The two ships were found to be leaking badly. An examination was made, when the bottoms were found pierced by teredos;[III-7] and thus before they knew it their vessels were unfit for service. Hoping still to reach Cádiz, Bastidas immediately set sail, touched at Jamaica for wood and water, and continued his voyage as far as Contramaestre, an islet one league distant from Española, where he was obliged to anchor and repair his ships. Again embarking for Spain, he was met by a gale which threw him back upon the island. Buffeted in a second attempt, he ran the ships for safety into the little port of Jaraguá, where they filled and sank, the loss in vessels, slaves, Brazil-wood, cloth, and gold, being not less than five millions of maravedís.[III-8] For notwithstanding the estimable reputation for piety, justice, and humanity which he has always borne, the good Bastidas did not scruple gently to entrap on board his ships, along the shore of Darien, several scores of unsuspecting natives, to be sold as slaves; nor, having thus exercised his virtues in the klopemania of the day, did he scruple to abandon with his sinking ships the greater portion of these innocent wretches in order to save the more of his gold, which was deemed of greater proximate and certain value than the bodies or even the souls of the heathen.
Thus observing everywhere, as perforce we must as we proceed, the magnanimity and high morality with which our so prized and petted civilization greeted weak, defenseless, and inoffensive savagism, we are prepared when shipwrecked mariners are thrown upon a distant isle inhabited by their own countrymen, subjects of the same sovereigns—we are prepared by their reception, which we shall presently see, to exclaim with uplifted hands, Behold, how these brethren love one another!
After burning superfluous ammunition, the Spaniards gathered up their valuables, and placing them on the backs of such captives as for that purpose they had kindly permitted to live, set out in three divisions over separate routes, so as to secure a more liberal supply of provisions on the way, for Santo Domingo, distant seventy leagues. In his license, as we have seen, Bastidas was authorized to trade only in lands discovered by himself. But on the way his followers with their trinkets had purchased food from the natives; for which offence, on his arrival at Santo Domingo, Bastidas was seized by Bobadilla and cast into prison. In vain did all the shipwrecked company protest that they had bought only such articles as were necessary for their nourishment during the march. To their affirmations the governor turned a deaf ear; and as Bobadilla was about to depart for Spain, the notary was ordered thither for trial, sailing in July, 1502.
Before the sovereigns Bastidas found no difficulty in justifying his conduct; and so rich were the returns from his traffic with the natives of Darien, that notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of the adventure he was enabled to pay a large sum into the royal treasury. For their important successes, to Rodrigo de Bastidas was awarded an annual pension of fifty thousand maravedís, and to Juan de la Cosa a similar sum with the title of alguacil mayor of Urabá, all to be paid them out of returns from the new lands which they had found. "Such," remarks Irving, "was the economical generosity of King Ferdinand, who rewarded the past toils of his adventurous discoverers out of the expected produce of their future labors."[III-9]
ARCHIVES OF THE INDIES.
The most fertile source of information relative to the early affairs of America is the Archives of the Indies, a general term comprising various collections in various places. From this source many writers have drawn, and are still drawing; many documents have been printed, and many yet remain to be printed. Altogether the collections are very numerous, as the government required full records, and in some cases copies, to be kept of official documents concerning discovery, conquest, and settlement. The several council-chambers and public offices where the business was transacted were the first depositories of these papers, the chief places then being Seville, Cádiz, and Madrid. In 1566 Philip II. ordered all collections, ecclesiastic and secular, to be united, and deposited in the fortress of Simancas. Again in 1717, when all the councils were consolidated in one, Felipe V., who founded the Academia de la Historia, among other things for the gathering and preserving of materials for history, directed all papers to be conveyed annually to the Archivo de Simancas. These provisions could not have been fully carried out, or else a very extensive system of copying must have been practised; for later, when the Archives were thrown open to the search of historians, the accumulation at Simancas, though large, did not appear to be much greater than at some other places. Further than this, there were family archives in the houses of those who had played prominent parts in public affairs, and ecclesiastical relaciones in the convents of the several orders, of little less importance than public records. And while the government insisted on the making of complete records, and observed great care in preventing their contents from being known, especially to foreigners, little pains was taken to preserve them from damage or destruction, or to arrange them for convenient reference. Therefore when they came to light it was in the form of bulky masses of unassorted, worm-eaten, and partially illegible papers. Many documents, mentioned by contemporary writers, are known to have been lost, and their contents blotted from existence. Fernando VI., 1746-1759, commissioned Burriel and Santiago Palomares to examine the archives of the kingdom and to copy and form into a collection such of the manuscripts as they should deem best. This collection was placed in the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid. Other collections were made during the two following reigns by Abella, Traggia, Velazquez, Muñoz, Navarrete, Sans, Vargas Ponce, and Villanueva, which found lodgment in various localities.
