The admiral, in grateful joy, began to sing "Te Deum laudamus," the whole crew joined, the other vessels caught the sound, and all began the same hymn. The crew then saluted Columbus as viceroy and admiral, and requested his forgiveness. As the vessels approached the shore the beach was crowded with naked Indians. Columbus was the first who landed in the New World, which his own genius and science had convinced him was in existence,—which his own perseverence and courage had discovered; he was followed by the captains and an armed band; before the admiral was borne the royal standard, and before the captains the standards of the expedition; on one was a green cross, with the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella; and on the other several Fs, surmounted with a crown. After having returned thanks, Columbus rose and pronounced the word"Salvador" as the name of the island, and as a testimony that he dedicated the first of his discoveries to our Saviour. They then erected a crucifix and took possession for the crown of Castile. All then took the oath of allegiance to Columbus, as viceroy and admiral. At first the natives fled, but by degrees they found courage to return, and Columbus gave them glass beads, small bells, and other trifles; they were olive coloured, with black straight hair, and naked, except that their bodies were painted with different colours. The only articles they had to barter were bottoms of well spun cotton, parrots, and lances pointed with bone. Their largest canoe would carry forty-five men; but what most excited the attention of the Spaniards, were pieces of gold which some wore suspended from the nose; by signs they gave the Spaniards to understand, this metal was to be found in abundance in the south, also that savage men came to their island from the N.W. to plunder, and many showed their scars. Columbus remained three days at St. Salvador's, and then took seven of the natives away with him, as interpreters. 1 The next island he took possession of he named "Santa Maria de la Concepcion." From thence he stood to the westward, to a larger, which he named Fernandino, and was there upon the 17th of October; he thought the inhabitants were more civilized; they wore cotton mantles, and the women a cotton band round the waist; they slept in hammocks, and had dogs, mastiffs, "y branchetas." There, Columbus says, he saw in one of their noses a piece of gold about the size of half a castellano, with letters upon it, which he could not persuade them to part with: he gave them what they asked to look at it, that he might see what they were, and what their money was; but they told him that they dared not part with it on any account. They pointed to the south for a great country, which they called Cuba, where they gave the Spaniards to under MS. Journal. 'Their foreheads were uncommonly broad, they particularly admired the naked by the edge, and wounded themselves by so doing.-Munoz, 181. 66 stand gold and pearls abounded. Columbus says, your highnesses may be assured that this land is the best, and most fertile, and temperate,' and level, and good, that there is in the world." It is now called "Isle Larga." On the 19th they went to an island which the natives called Samoete; Columbus named it Isabella. On the 21st the Spaniards killed a snake seven palms in length, and sailed for another much larger island, which the Spaniards thought must be Cipango, because the natives they had on board said there were many large vessels, and numerous merchants there. Columbus "I am determined to go to tierra firma,' and to the city of Quisay,' give your highnesses letters to the grand 'Can,' beg an answer, and come back with it." says, 6 Upon the 27th October they left the "Yslas de Arena," Sandy Islands, and got sight of Cuba, and the next morning, the 28th, anchored in the mouth of a fine river, in twelve fathoms. The admiral landed, and named the river and port San Salvador;o but the land he called Juana, in honour of the Prince Don Juan. Higher up they found from five to eight fathoms water. Columbus says, "every thing invited me to settle there: the beauty of the stream, the clearness of the water, through which I could see the sandy bottom; the multitude of palm trees of different kinds, the tallest and finest I had ever seen, and an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees; the birds, and the verdure of the plains, are so wonderfully beautiful, that this country exceeds all others as far as the day surpasses the night in brightness and splendour, so that I have often said it would be in vain for me to attempt to give your highnesses a full account of it, for neither my tongue nor my pen could come up to the truth; and indeed I am so much amazed at the sight of such beauty, that I know not how to describe it.”3 MS. Journal. 1 Columbus's Signature. S S. A. S. J. M. J. Xpo FERENS. Don Ferdinand states that his father never tried his pen without first writing. "Jesus cum Maria sit nobis in via." The signature may be read thus: Salva me Christus, Maria, Josephus. The letters s. A. s. are much smaller than J. M. J. and must be considered as the final ones of the words.-Memorials of Columbus, p. 133. 