Peter Parley's Tales About America and Australia Part 2

The king of Portugal must have been greatly mortified when he heard of the arrival of Columbus and the wonderful discoveries he had made, for he could not but reflect that all the advantages of these discoveries might have belonged to him if he had not treated Columbus as he did.

But notwithstanding the envy which it was natural for the Portuguese to feel, he was allowed to come to Lisbon, and was treated with all the marks of distinction due to a man who had performed things so extraordinary and unexpected. The king admitted him into his presence, and listened with admiration to the account which he gave of his voyage, while Columbus enjoyed the satisfaction of being able to prove the solidity of his schemes to those very persons who had with disgraceful ignorance rejected them as the projects of a visionary adventurer.

Columbus was so impatient to return to Spain that he remained only five days in Lisbon. On the 15th of March he arrived at Palos, seven months and eleven days from the time when he set out from thence upon his voyage.

When the prosperous issue of it was known, when they beheld the strange people, the unknown animals, and singular productions brought from the countries he had discovered, the joy was unbounded; all the bells were rung, the cannons were fired, and he was welcomed with all the acclamations which the people are ever ready to bestow on great and glorious characters. They flocked in crowds to the harbour to see him land, and nothing but Columbus and the New World, as the Spaniards called it, was talked of.

He was desired by Ferdinand and Isabella in the most respectful terms to repair to court, that they might receive from his own mouth, an account of his wonderful discoveries.

On his arrival at Barcelona the king and queen received him clad in their royal robes, seated upon a throne, and surrounded by their n.o.bles.

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When he approached, they commanded him to take his seat upon a chair prepared for him, and to give a circ.u.mstantial account of his voyage, which he related with a gravity suitable to the dignity of the audience he addressed, and with that modesty which ever accompanies superior merit.

Every mark of honour that grat.i.tude or admiration could suggest, was conferred upon him; his family was enn.o.bled, and, as a mark of particular favour, Isabella appointed his son Diego, the boy, who, you remember, had been left at the convent, page to prince Juan, the heir apparent, an honour only granted to sons of persons of distinguished rank.

The king and queen, and, after their example, the courtiers treated him with all the respect paid to persons of the highest rank. Yet some of these courtiers were his bitterest enemies, and did every thing they could, in his absence, to poison the minds of the king and queen against him, and to cause his downfall.

The favour shown Columbus by the sovereigns insured him for a time the caresses of the n.o.bility, for in court every one is eager to lavish attentions upon the man "whom the king delighteth to honour."

At one of the banquets which were given him occured the well known circ.u.mstance of the egg.

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A shallow courtier present, impatient of the honours paid to Columbus, and meanly jealous of him as a foreigner, abruptly asked him, whether he thought that, in case he had not discovered the Indies, there would have been wanting men in Spain capable of the enterprise.

To this Columbus made no direct reply but, taking an egg, invited the company to make it stand on one end. Every one attempted it, but in vain; whereupon he struck it upon the table, broke one end, and left it standing on the broken part; ill.u.s.trating, in this simple manner, that when he had once shown the way to the new world, nothing was easier than to follow it.

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CHAPTER IV.

COLUMBUS PREPARES FOR ANOTHER VOYAGE.

Columbus was now anxious to set out on another voyage to proceed with his discoveries, and the king and queen gave orders that every thing should be done to further his wishes.

By his exertions a fleet of seventeen sail, large and small, was soon in a state of forwardness; labourers and artificers of all kinds were engaged for the projected colonies, and an ample supply was provided of whatever was necessary for the cultivation of the soil, the working of the mines, and for traffic with the natives.

He now found no difficulty in getting sailors to accompany him, and the account he gave of the countries he had discovered, and particularly the intelligence that they abounded with gold, excited the avarice and rapacity of the Spaniards, and numbers of needy adventurers of ruined fortunes and desperate circ.u.mstances, were eager to share in the spoil.

Many persons of distinction, thinking to become rich by the same means, also volunteered to enlist, and many got on board of the s.h.i.+ps by stealth, so that about 1500 set sail in the fleet, though only a thousand were originally permitted to embark.

The departure of Columbus on his second voyage presented a brilliant contrast to his gloomy embarkation at Palos.

There were three large s.h.i.+ps of heavy burden and fourteen smaller vessels, and the persons on board, instead of being regarded by the populace as devoted men, were looked upon with envy as favoured mortals, destined to golden regions and delightful climes, where nothing but wealth, and wonder, and enjoyment awaited them.

At sunrise the whole fleet was under sail, on the 13th of October he lost sight of the Island of Ferro, and, favoured by the trade winds, was borne pleasantly along, till, on the 2nd of November, a lofty island was descried to the west, to which he gave the name of Dominica, from having discovered it on the Lord's day.

As the s.h.i.+ps moved gently onward, other islands arose to sight, one after another, covered with forests and enlivened by the flight of parrots and other tropical birds, while the whole air was sweetened by the fragrance of the breezes which pa.s.sed over them.

