History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 1 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

CHAPTER XVII.

The state of the West India Islands when discovered—Wreck of one of the vessels of the expedition—A colony established—Columbus sets sail for Spain, 4th January, 1493—Arrives at St. Mary’s, 18th February, and in the Tagus a few days afterwards—Re-enters, with his ship, the harbour of Palos, 15th March—Great rejoicings—He proceeds to Seville and Barcelona—Orders for a fresh expedition—Its extent, and departure, 25th Sept., 1493—Reaches Dominica, 2nd Nov., 1493, and Santa Cruz, 14th Nov.—Arrives at Hayti, 22nd Nov.—Founds a fresh colony at Hispaniola or Hayti—Sufferings of the colonists, and disappointment of Columbus—His sanguine expectations for the future—Threatened mutiny among the colonists—Columbus proceeds on further explorations—Discovery of the island of Jamaica—Surveys Cuba, and returns to Isabella—Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus—Intrigues at home—Commission of inquiry despatched to Hayti—Columbus sets sail for Europe, 10th March, 1496—Arrives at Cadiz, 11th June, 1496—Re-visits the West, May, 1498—Reaches Trinidad, 31st July—Discovers Tobago, Granada, and other islands, reaching Hispaniola, 19th August—Finds everything in disorder—Makes a tour of inspection, but is arrested, and sent a prisoner to Spain—Arrives at Cadiz, Nov. 1500, and is restored to the royal favour—A fleet sails for the colony with Ovando, Feb. 1502, and two months afterwards (9th May) Columbus follows, and reaches St. Domingo, 29th June—Discovers the island of Guanaga 30th July—Trading canoe—Her cargo—Prosecutes his researches to the South—Reaches Cape Honduras—Discovers and explores the Mosquito coast—Puerto Bello—Forms a settlement on the river Belem, 6th Feb., 1503—Anchors at Jamaica, June 1503, and Dominica, 13th August of that year—Sails for Spain, 12th September, which he reaches 7th Nov., 1504—His sufferings and death, 20th May, 1506.

The state of the West India Islands when discovered.

Philosophers and philanthropists may ask with some show of reason when they read the history of the West Indies during the last three hundred years, and compare the state of its inhabitants with that in which Columbus found them, if civilization has in all cases increased the happiness of the human race. “Their habitations,” remarks Washington Irving, referring to the aborigines, “were very simple, being in the form of a pavilion, or high circular tent, constructed of branches of trees, of reeds, and palm. They were kept very clean and neat, and sheltered under beautiful and spreading trees. For beds they had nets of cotton extended from two parts, which they called hamacs, a name since adopted into universal use among seamen.”[754] Their groves were more beautiful than ever Columbus had anywhere else beheld; and the whole country, according to his description of it, was as fresh and green as the richest and most verdant valleys of Andalusia during the month of May, when the peninsula is adorned in its gayest colours. Amply supplied with springs and streams of cool and sweet water, and fruits of the richest description; with abundance of herbs of various kind; with animal food reared on the land where they lived, and abundant fish in the seas with which they were surrounded, what more could the original inhabitants of the West India Islands desire? “Here,” says Columbus in his journal, “are large lakes, with groves about them marvellous in beauty and in richness. The singing of the birds is such, that it seems as if one would never desire to depart hence. There are flocks of parrots which obscure the sun, and other birds large and small, of so many kinds, and so different from ours, that it is wonderful; and besides, there are trees of a thousand species, each having its particular fruit, and all of marvellous flavour.” These pictures may have been in some respects over-coloured by Columbus and his crew, after their arduous and weary voyage: but contemporary writers confirm the original beauty of the West India Islands; nor are there to this day many islands which look more beautiful from the sea than those which were first made known to the world by Christopher Columbus.[755] But even if the descriptions of the happiness of the natives is in some respects overdrawn, their position, under the patriarchal rule of their native caciques, with few wants and little of fear or care, compares favourably with the state of these islands at any period since they came under the rule of the highly civilized nations of Europe. Nor were these poor people, though living in a state of nature, without some of the consolations of religion. “They confess,” remarks Peter Martyr, “the soul to be immortal, and having put off the bodily clothing, they imagine it goeth forth to the woods and the mountains, and that it liveth there perpetually in caves.”

Throughout the whole time Columbus was engaged in discovering and surveying these islands, he was under the conviction—a conviction which he carried to his grave—that they formed part of Asia, or rather of India, the name by which the greater part of that continent was then known, and that they were the islands spoken of by Marco Polo, as lying opposite Cathay in the Chinese Sea. Indeed, the great navigator construed everything he saw in harmony with the accounts of those opulent regions. When the natives spoke of enemies to the north-west, he concluded these to be people from the mainland of Asia, the subjects of the great Khan of Tatary, who, the Venetian traveller stated, were wont to make war on the islands and to enslave their inhabitants. When they described the country to the south as abounding in gold, he felt convinced that this must refer to the famous island of Zipango, of the magnificent capital of which Marco Polo had given such a glowing description. The fine gold trinkets the natives possessed confirmed their reports and his own impressions, whetted the avarice of the Spaniards, and made a search for the great Khan and his golden islands the chief results of his expedition.

Indeed the main purpose of Columbus, like that of Vasco de Gama—though the former was a man of far loftier character than the latter—was to find an opulent and civilized country in the East, with whom he might establish commercial relations, carrying home gold, spices, drugs, and Oriental merchandise. He hoped, too, that he would thus have the means of establishing the Christian religion in heathen lands, and from the profits of the undertaking to rescue the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem from the power of the Infidels. Such an enterprise had been the dream of his early manhood; nor indeed was it forgotten when his own earthly pilgrimage came to a close, for by his will he directs his son to appropriate certain sums of money to that sacred cause.

Wreck of one of the vessels of the expedition.

While cruising among the islands, Columbus had the misfortune to lose one of the three vessels of his expedition. She was swept during a calm by the strong current and through the carelessness of the crew on a sandbank, where she became a total wreck. Fortunately the weather continued calm, so that the lives of the crew, as well as everything on board, were saved. All the stores, with the assistance of the natives, were carefully stowed away in huts on shore. Nor was there the slightest disposition on their part to take the smallest advantage of the strangers who had come among them. Not one article was pilfered; not a “hawk’s bell,” nor a bead—to them objects of envy and delight—was taken away; nor were the most trifling articles appropriated while removing them in their canoes from the wreck to the shore. “So loving, so tractable, so peaceable are these people,” says Columbus in his journal, “that I swear to your Majesties, there is not in the world a better nation, nor a better land. They love their neighbours as themselves.”[756] What an example the uncivilized savage here presents to the civilization of our own age, of which we so often make such vaunted boasts!

