to 
 her old protege, but she was on her death- 
 bed, and died without seeing him. 
 
 In May, 1505, Columbus managed to 
 go to Segovia, where Ferdinand held his 
 
1 503-1506] HIS LAST YEARS. 267 
 
 court. He saw the King, but got very lit- 
 tle pleasure thereby. Ferdinand was now 
 a widower and his own master ; and his 
 manner plainly showed Columbus that, 
 whatever the King might promise, he 
 never intended to keep his word and do 
 justice to the man who had given him a 
 new world. 
 
 The end was now drawing near, and Co- 
 lumbus made a codicil to his will, expressing 
 his last wishes. Beatrix Enriquez was 
 still alive, though whether she too had for- 
 saken Columbus we are not told. It is 
 pleasant to find that the Admiral remem- 
 bered her, and in the codicil to his will or- 
 dered his son Diego to see that she was pro- 
 perly cared for, adding, '* and let this be 
 done for the discharge of my conscience, for 
 it weighs heavy on my soul." He had neg- 
 lected to marry Beatrix, and, unlike most 
 men in like circumstances, the neglect bur- 
 dened his conscience. This codicil was 
 almost the last act of his busy life ; and on 
 the 20th of May, 1506, repeating the Latin 
 words, In manus tuaSy Domine^ commendo 
 
268 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [.Et. 70 
 
 spiritum meum, he died with the calmness 
 of a brave man and the peace of a Chris- 
 tian. He had Hved seventy years, and had 
 Hterally worn himself out in the service of 
 the royal hound whose miserable little soul 
 rejoiced when he heard that the great Ital- 
 ian was dead. 
 
 Columbus was buried almost as much as 
 he was born. His first burial was in the 
 convent of St. Francisco. Seven years 
 later he was buried some more in the Car- 
 thusian convent in Seville. In 1536 he 
 was carried to San Domingo and buried 
 in the Cathedral, and afterward he was, to 
 some extent, buried in Havana. Whether 
 Havana or San Domingo has at present 
 the best claim to his grave, is a disputed 
 point. 
 
CHAPTER XIX, 
 
 HIS CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 
 
 HITHERTO we have proceeded upon 
 the assumption that Columbus was a 
 real historical person. It is one of the 
 limitations of biography that the writer 
 must always assume the existence of the 
 subject of his sketch. There are, how- 
 ever, grave reasons for doubting whether 
 Christopher Columbus ever lived. There 
 is the matter of his birthplace. Is it cred- 
 ible that he was born in seven distinct 
 places? Nobody claims that George 
 Washington was born in all our promi- 
 nent cities, or that Robinson Crusoe, who 
 was perhaps the most absolutely real per- 
 son to be found in the whole range of 
 biography, was born anywhere except at 
 York. Can we believe that the whole of 
 Columbus was simultaneously buried in 
 two different West Indian cities ? If we 
 
270 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 can accept any such alleged fact as this, 
 we can no longer pretend that one of the 
 two Italian cities which boast the posses- 
 sion of the head of John the Baptist is 
 the victim of misplaced confidence. 
 
 And then the character of Columbus as 
 portrayed by his admiring biographers is 
 quite incredible, and his alleged treatment 
 by the King and Queen whom he served 
 is to the last degree improbable. The 
 story of Columbus is without doubt an 
 interesting and even fascinating one ; but 
 can we, as fearless and honest philoso- 
 phers, believe in the reality of that sweet 
 Genoese vision — the heroic and noble dis- 
 coverer of the New World ? 
 
 There are strong reasons for believing 
 that the legend of Christopher Columbus 
 is simply a form of the Sun myth. We 
 find the story in the Italian, Spanish, and 
 English languages, which shows, not that 
 Colombo, Colon, and Columbus ever 
 lived, breathed, ate dinner, and went to 
 bed, but that the myth is widely spread 
 among the Indo-Germanic races, Co- 
 
HIS CHARACTER. 2yi 
 
 lumbus is said to have sailed from the 
 east to the west, and to have disappeared 
 for a time beyond the western horizon, 
 only to be found again in Spain, whence 
 he had originally sailed. Even in Spain, 
 he was said to have had his birthplace in 
 some vague locality farther east, and to 
 have reached Spain only when near his 
 maturity. 
 
