Chapter IV (2)

On Monday, the twelfth of November, they had sailed by sunset eighteen leagues, east by south, to a cape which Columbus called Cabo de Cuba. “On the following Wednesday he entered a spacious and deep harbor,” containing so many islands that they could not be counted.... He declares that it is his opinion these islands are the innumerable ones which, on the maps, are placed at the extreme part of the East, and says that he believes they contain great riches, precious stones, and spicery, and extend far to the south, spreading out on each side. He named this place La Mar de Nuestra Senora, and the port, near the strait that extends to these islands, Puerto del Principe.

On Wednesday, the twenty-first of November, when the vessels were about eighty miles southeast of Puerto del Principe, “the admiral” says Las Casas, “found they were forty-two degrees north of the equator as at Puerto de Mares,[158] but he says here that he has stopped using the quadrant until he should go on land that he might mend it. From this statement it would seem that he doubted that he was so far from the equator, and he had reason, for it was not likely since these islands are in ⸺ degrees.[159] To know whether the quadrant was in good working order, it is said that he took an observation to see if he was north as high as Castile; and if this be true, and he was as high as Florida, what is the situation of the islands already mentioned?[160] Moreover, it is said that the heat was great. It is evident that if he were along the coast of Florida, it should not have been hot, but cold.[161] And it is also manifest that in no part of the world in the latitude of forty-two degrees is great heat experienced except by some accidental cause, and even this exception I [Las Casas] believe has never been known.”

A number of other places were sailed to by the inquisitive navigator, which, in the chronological order of their discovery, he named Puerto de Santa Catalina, Cabo del Pico, Cabo de Campana, and Puerto Santo. At this last-named harbor, on Saturday, the first of December, “they planted a cross in the solid rock.” Thence he sailed to Cabo Lindo, and thence to Cabo del Monte. On Wednesday, the fifth of December, “he determined to leave Cuba or Juana,[162] which hitherto he had taken for a continent on account of its size, having sailed along the coast a hundred and twenty leagues. He therefore left the shore and steered southeast by east, as the land last discovered appeared in that direction. He took this course because the wind always came round from the north to northeast, and from there to east and southeast. It blew hard and they carried all sail, having a smooth sea and a current favoring them, so that from morning to one in the afternoon they had sailed eight miles an hour for nearly six hours. The nights here are said to be nearly fifteen hours long. After this they went ten miles an hour, and by sunset had sailed toward the southeast eighty-eight miles, which are twenty-two leagues.”

On Thursday, the sixth of December, Columbus “found himself four leagues from the harbor named Puerto Maria.” From this place he descried several headlands to which he respectively gave the names of Cabo del Estrella, Cabo del Elefante, and Cabo de Cinquin. “There appeared to be between the two last-mentioned capes a very wide channel, which the sailors said separated an island from the mainland. This island he named Tortuga. The land here appeared high, and not mountainous, but even and level, like the finest arable tracts. The whole or the great part of it seemed to be cultivated, and the plantations resembled the wheat fields in the plain of Cordova in the month of May.”

In the evening the ships entered the harbor “which he named Puerto de San Nicolas, for it was the day of that saint.” On Friday he found the harbor which he named Puerto de la Concepcion. This harbor “is about a thousand paces or a quarter of a league wide at the mouth, without a bank or a shoal, but exceedingly deep to the edge of the beach. It extends almost three thousand paces, with a fine clear bottom. Any ship may enter it and anchor without the least hazard. Here are two small streams, and opposite the mouth of the harbor several plains, the most beautiful in the world, resembling those of Castile, except that they surpass them. On this account the admiral named the island Española.”[163]

On Wednesday, the twelfth of December, “a large cross was set up at the entrance of the harbor upon a beautiful spot upon the western side, ‘as an indication,’ in the words of the admiral, ‘that your highnesses possess the country, and particularly for a memorial of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the mark of Christianity.’ ... The admiral here ascertained the length of the day and night, and found that from sunrise to sunset there passed twenty glasses of half an hour each, although he says there may be some error in the calculation, as the glass may not have been turned quickly enough, or the contrary. He states further, that he took an observation with the astrolabe and found the latitude to be seventeen degrees....