A colony established.

As most of the shipwrecked crew, besides some other persons belonging to the expedition, expressed a desire to be left behind, and as the two vessels would have been overcrowded with the three crews, their wishes suggested to Columbus the idea of constituting them the germ of a future colony. The wreck of the caravel provided abundant material for the fortress he had resolved to build. Her guns and ammunition were ready for its protection; and with his crews so reduced in number, he could spare provisions for the year, by the end of which he hoped to return. Having completed his arrangements, Columbus and the remaining caravels set sail for home on the 4th of January, 1493.

Columbus sets sail for Spain 4th Jan., 1493.

Arrives at St. Mary’s 18th Feb., and in the Tagus a few days afterwards.

After suffering severely from a storm, and a long and wearisome struggle with the trade-winds, the nature and character of which was then unknown, Columbus reached the island of St. Mary’s on the 18th of February following, where he was detained for two or three days,[757] and was afterwards obliged, through stress of weather and scarcity of provisions, to put into the Tagus.

When the tidings reached Lisbon that a Spanish barque lay anchored in the Tagus, freighted with the people and productions of a newly discovered world, the effect was electrical. For nearly a century that city had derived its chief glory from its maritime discoveries; but here was an achievement which eclipsed them all. The ship of a neighbouring and friendly, though rival, nation had, by sailing to the West, discovered the fabled land of Cathay, and had come from Zipango (Japan), and the extremity of India, laden with its treasures. Curiosity and envy combined could hardly have been more excited and aroused had Columbus brought with him the produce of another planet. For several days the once active but now lifeless though still beautiful Tagus was covered with boats and barges of every kind, all winding their way to the caravel. Visitors of every kind, from officers of the crown and cavaliers of high distinction down to the humblest of the people, thronged around the ship, eager to go on board and to see the strange human beings, plants, and animals from the new-found world, and to learn from the crew, if not from Columbus himself, the events of this remarkable voyage. Messengers came from King John with professions of congratulation on the great discovery, and an invitation to the palace, which Columbus accepted with reluctance, and only because the weather continued so stormy that he was unable to leave with his vessel for Spain. The king and the principal cavaliers of his household received him with much courtesy and pomp, though with jealous envy of his success and with many expressions of distrust and doubt.

Columbus re-enters, with his ship, the harbour of Palos 15th March.

Having satisfied the curiosity of the Portuguese court and people, Columbus set sail from the Tagus on the 13th of March, and two days afterwards entered the small harbour of Palos, having been seven months and a half absent on the most important maritime expedition recorded in history. Palos that day was the scene of extraordinary excitement and rejoicings, not unmingled, however, with doubts. Almost every family in the place had some relative or friend among the navigators. Great anxiety prevailed as to the safety of the crew of the wrecked caravel, who had remained to form the settlement at Hispaniola; and of the Pinta, which had been separated from Columbus in a storm the expedition had encountered before it reached St. Mary’s. But the fears for the safety of the Pinta were soon removed. In the afternoon of the same day on which Columbus arrived, and while the church and convent bells were still pealing forth a welcome to the great discoverer, Martin Alonzo Pinzon entered the river with his ship.

Great rejoicings.

Slavish, indeed, was the welcome offered by the people to the great navigator, whose plans they had so recently rejected as mischievous and idle dreams. The whole population joined him at their principal church in offering thanks to God for a discovery, in the way of which they had themselves thrown innumerable difficulties. Wherever Columbus passed, the streets resounded with acclamations; and in that same place where he first came, a poor wanderer, craving water and bread at the gate of their convent for his famishing child, and where afterwards he had been hooted and despised, he was welcomed with honours rarely rendered to even monarchy itself.

He proceeds to Seville and Barcelona.

Columbus, having despatched a letter to the king and queen, then at Barcelona, proceeded to Seville to await their orders, taking with him six of the natives whom he had brought to Spain. The letter announcing his discovery had produced an extraordinary sensation, not merely at the Spanish court, but in every part of Europe whither the news had spread. To Spain, then approaching the plenitude of her power, this discovery, following so closely on the conquest of Granada, was considered to be a special mark of Divine favour to the nation which had subdued the Moors and extended the Christian faith. Throughout the whole country it was hailed with the most enthusiastic delight, and the journey of Columbus from Seville to Barcelona was one continued triumph. Every preparation had been made at the latter city to give him a solemn and magnificent reception. Surrounded by a brilliant cavalcade of courtiers and Spanish chivalry, and followed by a long retinue, of which the Indians formed a part, Columbus marched in procession through streets crowded with people, and lined by houses gaily decorated, to the chief square of the city, where the sovereigns, under a rich canopy, awaited his arrival. The principal nobility of Castile, Valentia, Catalonia, and Aragon, were there with Ferdinand and Isabella, impatient to behold and welcome the great discoverer, whose majestic and venerable appearance enhanced their admiration and enthusiasm. When he approached, the sovereigns rose as if receiving a person of the highest rank. Briefly delivering an account of his voyage, Columbus displayed the strange Indians, animals, and plants, with a few specimens of native gold, and some barbaric ornaments he had brought from the new found country; and prayers were then offered by the whole of that brilliant assembly, in which the king and queen on their knees solemnly joined.

Orders for a fresh expedition.

A discovery so great and astounding soon spread far and wide, and embassies and travelling merchants diffused the tidings in every land. Sebastian Cabot describes the first receipt of the news in London, and the talk and admiration created in the court of Henry VII., as if it was “a thing more divine than human.”[758] Indeed, the whole civilized world, filled with wonder and delight, rejoiced in an event which opened out a new and unbounded field for inquiry and enterprise, although no one had an idea of the real importance of the discovery, nor that it was an entirely new and distinct portion of the globe which had been discovered. Nor, indeed, was any time lost in securing to the crown of Spain these valuable acquisitions. Arrangements were at once made to fit out a fleet on an extensive scale, and the royal injunctions, though highly arbitrary, were now obeyed with the utmost alacrity. A fleet of seventeen vessels, large and small, were soon ready. The best pilots were chosen for the service, while skilled husbandmen, miners, and other mechanics, were engaged for the colonies it was intended to found. Horses for military purposes and for stocking the country, together with cattle and domestic animals of various kinds, were likewise provided, as well as seeds of almost every description, and plants, including vines and sugar canes; nor was there wanting an abundant supply of trinkets, beads, hawks’-bells, looking-glasses, and other showy trifles, to induce traffic among the natives. The most exaggerated accounts spread of the fabulous wealth of the territories, and adventurers of every kind, from the highest to the very lowest, were equally eager to join in the expedition. Some were doubtless inflamed with the mere hope and lust of wealth, while others less selfish in their motives pictured to themselves a wide field for the display of their military genius and skill, in what did not seem impossible to them, the actual conquest of the grand Khan and the capture of the fabled land of Cathay.