 This is a beautiful allegorical descrip- 
 tion of the course of the sun as it would 
 appear to an unlearned ^nd imaginative 
 Spaniard. He would see the sun rising 
 in the distant east, warming Spain with 
 his mature and noonday rays, setting be- 
 yond the western horizon in the waters 
 of the Atlantic, and again returning to 
 Spain to begin another voyage, or course, 
 through the heavens. The clouds which 
 at times obscure the sun are vividly repre- 
 sented by the misfortunes which dark- 
 ened the career of Columbus, and his 
 imprisonment in chains by Bobadilla is 
 but an allegorical method of describing a 
 solar eclipse. The colonists who died of 
 
272 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 fever under his rule, like the Greeks who 
 fell under the darts of the Sun God, re- 
 mind us of the unwholesome effects pro- 
 duced by the rays of a tropical sun upon 
 decaying vegetation ; and the story that 
 Columbus was buried in different places 
 illustrates the fact that the apparent place 
 of sunset changes at different points of the 
 year. 
 
 There is very much to be said in favor 
 of the theory that Columbus is a personi- 
 fication of the Sun, but that theory can- 
 not be accepted either by a biographer 
 or by any patriotic American. The one 
 would have to put his biography of the 
 Great Admiral in the fire, and the other 
 would lose all certainty as to whether 
 America had ever been discovered. We 
 must resolve to believe in the reality of 
 Columbus, no matter what learned sceptics 
 may tell us ; and we shall find no difficulty 
 in so doing if we found our belief on a 
 good strong prejudice instead of reason- 
 able arguments. 
 
 Let us then permit no man to destroy 
 
HIS CHARACTER. 273 
 
 our faith in Christopher Columbus. We 
 can find fault with him if we choose ; we 
 can refuse to accept Smith's or Brown's 
 or Jones's respective estimates of his char- 
 acter and deeds : but let us never doubt 
 that Columbus was a real Italian explorer ; 
 that he served an amiable Spanish Queen 
 and a miserable Spanish King ; and that 
 he sailed across a virgin ocean to discover 
 a virgin continent. 
 
 There prevails to a very large extent the 
 impression that the voyages of Columbus 
 prove that he was a wonderfully skilful 
 navigator, and it is also commonly be- 
 lieved that the compass and the astrolabe 
 were providentially invented expressly in 
 order to assist him in discovering America. 
 There was, of course, a certain amount of 
 practical seamanship displayed in keeping 
 the Santa Maria and her successors from 
 being swamped by the waves of the At- 
 lantic ; but it may be safely asserted that 
 only a very slight knowledge of navigation 
 was either exhibited or needed by Colum- 
 bus. The ships of the period could do 
 
274 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 
 
 nothing except with a fair wind. When 
 the wind was contrary they drifted slowly 
 to leeward, and when the wind was fair a 
 small-boy with a knowledge of the elements 
 of steering could have kept any one of 
 them on her course. The compass was a 
 handy thing to have on board a ship, since 
 it gave to the sailors the comfortable feel- 
 ing which an ignorant man always has in 
 the presence of any piece of mechanism 
 which he fancies is of assistance to him; 
 but for all practical purposes the sun and 
 the stars were as useful to Columbus as 
 was his compass with its unintelligible 
 freaks of variation. So, too, the astrolabe 
 must have impressed the sailors as a sort 
 of powerful and beneficent fetish, but the 
 log-book of Columbus would have testified 
 that the astrolabe was more ornamental 
 than useful. 
 
