When daylight arrived, the newly-discovered land was perceived to consist of a flat island, without hills, but well timbered. It was evidently well populated, for the beach was covered with people, who showed every sign of wonder at the sight of the ships, which, says Ferdinand, “they conceived to be some unknown animals.” The admiral and his commanders, each in their own boat, with their colours flying, went ashore, where, on arrival, they fell on their knees, and thanked God for his merciful kindness and for their happy discovery of the new land. Columbus then took formal possession of the island in the name of their Catholic majesties.
And now, these ceremonies concluded, the admiral went off to his fleet, the natives following in canoes, and many indeed swimming off to the vessels. Columbus named the island San Salvador, the title it still bears. As he supposed himself to have landed on an island at the extremity of India, he applied the term Indians to the aborigines he met, and the same has in consequence become general to all the original inhabitants of the New World. The islanders met by Columbus were friendly and gentle, and usually quite nude. They were painted; this they might regard in the light of costume, some, indeed, being coloured from head to foot. They had little or no knowledge of metal [pg 289]weapons, for when shown a naked sword they ignorantly grasped the whole blade, and were severely cut. Their javelins were wood, armed with a piece of fish-bone. Their [pg 290]canoes ranged in size from such as were only capable of holding one person to those built for forty or more men, and were always hollowed in one piece, as among the northern Indians of British Columbia to-day, where canoes are to be seen which will carry fifty to sixty persons and two or three masts with sails. They had very little to offer in exchange for the toys and trinkets which had been provided for use on the expedition, but the avarice of the discoverers was soon excited by the sight of small ornaments of gold among them, with which they parted as readily as with anything else. Gold, in enterprises of discovery, being a royal monopoly, Columbus forbade any traffic in it, except by express permission. Parrots were a prime article of exchange among them, and cotton yarn. If they saw any trifle on board that struck their fancy they were as likely to jump into the sea with it as to offer anything for it, and, on the other hand, the Spaniards, after the manner of explorers, did not hesitate to accept their valuables in exchange for the merest trifles. The Indians would give twenty-five or so pounds of cotton for three Portuguese brass coins not worth a farthing. Enough; the story of their dealings is that of all times. It is scarcely more than twelve years since the writer saw the same kind of thing going on in Northern Alaska among unsophisticated natives. And, after all, “value” is a somewhat indefinite term. The luxuries of some climes are the drugs of others. The poor people met by Columbus highly valued a piece of broken glass or earthenware, because unknown to them, and because the possession of a fragment bestowed a proud distinction. Cannot we see the same kind of thing among the most civilised? The rare and scarce must of necessity be always the most valuable.
Columbus, continuing his voyage, discovered several minor islands. Everywhere he inquired for gold, and everywhere he was informed that it came from the south. He began to hear of an island in that direction named Cuba, which, from the mistaken ideas of geography current at the time, he took for Marco Polo’s famed gold island of Cipango. He determined to proceed there, and eventually seek the mainland of India, which must be within a few days’ sail, and then he would deliver the letters of their Castilian Majesties to the Great Khan, and return triumphantly to Spain. Filled with this magnificent scheme, he set sail. We need not say that he reached neither Cipango, India, nor the Khan; but he did discover Cuba, that beautiful island of the Caribbean Sea long dear to the heart of every consumer of the fragrant weed. Every smoker of a good havana should think of Columbus with deepest gratitude. The Spaniards were struck with astonishment at seeing the natives roll up certain dried herbs, light up one end, and putting the other in their mouth, exhale smoke. Cigars as fresh as these are often smoked in Cuba to this day. Columbus extols the beauty of the verdure and scenery of the island, and states, as a proof of the gigantic nature of some of their trees, that he saw a canoe formed from one trunk capable of carrying 150 people.
While Columbus, on leaving the eastern end of Cuba, was somewhat undetermined which course to take, he descried land to the south-east, gradually increasing to the view, and giving promise of an island of large extent. The Indians on beholding it called out “Bohio” with obvious signs of terror, and implored him not to go near it, as the inhabitants were one-eyed cannibals, fierce and cruel. He, however, sailed closer and closer, till the [pg 291]signs of cultivation and prosperous villages became frequent. At first the natives fled. Even when only three sailors rambled on shore, and encountered a large number, they could not be induced to parley. The sailors at length succeeded in capturing a young female, in a perfectly nude condition, having hanging from her nose only an ornament of gold. Columbus soon soothed her terror, had her clothed, and gave her presents of beads, brass rings, and other trinkets. She was sent on shore accompanied by three Indian interpreters and some of the crew. By this means, and after one of the interpreters had succeeded in overtaking some of the natives, and had assured them that the strangers had descended from the skies mainly for the purpose of making them presents, they were induced to meet the Spaniards, whom they treated with the greatest hospitality, setting before them fruit, fish, and cassava bread. The description of these people given by Columbus to old Peter Martyr represented them as holding a community of goods, “that ‘mine and thine,’ the seeds of all mischief, have no place with them.... They seem to live in the golden world, without toil, living in open gardens, not entrenched with dykes, divided with hedges, or defended with walls. They deal truly one with another, without laws, without books, and without judges. They take him for an evil and mischievous man who taketh pleasure in doing hurt to another.” This must have been Utopia indeed! Alas, as we shall see, the advent of so-called civilisation proved a veritable curse. Columbus named the island Espannola, or Little Spain (Anglicé, Hispaniola). The island is now known as Hayti, or San Domingo.
FACSIMILE OF AN ENGRAVING, REPUTED TO BE BY COLUMBUS, PUBLISHED IN 1493, REPRESENTING THE DISCOVERY OF THE ISLE OF SPAIN (ST. DOMINGO).
The people of Hispaniola appeared handsomer to Columbus than any he had yet met. He was at length visited by a young cacique or chief, and the interview was graphically described by Columbus himself in his oration before Ferdinand and Isabella and the court on his return to Spain.
Having put to sea on the morning of December 24th, at eleven in the evening, Columbus, being very fatigued, retired to his cabin. The sea was calm and the wind light at the time. No sooner had he left than the steersman gave the helm to a grummet,[48] and the result was that the current carried the vessel upon a treacherous sandbank. Scarcely had the shock occurred than Columbus and his crew were on deck, but in spite of aid from the other vessel, she speedily became a wreck, and had to be deserted. The admiral immediately sent ashore to the village of the cacique, at some little distance, and that chief with all his people with canoes assisted to unload the unfortunate vessel. “From time to time,” said Columbus, “he sent some of his people to me weeping, to beg me not to be dejected, as he would give me everything he possessed. I assure your highnesses that better order could not have been taken in any port in Castile to preserve our things, for we did not lose the value of a pin.” The Indians about this time brought in some few specimens of gold, worked and in the rough state, and the cacique perceiving that the admiral was much pleased at the sight, said he would order a quantity to be brought from a place called Cibao, where it was abundant. After offering him to eat, he presented him with gold ornaments and masks, in which latter the precious metal formed part of the features.
The chief complained greatly of a nation named the Caribs, who carried off and made [pg 292]slaves of his people, and Columbus, who was impressed with the beauty and productiveness of the island, readily promised to leave some of his people to protect him and form a colony. Cannons had not been very long familiar to Europeans, and we hardly wonder, therefore, that the natives “fell down as if dead” on hearing the reports of those fired by order of the admiral. Finding so much kindness among these people, and as the narrative of his son naïvely remarks, “such strong indications of gold,” he almost forgot his grief at the loss of his vessel. A fort or block-house was immediately erected, and leaving three officers and thirty-six men as garrison, he set sail for Spain.