Its extent, and departure, 25th Sept., 1493.

The number of persons permitted to embark in the expedition had been originally limited to one thousand, but the applications from volunteers were so numerous that fifteen hundred persons were eventually enrolled; and early on the morning of the 25th of September, 1493, they sailed from the bay of Cadiz in three large vessels and fourteen caravels. No accounts of the size of any of these vessels have been transmitted to posterity except the brief statement made in a note by Washington Irving,[759] from the writings of Peter Martyr, who says that they “were carracks (a large species of merchant vessel, principally used in the coasting trade), of 100 tons.” But the carracks of the commercial marine of the Venetians and Genoese of those days were of very considerable dimensions, in some few instances from 1500 to 2000 tons, and were employed on the most distant voyages then known. Of one of these, Charnock,[760] as we have seen, has given a drawing; she is a full-rigged ship, well equipped, and evidently not less than 1500 tons register, taken from a painting at Genoa, dated 1542, so that it may be fairly presumed that in his second voyage the largest of the vessels of Columbus was far beyond 100 tons. Considering that he had with him fifteen hundred persons, some of them members of the best families of Spain, with large quantities of stores and merchandise, it may be safely assumed that the “three large vessels” were carracks of from 400 to 600 tons; while the fourteen caravels may have been craft ranging from 250 down to 70 tons, as Columbus on more than one occasion had urged the necessity of having small vessels, of light draft of water, adapted for the survey of the coasts, or for river navigation.

Reaches Dominica, 2nd Nov., 1493, and Santa Cruz, 14th Nov.

The incidents of this voyage have been pleasantly related by one Dr. Chanca, who was physician to the fleet, in a letter addressed by him to the chapter of Seville.[761] Starting with a fair wind and fine weather, Columbus, in six days, reached the great Canary Island, where he anchored, and remained for a day to repair a leaky vessel of his flotilla, after which they set sail for Gomera, which they were “four or five days” in reaching, and thence, after another day’s rest, during which they took in a fresh supply of wood, beef, and other provisions and replenished their stock of water, they reached in twenty days the island of Ferro; thence with a fair wind, and fine weather, they were another twenty days in sighting land, which “should have been done in fourteen or fifteen days, if the ship Capitana had been as good a sailer as the other vessels.” This land, which they made on the evening of Saturday, the 2nd of November, proved to be a lofty island, to which Columbus gave the name of Dominica, and “offered fervent prayers to heaven” for their prosperous voyage. The island appeared to be wholly uninhabited.

Proceeding to the island of Guadeloupe, they visited a village near the shore; but the inhabitants at their approach fled in great trepidation, leaving some of their children, around whose necks and arms the Spaniards placed hawks’-bells, and other trinkets, soothing them at the same time with their caresses, as the most sure means of winning the confidence of their parents. Here provisions were found in abundance, besides parrots of the most variegated plumage, as large as household fowls, and many geese domesticated like those of Europe.

Arrives at Hayti, 22nd Nov.

After cruising among the other islands of the group of the Antilles, the expedition anchored on the 14th of November off an island, to which Columbus gave the name of Santa Cruz, which, like all the others, was inhabited by Caribs. Thence pursuing his voyage, he shortly afterwards came in sight of a cluster of small islands of various shapes and appearances, some of them covered with forests, but the greater portion naked and sterile, and all apparently uninhabited. To the largest of these he gave the name of Sta. Ursula. Proceeding onwards he soon arrived in sight of the large island, now known as Porto Rico, covered with beautiful forests, and indented with fine havens, the inhabitants of which, who appear to have been peaceful and populous, were much troubled by the ravages of their implacable enemies, the Caribs. Having remained here for two days, Columbus set sail for Hispaniola, where the fleet anchored on the 22nd of November, and having coasted round to La Navidad, where he had formed the settlement on the first voyage, he was greatly grieved to learn the disasters which in the short interval of a year had befallen the Spaniards whom he had left behind. Several of them had died of sickness; others had fallen in a quarrel which had occurred among themselves, and the remainder, it was said, had removed to other parts of the island, where they had taken to themselves native wives. Such was the end of the first European colonists in the New World.

Founds a fresh colony at Hispaniola, or Hayti.

Arrangements were, however, made for the establishment of another colony, though not on the same spot, the land in the vicinity being low, moist, and unhealthy, and destitute of stone suitable for the erection of a fortress and of other necessary buildings. After a thorough search around the coast and up various rivers for a suitable site, Columbus decided to settle upon the shores of an excellent and capacious harbour, about ten leagues east of Monte Christo, and disembarking his troops, labourers, and artificers, commenced erecting a city on a well-devised plan, with streets, squares, church, public storehouse, and residence for the admiral built of stone. To this, the first permanent city in the Western world, Columbus gave the name of Isabella, in honour of that enlightened sovereign, without whose aid these islands would probably not have been discovered till many years afterwards.

Sufferings of the colonists, and disappointment of Columbus.

But the new colony had a severe ordeal to pass through before it was successfully established. Maladies of various kinds broke out among the settlers. Many who had suffered severely from the sea voyage, and from the salt provisions to which they had been reduced, soon fell a prey to the exhalations of the hot climate, and to the humid vapours from the rivers and undrained land; while others, accustomed to highly-cultivated countries with the comforts of a superior home, suffered severely from the stagnant air of the dense forests around them. Most, too, of the settlers were grievously disappointed, that they had not yet discovered the golden regions of Cathay and Zipango, nor even a region of Indian luxury, or wide fields for chivalrous enterprises. Gold, they soon found, could only be obtained in small quantities, chiefly through the medium of barter with the natives: even Columbus was disappointed. When the ships had discharged their cargoes, and it was necessary to send the greater part of them back to Spain, there was neither “gold nor precious merchandise” ready for shipment, which he expected the Spaniards, whom he had left behind on his previous voyage, would have collected. All these hopes had been rudely dispelled. The most extravagant expectations having been entertained in Spain, Columbus pictured to himself the disappointment of his sovereigns and of the nation when his fleet returned empty, and conveyed to an expectant and excited people the intelligence of the disasters which had befallen the first colonists in a country of such fabled wealth and unbounded resources.