 The system of navigation followed 
 by Columbus was to steer as nearly 
 west as practicable on the way to 
 America, and to steer as nearly east as 
 possible on his way back to Spain. In 
 
HIS CHARACTER. 2y$ 
 
 the one case he would be sure to hit some 
 part of the New World if he sailed long 
 enough, and in the other case persistent 
 sailing would be sure to bring him within 
 sight of either Europe or Africa. In 
 neither case could he so far overrun his 
 reckoning as to arrive unexpectedly at 
 some point in the interior of a continent. 
 The facts prove that this was precisely 
 the way in which Columbus navigated his 
 ship. When steering for America he 
 never knew where he would find land, and 
 was satisfied if he reached any one of the 
 countless large and small West India 
 islands; and on returning to Spain there 
 was as much probability that he would 
 find himself at the Azores or at the mouth 
 of the Tagus as at any Spanish port. 
 
 The truth is, that neither the seaman- 
 ship of Columbus nor the invention of the 
 compass or the astrolabe made his first 
 voyage successful. Probably any one of 
 the thousands of contemporary Italian 
 sailors could have found the West Indies 
 as easily as Columbus found them, pro- 
 
2/6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 vided the hypothetical sailor had possessed 
 sufficient resolution to sail westward until 
 the land should stop his way. What we 
 should properly be called upon to admire 
 in Columbus as a navigator of unknown 
 seas is the obstinacy with which he ad- 
 hered to his purpose of sailing due west 
 until land should be found, no matter if it 
 should take all summer. It was an ob- 
 stinacy akin to that with which our great 
 Union General fought his last campaign. 
 Such obstinacy will sometimes accomplish 
 greater results than the most skilful navi- 
 gator or the profoundest strategist could 
 accomplish. Had the man who discovered 
 our country or the man who saved it been 
 less obstinate, American history would 
 have been widely different from what it 
 has been. 
 
 As the astrolabe has been mentioned 
 several times in the course of this narra- 
 tive, it may be well to describe it, espe- 
 cially as it is now obsolete. It was an 
 instrument of considerable size, made of 
 some convenient material — usually either 
 
HIS CHARACTER. 2^^ 
 
 metal or wood, or both — and fitted with 
 various contrivances for the purpose of 
 observing the heavenly bodies. When a 
 navigator took an observation with the 
 astrolabe he immediately went be lowand 
 "worked it up" with the help of a slate 
 and pencil, and in accordance with the 
 rules of arithmetic and algebra. The 
 result was a series of figures which 
 greatly surprised him, and which he in- 
 terpreted according to the humor in 
 which he happened to find himself. A 
 skilful navigator who could guess his 
 latitude with comparative accuracy gener- 
 ally found that an observation taken with 
 the astrolabe would give him a result not 
 differing more than eighty or ninety de- 
 grees from the latitude in which he had 
 previously imagined his ship to be, and if 
 he was an ingenious man he could often 
 find some way of reconciling his observa- 
 tion with his guesses. Thus the astrolabe 
 gave him employment and exercised his 
 imagination, and was a great blessing to 
 the lonesome and careworn mariner. 
 
27S CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 It is our solemn duty, as Americans, to 
 take a warm interest in Christopher Co- 
 lumbus, for the reason that he had the 
 good taste and judgment to discover our 
 beloved country. Efforts have frequently 
 been made to deprive him of that honor. 
 It has been urged that he was not the 
 first man who crossed the Atlantic, that 
 he never saw the continent of North 
 America, and that he was not the original 
 discoverer of South America. Most of this 
 is undoubtedly true. It is now generally 
 conceded the Norwegians landed on the 
 coast of New England about six hundred 
 years before Columbus was born ; that 
 Americus Vespuccius was the first Euro- 
 pean to discover the South American 
 continent ; that Sebastian Cabot redis- 
 covered North America after the Nor- 
 wegians had forgotten all about it ; and 
 that Columbus never saw any part of what 
 is now the United States of America. 
 For all that, Columbus is properly en- 
 titled to be called the discoverer of the 
 New World, including the New England, 
 
ms CHARACTER, 279 
 
 Middle, Gulf, Western, and Pacific States. 
 Who invented steamboats ? And who in- 
 vented the magnetic telegraph ? Every 
 patriotic American echo will answer, " Ful- 
 ton and Morse." There were nevertheless 
 at least four distinct men who moved ves- 
 sels by machinery driven by steam before 
 Fulton built his steamboat, and nearly 
 twice that number of men had sent mes- 
 sages over a wire by means of electricity 
 before Morse invented the telegraph. 
 The trouble with the steamboats invented 
 by the pre-Fultonians, and the telegraphs 
 invented by the predecessors of Morse, 
 was that their inventions did not stay in- 
 vented. Their steamboats and telegraphs 
 were forgotten almost as soon as they were 
 devised ; but Fulton and Morse invented 
 their steamboats and telegraphs so thor- 
 oughly that they have stayed invented 
 ever since. 
 