“The people here were all naked, king as well as subjects, the females showing no evidences of bashfulness. Both sexes were more handsome than those they had hitherto seen. Their color was light, and if they were clothed and protected from the sun and air they would almost be as fair as the inhabitants of Spain. The temperature of the air was cool and exceedingly pleasant. The land is high, covered with plains and valleys, and the highest mountains are arable. No part of Castile could produce a territory comparable to this in beauty and fertility. The whole island and that of Tortuga are covered with cultivated fields, like the plain of Cordova. In these they raise _ajes_, which are slips set in the ground, at the end of which roots grow like carrots. They grate these to powder, knead it, and make it into bread of a very pleasant taste, like that of chestnuts. The stalk is set out anew and produces another root, and this is repeated four or five times. The largest and most excellent that had been met with anywhere (the admiral says they are also found in Guinea) were those of this island, being of the size of a man’s leg. The natives here, according to the statement of the admiral, were stoutly built and courageous, very different from the timid islanders of the other parts; agreeable in their intercourse and without any religion.... They saw a native whom the admiral took to be the governor of the district, and whom the Indians called the cacique. He had a plate of gold as large as one’s hand, with which he seemed desirous of bartering. He carried it to his house and had it cut into pieces, which he traded away one by one.”

One of the caciques of the island sent a messenger to Columbus bearing as a present to him “a girdle, to which was attached, instead of a pouch, a mask having the nose, tongue, and ears of beaten gold.”

“I think,” Columbus writes, “no one who has seen these parts can say less in their praise than I have said. I repeat that it is a matter of wonder to see the things we have beheld, and the multitudes of people in this island, which I call Española, and the Indians Bohio. The natives are singularly agreeable in their intercourse and conversation with us, and are not like the others, who, when they speak, appear to be uttering menaces. The figures of the men and women are fine, and their color is not black, although they paint themselves. The most of them paint themselves red, others a dark hue, and others different colors, which, I understand, is done to keep the sun from injuring them. The houses and towns are very attractive, and the inhabitants live in each settlement under the rule of a sovereign or judge, to whom they pay implicit obedience. These magistrates are persons of excellent manners and great reserve, and give their orders by a sign with the hand, which is understood by all the people with surprising quickness.”

On Monday, the twenty-fourth of December, as Columbus’s ship, the Santa Maria, was running along the north side of Española, off the headland named Punta Santa, “at the end of the first watch, about eleven at night, when the vessel was about a league distant from the point of land, the admiral lay down to sleep, having taken no rest for two days and a night. As the sea was calm, the man at the helm left his post to a boy, and also went off to sleep, contrary to the explicit orders of the admiral, who had throughout the voyage forbidden, in calm or storm, the helm to be intrusted to a boy. The admiral was free from any dread of rocks or shoals, for the Sunday before, when he sent the sailors in boats to the king who had invited him to visit him, they had passed three and a half leagues to the east of Punta Santa, and had surveyed the whole coast for three leagues beyond that point, and ascertained where the vessels might pass, a thing never done before in the whole voyage. But as it pleased our Lord, at midnight there being a dead calm and the sea perfectly motionless, as in a cup, the whole crew, seeing the admiral had retired, went off to sleep, leaving the ship in the care of the boy already mentioned. The current carried her imperceptibly toward the shoals in the neighborhood, upon which she struck with a noise that could have been heard a league off.”

Although every thing was done to keep the damaged vessel afloat by Columbus and the few men who remained on board, “she opened between her ribs and slowly settled down on the shoal.” On the morning of Christmas the ship was unloaded with the assistance of the natives, who with their canoes conveyed the goods in her to the beach. These were afterward stowed in some houses which the cacique of the region had offered to Columbus for that purpose. The same ruler afterward gave the admiral a large mask, with pieces of gold at the ears, eyes, and other parts of it, and also some jewels of the same metal. “All these things had a great effect upon the admiral in assuaging his grief for the loss of his ship, and he became convinced that our Lord had permitted the shipwreck in order that he might select this place for a settlement.