However, in the twelve ships which were despatched to Spain, the remaining five having been retained for his own purposes and for those of the newly-established colony, Columbus sent home some specimens of gold, and such fruits or plants as appeared to be either curious or valuable, expressing his own confident and sanguine anticipations of soon being able to make valuable shipments of precious metals, drugs, and spices. “Without penetrating into the interior of the country,” he remarks,[762] “we have found spots showing so many indications of various spices, as naturally to suggest the hope of the best results for the future. The same holds good with respect to the gold mines; for two parties only who were sent out in different directions to discover them, and who, because they had few people with them, remained out but a short time, found, nevertheless, a great number of rivers, whose sands contained this precious metal in such quantity, that each man took up a sample of it in his hand; so that our two messengers returned so joyous, and boasted so much of the abundance of gold, that I feel a hesitation in speaking and writing of it to their highnesses.”

His sanguine expectations for the future.

So sanguine, indeed, was Columbus that gold would be found in great abundance that, in the same memorial,[763] he adds, “I will undertake to go in search of these rivers; either proceeding hence by land and looking out for the best expedients that may offer, or else by sea, rounding the island, until we come to the place which is described as being only six or seven leagues from where these rivers that I speak of are situated; so that we may collect the gold in safety, and put it in security against all attacks in some stronghold or tower, which may be quickly built for that purpose; and thus, when the two caravels shall return thither, the gold may be taken away, and finally sent home in safety at the first favourable season for making the voyage.”

Threatened mutiny among the colonists.

Few, however, of the thousand colonists who had settled at Isabella were disposed to wait patiently for the happy time Columbus had shadowed forth. Disappointed in their expectations of immediate wealth, disgusted with the labours imposed upon them by which alone they were enabled to erect their houses, and to obtain the necessary means of existence, and appalled by the maladies prevalent throughout the community, they began to look with horror on their situation: and when the last sail disappeared which was destined for Spain, they felt as if severed for ever from their homes, and that the strange land where they had settled seemed destined to be their grave. To return to Spain soon became their ruling idea. Discontent daily increased; and at last the most daring spirits among them proposed that they should seize upon one or all of the five ships then in harbour, and return home. The mutiny was, however, checked for a time by the condign punishment of the ringleaders.

When order had been somewhat restored Columbus made an expedition into the interior, and on his return, on the 29th of March, 1494, he was gratified to find that many of his expectations, in regard to the future prosperity of the colony, were likely to be speedily realised. The plants and fruits of the Old World gave promise of rapid increase; the seeds had produced young plants; the sugar-cane had prospered beyond his most sanguine anticipations; ears of corn made their appearance from seed only sown in January; while cuttings from European vines already began to form their clusters. Amid all his anxieties and troubles, it was gratifying to find that the rich plains of Andalusia were not to be compared to the virgin soil of the new-found world, which, moistened by the rivers, and stimulated by an ardent sun, possessed principles of fecundity unknown in any part of Europe. The town of Isabella, however, proved to have been built on an unhealthy situation, and in after years fell to ruins.

Columbus proceeds on further explorations.

Having left his brother, Don Diego, in charge of the colony, Columbus set forth again, on the 24th of April, on a further voyage of discovery, and steering to the westward, resolved to revisit the coast of Cuba, at the point he had left it on his first voyage, and thence to explore it on the southern side, under the conviction that he must eventually arrive at Cathay. Though charmed beyond measure with everything he saw, nothing indicated the lands Marco Polo had described. A verdant soil, and coasts adorned by stately trees, watered by navigable rivers, and indented by commodious harbours, spoke of riches to come; while a fertile and populous country lay before him, with peaceful and industrious inhabitants, who brought him food, and fruits, and fish, in great abundance. There were however no mines of gold, or palaces covered with that precious metal; but there was everything that might encourage habits of industry, with little or nothing to satisfy the cupidity of the settlers, or to lead them to suppose they had discovered a land where man could live otherwise than by the sweat of his brow.

Discovery of the island of Jamaica.

Surveys Cuba, and returns to Isabella.

At Santiago de Cuba Columbus was overwhelmed by the simple hospitality of the natives; but as he approached the island of Jamaica he was met by seventy or eighty canoes, filled with savages, gaily painted, and decorated with feathers, advancing in warlike array, uttering loud yells, and brandishing lances of pointed wood. An explanation, however, from the interpreter, and a few presents to the crew of one of the canoes who had ventured nearer than the rest, soothed the caciques of the other canoes, some of which measured upwards of ninety feet in length, and eight feet in breadth, and were hollowed out of one magnificent tree. From Jamaica, Columbus proceeded to Cuba, and having devoted many months to the survey of the whole of that portion of its coast which he could reach, he set sail for Isabella, where he arrived suffering in health, and with his ships greatly in need of repair, on the 4th of September, 1494.

Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus.

Here he was greatly rejoiced to meet his brother Bartholomew, whom he had not seen since he had commissioned him to lay his project of discovery before Henry VII.; and who, on his return to Spain, with the consent from that monarch, had learned that Christopher had made his great voyage of discovery to the new world. The sight of his brother was an inexpressible relief to Columbus, who, alone among strangers, greatly needed the assistance of a man whose prompt action and fearless spirit soon reduced the discontented colonists to a sense of their duty. Anxious to relieve himself from the pressure of public business, Columbus immediately invested his brother Bartholomew with the title and authority of lieutenant-governor, in place of Diego, whose mild and peaceable disposition rendered him little capable of managing the concerns of a factious colony.

By his powerful assistance, and the timely receipt of fresh supplies of stores from Spain, the reign of disorder which had so long prevailed, especially during the absence of Columbus, was brought, in a great measure, to an end; but the conduct of the Europeans had been such that the native tribes turned against them, and for a time threatened the entire annihilation of the colony.

Intrigues at home.

While however the restoration of order and the future security of the colonists occupied the attention of Columbus and of his brother Bartholomew, his enemies were undermining him at home. Reports were circulated that the whole colony was in a state of anarchy, and that Columbus was abusing his power, and neglecting its interests. Loud and long were the complaints against him; and at last they were carried to such an extent, that Ferdinand fitted out a fleet of caravels, which he placed under charge of Diego Carillo, a commander of a military order, giving him instructions that should Columbus be absent, he was to take upon himself the government of the island and inquire into the alleged evils and abuses, at the same time vesting him with power to remedy such as should appear to him really in existence. A proclamation was also issued, granting permission for any native-born Spanish subject to settle in the island of Hispaniola and to undertake private voyages of trade and discovery in the New World. Those who embarked at their own expense were to have caravels assigned to them, and to be provided with a supply of provisions sufficient for the first year, with a right to hold certain lands and any houses they might erect upon them. They likewise were to be allowed to retain one-third of whatever gold they might collect, but the remaining two-thirds were to be handed over to the crown of Spain, which was also to receive one-tenth of all the other produce of the island; while one-tenth of the tonnage capacity of any ship engaged in the trade of the New World was to be at the service of the crown, free of charge.