 Now, the Norwegians discovered Amer- 
 ica in such an unsatisfactory way that the 
 discovery came to nothing. They did not 
 keep it discovered. They came and looked 
 
280 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 at New England, and, deciding that they 
 had no use for it, went home and forgot 
 all about it. Columbus, who knew noth- 
 ing of the forgotten voyage of the Nor- 
 wegians, discovered the West India islands 
 and the route across the Atlantic in such 
 a workmanlike and efficient way that his 
 discoveries became permanent. He was 
 the first man to show people the way to 
 San Domingo and Cuba, and after he had 
 done this it was an easy thing for other 
 explorers to discover the mainland of 
 North and South America. He thus 
 discovered the United States as truly as 
 Fulton discovered the way to drive the 
 City of Ro77te from New York to Liver- 
 pool, or Morse discovered the method of 
 sending telegrams over the Atlantic cable. 
 We need not be in the least disturbed 
 by the learned men who periodically de- 
 monstrate that Leif Ericson, as they famil- 
 iarly call him, was the true discoverer of 
 our country. We need never change 
 " Hail Columbia" into '' Hail Ericsonia," 
 and there is not the least danger Co- 
 
HIS CHARACTER, 28 1 
 
 lumbia College will ever be known as 
 Leifia University. We can cheerfully ad- 
 mit that Leif Ericson — or, to give him 
 what was probably his full name, Elipha- 
 let B. Ericson — and his Norwegians landed 
 somewhere in New England, and we can 
 even forgive the prompt way in which they 
 forgot all about it, by assuming that they 
 landed on Sunday or on a fast-day, and 
 were so disheartened that they ne\^er 
 wanted to hear the subject spoken of again. 
 We can grant all this, and still cherish the 
 memory of Columbus as the true and only 
 successful discoverer of America. 
 
 Most biographers have written of Co- 
 lumbus in much the same way that a 
 modern campaign biographer writes the 
 life of the Presidential candidate from 
 whom he hopes to receives an office. 
 They forget that he was never nominated 
 by any regular party convention, and that 
 it is therefore wrong to assume, without 
 any sufficient evidence, that he was the 
 greatest and best man that ever lived. He 
 was undoubtedly a bold sailor, but he 
 
2S2 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 lived in an age when bold sailors were 
 produced in quantities commensurate with 
 the demands of exploration, and we can- 
 not say that he was any bolder or better 
 sailor than the Cabots or his own brother 
 Bartholomew. He was certainly no braver 
 soldier than Ojeda, and his conquests were 
 trifling in comparison with those of Cortez 
 and Pizarro. 
 
 As a civil ruler he was a conspicuous 
 failure. It is true that the;^ colonists over 
 whom he was placed were, many of them, 
 turbulent scoundrels ; but the unanimity 
 with which they condemned his adminis- 
 tration, and the uniformity with which 
 every commissioner appointed to investi- 
 gate his conduct as a ruler condemned 
 him, compel us to believe that he was not 
 an able governor either of Spanish colo- 
 nists or contiguous Indians. He was not 
 habitually cruel, as was Pizarro, but he in- 
 sisted upon enslaving the Indians for his 
 own profit, though Queen Isabella had 
 forbidden him to enslave them or to treat 
 them harshly. 
 
HIS CHARACTER. 2S3 
 
 He could be magnanimous at times, but 
 he would not undertake a voyage of dis- 
 covery except upon terms which would 
 ensure him money and rank, and he did 
 not hesitate to claim for himself the re- 
 ward which was offered, during his first 
 voyage, to the man who should first see 
 the land, and which was fairly earned by 
 one of his sailors. 
 