In one of these islands, to which the Spaniards gave the name of Guadaloupe, they first met with the delicious fruit, the Anana or pine-apple.

Columbus now sailed in the direction of Hayti, to which he had given the name of Hispaniola, where he shortly arrived.

In pa.s.sing along the coast he set on sh.o.r.e one of the young Indians who had been taken from that neighbourhood and had accompanied him to Spain.

He dismissed him finely apparelled, and loaded with trinkets, thinking he would impress his countrymen with favourable feelings towards the Spaniards, but he never heard anything of him afterwards.

When he arrived on that part of the island where he had built the fort and taken leave of his companions, the evening growing dark, the land was hidden from their sight. Columbus watched for the dawn of day with the greatest anxiety; when at last the approach of the morning sun rendering the objects on sh.o.r.e visible, in the place where the fort had stood, nothing was to be seen. No human being was near, neither Indian nor European; he ordered a boat to be manned, and himself went, at the head of a party, to explore how things really were.

The crew hastened to the place where the fortress had been erected; they found it burnt and demolished, the palisades beaten down, and the ground strewed with broken chests and fragments of European garments.

The natives, at their approach, did not welcome them as they expected, like friends, but fled and concealed themselves as if afraid to be seen.

Columbus, at length, with some difficulty, by signs of peace and friends.h.i.+p, persuaded a few of them to come forth to him. From them he learned, that scarcely had he set sail for Spain, when all his counsels and commands faded from the minds of those who remained behind. Instead of cultivating the good-will of the natives, they endeavoured, by all kinds of wrongful means, to get possession of their golden ornaments and other articles of value, and seduce from them their wives and daughters, and had also quarrelled among themselves.

The consequences of this bad conduct were what might have been expected: some died by sickness caused by intemperance, some fell in brawls between themselves about their ill-gotten spoil, and others were cut off by the Indians, whom they had so shamefully treated, and who afterwards pulled dawn and burnt their fort.

The misfortunes which had befallen the Spaniards in the vicinity of this harbour threw a gloom over the place, and it was considered by the superst.i.tious mariners as under some baneful influence. The situation was low and unhealthy, and not capable of improvement; Columbus therefore determined to remove the settlement.

With this view he made choice of a situation more healthy and commodious than that of Navidad, and having ordered the troops and the various persons to be employed in the colony to be immediately disembarked, together with the stores, ammunition, and all the cattle and live-stock, he traced out the plan of a town in a large plain near a s.p.a.cious bay; and obliging every person to put his hand to the work, the houses were soon so far advanced as to afford them shelter, and forts were constructed for their defence.

This rising city, the first that Europeans founded in the new world, he named Isabella, in honour of his patroness the Queen of Castile.

As long as the Indians had any prospect that their sufferings might terminate by the voluntary departure of the invaders, they submitted in silence, and dissembled their sorrow; but now that the Spaniards had built a town--now that they had dug up the ground and planted it with corn--it became apparent that they came not to visit the country, but to settle in it.

They were themselves naturally so abstemious and their wants so few, that they were easily satisfied with the fruits of the island, which, with a handful of maize or a little of the insipid bread made of the ca.s.sava root, were sufficient for their support.

But it was with difficulty they could afford subsistence for the new guests. The Spaniards, though considered an abstemious people, appeared to them excessively voracious. One Spaniard consumed as much as several Indians; this keenness of appet.i.te appeared so insatiable, that they supposed the Spaniards had left their own country because it did not produce enough to gratify their immoderate appet.i.tes, and had come among them in quest of nourishment.

Columbus having taken all the steps which he thought necessary to ensure the prosperity of his new colony, entrusted the command of the military force to Margaritta, and set sail with three vessels to extend his discoveries; but, after a long and tedious voyage, in which he endured every hards.h.i.+p, the most important discovery he made was the island of Jamaica.

Having been absent much longer than he had expected, he returned to his new settlement, but the colonists had become refractory and unmanageable.

No sooner had he left the island on his voyage of discovery, than the soldiers under Margaritta dispersed in straggling parties over the island, lived at discretion upon the natives, wasted their property, and treated that inoffensive race with the insolence of military oppression.

During the absence of Columbus, several unfavourable accounts of his conduct had been transmitted to Spain, and these accusations gained such credit in that jealous court, that Aguado, a person in every way unsuited for the purpose, was appointed to proceed to Hispaniola to observe the conduct of Columbus.

This man listened with eagerness to every accusation of the discontented Spaniards, and fomented still further the spirit of dissension in the island.

Columbus felt how humiliating it must be if he remained in the island with such a partial inspector to observe his motions and control his authority; he therefore took the resolution of returning to Spain, in order to lay a full account of his transactions before Ferdinand and Isabella.

Having committed the government of the colony during his absence to Don Bartholomew, his brother, he appointed Roldan Chief Justice, a choice which afterwards caused great calamities to the colony.