Commission of inquiry despatched to Hayti.

But a few days before the departure of this expedition, the ships which had carried out fresh supplies to Isabella returned to Spain, with intelligence of the safe arrival of Columbus in Hispaniola, from his long voyage along the southern coasts of Cuba, and bringing with them specimens of the gold and of various animal and vegetable curiosities he had collected. These news so far restored the great navigator to the confidence of his sovereigns, that Juan Aguado, who had some time before returned to Spain, highly recommended by the admiral, was appointed to the command of the fleet about to sail, instead of Diego Carillo, who was known to be personally hostile to Columbus.

When Aguado, with the four caravels under his command, well freighted with supplies of every kind, arrived at Port Isabella in the month of October, Columbus was absent in the interior, being at the time fully occupied in re-establishing the tranquillity of the colony. Finding Bartholomew in command, and conceiving that his commission authorized him to supersede everyone except the admiral, he paid no respect to his brother and ordered various persons to be arrested. Weak in himself and puffed up with a little temporary power, Aguado lost sight alike of the respect and gratitude due to Columbus, and of the nature and extent of his own commission. The more discontented among the colonists at once spread the report that the downfall of Columbus and of his family was at hand, and that an ambassador had arrived from the sovereigns of Spain empowered to hear and redress their grievances. Culprits and offenders of every sort held high revel and were loud in their clamours against the oppression of the admiral, ascribing every misfortune to his mal-administration. To these clamours a weak and vain man, like Aguado, lent but too ready an ear and daily became more arrogant. When the news of his arrival and insolent conduct reached Columbus, he hastened to Isabella, and received Aguado with the most grave and punctilious courtesy, assuring him of his readiness to acquiesce in whatever might be the pleasure of his sovereigns; but resolving in his own mind to return as soon as practicable to Spain, and to ascertain for himself the reason why this commission of inquiry had been appointed.

Columbus sets sail for Europe, 10th Mar. 1496.

Arrives at Cadiz, 11th June, 1496.

Columbus was, however, detained longer than he wished. When his arrangements were made for returning, a violent hurricane[764] destroyed not merely the four caravels Aguado had brought out with him, but all his own vessels, except the Nina, and she was left to him in a very shattered condition. But she was soon repaired, and from the wreck of the others he built a second vessel, which he named the Santa Cruz, and set sail for Cadiz on the 10th of March, 1496, he embarking in one of the vessels, and Aguado in the other, leaving his brother Bartholomew in command of Hispaniola. Both caravels were loaded with two hundred and fifty of the most discontented and profligate of the colonists, as also with the sick and others who desired to return to Spain. The voyage proved extremely tedious and toilsome, and it was not until the 11th of June that they anchored in the Bay of Cadiz.

The enemies of Columbus had been only too successful in undermining his popularity. The first excitement of a newly discovered world had died away. Western India had not yielded the gold and spices and wealth anticipated; and the means it really afforded for producing far greater wealth than the fabled lands of Ophir or of the mines of Peru have ever produced were then neither appreciated nor understood. The richness which lay in its soil required time and industry to develop; and the adventurous and enthusiastic Spaniards, who had interested themselves in the New World, had neither studied the art of patience, nor accustomed themselves to toil. But the sovereigns of Spain still received Columbus with favour; and, the mission of the ungrateful and arrogant Aguado not having accomplished at court all the injury he had feared, Ferdinand and Isabella were still ready to meet the wishes of the discoverer, and grant him ships for a third expedition.

It was not, however, until the spring of 1497, that any further attention was given to the wishes of Columbus, and the affairs of the New World. Although attractive and flattering to the pride of Spain, the previous expeditions to the West had unquestionably fallen far short of meeting the heavy expenses incurred upon them. No large and immediate profits could at once be realized, such as those the Portuguese reaped a few years afterwards from the discoveries of Vasco de Gama. Hence there was great delay in fitting out this fresh expedition, while the changes to be made in the future management of the Indies of the West tended to increase the delay. At length, on the 30th of May, 1498, Columbus set sail from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, with a squadron of six vessels.

Re-visits the West, May 1489.

Reaches Trinidad, 31st July;

On this voyage he resolved to shape a course more to the southward than he had done on either of the two previous ones. After taking his departure from the Cape Verde Islands, he purposed sailing to the south-west until he reached the equinoctial line, and then steering directly west, until he arrived at land or in the longitude of Hispaniola. Having taken his departure from the Cape Verde on the 5th of July, he by pursuing this course found himself, on the 13th of that month, according to his observations, in the fifth degree of north latitude, in the midst of calms, and under a bright and burning sun. Continuing to steer to the west for some days, until he supposed himself to be in the longitude of the Caribbee Islands, he shaped a course for them to the northwards, intending to touch among them for refreshments and repairs; but, being somewhat out of his reckoning, he for the first time beheld, on the 31st of July, a large and fruitful island, which he named La Trinidad.

Columbus had expected, from the heat of the sun, to find the land, as he approached, parched and sterile; but Trinidad presented a very different appearance. Stately groves of palm-trees and luxuriant forests lined the shores, while the softness and purity of the climate, and the balmy breeze from the land, reminded him of early spring in the beautiful province of Valentia. While coasting along the island in search of suitable anchorage, he descried land to the south, which proved to be that low tract of coast intersected by the numerous branches of the great River Orinoco, though he little suspected that it was the vast continent of America. Remaining at the island, where he found the natives peaceably disposed, and as usual, extravagantly delighted with hawks’-bells and other trifling trinkets, Columbus shaped his course for the coast of Paria, presuming it to be an island, but, though delighted with the beauty of the country, which was cultivated in many places, highly populous, and adorned with magnificent vegetation, he was greatly astonished to find the water fresh, and that it grew more and more so the further he proceeded. He had reached the broad Gulf of Paria at the season of the year when the rivers which empty themselves into it are swollen by rains, and pour forth such quantities of fresh water as to conquer the saltness of the ocean. Here the natives were of a superior class to any he had hitherto seen. Their canoes were large and light, with a cabin in the centre for the accommodation of the owner and his family. Many of the men wore collars and burnished plates about their necks, of an inferior description of gold, while some of the women had strings of pearls round their arms, which they intimated, by signs, were procured on the northern side of their sea-coast. Here, again, Columbus was treated with profound reverence, as if he and his crews were beings descended from heaven. The honour of a banquet of bread and of various fruits of excellent flavour, together with different kinds of beverage, prepared for him in the house of the cacique, was greatly enhanced by the intelligent demeanour and martial frankness of the people, who seemed every way worthy of the beautiful country they inhabited.