“‘And to this end,’ he says, ‘so many favorable things conspired, that it cannot be called a disaster, but a great turn of good fortune, for if we had not run aground, we should have kept off without anchoring here, the place being in a large bay inside of two or three shoals. Neither should I otherwise have been induced to leave any men in these parts during the voyage; even if I had, I could not have spared them the needful provisions and materials for their fortification. Many of my crew have solicited me for permission to remain, and I have to-day [Wednesday, the twenty-sixth of December] ordered the construction of a fort, with a tower and a ditch, all to be well built, not that I think such a fortification necessary as a defence against the inhabitants, for I have already stated that with my present crew I could subjugate the whole island, which I believe to be larger than the kingdom of Portugal, and twice as populous, but that I think it prudent, since the territory is at such a distance from our country, and that the natives may understand the genius of the people of your highnesses and what they are able to perform, so that they may be held in obedience by fear as well as by love. For this purpose I have directed that a quantity of timber for the construction of the fort shall be provided, also bread and wine be left to suffice for more than a year, seed for planting, the long-boat of the ship, a calker, a carpenter, a gunner, a cooper, and many other persons of the number of those who have earnestly desired to serve your highnesses, and oblige me by remaining here and searching for the gold mine.’”

The admiral further remarks “that every piece of the ship was saved, for not even so much as a thong, board, or nail was lost, for she was as complete as when she first sailed, except that which was lost by cutting her to get out the casks and merchandise. These were carried on shore and well secured, as has already been mentioned. He adds that he hopes to find, on his return from Castile, a ton of gold collected by those who remained, by trading with the natives, and that they will have succeeded in discovering the mine and the spices, and all these in such quantities that before three years the king and queen may undertake the recovery of the holy sepulchre. ‘For I have before proposed to your highnesses,’ he writes, ‘that the profits of this undertaking should be employed in the conquest of Jerusalem, at which your highnesses smiled and said you were pleased, and had the same inclination.’”

“He left on the island of Española, which the Indians called Bohio, a fort and thirty-nine men, whom he states to have been great friends of King Guacanagari. Over these he placed Diego de Arana, a native of Cordova, Pedro Gutierrez, groom of the king’s wardrobe, and Rodrigo de Escovedo, a native of Seville and nephew of Fray Rodrigo Perez, with all the powers the king and queen had delegated to him. He left them all the goods which had been sent for trafficking, a great quantity, and every thing belonging to the ship which had been wrecked. The goods he directed should be traded away for gold.”

In commemoration of the day of Christ’s nativity, on which his ship was wrecked at this place, he called the settlement Villa de la Navidad (city of the Nativity). He further writes in his journal that “he had heard of another island behind that of Juana, toward the south, in which there was a still greater quantity of gold, and where it was found in grains of the size of a bean.... This island was called by the Indians Yamaye.”[164]

“It was the admiral’s intention to coast farther along the island of Española, which he might have done upon his homeward course, but as he considered that the captains of the two caravels were brothers, namely, Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez, and that they had a party attached to them, and that they and their partisans had manifested considerable haughtiness and avarice, disobeying his commands regardless of the honors he had conferred upon them, which misdemeanors, as well as the treachery of Martin Alonso, in deserting him,[165] he had winked at, without complaining, in order not to throw impediments in the way of the voyage—he thought it best to return home as quickly as possible. He adds that he had many faithful men among his crews, but resolved to overlook for the time the behavior of the refractory ones, and not at such an unfavorable season undertake to punish them.”

On Tuesday, the fifteenth of January, while the caravels were anchored in the bay which he called the Golfo de las Flechas (the Gulf of Arrows), he describes the weapons of the natives. “The bows,” he says, “are equal in size to those of France and England, and the arrows like the javelins used by the inhabitants of the other islands, which are made of the stalks of the cane while it is in seed. They are very straight, about a yard and a half in length, and doubled, with a sharp piece of wood, a span and a half long, at the end. At the point of this some attach a fish’s tooth, but the most of them grass.... The bows of the Indians appear to be made of yew.” The quantity of sea-weed which he found growing in this bay led Columbus to infer that the Indies were near the Canary Islands, not more than four hundred leagues distant.

