It will not be necessary to pursue his course further than to notice a single occurrence of most extraordinary nature. The admiral had received instructions not to touch at Hispaniola on his outward voyage. The leaky condition of one of his ships, however, and the signs of an approaching storm, induced him to seek a temporary refuge there; at the same time, he counselled Ovando to delay for a few days the departure of the fleet, then riding in the harbor, which was destined to carry Bobadilla and the rebels with their ill-gotten treasures back to Spain. The churlish governor, however, not only refused Columbus admittance, but gave orders for the instant departure of the vessels. The apprehensions of the experienced mariner were fully justified by the event. Scarcely had the Spanish fleet quitted its moorings, before one of those tremendous hurricanes came on, which so often desolate these tropical regions, sweeping down everything before it, and fell with such violence on the little navy, that out of eighteen ships, of which it was composed, not more than three or four escaped. The rest all foundered, including those which contained Bobadilla, and the late enemies of Columbus. Two hundred thousand castellanos of gold, half of which belonged to the government, went to the bottom with them. The only one of the fleet which made its way back to Spain was a crazy, weather-beaten bark, which contained the admiral's property, amounting to four thousand ounces of gold. To complete these curious coincidences, Columbus with his little squadron rode out the storm in safety under the lee of the island, where he had prudently taken shelter, on being so rudely repulsed from the port. This even-handed retribution of justice, so uncommon in human affairs, led many to discern the immediate interposition of Providence. Others, in a less Christian temper, referred it all to the necromancy of the admiral. [40]
FOOTNOTES
[1] "Inter has Italiae procellas magis indies ac magis alas protendit Hispania, imperium auget, gloriam nomenque suum ad Antipodes porriget." Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 146.
[2] See, among others, a letter of Dr. Chanca, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage. It is addressed to the authorities of Seville. After noticing the evidences of gold in Hispaniola, he says; "Ansi que de cierto los Reyes nuestros Señores desde agora se pueden tener por los mas prosperos e mas ricos Principes del mundo, porque tal cosa hasta agora no se ha visto ni leido de ningnno en el mundo, porque verdaderamente a otro camino que los navios vuelvan puedan llevar tanta cantidad de oro que se pueden maravillar cualesquiera que lo supieren." In another part of the letter, the Doctor is equally sanguine in regard to the fruitfulness of the soil and climate. Letra de Dr. Chanca, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. pp. 198-224.
[3] Fernando Colon, Hist. de Almirante, cap. 60, 62.—Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 25.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 9.—Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 9.
[4] The Indians had some grounds for relying on the efficacy of starvation, if, as Las Casas gravely asserts, "one Spaniard consumed in a single day as much as would suffice three families!" Llorente, Oeuvres de Don Barthélemi de las Casas, precedées de sa Vie, (Paris, 1822,) tom. i. p. 11.
[5] Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 4.—Goinara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 20, tom. ii.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 12.
[6] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 101.— Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 64.—Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo- Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 31.
[7] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.—Herrera expresses the same charitable opinion. "Muy claramente se conocio que el demonio estava, apoderado de aquella gente, y la traia ciega y engañada, hablandoles, y mostrandoles en diversas figuras." Indias Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 4.
[8] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.—Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo- Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 1.