Imagining the coast of Paria to be an island, he resolved to circumnavigate it, and, with that object, left the place where he had received so much kindness, on the 10th of August, and continued coasting westward within the gulf, in the vain search of an outlet to the north. But, as his own vessel was too large for the purpose of navigating these narrow waters, and as the stores of all his ships were nearly exhausted, many of them having been entirely destroyed in the tropics, whilst his own health was in a very precarious state, he felt compelled to shorten his voyage, and hasten for Hispaniola.

Discovers Tobago, Granada, and other islands, reaching Hispaniola 19th Aug.

Finds everything in disorder.

Discovering on his way the islands of Tobago and Granada, as also the islands of Margarita and Cubagna, afterwards famous for their pearl fisheries, he made the island of Hispaniola on the 19th August, about fifty leagues to the westward of the river Osema, the place of his destination; and having, on the following morning, anchored under the little island of Beata, he sent a boat on shore to procure an Indian messenger, to take a letter to his brother Bartholomew, who, during his absence, had formed a new settlement at Dominica. On his arrival he found that between fresh wars with the natives, and seditions among the colonists combined with their own indolence, everything had again been thrown into a state of confusion and poverty, saved only from utter annihilation by the tact and ability of Bartholomew. Too idle to labour, and destitute of those resources prevalent at home as a means of killing time, the colonists had quarrelled among themselves, mutinied against their rulers, wasted their time in alternate riot and despondency, while their evil passions, which had inflicted great calamities on the once pure and innocent natives, had likewise ensured a merited return of suffering to themselves. Confirming, by proclamation, the measures of his brother, and denouncing the leaders of the conspiracies which had been the cause of so much misery and ruin during his absence, Columbus hoped to restore confidence and order. But the ringleaders continued to be a source of trouble to him, and, unfortunately, their hands were too frequently strengthened by the arrival of numerous adventurers, who, taking advantage of the encouragement which the government of Spain had afforded to any persons who desired to emigrate to the New World, flocked there in thousands. The insolence of the rebels against his brother’s authority during his absence, though for a time subdued by his presence, had so greatly increased by the accession of numbers of well-armed and desperate confederates, that Columbus felt he required powers greater than he possessed to ensure the fidelity of the well-disposed against the intrigues of the discontented and lawless. He therefore made arrangements for returning to Spain.

Aware that many of the most worthless settlers desired to return home, he issued, on the 12th of September, a proclamation, offering free passage and provisions for the voyage to all who wished to return to Spain, hoping thus to relieve the colony of the idle and disaffected, and to weaken the power of the leaders of revolt, until he could carry into effect the necessary measures for their entire discomfiture and subjection. A large portion of the more lawless of the early colonists accepted the offer; and having sent full advices to his sovereigns, by the vessels in which they sailed on the 18th October, of what was going on in the island, Columbus entered into arrangements which he hoped would tend to restore order before he himself returned to Spain. Having been enabled to settle matters somewhat to his own satisfaction at Dominica, he left his brother, Don Diego, in temporary command of that place, and joined Bartholomew on a tour to visit the various stations, and to restore, if possible, order throughout the whole of the island.

Makes a tour of inspection

The tour of inspection and restoration required much more time than Columbus had anticipated. Everything had fallen into confusion during the late troubles. Farms lay neglected, mines were abandoned, the flocks and herds were scattered or destroyed, the caciques had ceased to pay their tribute, and the natives no longer cultivated their allotted tracts of land. In the midst of these perplexities, and while making herculean exertions to restore order, Columbus received a reply from Spain to his communication, which, though furnishing him with increased power, coldly stated that another investigation would shortly be made into the state of affairs. He was greatly troubled in mind by its tone, naturally feeling that his complaints had little weight with the government, and that the misrepresentations of his enemies were prejudicing him with his sovereigns; nevertheless, his zeal for their cause never flagged, and his labour to restore order was incessant. At length he triumphed; faction was subdued; the Spaniards renewed their labour on the land; the fields which had lain waste were again cultivated; and the natives, like their employers, seeing the folly of resistance, and the loss they themselves sustained by it, submitted patiently to the terms which Columbus had laid down and eventually enforced.

but is arrested, and sent a prisoner to Spain.

But all these reforms had been brought about by a course which had greatly increased the number of his enemies. Every worthless fellow whom he had sent home or punished became his implacable foe and intrigued for his downfall; and too many of them had influence at court, which, in the absence of Columbus, produced its effect. At last he was superseded; and, to the disgrace of Ferdinand and Isabella, who lent too ready an ear to the calumnious reports spread against him, this great and good man was arrested, and he and his two brothers sent in chains back to the country to which he had given a new and a now mighty world.

Arrives at Cadiz, Nov. 1500.

Thus humiliated, Christopher Columbus landed at Cadiz towards the close of the year 1500. The fact of the ignominy to which he had been subjected spoke with the voice of thunder to the feelings of the people. They neither cared for nor inquired into the cause of his great humiliation. It was sufficient for them to know that this noble-minded man had been brought home in chains from the world he had discovered, and the sensation thus produced was almost as great as the reception which had awaited him on his triumphant return from the first discovery of America, in March 1493.

His own feelings of the wrongs he had sustained at the hands of his worthless enemies are nowhere so well described as in the letter he addressed, immediately on his return to Spain, to a lady who was in immediate attendance on the queen, and stood high in her favour.[765] “I have now reached that point,” he remarks, “that there is no man so vile but thinks it his right to insult me. The day will come when the world will reckon it a virtue to him who has not given his consent to their abuse. If I had plundered the Indies, even to the country where is the fabled altar of St. Peter’s, and had given them all to the Moors, they could not have shown towards me more bitter enmity than they have done in Spain. Who would believe such things of a country where there has always been so much nobility? I should much like to clear myself of this affair, if only it were consistent with etiquette to do so, face to face with my queen.... The slanders of worthless men,” he continues, “have done me more injury than all my services have profited me.... I have had so strange a character given to me that if I were to build hospitals and churches, they would call them caves for robbers.”