On Wednesday morning, the sixteenth of January, they set sail from the Golfo de las Flechas, to go to the island of Carib. “After sailing sixty-four miles, as they estimated, the Indians on board signified that the island was to the southeast, when they altered their course, and proceeded in that direction, and after sailing several leagues the wind freshened and blew very favorably for their return to Spain. The crews began to grow despondent at leaving their homeward course, on account of the leaky condition of the vessels, (for there was no remedy for it but the help of God,) and the admiral found himself constrained to change his course again, and steer directly for Spain.”[166]

Columbus, afterward writing to Rafael Sanchez respecting his explorations along the coast of Española, remarks that the island of Española is “greater in circuit than all of Spain, from Colibre in Catalonia, near Perpignan, round the coast of the sea of Spain, along Granada, Portugal, Galicia, and Biscay, to Fuenterabia, at the cape of Biscay.... Each native, as far as I can understand, has one wife, with the exception of the king and princes, who are permitted to have as many as twenty. The women appear to do more work than the men. Whether there exist any such thing here as private property, I have not been able to ascertain. I have seen an individual appointed to distribute to the others, especially food and such things.

“People of an extraordinary description I did not see, neither did I hear of any, except those of the island Caris, which is the second island on the way from Española to India. This island is inhabited by a people who are regarded by their neighbors as exceedingly ferocious. They feed upon human flesh. These people have many kinds of canoes with which they make incursions upon all the islands of India, robbing and plundering wherever they go. Their difference from the others consists in their wearing long hair like that of women, and in using bows and arrows of cane; these last constructed, as I have already related, by fixing a piece of sharpened wood at the larger end. On this account they are considered very ferocious by the other Indians, and are much feared by them.”[167]

Speaking of the pecuniary profits of the voyage Columbus wrote: “I am enabled to promise the acquisition, by a trifling assistance from their majesties, of any quantity of gold, drugs, cotton, and mastic, which last article is found in the island of Scio; also, any quantity of aloe, and as many slaves for the service of the marine as their majesties may need. The same may be said of rhubarb and a great variety of other things which, I have no doubt, will be discovered by those I have left at the fort, as I did not stop at any single place, unless obliged to do so by the weather with the exception of Villa de la Navidad, where we remained some time to build the fort and provide the necessary means for the defence of the place.

“Although the discoveries actually accomplished appear great and surprising, yet I should have achieved much more had I been furnished with a suitable fleet. Nevertheless the great success of this undertaking is not to be ascribed to my own merits, but to the holy catholic faith and to the piety of our sovereigns, the Lord often granting to men what they never imagine themselves capable of accomplishing, even that which appears impracticable, for he is accustomed to hear the prayers of his servants and those who love his commandments. In this way has it happened to me that I have succeeded in an undertaking never before accomplished by man.”[168]

On Thursday night, the fourteenth of February, a violent tempest arose, “the waves crossing and dashing against one another so that the vessel [the Nina] was overwhelmed, and not able to get out from between them. The foresail was set very low, in order to carry her somewhat out of her dangerous situation. They stood under it for three hours, going twenty miles, when the wind and sea increasing, they began to drive before it, not having any other deliverance. At the same time the Pinta, in which was Martin Alonso Pinzon, began to scud likewise, and they soon lost sight of her, although the two caravels made signals to each other with lights, until from the fury of the storm they were no longer visible.” The fear of being lost now overcame Columbus and his men. They prayed and made many vows. “The admiral ordered that lots should be cast for one of them [if they safely reached land] to go on a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Guadalupe and carry a wax taper of five pounds’ weight. He made them all to take an oath that the one on whom the lot fell should perform the pilgrimage. For this purpose as many peas were selected as there were persons on board. One of the peas was marked with a cross, and all were shaken together in a cap. The first who put his hand into the cap was the admiral, and he drew out the crossed pea. So the lot fell on him, and he considered himself as bound to accomplish the pilgrimage. Another lot was taken for a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Loretto, in the province of Ancona, the territory of the pope, where is the house in which Our Lady has performed so many miracles. This lot fell on a sailor of Puerto de Santa Maria, called Pedro de Villa. The admiral promised to furnish him with the money for his expenses. A third lot was determined upon for the selection of a person who should watch a whole night in Santa Clara de Moguer, and have a mass said there. This lot fell on the admiral. After this he and all the crew made a vow to go in procession, clothed in penitential garments, to the first church dedicated to Our Lady which they should meet with on arriving on land, and there pay their devotions. Besides these general vows, every individual made a private one, all expecting to be lost, so terrible was the violence of the hurricane. Their danger was increased by the want of ballast in the vessel, ... which the admiral had neglected to supply among the islands, because he wished to husband his time in making discoveries, and expected to take in ballast at the island of Matinino, which he intended to visit. The only thing that they could do in this emergency was to fill with sea-water such empty casks as they could find, and by doing this they obtained some relief.