2 By the description of the cosmographers, well considered, it seemeth that both these, (Cuba and Hispaniola,) and the other islands adjoining, are the islands of Antilia. Life of Columbus. 3 Nevertheless the most valuable present that the islands have received from Africa is the manioc. The greater part of the historians have regarded this plant as originally from America. One does not very certainly know upon what foundation this opinion rests, although it is pretty generally received. But if the truth was known, the Antilles received the manioc from the Europeans as well as the Africans, who fed themselves with it. Before our invasions, the communication from the continent of America with the islands was so confined, that a production of terra firma might have been unknown in the archipelago of the Antilles. Thus much is certain, that the savages who offered to our first navigators bananas, ignames, and potatoes, did not offer them manioc; that it was the Caribs collected together at Dominica and St. Vincent that On the 29th they passed two rivers, one Columbus named " De la Luna," and the largest " Rio de Mares," with an indifferent harbour, in which the ships anchored; but the inhabitants quitted their houses when the boats landed; Columbus says, "they were beautifully built with palm branches, and we found several statues of women, and many heads, and dogs that never bark." They stood to the westward, but put back with a strong breeze from the north. On the 1st of November, Martin Alonzo Pinzon told the admiral that he understood Cuba was a city, and that that land was "tierra firma;" that the king of it was at war with the grand Can, whom they called Cani, and his country Saba. Columbus agreed with the captain of the Pinta, in thinking they had found the continent of India, and that he was about 100 miles from its capital. He therefore resolved to send the King's letter by Rodrigo de Xerez, and Luis de Torres, a converted Jew, who understood the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Arabic languages. They returned, after having gone twelve miles into the country, when they found a village containing fifty houses and 1000 inhabitants, who received them with joy, as beings descended from heaven; in the house assigned for their residence were two benches, each of one piece, shaped like a quadruped, with short legs, and a tail curled over the back, and eyes and ears of solid gold. They saw fields of a plant called yuca, of the roots of which they made bread, and called it cazabi; the natives also rolled up leaves of a plant which they called tobacco, and setting fire to one end inhaled the smoke from the other; occasionally they would eat spiders and worms, and half raw fish, but the eyes they devoured raw. The natives brought the Spaniards nets," Jamacas," in which they slept; they called gold "nucagr;" and in answer to all the Spaniards enquiries for that metal and for pearls, they pointed to the east, repeating the words " Babeque" and "Bohio." Columbus therefore resolved to stand back to the eastward, and on the 12th of November left the "Rio de Mares." When they had gone eighteen leagues he saw a cape, which he named Cabo de Cuba; two leagues further a bay, and five leagues S.S.W. from the bay, at the distance of about five leagues, an opening between two mountains, MS. Journal. Munoz, p. 195. P. Martyr, D. 1. B. 1. the savages was unfit for such a continued culture; that the sort of culture required very open fields, and that in the forests, with which these islands were covered, no spaces were found cleared of greater extent than twenty-five fathoms square. Finally, it is certain, that they did not see the manioc used until after the arrival of the blacks, and that from time immemorial it formed the principal nourishment of a great part of Africa.-Raynal, t. 4. p. 177. The Abbe Raynal, positive as he is, is plainly wrong, for this root is particularly Munoz, vol. i. p. 204.. described by the first historians of the conquest. "They have also another kind of root, which they call Jucca, whereof they make bread." But they never eat Jucca, except it be first sliced and pressed, (for it is full of liquor,) and then baked or sodden. But this is to be marvelled at, that the juice of this root is a poison as strong as aconitum, so that if it be drunk it causeth present death, and yet the bread made thereof is of good taste and wholesome, as they all have proved.-P. Martire's Decade, 1 D.1 B. that seemed the entrance of the sea. Violent gales drove him fiftysix leagues to the N.E. He returned to the coast, and having sailed along it sixty-four leagues, he put into a large harbour with innumerable islands, which he named Del Principe; they left it on the 19th of November, and on the 22nd the Pinta (Martin Alonzo Pinzon) unexpectedly parted company; he had some of the natives of St. Salvador on board, and six from Cuba, from Port Mares; these had given him particular accounts of the situation and size of Bohio, and in order to secure this rich discovery for himself, he availed himself of the Pinta's being a fast sailer, and left Columbus in the night. Columbus's vessel was a dull sailer, and he stayed to examine the coast of Cuba more minutely. In one place they found a canoe capable of carrying fifty men (Munoz