And is restored to the royal favour.

This letter, combined with other representations of the real facts of the case, and with the unmistakeable expression of public opinion, made a great impression on the mind of Isabella, and had at once the effect of relieving Columbus and his brothers from their ignoble imprisonment. He was invited to the court, then at Grenada, where he appeared on the 17th of December, not in a prison dress, and in the degraded position in which he had landed at Cadiz, but in rich attire, and attended by an honourable retinue. When the Queen saw the venerable navigator approach, she was moved to tears at sufferings to which she and Ferdinand had been the unwilling or unknowing parties—in so far that they had superseded him and given to his successor power to inflict grievous wrong on one of the noblest of men. When the brave old seaman saw how his queen was affected, his spirit, which had endured with lofty scorn the injuries and insults of ignoble men, gave way; he threw himself upon his knees, and wept like a child. His sovereigns had found that he was still as worthy as ever of their confidence, and that thought was a sufficient solace for all he had suffered. Columbus was soon reinstated in all his privileges and dignities, and those who had injured him were degraded and disgraced. Everything was done which it was in the power of Isabella to do, to vindicate herself to the world from the charge of ingratitude towards the great navigator.

A considerable time, however, elapsed before any steps were taken to fit out another expedition in which Columbus could return to Dominica and there resume in triumph the viceroyalty of the colony. Many events prevented the immediate despatch of another fleet, some of which were in a measure beyond the control of the sovereigns of Spain. The delay was, however, a grievous disappointment to Columbus. Though Bobadilla, by whom he had been superseded and insulted, was dismissed, Ferdinand, whose professions of friendship were far from being as sincere as those of the queen, deemed it desirable to refill his place for two years by some prudent and able officer, who could put a stop to all remaining faction in the colony, and thus prepare the way for Columbus to enjoy the rights and dignities of his government, both peacefully and beneficially to the crown. But there were other reasons which induced Ferdinand to appoint one Nicholas de Ovando as governor, for a time, to the new found colony. Listening too readily to the calumnies of the many enemies at court of Columbus, he had imbibed some vague idea that the great navigator might set up an independent sovereignty, or deliver his discoveries into the hands of the Genoese, or of some other European power: he may also have felt that Columbus was no longer indispensable to him, as the throne was daily besieged by applicants to be allowed to fit out expeditions at their own expense, and to share with the crown the profits upon them.

A fleet sails for the colony with Ovando, Feb. 1502, and two months afterwards (9th May) Columbus follows, and reaches Dominica, 29th June.

Hence it was that the interests of Columbus were for a time overlooked. Ovando, however, received orders to examine all his accounts; to ascertain the damages he had sustained by his imprisonment, by the interruption of his privileges, and by the confiscation of his effects. His property, which Bobadilla had seized, was to be restored, and to be made good if it had been sold. Equal care was also to be taken to indemnify his brothers for their arrest and for the losses they had sustained. The arrears of the revenue due to Columbus were to be paid to him, and their punctual payment secured for the future. Such were among the instructions given to Ovando, who, on the 13th of February, 1502, sailed in the largest fleet which had previously left for the new colony.

Washington Irving, quoting from Las Casas, who, however, he states, gives the figures from memory,[766] says “that this fleet consisted of thirty sail, five of them from ninety to one hundred and fifty tons burden; twenty-four caravels, from thirty to ninety, and one bark of twenty-five tons. The number of souls,” he continues, “embarked in this fleet, was about twenty-five hundred, many of them persons of rank and distinction, with their families.” But as the smaller craft were not adapted for a voyage across the Atlantic, and as the number of persons embarked would give eighty-three, on an average, to each vessel, which is a greater number than even the largest vessels could conveniently carry with their luggage, and the requisite stores of provisions and water for such a voyage, there is no doubt some error in the figures of Las Casas. It is more likely, especially as the vessels conveyed many persons of rank and distinction, that the smallest was one hundred, and the largest somewhere about three hundred tons burthen. This fleet, it would appear, did not arrive at Dominica until the 15th of April; and in a violent storm, which it encountered soon after leaving Spain, lost, according to the same authority, one of its number, with “one hundred and twenty persons” on board.

Discovers the island of Guanaga, 30th July.

Trading canoe.

Age and care were rapidly reducing the otherwise strong frame of Columbus, when, on the 9th of May, 1502, he set sail from Cadiz in four small caravels on his fourth and last voyage of discovery. He was then about sixty-six years of age; but from the hardships he had encountered, and the mental sufferings he had undergone, his constitution was so much impaired, that he was more infirm than many men who were ten years his senior. In his brother, Don Bartholomew, and in his younger son, Fernando, he however found wise counsellors and able assistants, combined with sincere and affectionate sympathisers. Arriving at the Grand Canary, on the 20th of May, he took in a fresh supply of wood and water, and five days afterwards sailed for the Caribbee Islands, which he reached without shifting sail on the 15th of June, having had a fair wind and beautiful weather the whole way. On the 29th of that month he arrived at Dominica, where matters were still in so unsettled a state that he did not land, but proceeded to Port Hermoso, to the west of that island, to effect some necessary repairs to his vessels. Thence he sailed on his voyage of research, calling at Port Brazil for shelter from a gale, and leaving that port on the 14th of July, discovering, sixteen days afterwards, a small island within a few leagues of the coast of Honduras, still known by the Indian name of Guanaga or Bonacca. Here Columbus was struck with the contents of a large trading canoe which lay in the harbour, supposed to have come from the province of Yucatan, about forty leagues distant. This canoe, “eight feet wide, and as long as a galley, formed from the trunk of a single tree,” was filled with multifarious articles, the manufacture and natural production of the adjacent countries. She was rowed by twenty-five Indians; and under an awning, or cabin of palm leaves, in form resembling that of the gondolas of Venice, sat a cacique, with his wives and children, who, displaying no fear whatever of the Spaniards, seemed to indicate that their ancestors had held intercourse with the people of civilized nations; while the articles of commerce which the canoe contained tended to confirm this impression. Washington Irving adds, that, besides various Indian products Columbus had met with before, this canoe had also in her, hatchets of copper, wooden swords with sharp flints inserted, and made fast by lines of fish intestines, several copper bells and a rude kind of crucible—with various utensils in clay, marble, and hard wood. It also contained quantities of cacao, a substance not then known to the Spaniards, and which the Indians used both for food and as a species of currency. The Indians made use of a beverage resembling beer, and made from maize; and their women wore mantles, like those of the Moorish women at Granada. From some intelligent natives who were on board this vessel Columbus learned that they came from a rich and luxuriant country in the West, towards which they strongly advised the admiral to steer; and had he acted on this advice, he must have reached Yucatan in a day or two, and added to his previous discoveries that also of Mexico.