 As an explorer, he failed to find a path 
 to India, and he died under the delusion 
 that Pekin was somewhere in Costa Rica. 
 His first voyage across the broad Atlantic 
 seems to us a wonderful achievement, but 
 in either difficulty or danger it cannot be 
 compared with Stanley's march across the 
 African continent. We must concede to 
 Columbus a certain amount of boldness 
 and perseverance, but we cannot shut our 
 eyes to the faults of his conduct and 
 character. 
 
 And yet Columbus was a true hero. 
 Whatever flaws there may have been in 
 the man, he was of a finer clay than his 
 fellows, for he could dream dreams that 
 
284 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 their dull imaginations could not conceive. 
 He belonged to the same land which gave 
 birth to Garibaldi, and, like the Great 
 Captain, the Great Admiral lived in a 
 high, pure atmosphere of splendid visions, 
 far removed from and above his fellow- 
 men. The greatness of Columbus cannot 
 be argued away. The glow of his enthu- 
 siasm kindles our own, even at the long 
 distance of four hundred years, and his 
 heroic figure looms grander through suc- 
 cessive centuries. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aguado, Juan, appointed in- 
 vestigator, 185; investigates, 
 188; makes nothing by it, 
 
 195- 
 
 Angel, Luis de St., 56; offers 
 to advance money, 57. 
 
 Astrolabe, invented, 32; de- 
 scription of, 276, 
 
 Black Crook, thought to have 
 broken out in Spain, 194. 
 
 Bobadilla, Francisco de, ar- 
 rives in Hispaniola, 221; ar- 
 rests Columbus^ 228; sends, 
 Columbus to Spain, 229. 
 
 Boyle, Father Bernardo, 133; 
 desires to burn somebody, 
 150, 163; is disappointed, 
 174. 
 
 Caonabo, 160 ; captured, 175 ; 
 dies, 193. 
 
 Cedo, Fermin, alleged scienti- 
 fic person, 158. 
 
 Cogoletto, alleged birth-place 
 of Columbus, I. 
 
 Columbus, Bartholomew, born 
 and translated, 4; is sent to 
 England, 38; arrives at His- 
 paniola, 171; made Governor 
 of Isabella, 191 ; able com- 
 mander, 209 ; arrested, 228 ; 
 sails with fourth exploring 
 expedition, 236 ; defeats Por- 
 ras, 261. 
 
 Columbus, Christopher, born, 
 
 I ; translated, 3 ; anecdotes 
 of boyhood, 5 ; goes to 
 Pavia, 9 ; becomes sailor, 
 
 II ; engages in Neapolitan 
 expedition, 12; deceives sail- 
 ors or posterity, 13 ; does 
 not arrive in Portugal, 16 ; 
 does arrive there, 18 ; marries, 
 19 ; makes maps, 20 ; lives 
 at Porto Santo, 21 ; goes to 
 Iceland or elsewhere, 28 ; 
 talks to King John, 35 ; goes 
 to Spain, 38 ; deposited with 
 Quintanilla,4i; meets Scien- 
 tific Congress, 43 ; goes to 
 Convent of Rabida,49; meets 
 committee on exploration, 
 54 ; starts for France, 56 ; 
 goes to Palos, 6r ; sails on 
 first voyage, 67 ; keeps false 
 reckoning, 56; discovers San 
 Salvador, 89; sails for Spain, 
 97 ; wrecked, 102 : founds 
 colony, 105 ; sees Mermaids, 
 no ; displays seamanship, 
 115; arrives at Azores, 116 ; 
 arrives at Palos, 125 ; flat 
 tens egg, 135 I sails on sec- 
 ond voyage, 138 ; discovers 
 Dominica, 141 ; returns to 
 Spain, 191 ; loses popular- 
 ity, 196 ; sails on third voy- 
 age, 200; discovers Trinidad, 
 204 ; invents ingenious the- 
 
286 
 
 lyfDEX. 
 
 ory, 205 ; arrives at Hispa- 
 niola, 20S ; arrested, 22B ; 
 sent to Spain, 229 ; arrives 
 in Spain, 230 ; sails on fourth 
 voyage, 1:37 ; reaches Hon- 
 duras, 240 ; searches for 
 Panama Canal, 240 ; founds 
 colony at Veragua, 243 ; 
 sails away, 250 ; reaches 
 Jamaica, 251 ; manages 
 lunar eclipse, 258 ; reaches 
 Hispaniola, 262 ; returns to 
 Spain, 264 ; dies, 268 ; is 
 extensively buried, 268 ; 
 perhaps is a sun-myth, 269; 
 character, 2S4. 
 
