Christopher Columbus: His Life and His Work

by Charles Kendall Adams

The authority asked for certainly was not granted; but, on the other hand, there was no intimation that the proposition would, in the end, meet with a refusal. Columbus seems to have thought it not imprudent to take advantage of the doubt; for Bernaldez tells us that the Admiral “made incursions into the interior, and captured vast numbers of the natives; and the second time that he sent home, he sent five hundred Indian men and women, all in the flower of their age, between twelve years and thirty-five or thereabouts, all of whom were delivered at Seville to Don Juan de Fonseca.” “They came,” continued Bernaldez, “as they went about in their own country, naked as they were born; from which they experienced no more embarrassment than the brutes.” “They were sold,” the narrator adds, “but proved of very little service, for the greater part of them died of the climate.”

Of interesting significance also are the passages and answers relating to gold. In one of the paragraphs Columbus calls attention to the fact that although the gold discovered has been found in the streams, it must have come from the earth, and that the procuring of it will involve the delay necessarily attending the establishment of mining operations. He recommends that labourers in considerable numbers be sent out from the quicksilver mines. To these suggestions the king responds,—

“It is the most necessary thing possible that he should strive to find the way to this gold.”

And to the suggestion in regard to the mines he responds,—

“This shall be completely provided for in the next voyage out; meanwhile Don Juan de Fonseca has their Highnesses’ orders to send as many miners as he can find. Their Highnesses write also to Almaden with instructions to select the greatest number that can be procured, and to send them up.”

After the departure of the vessels for Spain, the Admiral, having for the most part recovered his health, determined to make an expedition in person into the heart of the island. Accordingly, on the 12th of March, 1494, he set out with the requisite number of men, foot and horse, for the province of Cibao. This region was distant about eighteen leagues. To reach his destination it was necessary to cross the beautiful plain which had already been described by Ojeda, and to which the Admiral now gave the name of Royal Vega. On the border of Cibao he decided to build a fortress, which should be at once a protection and a rallying-point. The natives as yet continued to be friendly, and came in considerable numbers to barter bits of gold for such trinkets as the Spaniards might give in exchange. The gold mines, however, seemed to be as far away as ever, although glowing accounts were given by the natives of the nuggets that were to be discovered beyond the mountains. But instead of completing his explorations in person, Columbus now determined to return to the fleet and make a voyage to what he supposed to be the continent. The fortress, to which he gave the name St. Thomas, was intrusted to a garrison under the command of Margarite, an officer of high rank and much experience.

It is of interest to note at this point that the early opinions of the Spaniards in regard to the Indians had slowly undergone a very considerable change. Further acquaintance had convinced Columbus that they were not quite so guileless and docile as at first he had supposed them to be. They were found to know something of war,—at least to be acquainted with certain rude methods of attack and defence. The proximity of the Caribs was giving them a constant schooling in the art of self-protection.

It is at this point that Bernaldez, a companion and friend of Columbus, gives an interesting account of the products of the islands and of some of the peculiarities of the natives. The following passage is perhaps the most graphic and circumstantial account left us by any contemporaneous writer:—

“As the people of all these islands are destitute of iron, it is wonderful to see their tools, which are of stone, very sharp and admirably made, such as axes, adzes, and other instruments, which they use in constructing their dwellings. Their food is bread, made from roots, which God has given them instead of wheat; for they have neither wheat nor rye, nor barley, nor oats, nor spelt-wheat, nor panic-grass, nor anything resembling them. No kind of food that the Castilians had as yet tasted was like anything that we have here. There were no beans, nor chick-peas, nor vetches, nor lentils, nor lupines, nor any quadruped or animal, excepting some small dogs, and the others, which look like large rats, or something between a large rat and a rabbit, and are very good and savoury for eating, and have feet and paws like rats, and climb trees. The dogs are of all colours,—white, black, etc. There are lizards and snakes, but not many, for the Indians eat them, and think them as great a dainty as partridges are to the Castilians. The lizards are like ours in size, but different in shape, though, in a little island near the harbour called San Juan, where the squadron remained several days, a lizard was several times seen, as large round as a young calf, and as smooth as a lance; and several times they attempted to kill it, but could not, on account of the thickness of the trees, and it fled into the sea. Besides eating lizards and snakes, these Indians devour all the spiders and worms that they find, so that their beastliness appears to exceed that of any beast.”

Modern investigation has thrown much light on the physical characteristics of the native inhabitants of the Lucayan or Bahama islands. Some years ago Ecker and Wyman studied the subject, and more recently Prof. W. K. Brooks has visited the islands and presented a memoir to the National Academy of Sciences on the peculiarities of the bones discovered in the course of his investigations. It is clearly established that the natives belonged to a large and well-developed race. Ecker found bones which he thought must have belonged to a race of giants. But Professor Brooks is of the opinion that they “did not depart essentially from the Spanish average.” His measurements showed that “The skulls are large, and about equal in size to the average modern civilized white skull.”