Prosecutes his researches to the South.

Reaches Cape Honduras.

The discovery of the other opulent countries of New Spain would have necessarily followed; while the disclosure of the Southern Ocean would have revealed to him the true form of that interesting portion of the world, and, affording a succession of splendid discoveries, would have shed fresh renown on his declining years. But Columbus was intent on discovering the imaginary strait which would lead him to the land of Cathay, and the spice islands of India, which Marco Polo had so glowingly described.[767] Consequently on leaving the island of Guanaga, he stood southerly till he discovered the land now known as Cape Honduras, where he again encountered heavy storms, by which his vessel suffered much damage. “I have seen many storms,” said Columbus, “but none so violent or of such long duration.” Against these he struggled for forty days, having advanced in that time only about seventy leagues, to another headland, to which he gave the name of Gracias a Dios (Thanks to God): here the coast turned directly south, and he obtained for his further course a fair wind for his leaky and tempest-tost caravels.

Discovers and explores the Mosquito coast.

Puerto Bello.

Steering along the shore now known as the Mosquito coast, Columbus passed a cluster of twelve small islands, which he named the Limanares, and continuing south for about sixty-two leagues, reached, on the 16th of September, a copious river, where one of his boats, during an expedition to obtain a supply of wood and fresh water, was totally lost with her crew. Thence he proceeded to Cariavi, which he left, on the 5th of October, for a cruise along the coast of Costa Rica until he reached a large bay, called by the natives Carabaro, where he anchored. Here the Spaniards met with specimens of pure gold, and many indications of a higher state of cultivation if not of civilization than they had hitherto seen; signs in the opinion of Columbus of his approach to the territory of the Grand Khan. Pursuing his course, the squadron, on the 2nd of November, anchored in a spacious and commodious harbour, to which he gave the name of Puerto Bello, by which the town and harbour are still known. Here they were detained for seven days by heavy rain and stormy weather. Sailing hence on the 9th of November, the squadron proceeded eight leagues to the eastward, to the point since known as Nombre de Dios, where after visiting other places on the coast, he determined to relinquish the further prosecution of the voyage to the eastward, and return to the coast of Veragua. But the wind suddenly veered to the west, directly adverse to the new course he had adopted, accompanied by a succession of heavy gales, in which he and his crew endured great sufferings. It was not until the 6th of February, 1503, that Columbus reached the river Belem, where he formed a settlement, under the impression that he had at last discovered one of the richest parts of the Asiatic continent where gold abounded, and (strange hallucination!) the part from whence King Solomon had drawn most of his unbounded wealth.

Forms a settlement on the River Belem, 6th Feb., 1503.

Anchors at Jamaica, June 1503.

At this favoured spot his brother Bartholomew arranged to remain with eighty men, while Columbus himself returned to Spain. No sooner, however, had they commenced to erect houses, and form the colony, than they were attacked by the Indians. Numerous encounters ensued, with much loss of life and suffering. Unable to maintain their position, the settlement was soon abandoned, and the squadron in a disabled state made the best of its way to Hispaniola. On the 10th of May Columbus sighted the north-west coast of that island, but again encountering boisterous weather and adverse winds, he was unable to reach the port of Dominica, and therefore steered for Jamaica, where he anchored. From thence he despatched a message by canoe to Ovando, the governor of Dominica, requesting that a vessel might be sent to his relief, his own being unseaworthy.

And Dominica, 13th August of that year.

Sails for Spain 12th Sept., which he reaches 7th Nov., 1504.

More than eight months elapsed before Columbus received an answer of any kind from Ovando; and when a boat at last came with a messenger, it was only to leave a few trifling presents, and say that the necessary vessels would be provided as soon as possible. These at length arrived, and enabled him on the 28th of June, 1504, to leave his unseaworthy vessels behind him, and to set sail for Dominica which he reached on the 13th of August after a very stormy passage. Ovando and the leading inhabitants gave him a show of welcome, and their conduct was courteous towards him; but there were too deep causes of jealousy and distrust for their intercourse to be cordial; nor was his sojourn at Dominica calculated to restore confidence. The state of things in the colony were far from satisfactory, and his own immediate concerns in great confusion. His rents and dues were either uncollected, or he could not obtain a satisfactory account of them; and the little he did collect was entirely consumed in fitting out the two vessels which were to convey himself and his crews to Spain. On the 12th of September he set sail, and having experienced tempestuous weather throughout the passage, did not arrive in the harbour of St. Lucar until the 7th of November, whence he had himself conveyed, broken down in health and spirits, to Seville, where he hoped to enjoy rest after the many hardships and anxieties he had encountered.

His sufferings, and death, 20th May, A.D. 1506.

But there was no rest for the great navigator. Care and sorrow were destined in his latter days to follow him by sea and land. All his affairs were in confusion. Exhausted and infirm he was unable to seek an audience of his sovereigns; the letters he addressed to them, pleading for his rights, and asking simple justice at their hands, remained unanswered; and the discoverer of a New World, who had adorned the crown of Spain with by far its brightest jewels, broken down by infirmities, lay despised and impoverished in the city of Seville. This extraordinary conduct on the part of the sovereigns of Spain is, however, in some measure accounted for by the fact that Isabella lay dangerously ill, of an illness from which she never recovered; while the cold-hearted Ferdinand, instigated no doubt by the enemies of Columbus, treated all his applications, if he ever read them, with indifference.

During the remainder of the winter, and a part of the spring, Columbus was detained by painful illness at Seville, and when in May, 1505, he was able to be removed to Segovia, where the court then sat, Ferdinand had lost sight of all his past services, in what appeared to him the inconvenience of his present demands, though receiving the once courted navigator with many professions of kindness. Months were however spent in unavailing attendance upon the court. In the meantime his cares and sorrows were fast drawing to a close. He had for some time felt that he was dying, and having arranged as best he could his worldly affairs, he resigned himself into the hands of that great God whom he had worshipped with the same sincerity in his hours of triumph as he had done in the time of his deep adversity. On the day of Ascension, the 20th of May, 1506, being about seventy years of age, Christopher Columbus, who had done so much without reward, and suffered so much without upbraiding, passed silently away to, I doubt not, a better and a happier world.