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.