“Here the admiral speaks of the circumstances which caused him to fear that our Lord would suffer them to perish, and of some which made him hope that he would bring them safe to land, and not allow the important information they were carrying to the king and queen to be lost. He seems to have felt the greatest anxiety to have his wonderful discovery known, so that the world might be convinced that his assertions had been correct and that he had accomplished what he had professed himself able to do. The thought of this not being done gave him the greatest disquietude, and he was constantly apprehending that the most trifling thing might defeat his whole intention. He ascribes this to his want of faith and confidence in a divine providence, but comforts himself by reflecting upon the many mercies God had shown him in having enabled him to succeed in his project, when so many adversities and hindrances opposed him in Castile, and afterward to accomplish his great discovery. And as he had made the service of God the aim and business of his undertaking, and as he had hitherto favored him by granting all his desires, he indulges in the hope that he will continue to favor him, and will give him a safe return. He also remembered that God had delivered him on the outward voyage, when he had much greater reason to fear; that the eternal God gave him resolution and courage to withstand his men when they conspired against him and with a unanimous and menacing determination resolved to turn back. With these thoughts, and the consideration of other wonderful favors he had enjoyed, he says he ought not to be in fear of the tempest; but he adds that his apprehensions and the anguish of his mind would not allow him to rest. Besides, he continues, his anxiety was increased by reflecting upon the condition of his two sons whom he had left at their studies in Cordova,—these would be left orphans in a foreign land, and the king and queen being ignorant of the services he had rendered them by the voyage, would not feel any inclination to provide for them. On this account, and that their highnesses might be informed that our Lord had granted success to the undertaking in the discovery of the Indies, and might know that storms did not prevail in those regions (which was apparent from the plants and trees growing down to the brink of the sea), he devised the means of acquainting them with the circumstances of the voyage in case they should perish in the storm. This he did by writing an account of it on parchment, as full as possible, and earnestly entreated the finder to carry it to the king and queen of Spain. The parchment was rolled up in a waxed cloth and well tied. A large wooden cask being brought, he placed the roll inside of it, and threw the cask into the sea, none of the crew knowing what it was, but all thinking that it was some act of devotion.”[169]

On the sixteenth of February the Nina reached the Azores, and two days afterward was riding at anchor at the island of Santa Maria. Departing from the Azores on the twenty-fourth of February, the Nina again encountered another storm, which caused Columbus to take refuge in the mouth of the river Tagus, on the fourth of March. From this roadstead he sent a courier overland to Spain bearing the intelligence of his arrival at this haven on the coast of Portugal, and another to the king of Portugal to ask permission to anchor in the harbor of Lisbon.