The early chroniclers of the Indies picked up their knowledge as best they might, by observation, by conversation, and by the examination of written evidence. Las Casas and Oviedo spent much time in the New World; Peter Martyr had access to whatever existed, beside talking with everybody who had been to America; Gomara copied much from Oviedo. Everything was at the disposal of Herrera as crown historiographer, as a matter of course, though he did not always make the best use of his opportunities. Gashard affirms that both Cabrera and Herrera were ignorant of the existence of many of the most valuable documents of their day. Ramusio, Hakluyt, Purchas, and others, succeeded in getting now and then an original paper on the Indies to print in their several collections. Among the first English historians who attempted for purposes of history to utilize the Archives of the Indies was William Robertson, who published the History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles, London, 1769; and in 1777, his History of America, 2 vols. 4to, several editions appearing subsequently also in 8vo. Robertson was a Scotch clergyman of great learning and ability. His style was elegant and vigorous, and he was by far the most philosophic writer on America up to his time. Although his statements are full of errors, intensified by dogmatism, but for which he cannot always be blamed, all who have come after him have profited by his writings; and some of these, indeed, have reaped richer rewards than he to whom they owed their success, and with far less labor.
ROBERTSON AND MUÑOZ.
Early in his work Mr Robertson applied to the proper authorities at Madrid, Vienna, and St Petersburg for access to material. Germany and Russia responded in a spirit of liberality, but Spain would none of it. In 1775 Robertson ascertained that the largest room occupied by the Archivos de Simancas was filled with American papers, in 873 bundles; that they were concealed from strangers with solicitous care, Spanish subjects even being denied access without an order from the crown; and that no copies could be obtained except upon the payment of exorbitant fees. However, through the assistance of Lord Grantham, English ambassador at Madrid, and by preparing a set of questions to be submitted to persons who had lived in America, much new and important information was elicited, and copies of certain manuscripts were obtained. The letters of Cortés, and the writings of Motolinia, Mendieta, and others, which Robertson used in manuscript, have since been printed.
It is greatly to be regretted that the learned Juan Bautista Muñoz did not live to complete his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, only the first volume of which appeared. This was published in Madrid, in 1793, bringing his work down to 1500. Muñoz was born near Valencia in 1745, graduated at the University, and in 1779 was commissioned by the king to write a history of America, all public and private material being placed at his disposal by royal order. Many papers were wanting in the archives of the department of the Indies in Madrid; whereupon he went to Simancas, Seville, Cádiz, and other towns, armed with a royal cédula, which opened to him family and monastic accumulations as well as all public depositories. So great was the confusion in which he found the royal archives, that it seemed to him as if they had been disarranged purposely to hide what they contained. Even in the indices of the Archivo Secreto del Consejo de Indias there was scarcely any indication of papers belonging to the earlier American periods. Nevertheless, by persistent search, mass after mass of rich material was unearthed in the secret archives as well as in the Real Casa Audiencia de la Contratacion, the archives at Simancas, the royal libraries of Madrid and the Escorial, the Contaduría Principal of the Audiencia de Indias in Cádiz, the Archivo General de Portugal, the monastery of Monserrate, the colleges of San Bartolomé and Cuenca at Salamanca, and San Gregorio at Valladolid, the cathedral of Palencia, the Sacromonte of Granada, and in the convents of San Francisco of Tolosa in Guipúzcoa, Santo Domingo of Málaga, and San Acacio, San José, and San Isidro del Campo of Seville, until it may be said of him that his efforts were buried beneath the magnitude of their invocation. Then it was that he found he had undertaken greater things than he could accomplish. Even with the aid of government he could not master the confused masses; for money and men unlimited cannot accomplish everything without time. The indefatigable Muñoz worked faithfully; the king complained of the meagre results; the author died doing his best, and his work to this day remains undone. During his labors he made an extensive collection of papers, memorials, and other manuscripts relating to America, known as the Coleccion de Muñoz, which he once intended to publish, but this with a portion of his history was left in manuscript. Irving states that the papers of Muñoz were left with Señor Uguina, and Ternaux-Compans claims to have obtained all of Uguina's manuscripts; but Prescott asserts that the collection of Muñoz was deposited in the archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and was there augmented by the manuscripts of Vargas Ponce, obtained chiefly from the archives of the Indies at Seville. Prior to 1793 the Archivo General de Indias was established at Seville, and a large quantity of old papers conveyed thither from Madrid and Simancas. About 1810 the archives at Simancas were sacked by Napoleon; in 1814 the remnant was re-arranged and classified.