says 150), and a mass of wax, and a man's head hanging in a basket upon a post. Cape Maysi Columbus considered the eastern part of the continent of Asia. He had sailed upwards of 700 miles along the coast: a little to the east of Cape Maysi he saw land, which he made for with impatience, though the Indians, and particularly those of Cuba, endeavoured to dissuade him from it, repeating" Bohio! Bohio!" and by gestures giving him to understand the inhabitants were monsters and cannibals. In a few hours they reached the nearest cape, and Columbus ordered Vicente Yanez, in the Nina, a-head, to look out for an anchorage; and the next morning, December the 6th, entered a harbour, which, in honour of the saint's birth-day, he named St. Nicholas. Leaving this, he coasted along to the eastward, and on the 8th anchored in another, with an island in front; from its shape, which was supposed to resemble a tortoise, he named the island Tortuga, and the harbour De la Concepcion: stress of weather detained them here some days. From the beauty of the large. island to the southward, and a fancied similarity to Spain, he named it Española, though some said it would be more proper to call it Castellana, because only the kingdoms of Castile and Leon were concerned in the discovery. The natives gave it several names: Hayti, or high country, from the mountains; Quisqueya, or the whole, from its size; and Bohio, or house, from the number and size of the houses. They did not see any of the inhabitants till the 12th of December; on that day, after erecting a crucifix on a prominent point, as usual, they caught a young woman, who wore a gold plate in her nose. Columbus had her dressed, gave her beads and brass rings, and sent three of the islanders, and some Spaniards with her, to bring about an intercourse with the natives; the messengers came back late at night, and in consequence of their report, nine armed Spaniards and one islander were sent off. About four miles from the shore they found a village in a spacious valley, with about 4000 inhabitants, who at first ran away; the islanders soon persuaded them that the strangers Munoz, vol. i. p. 207. 209. Herrera, D. 1. L. 1. C. 15. Martire, D. 1. B. 1. came from Heaven, and their fear was succeeded by admiration and respect. The woman whom Columbus had dressed was carried about in triumph on their shoulders with her husband. The next day, the 14th, Columbus examined Tortuga, and intended standing to the eastward, but was unable to work to windward. On the 15th they made a little progress, and anchored near a river, which they named Guadalquiver; they rowed up this some distance, and were so delighted with the beauty of the place, that they called it Val Paraiso, (the Vale of Paradise.) On the 16th they anchored near a village at the entrance of the streight between Tortuga and Española; as they were sailing through, they stopped an Indian in his canoe, whose report of the kindness shown him, and his presents, induced the natives to venture on board. Here the Spaniards found more gold, wrought into plates, and hung as ornaments to the nose and ears, and some in grains, which they readily exchanged for baubles. A cazique with 200 followers came on board, and taking two of the eldest with him, entered the cabin where the admiral was at dinner, and sat down by his side, uttering several words in a grave tone; the two men lay at his feet. Columbus ordered several kinds of food and some liquors to be given the cazique, who tasted a little of each, and sent the rest to his followers. After this, the flags, and the portrait of the king on a gold coin, were shewn him; and a carpet, a pair of red shoes, some amber beads, and a bottle of orange essence given him. The cazique, carried on a kind of palanquin, returned home highly gratified; his son followed at some distance, carried in the same manner; his brother, leaning on the arms of two persons of distinction, followed on foot; the presents were carried before the chief, and each by a separate person. In the afternoon the cazique came again to the shore; and a canoe with forty men came from Tortuga, which seemed to displease him, for he threw stones and water at them, and wished the Spaniards to do the same; the canoe returned immediately to Tortuga. The alacrity with which the natives assisted in erecting a crucifix Columbus considered an omen of their speedy conversion to Christianity. On the 19th the ships tried to gain another harbour, formed by a small island six leagues off, where they anchored on the 20th, and named it St. Thomas's. "Here," Columbus says, "there were well cultivated and fruitful fields, and such a crowd of people that the ground was hid, all expressing their joy in every possible manner." Six Spaniards accepted their invitation, and went to their village, where they got a considerable quantity of gold. From their report, and the presents, Columbus was so rejoiced, that he exclaimed, "Oh! Heavenly Lord, who hast all things in thy hands, be my help, and give me according to thy pleasure." Ambassadors from the cazique Guacanagari presented Columbus with a girdle four fingers broad, trimmed with bones like pearls, interspersed with red Munoz, p. 221. Herrera, D. 1. L. 1. C. 16, Munoz, 226. |