 Columbus, Diego, born, 4 ; 
 Governor of Isabella, 162 ; 
 sent to Spain to wait for 
 opening in Connecticut, 177; 
 returns to Hispaniola, 187 ; 
 arrested by Bobadilla, 227, 
 
 Columbus, Dominico, combs 
 wool, 3. 
 
 Compass, variation of, 55. 
 
 Congress of Salamanca, 46 ; 
 its tediousness, 45. 
 
 Correo, Pedro, 21; he winks, 
 25 ; is talked to death, 34. 
 
 Enriquez, Beatrix, loves not 
 wisely but too well, 41 ; is 
 mentioned in Columbus's 
 will, 267. 
 
 Ericson, Eliphalet B., discov- 
 ers America, 281. 
 
 Eclipse, story of, 258. 
 
 Egg, story of, 135. 
 
 Ferdinand, King of Aragon, 
 40. 
 
 Guacanagari, his affection for 
 Columbus, loi ; his suspi- 
 
 cious leg, 150 ; falls exten- 
 sively in love, 152 ; protects 
 Spaniards, 175. 
 
 Isabella, Queen of Castile, 41. 
 
 John, King of Portugal, 29 ; 
 his dishonorable conduct, 
 34. 
 
 La Navidad, founded, 105 ; 
 
 destroyed, 148. 
 Lcdesma, Pedro, swims ashore, 
 
 249. 
 
 Marchena, Juan Perez de, prior 
 of a convent, 50 ; makes a 
 night of it with Columbus, 
 51- 
 
 Margarite, rebels, 174. 
 
 Mendez, Diego, tries to reach 
 Hispaniola from Jamaica, 
 252 ; succeeds, 254. 
 
 Mendoza, Cardinal de, gives 
 dinner, 135. 
 
 Mexica, De, rebels, 219. 
 
 Ojeda, Alonzo de, is a just 
 man, 158; captures Caonabo, 
 175 ; arrives at Xaragua, 
 215 ; his interview with 
 Roldan, 216. 
 
 Ovando, Nicholas de, sent to 
 Hispaniola, 233 ; refuses to 
 let Columbus land, 237 ; de- 
 lays to send aid to Colum- 
 bus 255 ; finally does send 
 it, 262, 
 
 Perestrello. Mrs., mother-in- 
 lav/ of Columbus, 20 ; her 
 use of the stove-lid, 21. 
 
 Pinzon. Martin Alonzo, fits 
 out ship to join Columbus, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 287 
 
 56 ; has a brilliant idea, 83 ; 
 deserts, 97 ; met by Colum- 
 bus, lOb ; reaches Palos, 
 127 ; displays good sense, 
 12S. 
 
 Pinzon, Vincente Yanez, fits 
 out ship to join Columbus, 
 56. 
 
 Porras, Francisco de, muti- 
 nies, 256 ; defeated and 
 captured, 261. 
 
 Prester John, who he was, 
 31 ; who he was not, 166. 
 
 Quibian, attacks colony, 2.4O. 
 
 Quintanilla,receives Columbus 
 on deposit, 41. 
 
 Roldan, Francisco, rebels, 210; 
 compromises, 215; outwits 
 Ojeda, 216 ; drowned, 239. 
 
 Ships, rigged by Indianians,64. 
 
 Talavera, De, the Queen's 
 
 confessor, 43. 
 Triano, De, discovers land, 
 
 86 ; is disgusted. 
 
 Villejo, Alonzo de, risks his 
 eyes, 229. 
 
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