When, on the sixth of March, it became known in Lisbon, says Ferdinand Columbus, “that the ship came from the Indies, such throngs of people went aboard to see the Indians and to hear the news, that the vessel could not contain them, and the water was covered with boats, some of the people praising God for the success of so great an undertaking, and others storming because the Portuguese had lost the discovery through the king’s incredulity.... The next day the king wrote to the admiral congratulating him on his safe return, and expressing the desire, since the admiral was in his dominions, that he would visit him [at Valparaiso, nine leagues from Lisbon].... The king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to meet him, and when the admiral came into the presence of the king, he honored him by commanding him to put on his cap and to sit down. The king, having heard the particulars of his fortunate voyage, offered him all he stood in need of for the service of their catholic majesties, although he thought that as the admiral had been a captain in the service of Portugal, that the discovery belonged to him. To which the admiral answered that he knew of no agreement by which he could obtain it, and that he had strictly obeyed his orders, which were that he should not go to the mines of Portugal or to Guinea. The king said that it was all well, and he did not doubt but justice would be done. Having spent considerable time in this conversation, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest man then about him, to entertain the admiral, and show him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly. Having remained there all Sunday, and all Monday until after mass, the admiral took leave of the king.... As he was on his way to Lisbon, he passed a monastery, where the queen was, who sent him an earnest entreaty that he would not pass by without seeing her. She was much pleased to see him, and bestowed upon him all the favor and honor that were due to the greatest lord. That night a messenger came from the king to the admiral, to inform him that if he wished to go by land to Spain he would attend him, provide lodgings on the way, and furnish him all that he might require, as far as the borders of Portugal.

“On Wednesday, the thirteenth of March, two hours after daylight, the admiral set sail for Seville, and, on Friday following, at noon, arrived at Saltes, and came to anchor in the port of Palos,[170] from which he had departed on the third of August, the previous year, 1492, seven months and eleven days preceding his return.”[171]

Desiring as early as possible to make known his return and his remarkable discoveries, Columbus, as soon as his vessel came to anchor, sent letters to several of his friends, in which he gave brief descriptions of the people and of the islands which he had found, as he believed, in the eastern part of Asia. One of these letters, that addressed on the fourteenth of March to Rafael or Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of Spain, was shortly afterward translated into Latin and printed at Rome. The title given to the letter expresses the popular belief respecting the situation of the discovered islands: “A letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age is greatly indebted, respecting the islands of India lately found beyond the Ganges.”[172]

Conscious of the greatness of his discovery, Columbus enthusiastically closes his letter with these words: “And now the king, the queen, the princes, and all their dominions, as well as the whole of Christendom, ought to give thanks to our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has granted us such an achievement and success. Let processions be ordered, let solemn festivals be celebrated, let the churches be filled with boughs and flowers.”

When his father landed at Palos, “he was received there,” says Ferdinand Columbus, “by all the people in procession, giving thanks to God for his fortunate success, which, it was hoped, would contribute greatly to propagate the Christian religion and enlarge their majesties’ dominions. All the inhabitants of the place considered it a matter of no little fame that the admiral had sailed from that port, and that most of the men he had with him belonged to it, though many of them, through [Martin Alonso] Pinzon’s fault, had been mutinous and disobedient.... The admiral then proceeded toward Seville, intending to go from there to Barcelona where their catholic majesties were. He was compelled to tarry a little along the way thither, though it were ever so little, to satisfy the curiosity of the people where he went, who came from the neighboring towns to the road along which he journeyed to see him, the Indians, and the other things he brought. Proceeding in this manner, he reached Barcelona about the middle of April, having previously sent their highnesses an account of the good fortune attending his voyage, which exceedingly pleased them, and they appointed him a most impressive reception as a man that had performed for them an extraordinary commission. All the court and city went out to meet him. Their catholic majesties sat in public in great state, on costly chairs, under a canopy of gold-cloth; and when he approached to kiss their hands they arose as to a great lord, and were unwilling to give him their hands, and caused him to sit down by them. When he had given them a brief account of his voyage, they permitted him to retire to his apartment, to which he was attended by all the court. And he was so highly honored and favored by their highnesses, that when the king rode about Barcelona, the admiral was on one side of him, and the Infante Fortuna on the other, for before this, no one rode by the side of his majesty but the Infante, who was his near kinsman.”[173]

Galvano, speaking of the enthusiasm created by Columbus’s return, says: “Hereupon there arose so extraordinary a desire to travel among the Spaniards that they were ready to leap into the sea to swim, if it had been possible, unto these new lands.”[174]